Mubarak Steps Down

During all the turmoil that was happening in Egypt thanks to the people. . . and Facebook and Twitter, with the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak finally stepping down after 30 years of iron fisted rule, the question that the entire world wants to know is what is next for that country.

A Muslim country, Mubarak turned over power to the military, so in essence, it was a Military coup without the coup, and the people are happy about it. Scary thoughts. What will the military do now with its new found power now that their former military strongman, who has ruled Egypt under emergency rule for the last 30 years is gone. Will there be a power vacuum, or a power struggle? Egypt has been a fairly stable country the last 30 years, so stable in fact that the USA has given billions in aid to the country, in part because of its steadfast support for Israel to exist.

Now Israel needs to be very concerned with what will happen next, because other than Egypt, Israel doesn't have a whole lot of friends in that part of the world. And with the most organized opposition in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, being vehemently anti-Israel, things will be watched very closely. This is not to take away from the dictatorial rule of Mubarak. Like the Shah of Iran and Ferdinand Marcos before him, Mubarak, a tyrant in every sense of the word, was steadfastly supported by the United States, almost to the very end. While there was bloodshed in the streets of Cairo, it could have been a heck of a lot worse than it was. It could have been like Tiananmen Square back in 1989. The United States has a sort of twisted history when it comes to supporting dictators. These dictators are counter to what the United States stands for, freedom and democracy, yet history tells us that we repeat it over and over and over again. Do as I say, not as I do.