By Steve Hynd
Whatever other news stories may be floating about, the entire world is rivetted to the news from Egypt and the wider Middle East (NewsNow Feed). Let's not kid ourselves - these events are the single biggest geopolitical shakeup since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Things are moving too fast to keep up although the best online source by far is AlJazeera English's liveblog by my pal Evan Hill. The latest I've read on my Twitter stream is that there are signs the security forces in Egypt may be changing sides to ally with protestors, after earlier using live ammunistion and tear gas (made in the USA) to try and fail to enforce a curfew. There are even unconfirmed reports of fighting between the army and police.
Meanwhile, there are still protests in Yemen and reports that thousands have taken to the streets in Jordan.
This isn't over yet by a long chalk.
But wouldn't it be nice if the U.S. could figure out whether it prefers the democracy it's always talking about publicly or the "stability of dictatorships" it has always funded with military aide, though?
The door doesn't swing open any wider for both Israel and the US for once to "do the right thing." I keep looking at the pictures but thus far haven't seen anyone burning an American or Israeli flag. We are witnessing something different from past political upheavals, perhaps because in the past some of those tired old themes and slogans had roots in some of the tired old leadership and tired old opposition. The Arab Awakening is driven by younger people whose expectations are not the same. This is not only new, but huge. The US and Israel are missing a golden opportunity to make tons of international political capital. Good will is lots more valuable than hardware and, like most assets of real value, often costs almost nothing.
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