The Hidden Reason for the Middle East Upheaval

The Hidden Reason for the Middle East Upheaval.

Louis Brossard 18 February 2011

Sure there are many reasons why the Middle East is in revolt. Repression has always failed in the long run. But why has it happened now? It’s not only the power of the internet.

It seems to me that an essential reason for the upheaval in the Middle East is that the big bully of the world has lost his charisma. The United States is no longer respected or feared. After its ineffectual demonstration in Iraq and Afghanistan we are now seen as emaciated. The US citizens are unlikely to acquiesce to another military adventure soon. Our military forces are over extended. Morale is a problem and suicide is at a high level among our fighting men. We have an ever increasing burden of supporting the damaged bodies and minds of veterans. We can no longer project an image of enormous unquestioned power. Although we still have the means to destroy the world using such cataclysmic force would not be acceptable to the people of the United States nor to the people of the world.

The US government cannot even sustain our own essential domestic services because of the disastrous fiscal management from the Bush administration and the continuing rancor and bickering of our legislature. Therefore we no longer have the means to buy the allegiance of tyrants, the very keystone of our foreign policy for so long. Their power is greatly diminished with this loss of income, real or anticipated. We the people are blinded by our hubris and lulled into complacency by marketing propaganda and a surfeit of material things. We lack the will or the resolve to support our principles. Even the sacrifice required to live within our own income is too demanding so we push our own children and grandchildren deeper into debt for our debauched excess.

The world sees our folly and is filled with disdain and envy. They recognize our weakness but still lust for our superfluous life style. We are still the leader of the world but our goal has lost its validity. The United States as a shining example of liberty, justice and equality is a tarnished paradigm. We are now perceived as an exemplar of greed, excess and self-deception. We are quick to shout our devotion to lofty principles but unwilling to pay the price for them.

While it was science and engineering that made the United States the leader of the world by out producing the competition in food, energy and manufactured goods we are now turning evermore to myths and miracles, idiocies and ideologies, surfeit and subterfuge. Educational excellence is for the immigrants, hard labor for the foreign born and dirty jobs for those without the proper papers.

Can we still point to those inspiring lines which were once a source of such great pride that are on that great welcoming lady standing in the harbor of New York City?

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus, 1883