Mubarak would be happy to have received the treatment from President Obama that he gave to Ahmedinejad. The Americans know how to demand democratization only from the weak.
The Egyptian crisis brings up obvious insights regarding the inability of the State of Israel to rely on agreements with Arab official bodies and on the obligations of the West. Israel has learned a dramatic lesson, in the framework of which it became clear again that we have no one to trust and must not take risks.
But beyond the obvious, the conduct of the global players drives us to make far-reaching conclusions. It turns out that even the hypocritical international codes, domineering since the second half of the 20th century, have shattered. We’re posing in front of the world that has no global leadership and no guides with a moral advantage — a new corrupt world.
Arriving at this conclusion starts, first and foremost, with a painful lesson we’ve learned from Hosni Mubarak and the rest of the protégés of the United States. No doubt that Mubarak is a base dictator lacking legitimacy. There is also no doubt that in a world where the degree of democracy, integrity and public legitimacy determine who the rulers are, there is no place for Mubarak. And indeed, for the last two weeks the current American administration is continuing to behave as if we do live in such a world. But it’s exactly with this that the Americans demonstrate how badly the scale of hypocrisy and treachery has broken.
While stabbing a knife in the back of his friend Hosni, Obama hosted an arch dictator — President Hu Jintao of China — in the White House, with sweet talk. This is the very Jintao who took part in the Tiananmen Square massacre, who jailed the Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, who doesn’t have any respect for freedom and integrity. Simultaneously, Obama eased the tension with Vladimir Putin, who has cancelled the relative democracy in Russia, who committed genocide in Chechnya, who is suspected in eliminating critical journalists and who has turned Russia into a plutocratic oligarchy.
We Have Nothing to Get Excited About in Mubarak’s Downfall
It’s interesting to make a comparison with Obama’s response to the revolutionary attempt that took place in Iran about a year ago. While the sect of Ayatollahs is slaughtering masses of demonstrators, the White House is content with polite and restrained objections. Mubarak would be happy to have enjoyed the treatment that America gave Ahmedinejad. There is something captivating in the effort to apply the criteria of Western democracy to the entire world. But one of the fundamental democratic principles is equality. And in the Egypt affair, discrimination and double standards are writing the records.
It can’t be that democratization and righteousness would be demanded only from the weak and from dictators in distress. It can’t be that murderous regimes like Iran, North Korea, Syria and others are included in the family of nations. The idea of morality in managing international policy was first implemented by the source of Barack Obama’s inspiration — American President Woodrow Wilson, who founded the League of Nations after World War I.
This body had collapsed in Hitler’s epoch but was established under a different name after World War II — and in its framework, even those despising equality enjoy legitimacy, fairness and morality. This game must be no longer played. There is no place for the Western democracies and Israel together with Iran, North Korea and Syria. There is also no place to play games of double-dealing in vested interests with China and Russia.
Contrary to the spirit of despondency blowing in the press, we don’t have a thing to be excited about from Mubarak’s fall or even from the breaking down of agreements with Egypt. All in all, the image of the “peace” from the fragile and cold ceasefire attained in the Camp David agreements would be torn apart. It’s also good that the mask of duplicity has been ripped from the face of White House and European policy. For this Moloch sacrifice,* for this phony pro-Western stability, we’ve been required to pay prices endangering our very existence. The time has come to recognize the real rules of the game and to start playing by them accordingly.
*Translator’s Note: Moloch refers to someone or something that requires or demands a costly sacrifice.