To claim that the US supports freedom (i.e., the absence of physical coercion) is nonsensical. Everything the US government does is anti-freedom. Take the situation in Egypt, for example. American administrations have constantly overlooked human rights abuses in Egypt (as well as other countries, like Yemen), instead considering Egypt's brutal dictator President Mubarak a key ally and providing him $1.5 billion annually in financial support of his terrorizing, well-paid military. (Putting aside for a moment that VP Joe Biden doesn't consider him a dictator and also putting aside that the US is likely playing both sides.) It is US companies that help the Egyptian government restrict and terrorize its people. When the military shoots at unarmed protesters, it is shooting with hardware provided by the US government. "Against a backdrop of street battles, beatings-up, teargas, flying bricks, mass detentions and attempts to shut information networks," Hillary Clinton calls the country "stable." Egypt is a very poor country and its people have little hope to survive under these despotic conditions. Also, lest you forget, Egypt is one of the places the US sends prisoners to be tortured. And now Egypt has a new vice dictator, Omar Suleiman, "one of the world's most powerful spy chiefs," who is a long-time intelligence asset of the US.

As Egypt has effectively cutoff the internet to censor the Egyptian revolution, which was very easy to do, it is now much more difficult to know what is happening. (This is what a government can do when they control/regulate the internet. Still want the US government to have a law that creates an internet "kill switch?") Would the world be a more peaceful place if the Western countries stopped interfering in nations outside their borders? Would the world be a safer place if the US government would stop financially supporting dictatorships and allowing US companies to sell weapons to repressive governments? Would dictatorships fall more quickly if the West just minded its own business?

FTA:

The United States, Britain and our allies have an atrocious record in the Middle East. We have consistently given our support to a series of despotic, murdering, torturing regimes including Egypt, Tunisia and, for a long time, Saddam Hussein's Iraq. These eruptions in the Middle East present a moral challenge to Western governments. There is no question that we will feel very tempted to try and control events and maintain regimes which, however morally loathsome, are seen as sympathetic to the West. We must resist that temptation. The future of Egypt, Tunisia and other Middle Eastern countries is not up to us. Over the coming days we are likely to hear from a number of commentators who will claim that we must intervene in order to prevent victory for "international Islam" or some other bogeyman. It is very very important that we ignore these voices.

What is happening in Egypt is not our business

DISCUSS!

Original posting by Braincrave Second Life staff on Jan 30, 2011 at http://www.braincrave.com/viewblog.php?id=452