Today is a day of celebration for Egypt, the Middle East, and the whole world.
The peaceful overthrow of Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak in a democratic non violent revolution is a cause for euphoria, and it gives a warning to the other Middle East autocracies, and dictatorship everywhere, including Iran and North Korea. It is a followup of the liberation of Eastern Europe in 1989, symbolized by the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The power of social media, which cannot be easily controlled or monitored, is a method by which the masses can express their desires and lead to removal of despots. No one could have imagined the impact of Facebook and Twitter on the events that transpired in Egypt. Imagine, that in 18 days, Egypt transformed, and a thirty year dictatorship collapsed.
Egypt has now experienced two events of massive proportions that took 18 days to develop–this present revolution, and the Yom Kippur War where Anwar Sadat defeated Israel and took some land back in 1973 from the earlier 1967 Six Day War, but yet moved toward American friendship soon after and eventually to a peace agreement with Israel, including recognition of Israel, and a joint Nobel Peace Prize for Sadat and Israel’s leader, Menachem Begin.
This is also a moment to salute President Barack Obama, who handled this historic crisis deftly, supporting the masses of Egypt and pressuring Mubarak in private, while using carefully crafted language in public. No one could have handled this crisis better, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates did a fantastic job in assisting him and others to deal with this transforming event. This will go down as one of his greatest triumphs in the Presidency!
Even better, Barack Obama comes across as a hero to ordinary Egyptians, and by his open minded attitude to the Muslim world, he makes us a safer nation, but with full awareness that there are radical Muslim enemies who wish this nation ill, but diplomacy is essential if there is ever to be a potential for long term peace in the 21st century world!