It was Tunisia's president Ben Ali who fled to Saudi Arabia last week after he was chased out by crowds of angry impoverished young Tunisians largely mobilized through Twitter and Facebook. Then the land of the Pharaohs! Egypt's strong man, our (U.S.) ally but nonetheless a big-headed tyrant-Hosni Mubarak, a former airforce commander who has ruled this country for 30 years and now positioned his young son Gamal to succeed his presidency- is under enormous pressure this week as crowds of disgruntled young Egyptians pour into the streets in the capital Cairo, Suez, Alexandria and elsewhere demanding he steps down immediately. There are reports of deaths and destruction as protesters battle Egypts security forces that have a track record of brutality. The police are now overpowered and soldiers are now just deployed on the streets of Cairo...
And then Jordan, Yemen, the ancestral home of the international terrorist messenger, Osama Bin Laden is witnessing Tunisian-style protests also...
Now who knows, next stop Libya (Gadaffi, the so-called "King of African kings and traditional rulers"), Saudi Arabia, an important ally of the West but all the same a 'pot-bellied' monarchy with repressive gender laws ansd swarms of impoverished young men and women without any opportunities for advancement...
In Egypt, while I want Mubarak to be out, I do not want to see that country in the grip of the 'Muslim Brotherhood', a radical opposition party that has roots in terrorism with former leaders such as Aiman Al Zawahiri now Al Qaeda's number two.
Anyone who yearns for change in the Middle East must be aware of the potential for "Islamist" resurgence in the region and its repercussion on world security...
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