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Governments should support the Middle East struggle

The governments of the democratic nations of the world should actively support the important struggle now taking place in the Middle East. To do any less would be a betrayal of the basic principles on which our societies are based.

Are the Israelis looking for a way to make the Arabs love them? They should team up with the Egyptians to take out Moammar Gadhafi.

Possibly the best option would be an Entebbe-style raid to arrest the Libyan dictator and deliver him to the International Criminal Court for trial. Alternatively, Israel could provide a few armored divisions to help Egypt spearhead an invasion to liberate Libya. Needless to say, if the Israeli Air Force were involved, control of the air would not be a problem.

To date it appears the Israeli reaction to the popular uprisings taking place across the Arab world has been ambivalent at best. Longtime dictators such as Hosni Mubarak have been seen as friends and allies. Even though Israel is a liberal democracy, the prospect of dealing with other liberal democracies in its neighborhood is being viewed with unease and uncertainty.

This attitude is not just confined to the Israelis. The liberal democracies of Europe and North America have generally been underwhelming in their support of what appears to be a major tectonic shift in one of the most repressive and politically backward regions in the world. 

Yes, we’d like to see freedom and justice prevail, but we also like the cheap and reliable oil that the Middle East’s tin-pot dictators have provided for us for generations.

We should be very clear that those dictators will never truly be our friends. Their interests and our interests are too divergent.

The people on the streets in the Middle East are showing that they are willing to purchase their freedom with their own blood. 

The governments of the democratic nations of the world should actively support the important struggle now taking place. To do any less would be a betrayal of the basic principles on which our societies are based.