We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, March 11, 2011

Pentagon Places Its Bet on a General in Egypt

by Elisabeth Bumiller from NY Times (free registration required).

As you read this article, notice the close relationships between Egyptian military leaders and the Pentagon. This is the way the US Empire controls its satellites: through the lavish support of the military of these countries by providing them with military weapons, training, junkets to the US, etc. This strategy serves to insure that the military in the various regions of the Empire are wedded to the US military-financial-industrial complex. With this relationship comes shared interests, perspectives, and support of global capitalism.
Today General Enan, a favorite of the American military, is the second in command among the group of generals moving toward some form of democracy in Egypt. In meetings of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, he sits to the right of its leader, the 75-year-old defense minister, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, and is considered his potential successor. In the meantime, American officials say, General Enan, 63, has become a crucial link for the United States as it navigates the rocky course ahead with Cairo.