Hey, America, This Is Good News in Egypt

The protests in Egypt are threatening to transform and democratize the entire region. So why all the "grim faces" on American news channels? Because a free Egypt will mean less American power in the Middle East and expose American and Israel hypocrisy, writes Philip Weiss in Salon. "The danger to America and Israel is that the Egyptian revolution will destroy this false choice of secular dictator-or-crazy Islamists by showing that Arabs are smart articulate people who can handle real democracy if they get to make it themselves."

"This is (Obama's) 9/11—the day Arabs blindsided a president," writes Weiss, calling the events in Egypt "electrifying to Arabs everywhere, a heroic mobilization." So when dour American commentators warn of Islamists and instability, "racism against Arabs is shutting down the American mind once again," he writes. "We are seeing a dictator dissolve before our eyes. These are the events we cherished in history books; let us embrace the Egyptian movement." Click for the full essay.
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