Straight Lines

No country in Europe has a straight-line border. South and Central America are devoid of such national boundaries. The USA once was the only nation with a straight-line border, however after World War I the French and British divided up territory of the defeated Ottoman Empire with a ruler and pencil. The Arab tribes of Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Saudia Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Sudan, and Libya suffered chaos thanks to these arbitrary frontiers. The disorder was enhanced by the West's support of dynastic dictatorships. Free thought was suppressed by secret police, assassination, and torture. Generations of young were given no hope of change, except for radical Islam, whose prophets preached the reincarnation of the caliphate.

America and Britain protested the lack of human rights in these nations while selling their rulers weapons to arm the military not against invaders, but to contain uprisings of the masses. Egypt has long been an American ally. They received an annual stipend of $3 billion to act as a buffer against any aggression toward their Zionist neighbor. In return the West turned a blind eye to the repression visited on the common people. In fact they regularly honored Mubarak as a progressive Arab, however this week Egypt is in flames as the young, Muslim Brotherhood, students, and workers have taken to the streets to overthrow the long-standing dictator.

No freedom, no jobs, and no future fuel the heat of the moment for the demonstrators. They have nothing to lose but their lives and the army has killed scores of protesters over the past few days. 62 dead; 2,000 injured. The BBC has announced that Mubarak's sons have fled to London. The Cairo airport is closed to international flights. Anarchy on the streets and the Saudi King has criticized the upheaval, because his country is next on the list.

Americans are calling uprising a new dawn for the Middle East, however people are battling the upper classes rather than governments. The rich have impoverished everyone across the globe and this year will be one of revolution.

Sadly revolutions are destined for failure, because in the end everyone wants to be rich and most people will never betray their dream of being better than the rest of the world and it has nothing to do with straight lines. At least for the moment.