A wink and a nod!

Monday – January 31, 2011

A wink and a nod!

Have you ever wondered how our foreign policy works and how it is performed? The events that are now playing out in Egypt are an example of the wink and a nod diplomacy that has occurred over the course of thirty years.

As I watched with great interest the footage of the rioting in Egypt streaming live, I thought about how our own revolution took shape and how it became a reality. In our revolution we were protesting taxes and tyranny. Our people at that time wanted to own property and wanted to create wealth for their posterity. This is something that I have written about before.

In Egypt, it is not so different. However, what we forget is that it is now the twenty first century. In the twenty first century we, as a world, should not have this great disparity from country to country, from culture to culture. This country should be allowed to encourage freedom, when ever and where ever possible. We should be practicing foreign policy with an even hand. It should be direct and it should be one that favors democracy for democracy’s sake.

George Washington said, on September 19, 1796, "The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is in extending our commercial relations to have as little political connection as possible... Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rival ships, interest, humor, or caprice?... It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world."

Foreign policy should be a policy by which every side knows where we stand, as a country and as a people. Far too many times in recent history we have become victims of our victimization. Hosni Mubarak has ruled Egypt for thirty years. For thirty years Hosni Mubarak has taken billions of our dollars in aid for the betterment of his country. Egypt is the second largest foreign recipient of U.S. foreign aid funds. Where has the money gone? If the aid was used for the reforms that are needed now, then his country should not be clamoring for freedom, education, jobs and decent wages. This is a common theme in many Arab countries today. Our aid and foreign policy initiatives changes with each despot, dictator and time zone. Hosni Mubarak has just appointed a Vice President after thirty years of rule without one. Why was he allowed to stay in office this long without one? Why were the reforms not made earlier? These are some very simple questions that need to be asked. My father once told me there is no such thing as a dumb question.

Our Middle Eastern Foreign Policy has lacked direction, purpose, strength and economic firmness for decades. Iran is a result of a policy that was designed with a wink and a nod. Osama Bin Laden was a consequence of abandonment in Afghanistan some twenty years ago, because of a wink and a nod.

The problems in Egypt today are a result of a despot that has been enabled by economic aid in as much as the wink and a nod. A foreign policy of containment does not work any longer. The citizens of countries like Egypt want democracy and they want the rule of law. A leader who says that he can deliver and doesn’t does not deserve to lead and does not deserve the support by free governments. But when a wink and a nod are given the leader might misinterpret a policy initiative and the meaning in direction to move his country towards freedom and democracy.

The problem of democracy is not the freedom it gives, but the support it sometimes gives to despots and the lesser of two evils. Many of the Arab leaders that were supporters of democracy soon became corrupt when they figured out that the money was free and lip service was all that was needed to keep the aid coming in. Thus, the wink and the nod! We saw it in Iran and Iraq and now Egypt.

The bigger picture now is one that might be devastating to the region and our interests here at home. There are three acts to this play. The first act is what we are seeing now: protest, riots and civil unrest. The second act is in the replacement of the current government by either Mohamed ElBaradei or the new Vice President Omar Suleiman. The third act is the ousting of these individuals by an Islamic Faction. The “Muslim Brotherhood” could be just the one. Founded in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna, a schoolteacher, to promote implementing of traditional Islamic sharia law and a social renewal based on an Islamic ethos of altruism and civic duty, in opposition to political and social injustice and to British imperial rule. The organization initially focused on educational and charitable work, but quickly grew to become a major political force as well, by championing the cause of disenfranchised classes, playing a prominent role in the Egyptian nationalist movement, and promoting a conception of Islam that attempted to restore broken links between tradition and modernity. This is the template that has been used in Iran and other Arab states in the 20th century.

The cause and effect of a problematic foreign policy is two fold. It has a destabilizing effect in political circles and in financial circles. Egypt is the home of the Suez Canal. Our oil imports and other shipments that our economy is built upon are linked in Egypt. Grain and other food imports such as beef come to us through the Suez Canal. The bottom line is, if the canal becomes embroiled in the political fight that is now developing in Egypt our economy will suffer. Our political clout in the region will suffer and Israel our only democratic friend in the region will also suffer.

The time has come for solid foreign policy parameters, that is even handed and that takes into account people, culture and the better interests of democracy that does not include the wink and a nod any longer!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: This is not a Republican or Democrat finger pointing session. The problems in Egypt are because of both parties and career employees at the State Department doing the wink and the nod!