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Obama Must Back Egypt's Regime, or Face a Disaster like U.S. Did in Iran
(Christian Science Monitor) Barry Rubin - Mubarak's government, based on the regime that has been running Egypt since July 23, 1952, is a dictatorship with a great deal of corruption and repression. But this Egyptian government has generally been a good ally of the U.S. Its loss of power to an anti-American government would be a tremendous defeat for the U.S. Moreover, a populist and radical nationalist - much less an Islamist - government could reignite the Arab-Israeli conflict and cost tens of thousands of lives. So the U.S. has a stake in the survival of the regime, if not so much of Mubarak personally, or the succession of his son, Gamal. No matter what the U.S. says or does at this point, it is not going to reap the gratitude of millions of Egyptians as a liberator. For the new anti-regime leaders will blame America for its past support of Mubarak, opposition to Islamism, backing of Israel, cultural influence, and incidents of alleged imperialism. The writer is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal.