American impotence

The first protest of people in the streets that got my attention was the Hungarian uprising in the 1950s, which was brutally put down by the Soviet Union. I remember thinking, Why don't we do something to help them?

Over half a century later, it's Egyptians in the streets with the same desire for more freedom, and once again I wonder, How can we help them? But it's harder in Egypt because our ally has now become the popular enemy. Time and again, we have sided with regimes that become corrupt, an enemy of the people. We often know going in that this government is not what we prefer but we have "interests" to protect in the area, including commercial corporate interests. We are driven by short term vision with short term results, and when the longer vision comes into play, when the chickens come home to roost, here we are on the wrong side of a popular uprising, trying to babble our way onto the new right side. It's unfortunate we don't often put our policies behind our rhetoric for freedom. We talk a good game but walk a very different one. It's sad. And it's appalling.