Meet the Press

SOURCE: Socialist Health Association

This past Sunday on Meet the Press, Gregory David sat down with the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice to discuss the current conditions of the Middle East and Northern Africa. Ambassador Rice explained the regional problems responsible for the increase of anti-government demonstrations as the presence of a "youth bulge, high unemployment, a lack of political openness" and deemed these conditions to be unstable. Supporting a reform process, she assured the consistency of their main message across the region which advocates nonviolence and, most importantly, the respect for  "universal rights of people to assemble, to protest, to speak, and to form political organizations." Gregory brought up diplomats' criticism about the inconsistent handling of our Arab allies by our administration, but Ambassador Rice ensured that there is firm support for “the legitimate aspirations of people all over the world, including in the Arab world, to have representative governments, to have governments that respect their universal rights.” Emphasizing human rights, Rice also discredited the assumption of inconsistency by asserting that the interests of the U.S. and our response to the aspirations of the Arab world are intertwined rather than a conflict on interests. In fact, the manner of response pertains to the revolution in Egypt where President Obama “publicly and privately pushed Mubarak to go without a real sense of what would come next in terms of democratic reform” Gregory touched upon the establishment and presence of the Muslim Brotherhood, reported by USA Today, which is an Islamist group that partakes in stoning adulterers, punishing gays, and killing Muslims who leave their faith through "the preservation of honor", stated by their spokesperson Abdel Fattah. 

    Due to the lack of concrete direction concerning the democratization of Egypt’s government and the U.S.’s quest to “spread democracy”, there seems to be a suspicious air hovering over the Muslim Brotherhood. In some respects, this opposition group can pose a threat through its "nationalistic" aspect illustrated by their harsh practices to support Islam and Muslim culture. This could potentially serve as a detriment to the U.S. because if the Muslim Brotherhood were to seize power, it could drastically alter foreign relations between the two countries. Nationalism is deeply rooted in an exaggerated belief in the greatness of one's country and the idea of resenting foreign domination which would jeopardize the current status as allies. Egypt is experiencing a regime change where the transition state of their government leaves the country in a fragile state and extremist groups are more likely to mobilize. As Ambassador Rice stated, the interests of the U.S. and the aspirations of reform by Egyptian citizens are essentially linked together by the fight for the protection of universal rights. The real debate stems from the deciding force that implements these rights and basis of which they are formed. The universal rights Ambassador Rice spoke about are democratic ideals listed in the U.S. Constitution, but what works for our Western society may not suit Northern Africa. Functioning under a dictatorship for thirty years and all of the sudden flipping the switch to a democracy may just be the workings of cultural imperialism.

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