Iran: Egyptians question the sincerity of the west

So what is new? Egypt has a very dictatorial government so does Saudi Arabia. Arabs are questioning why so much attention is directed towards Iran. In these countries dissidents are routinely beaten up, imprisoned, and hung but not a beep from the west and that is exactly what Egyptians are saying. According to Mohamed Sharkawy of Egypt:

"Here, in the last presidential election, the police used live ammunition. Why didn't the West speak out against what was happening to us, when we had much smaller numbers? You become skeptical. We understand the United States and the West will pursue their own interests. They don't want a strong Egyptian government that will have separate opinions from the West."

You got it Sharkawy. You should meet our Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other leaders and you will understand why.

According to Ahmed Abd el-Fatah, another Egyptian activist:

"We Egyptians are like youth watching pornography (Iranian demonstrations) because they can't practice sex. Congratulations to Iran for its democracy."

Still another Egyptian, a columnist, Fahmy Howeiday says:

"We have a very weak opposition. We don't have a civil society. The police are very powerful. In Iran, at least there are real elections. We've never had any real elections here in 50 years. Our society has been weakened. We have not allowed political groups to grow."

Many Egyptians resent the West's reaction to Iran and say double standards are being used. They put Obama in the same category.

The Washington Post has good write up on this.

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Neda and Troubles in Iran

It is very troubling that a young life was taken in this manner and one's heart goes out to her father who was with her at the time of the killing. Neda and her father were standing on the sidelines and not actually part of the demonstrations. Media in the US and Canada have no specific information as to who killed Neda. However, what is also troubling is the way her death is being exploited.

CNN is repeatedly showing gory pictures of her killing. Why in this instance?

When a crazy racist white supremacist goes to the Holocaust museum in Washington D.C and kills a guard, did the US media show the dead body of the guard? No. Another crazy person kills an abortion doctor. Was the dead body of the doctor displayed on TV? No. Many more such public murders have taken place in the US but no bodies were shown. So why then the dead body of Neda which is displayed again and again and again?

One can draw only one conclusion, that CNN and others reporting here do not consider Iranians as humans and for them it is okay to show dead bodies as we show the dead bodies of seals. Another obvious conclusion is that CNN and other western media are putting gas on fire in order to destabilize Iran. I am very saddened by all this.

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Iran and its vulnerabilities

Given Iran's history and its exploitation in the past, will it accept foreign help? Would it not look at it as a Trojan horse? Where all the commotion in Iran is going to lead is hard to tell. One can only wish all the best to the people of Iran.

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