Musings for today

Austin Bay has an essay on dictatorships that is true on many levels and should help the clueless to understand dictatorships.

I linked to it on my EvilMugabeBlog, since much of it uses Mugabe as an example.

An interesting part of it that many secular writers ignore is the importance of the church as remaining outside the ability of the dictator to control the gov't.

This reminds me of our People Power revolt, where Cardinal Sin was deeply involved in the demonstrations.

Of course, one could also argue that a similar "people power" with religious figures was involved behind the revolution in Iraq. Dr. Ebtakar hsd argued in the past that the idealism of the revolution was hijacked by extremists when Saddam attacked, and noted more recently the simimlarities between what is happening in Egypt etc. with the "green" revolution last year in her country.

She insists:
The life of the dictators is over and people do not look up to the US as their savior any longer. The US has once again, lost its face in supporting despotic regimes in Egypt and Tunisis. Democratic and Islamic values will determine the fate of the Middle East. The people will learn from the lessons and mistakes of other nations including Iran and will build their future upon those valuable experiences .

So, will the Jasmine revolution be hijacked by extremists? Or will it fulfill the yearning for democracy that respects Islamic values?

developing...