Egypt

In the revolution that is going on in Egypt this year, I find Egypt's relationship with the United States to be both puzzling and intriguing, for many reasons. For instance, I found it unbelievable and wrong that the government in Egypt was corrupt, in that fake elections were being held under Mubarak when he was in power, and yet the US still sided with him while he was president. Personally, I believe that it is wrong for the US to do so because they are holding a hypocritical standard for themselves by promoting democracy worldwide while also siding with Mubarak. As an upstanding democratic nation, we should have condemned anything other than democracy to the start, perhaps so that the Egyptian government would implement a change in government so that they can remain allies with us.

^Hosni Mubarak, 4th president of Egypt

However, considering the specifics of the relationship between the US and Egypt, I think that, although it is horrible and hypocritical for the US to support a corrupt government with a democracy like our own, it would be even worse for the US to break ties with Egypt, since they are an important ally. Firstly, Egypt and Israel are the United States most closely associated allies in the middle East. If the US broke ties with Egypt, and something were to happen in the Middle East that required the US to get involved, they would have no means of doing so other than through the small country of Israel. Secondly, Mubarak was one of very few leaders that supported Israel in the Middle East, so if the US broke condemned his non-democratic policies and removed him from office, the government would most likely be replaced with an anti-Israel leader or group. I believe that this would be bad because Israel, too is an important ally of the US, and if Egypt turned against them they would be completely surrounded by countries that were against it.

Do you side the the first paragraph's view that the US should not have supported the non-democratic government that was under Mubarak, because it would be hypocritical? Or do you side with the second paragraph's view that the benefits of keeping ties with Egypt outweigh the implications of hypocrisy that would be caused by supporting Egypt?