Two weeks ago in Qatar, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Arab leaders that if they failed to address the desperation, poverty and lack of political freedoms in their countries and build a better future for their people, their regimes would sink into the sand.
Now, across the region, Arab populations are beginning to voice social and economic frustrations and assert their democratic rights. It puts the United States in the unenviable position of wanting and needing to support those yearnings at the same time the regimes they have long relied on for security in the region are the targets.
The United States was completely caught off guard and absent from the scene in Tunisia. Washington remained silent as the events unfolded, only to speak out after President Ben Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali had fled the country.
In a carefully crafted statement, Clinton urged the caretaker government to respect the rights of the people assembling in the streets and to heed their call for political, social and economic reform.
Egyptians, emboldened by the success of their Tunisian brothers, followed on the streets of Cairo Tuesday to protest the corruption and failed economic policies of President Hosni Mubarak. While the chances of an overnight "revolution," is far less likely in Egypt than in Tunisia, the consequences for the United States would be far more dire should that happen in Egypt.
For more: Analysis: U.S. stuck between support and concern in the Middle East - CNN.com
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