I am hoping that it is good news about the fall of President Mubarak of Egypt but only time will tell us what the brave Egyptian protestors have won for themselves by forcing him out of office. Whatever comes next, we can at least detect a new round of musical chairs in the top jobs in the Middle East.
Now that ex-president Mubarak has more time on his hands, I wonder if he will open some of his old photo albums and ruminate on the superficial nature of international friendships. There will be no valentine cards this year from the guys who no time ago were laughing and joking with him like old buddies.
Only the other week, one of his most sincere admirers, Tony Blair, was calling him “a force for good.”
Don’t get too upset though Mr Mubarak, you are not the only Middle Eastern dictator to go in and out of fashion. You might be yesterday’s man but General Gaddafi of Libya has never been so popular.
Once upon a time, even President Saddam Hussein of Iraq was mates with America as you could see in a snap from Donald Rumsfeld’s photo album for 1983 when he was in Iraq on a trade and coopeeration mission.
Saddam must have felt just as cozy as the late Shah of Iran did when he toasted american-Iranian relations with President Carter not long before crashing unloved from his peacock throne.
I wonder too, if King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has a photo album. He too might have less to laugh about one of these days.
……other leaders too might have to start wondering what that friendly handshake really means for them..
