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SILLY POINT | vincent van ross Ah, the scent of jasmine! Uncle Sam’s chickens come home to roost THE 82-year-old Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, stepped down and took the first non-presidential flight out of Cairo, bringing to an end three decades of his dictatorship. If that was not enough, he left the Vice-President and Prime Minister to face the music with the Army sitting on top of their heads. It took 18 days of sustained demonstrations by determined protesters at Tahrir Square to send him scurrying for cover. The Army was quick to dissolve the Parliament and suspend the Constitution with the promise of holding free and fair elections within six months. That is too long a period for the Egyptians to keep their fingers crossed. For all you know, the Egyptians might have jumped from the frying pan into the fire. Landing in the lap of a military junta is hardly an escape from a dictatorial regime.  Dictators think they are invincible till their authority is challenged. And then they suddenly realize how vulnerable they are. When that happens, the first thing they do is flee like frightened squirrels.  Pro-democracy protests are triggered by rampant unemployment, inflation, corruption, poor living conditions and repressive governments that drive the masses to breaking point. The fragrance of the recent pro-democracy movements in the Arab world led the media to dub it the Jasmine Revolution.  Tunisia was a precursor to what happened in Egypt. The revolution that started on December 18 last year ended in just 28 days. The people put an end to 23 years of iron rule by the 74-year-old dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia with his family. Only, this time, their holiday may be of a permanent nature. The US fears people in these countries may realize it is the US which is responsible for their misfortune... the fragrance of jasmine may not be so sweet for the US. Meanwhile, in the US, Barack Obama is twiddling his thumbs nervously. First, Tunisia, then Egypt and the Jasmine Revolution seems to be churning the Arab world, sucking into its vortex nations like Algeria, Yemen, Jordan, Bahrain, Libya and Morocco. Some more nations in the Middle East may follow suit.  The fate of these governments is the last thing on the US government’s mind. Its main worry is that, if this continues, the US might be left with fewer allies to deal with Iran.  US foreign policy has always been very transparent. It has propped up many dictatorial regimes to emphasize the vibrancy of its democracy. The good thing about dictatorships is that the US has to deal with only one person to push its indulgent foreign policies.  The US proudly flaunts its magnanimity by pumping money into these countries in the name of aid. However, it is least concerned whether these funds are used for development projects. Usually, the dictators divert most of the funds to their private accounts in foreign banks. But that is what the US government secretly hopes for! Once that happens, the dictator becomes a puppet of the US government and lives in perpetual fear of being exposed. The greatest bonus for the US is that, when such dictatorships collapse, it can start supporting the people’s movement to prove its democratic credentials.  It is not the Jasmine Revolution or its ripple effect that is bothering the US. What it fears is that the people of these countries may eventually realize that it is the US which is responsible for their misfortune and the fragrance of jasmine may not be so sweet for the US. It might be the biggest loser in the Jasmine Revolutions sweeping the Arab world but the biggest gainer may well be its strongest ally – Israel.

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