Egypt, the American Way. Model of the Status Quo? http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23876

For the Obama Administration, the model it hopes to see Egypt adopt is that of the Philippines, where a people's moved drove Ferdinand Marcos from power in 1986, or Indonesia, where a similar mass movement removed Suharto from office in 1998. Men like Marcos, Suharto and Mubarak were warmly embraced as close U.S. allies, but Western support for them vanished once it became clear that their continued rule was no longer a viable option. U.S. allegiance shifted abruptly, with an eye on the continuation of fundamental economic interests, based on the concept that rulers are expendable. Profits are forever.

Although people's movements in the Philippines and Indonesia successfully ousted brutally repressive rulers, daily lives for most people remained otherwise unchanged. Wealth remained in the hands of the few, corruption persisted, and the majority of people continued to struggle in desperate poverty under neoliberal policies. That is the model the U.S. wants Egypt to follow. And U.S. leaders are not shy about pushing that goal. Even before the fall of Mubarak, the Center for International Private Enterprise received money from the National Endowment for Democracy to strengthen the ability of civil society organizations in Egypt "to advocate for free market legislative reform, and to build consensus on needed changes to the Egyptian legal environment to remove impediments to competition in a free market." (6)