Didn't the Wikileaks reveal that the U.S. does know what it's doing? Doug
--------------
I should have been more clear then. They may know what conditions are in Tunisia and Egypt, but I am certain they never expected what has happened.
Now they don't know what they are going to do about the situation. On the other hand, because of years of manipulation of Egypt to conform to US policy, the people if they really get a representative government, will not support US policies. That is one of the key reasons that Mubarak must go.
It will be interesting to find out how the Egyptian military tries to balance their internal support for the US, if there is any of that left, and the evident will of the people. There was already a US foreign policy wanker talking about using US foreign aid to leverage the military.
The other dimension to what I am seeing is that most of the street knows very well the linkage between US and EU neoliberalism and their own local conditions. Like in Tunisia, the combination of crony capitalism and global systems have produced massive inequalities.
What I am trying to say, I think, is Washington maybe watching the endgame of its foreign policy and its economic policies in much of the region if Egypt transforms itself into a representative government.
CG