A Deadly New Axis

Something very troubling should stand out to all the more educated and clear-minded individuals residing in the United States of America as the protests of the Middle East take full force. Egypt managed to denounce and remove its president, and the signs of change are visible in Libya, Yemen, and Bahrain. Yet unlike the fantastical image which the media likes to portray, these movements are no more beneficial to American security and prosperity than the rise of Nazisim was to industry during the 1930s, something which many came to regret following the Great War. By rejoicing over these negative issues American citizens are placing themselves on the chopping block for future conflicts in which front line soldiers will be expended to recreate national security on a larger  and more international scale.

 (Courtesy of travelnotes.org)

Make no mistake, the revolutions are exciting, yet even as they reach climax their results leave behind a muddy trail of violence and extremism that threatens to solidify into new radicalized states with common goals of anti-westernization. This is why all the freedom-lovers of our nation have been cutely suckered into the vision of new democracy amidst the reality that most of them do not fully understand how its manifestation will take place in the Central East.

Traditionally power in the region has been regulated by a crescent axis around the State of Israel, America's foremost ally and the one more democratic nation there. About its borders, the breakdown allows for a number of more secular governments and religious authorities to "balance out" the rhetoric and thus keep each other safer. Unfortunately the rising protests in Egypt and other nations threaten to throw this division into upheaval by placing more radicalized dictators into power. With Iran and Egypt the larger secular countries both under the dominion of extremist ideologues, international security suddenly becomes more complex than the average foreign service member is used to.

It may be easy to feign security, but the reality stays that the nation which has most forcefully responded to the rioting citizens is not the demonized Mubarakian Egypt, but the intensely fundamental Iranian government. Why? Because Iran's leadership wants to join not Mubarak or Ben Ali's fate; they want to be at the helm of the Syrian-Lebanese-Muslim Brotherhood Alliance that will seek to destroy Israel for the sake of religious achievement once America's former allies have been swept from the territory.

In simpler terms we will face the quagmire of maintaining Israel's position while the more wealthy Middle Eastern bloc remains cemented against both American foreign interests and the Jewish State.

Though this reality is less than satisfying, the incapable response of President Barack Obama is more discouraging. For an executive who is well-educated and spoken, his grasp of the problems facing the region are rudimentary at best. Rather than supporting the 2009 Iranian Revolution, he stepped back under the guise of multiculturalism, losing an opportunity when bloodlessly the U.S. could have instated democratic reforms by assisting the activists with clandestine support. Now the government is using force as a response, and the president has failed on a major level to realign the axis to partial secularism.

Little can be done to predict the future, yet the track record of the region is primarily one of fission, not its counterpart. Missteps like the one made by our president only excerbate the issue of maintaining international security for the long-term.




Michael Veramendi

National Alliance Vice President for Foreign Issues