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(WOIO) - To anyone old enough to remember the fall of the Shah of Iran more than 30 years ago, the scene this week in Cairo, Egypt is, as Yogi Berra famously said, "Déjà vu all over again."
Egypt, like Iran of the 1970's, is a crucial U.S. ally and with control of the Suez Canal occupies a critical and strategic position in the Middle East. If, as a result of the current upheaval the country falls into the hands of Islamic radicals the outcome for the United States and especially for Israel would be nothing short of a nightmare.
Freedom lovers worldwide have been quick to characterize the huge demonstrations in cairo as proof of the Egyptian people's determination to replace a dictatorship with democracy. But that same optimism was expressed on the eve of the revolution in Iran and history records what happened instead. The worrisome part of this uprising in Egypt is what role will be played by the Islamic brotherhood, an outlawed radical organization in Egypt that is the mother ship of all Jihadist movements.
We may cheer the mobs in the street demanding democracy, but diplomatically we'd better make sure that the inevitable transition of power there is accomplished slowly and in the best interests of a peaceful Middle East.
Write and let me now what you think. I'm Bill Applegate.
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