Crescent Moon, Waning West

The Middle East has been in a state of revolution since January 2011. It all began with one fed up fruit vendor, Mohammed Bouazizi. He had his scale confiscated by a government official and when they would not give it back he did the unthinkable. He filled a canister with gas and in front of a government building in a small town in Tunisia, in the middle of traffic; he poured the canister over himself and lit a match. He barely survived. Videos of the incident would not have been shown on Tunisian television, and if it wasn’t for the fact that 20% of Tunisians had Facebook a revolution might have not occurred but they did. Videos of the man lighting himself on fire went up all over Facebook and when the man died word went out on the Internet and the public responded. Thousands poured into the capital and the dictator, Ben Ali, in fear for his life fled the country. Tunisia was free. But this was only the start. Egypt would soon follow in the steps of Tunisia and soon President Mumbarak resigned. Word was now spreading across the middle east of the revolutions. A Middle East country had never had a leader ousted by its own people and now it was starting. Libya would soon follow in the surge of uprisings and with the help of NATO, over the course of many months, Libyan rebels soon started to win the fight. When Muammar Gaddafi was finally captured and beaten to death it seemed as if the Libyan people had won there revolution. Throughout the Middle East, demonstrations have been taking place, from Yemen to Iran and Saudi Arabia. Additionally Saudi Arabia’s ancient crown prince Sultan has died. His death came at a time when many Saudi Arabians were seeking and demanding that their country modernize faster. What does all of this mean for the west? The U.S. has had relationships with many Middle East leaders and dictators. The U.S. has benefited from these alliances because it would deal with just the leaders alone, not some massive government body. The dictators or leaders had total control. But that could all change very soon. Elections have already been held in Egypt, which has been temporarily controlled by the military following Mubarak’s resignation. Elections will also soon be held in Tunisia and Libya as well. It seems as if these countries, among others, are heading to a democratic rule. One major fear is that fundamentalist Islamic groups might take control of these governments and once they are in control they might not want to leave. These new democratic governments might also not want any part of westernization especially if they are Islamic. Though western influence might waning but Middle Easterners will always have western influence in the fact that its students and businessmen will always flock to the United States for opportunity and knowledge.

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