What is Not Being Said About the Uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East

The peoples’ uprisings in Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain, Libya, and the brewing unrest in Saudi Arabia have been in the headlines lately. Sadly, nothing much is being written about the reasons behind the uprisings except that people are rising up against their long-time rulers because of the worsening unemployment and poverty in these countries. And because these rulers have responded with violence and repression, the uprisings have likewise intensified.

It is true that in most of these countries, those in power have been imposing their autocratic rule on its citizens for a long time: Jordan, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are ruled by their respective kings; Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak had been Egypt’s president for 29 years until he was ousted recently; Tunisia’s Zine Ben Ali was in power for 24 years before being ousted on January 14 this year. President Ali Abdullah Saleh has ruled Yemen for 32 years.

Libya’s Moammar Qaddafi wrested power in 1969, but not being said much in the news is the fact that since 2003, Libya had been ruled by two prime ministers: Shukri Mohammed Ghanem from June 2003 to March 2006, then Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmudi from March 2006 up to the present. While it could be argued that Qaddafi still exerts considerable influence, he is no longer the head of state and has, thus, lost much of his power and authority,

The US has reportedly been observing the turn of events closely and in the case of Libya, has been gearing to act decisively as the self-proclaimed policeman of democracy in the world. What is not being said is the fact that the US exerts considerable influence on, and has been supporting and propping up these autocratic governments, with the exception of Libya.

Gone are the days when Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia have been at odds with the US over its policy regarding Israel and the Middle East. Egypt, and Saudi Arabia have become the closest allies of the US in the Middle East. Egypt gets considerable support from the US. Israel and Egypt combined receive one-third of all US aid: military and economic. Jordan signed a non-belligerency agreement with Israel in 1994. Before that, it has signed a bilateral free trade agreement with the US in 2001, being the first Arab country to do so. And the US has been providing $6 billion in development assistance to Jordan since 1952. The US is the leading arms supplier to Saudi Arabia. In 2002, Saudi Arabia became the second largest trading partner of the US in the Middle East.