A simple slap in the face sparked a New World Order in the Middle East

   Who would have ever thought that when street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi was slapped in the face for selling fruit on the streets of Sidi Bouzid, it would start a domino effect of unrest and revolt throughout the Middle East?  Bouazizi, a computer science graduate Tunisian, was forced to sell fruit on the street as a means of supporting his seven siblings because he couldn’t find work as a computer technician.  Finding work was a challenge in Tunisia.  A female police officer slapped him in the face because he protested when ordered to pack up his cart.  Outraged and humiliated, Bouazizi marched to the governor’s office and demanded to see the governor and he was immediately turned away.  Bouazizi threatened to immolate himself if he didn’t get a meeting with the governor and when he was turned away yet again, he carried out his threat.  When he died on January 4, he became a martyr to his countrymen and thus the “Jasmine Resolution” was born.  (See Time Magazine article by Vivienne Walt)

   How did this single act of one man being humiliated spark what is clearly a New World Order in the Middle East?  Tunisia President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced out of the country and is now in exile in Saudi Arabia.  The governments of neighboring countries Algeria and Libya nervously observed the unrest in Tunisia.  Those countries, too, are run by dictators and unrest and civil disobedience dominate their landscapes.  Jordan, Yemen, Syria, Sudan and the heretofore untouchable nation, Saudi Arabia, are subject to similar actions.  All of these countries have high unemployment, high rates of poverty and citizens who are simply weary of having their basic human rights and individual freedom denied and suppressed.  It has been a long and wide practice in all of these countries to both arrest and imprison dissidents against the government or to simply execute dissidents and their families.  It has been a long, slow burn that has finally come to a climax. 

   That brings us to what is now a revolution in Egypt, the mother lode of the Middle East.  Not only is Egypt the largest country in the Middle East, it is also the strongest ally the United States has among Arab nations.  Egypt is important to the United States for many reasons; Egypt has been the key Middle Eastern player in forging peace between Israel and nations that have uneasy relationships with Israel.  Arguably more important is the fact that Egypt is home to the Suez Canal, which connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea that empties into the Atlantic Ocean and consequently, is the gateway to the world as far as shipping goes to and from the Middle East.  Nearly 30% of the WORLD’S oil supply flows through the Suez, so the control of the canal is vital to most countries of the world.  Egyptians want their President Hosni Mubarak to resign his thirty year reign immediately.  In a defiant address to the country, Mubarak said he that although he will not seek re-election in the September Egyptian elections, he will not relinquish power before then.  That apparently didn’t sit well with most Egyptians who want him to leave now.  Today, supporters of Mubarak took to the streets and literally resorted to violence which at the time of this writing, has resulted in at least four deaths and countless other injuries.  It now appears there is a full scale revolution in Egypt.  All foreign citizens are encouraged to leave Egypt immediately.  In an interesting twist, the Egyptian army has not gotten involved in the discord YET. 

  It is fascinating to watch history be made right before our eyes. There's a NEW WORLD ORDER in the Middle East.  It all was started by a slap in the face.

Peace, peace in the Middle East.

Craig Riggins

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