(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Press TV interviewed writer and Radio Host, Stephen Lendman regarding the future of Egypt and the imperialistic dark forces of the US, which still may have plans for the Egyptian people.
Press TV: Stephen Lendman is a writer and Radio Show Host. He joins me on the line from the Big Apple (New York). Many thanks for being with us Mr. Lendman. What is your initial reaction to President Mubarak's stepping down?
Lendman: I indeed do have a reaction. Let me say that I live in the little apple not the big apple. I live in Chicago. We don't use that expression. We have other expressions for Chicago such as the “City of Broad Shoulders.” I have a very strong reaction to what is going on. I have been tuning in sporadically to Al-Jazeera's online feed that anybody can pick up, and they have done a wonderful job. I tuned in the moment after Mr. Suleiman made his extremely brief announcement. Then all I saw was the incredible mass of humanity cheering non-stop. The announcer at Al-Jazeera was saying nothing. This went on and on. I simply didn't know what was going on until finally he broke in and made the announcement that Mubarak resigned.
I began writing about this in January, and it was either in my first or second article. I basically said Mubarak is gone. All that was uncertain was the timing, but he was absolutely gone because for some time now he has been damaged goods for Washington. Washington wanted him removed but they had there on way of doing this.
So now that he is gone, I would hold the cheers if I were the people of Egypt because their work has just begun. It didn't end. It did not end today. What's next is most important and I strongly believe that Egypt's military can with forces in Washington, who hold the real power, plan a much different outcome than the people of Egypt want and deserve. That's more than a fear. I have seen this happen repeatedly in country after country. I have written about so much of it. I'm certain the same thing is planned for Egypt. It doesn't mean they will be defeated because what will happen in the end is very much uncertain at this point. There is no guarantee that Washington will prevail.
The Egyptian people absolutely have a chance of maybe not getting everything they want, but getting an awful lot that would make a major difference in their lives. It's up to them to understand that and to keep this struggle alive. And if they do that, they will get a lot more than they think they may have gotten now. So I worry about them and I worry the protests will fade and everybody will go back to their normal lives. Thereafter, the dark forces that they are not seeing will maneuver to defeat them. And they will unless the Egyptian people stop it.
Press TV: I wish the Egyptian protesters were able to listen to you, but that is not possible for now.
Lendman: I wish I could be the Google Executive with a microphone standing in front of that crowd to address them because I would explain to them what I know so well from US history, including the fact that Washington wants imperial domination everywhere. There is no country excluded and that includes your own country. They don't want any country excluded from their imperial grasp. The idea of letting a country become independent and democratic is absolutely unimaginative to them including right here in America. We have what I call a rhetorical democracy - it's talk, it's not reality.
We have a theater that substitutes for elections; we have a one-party state with two wings; we have people believing that one person or one party may be different from the other, but it's not different, only on non-important matters. But when it comes to major issues, anything involving big money, banking , or war Vs peace, human rights, civil liberties - both parties are absolutely 100% together in lock-step. And they're absolutely pro-power and anti-people. And there's no question about that. So, if Washington won't do it here and it wants control virtually over every country in the world with no exception, there is no chance that Washington will tolerate something in Egypt that they won't tolerate right here at home.
Press TV: I wonder what President Obama's advisors or he himself make of people in this part of the world who are technologically savvy with access to Satellite channels and the Internet; they are moving with the world intellectually; they understand what is going on and when the president of a country makes a statement it's followed almost simultaneously by the American president most of time in defense of that person. People don't want American intervention in their country that doesn't seem to be the case on the American part and the White house' part.
Lendman: Well very definitely they don't want American intervention and I think that even though it is not in very publicly displayed in the streets in Tahrir Square, I think that Egyptians understand that Washington, going back many, many years, has meddled in the internal affairs of Egypt. And I must say that the Egyptian people are far, far savvier; the Iranian people are far, far savvier than Americans - it's astonishing. And it's so depressing to me that with all the technological accessibilities that there are in America - so many people have computers; so many people can find out what's going on; if they make a modest effort to do it; and yet they don't.
They worry more about the sports teams they're rooting for; the latest films they want to go and see; the latest fashions that they want to buy - all the things that mean absolutely nothing in their lives and they spend their time talking about this...Meanwhile their government is literally destroying their rights in plain sight in front of their eyes and they don't react to it. And I say to myself and I have my own radio program a few times a week and with my guest yesterday I said to him, “When will Americans rally in the streets the way the Egyptian people are doing now? When will they realize that their government is betraying them and it keeps getting worse and worse?”
The Egyptian people decided they will not put up with this and finally today they succeeded in getting rid of Mubarak. But again I repeat the job has just begun. My guest answered my question and I agreed with him and his answer was, “When they get hungry. When they don't know when their next meal is coming from; when they don't know whether they can feed their children - then the anger level will boil over.” But does it have to wait for that?
Meanwhile they've lost so much and so sadly they don't know it.
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