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Support the people not the dictator.

As of writing, the major countries in the Arab world are in revolt for democratic change. In Egypt Mubarak who had ruled the nation for 30 years has been removed in only 18 days, and all that was needed was the collective will of the people who desperately fought for change. There was in western nations a foreign policy stance that Arab countries either don't want democracy or don't know how to live in a democracy, that the people wanted a strong armed ruler or dictator.

So the policy has been to support these dictators in favor of stability, this policy must change. In fact I believe these popular uprisings could teach us a thing or two, I'm not suggesting we live undera despotic system but not stand by and watch our politicians wrongdoing and do nothing about it.

Perhaps one wrongdoing that is related to the on goings in the Arab world is the military support and arms deals that are done with these Arab dictators, these weapons are now being used against the people fighting for democratic change, in other words some of the blood is on our hands. For example in Bahrain where unarmed demonstrators where shot dead by the armed forces equipped with OUR weapons. Since 2003 the United States has granted Bahrain $100 million for military spending along with this the US has sold F-16 jets, M60 tanks, armed personal carriers and helicopter gunships. The US is not alone in supplying arms to Bahrain, the UK and other European nations have had arms deals in the past and lets not forget the massive support the US had given to Egyptian military that runs into billions of dollars.

Our support for these demonstrators and the democratic change they are fighting for, has been severely lacking. The Rightwingers in the US have compared these uprisings to the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, and the demonstrators are Muslim fanatics. This could not be further from the truth. This is not 1979 again, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt did not even start the protests and it was pretty late joining in. It's been the technology savvy youth of these nations who have been the driving force behind these protest movements, and we in the west should be condemning the dictators who oppress them.