For You, O Israel

Looks like the democratic aspirations of millions throughout the Middle East will just have to be put on hold because a certain entity, which has the Land of the Free and Home of the Not-So-Brave firmly by the balls (see my last post), reckons they simply cannot be trusted to vote the right way:

"After weeks of internal debate [!] on how to respond to uprisings in the Arab world, the Obama administration is settling on a Middle East strategy: help keep longtime allies who are willing to reform in power, even if that means the full democratic demands of their newly emboldened citizens might have to wait. Instead of pushing for immediate regime change as it did in varying degrees [!!] in Egypt and now Libya - the US is urging protesters from Bahrain to Morocco to work with existing rulers toward what some officials and diplomats are now calling 'regime alteration'. The approach has emerged amid furious lobbying of the administration by Arab governments, who were alarmed that President Barack Obama had abandoned Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and worried that, if the US did the same to the beleaguered king of Bahrain, a chain of revolts could sweep them from power, too, and further upend the region's stability... Israel was also making its voice heard [!!!]. As Mr Mubarak's grip on power slipped away in Egypt, Israeli officials lobbied Washington to move cautiously and reassure Mideast allies that they were not being abandoned. Israeli leaders have made clear that they fear extremist forces could try to exploit new-found freedoms and undercut Israel's security, diplomats said." (US wavers on 'regime change', Entous & Barnes, The Wall Street Journal, 5/3/11)

And don't for a moment think that Egypt, which has already sent its Israel-friendly pharaoh packing, is going to be spared regime alteration:

"A senior Israeli official [Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon] is suggesting the Muslim Brotherhood should be banned from standing in Egyptian elections because it is an extremist organization." (Israel seeks ban on Brotherhood in Egypt, dailytimes.com.pk, 1/3/11)