Except with the usual calls to end violence, the world leaders fail to give any substantive response to the ongoing situation in Egypt.

Granted, Egypt has been a critical ally on the war on terror with the western community, but there has not been a good international response on the ongoing developments in Egypt. There have been a lot of calls to end violence for the sake of preventing the innocent from getting injured, but most world leaders did not side with either the current Egyptian government or the civilian protestors.

Why such a hands off approach? Perhaps the Egyptian government and the world had a relatively warm relationship behind closed doors or there might be some diplomatic consequence if another country attempts to takes side on this conflict. Besides, this is technically an internal affairs problem for Egypt and not anyone’s business.

But we cannot see this merely as an isolated, domestic incident within Egypt. The protest seems to be inspired by the initial protests in Tunisia, and the spirit to overthrow an unrepresentative government (regardless to whether the form of government is in principle representative) seems to be spreading in the Middle East. To be honest, I am not well versed in the Middle Eastern studies, but from my own inference to various reports, I believe a certain unity to democratic principles of true representation of the people is driving these protests.

Then, if the charges and grievances made by these protestors are true, then doesn’t at least the Western World, who dearly holds the universal principles of human rights and political representation, have some type of principle duty to “in spirit” side with the protestors as a symbolic gesture?

I think the western world already shown its support its public solidarity expressed by many western citizens on the web. Personally, I think the western governments’ hands are too tied to be involved in these conflicts. For now, the foreign governments can’t really do anything but watch and hope for the minimum causalities and the resolution of conflict..

Personally, my own lack of knowledge prohibits me from publically giving support to either side, because I do not have enough contexts to make judgment on the situation. There are probably a lot of historical developments leading up to these protests, and there are various groups within these protestors that have their own political agenda. (Such as instituting an Islamic Republic) It would be premature to side with the protestors under these circumstances.

Nevertheless, this is a great opportunity to observe a potential historical moment in the Middle East. Who knows? This might be the beginning of a long process that would lead up to a better political atmosphere in all of Middle East.