Listening to Israelis, Americans and Westerners discuss the Middle East, there are some words and phrases that you will hear repeatedly. These words and phrases are designed to guide the audience away from the core issues of the region.
Stability - This word means acceptance of Israel. When Barack Obama or PJ Crowley say Egypt is a force for stability, what they are saying is that Egypt has acceptable relations with Israel, regardless of the sentiments of its people.
Political, Economic and Social - This phrase is used to introduce or advance the idea that authoritarian dictatorships can make progress without becoming accountable to the people governed. The dictatorships of the US colonies in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait are not to be fundamentally challenged, but asked to make small changes in different areas as long as they do not impact the important condition that the people of those countries do not have control over foreign policy, particularly foreign policy in matters related to Israel.
Reform - This corresponds to the observation that government of the US colonies could be somewhat less repressive while still isolating policies important for Israel's strategic interests from popular accountability.
It is important to the United States, to Barack Obama, to Hillary Clinton that the people of Egypt are not able to shape Egypt's policies regarding Israel. The people of Egypt must not decide whether or how to cooperate with the siege on Gaza, or the isolation of Hamas. The people of Egypt must not decide which countries in the region Egypt aligns its foreign policy with. "Stability" means that Egypt is accountable to the United States in its foreign policy decisions.
"Political, Economic and Social" "Reform" means that as long as Egypt fulfills the requirement that its foreign policy is accountable to Tel Aviv and Washington DC and not to the people that it rules, Egypt and the other US regional colonies should make gestures in other areas of less importance to the United States.
Fundamentally what these formulations do is dodge the question: Should a country's policies that are of strategic importance to Israel be determined by the people of the country or by Tel Aviv via the United States?
Barack Obama lies when he claims the US supports democracy. He supports democracy as long as US colonies such as Egypt are accountable to the US and not to its own people regarding policies that Israel cares about. There is no such thing though, as democracy where a country is accountable to a foreign power and not its own people on issues of the foreign power's choosing.
We are starting to see US figures directly questioned on this. Barack Obama's phrase "let us be clear", before he lied about supporting democracy for all people indicates that he has, in some way and to some degree, been made aware of this contradiction in between US claimed values and US policy.
US policy, the idea that Egypt's policies regarding Israel should be isolated from the political will of Egyptians is not defensible by US values. It continues because it is rarely questioned or challenged directly. Every time a US or Western figure is forced to address the issue directly is a blow to the modern colonial structure the US maintains in the region for Israel's strategic benefit.
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