I have been watching the revolutions in Northern Africa with much interest. One by one, dictatorships are crumbling under the weight of the people’s demand for change. The Middle East is now seeing its share of protest, most notably in Iraq, Jordan, Bahrain, and Yemen. I am not surprised that this domino effect is taking place. Once people realize that they hold the key to power and change it becomes infectious. What I find the most fascinating is not that the people of the region want change. it is that western democracies are not jumping with joy. As long as I can remember, when people talked about the Middle East, the dream was always for a free democratic region. The United States has toppled governments and even invaded nations in the guise of bringing democracy. Now that it is happening, you would think that Prime Minister Harper, President Obama, and Prime Minister Cameron would be the first to support the people of the regions. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Western leaders are cautious. They fear the changes taking place because of the uncertainty. At least when the United States and Coalition partners invaded Iraq there were plans in place to keep the oil running to the west. I cannot help but laugh at the West’s “experts” on the region and political pundits who call for caution and warn the viewers about the uncertainties. Many have tried to install fear in the audience. I laugh because I find these mainly affluent white talking heads are arrogant enough to think that we have the right to dictate to others how they should run their nations. These so called “intellectuals” seem to believe that we have the monopoly on democracy. I was watching Glenn Beck during the Egyptian revolution and he actually suggested that because the revolution was being led by Egypt’s youth that it must be a socialist conspiracy and that because the founding fathers of the United States were older that these Egyptians did not know what they were doing. The assumptions made by Beck are absolutely absurd. The idea that people who want to throw off the chains of oppression by a dictator are wrong because of their lack of years just shows that many in the West have no idea what is happening in North Africa or the Middle East. The people of Western nations need to keep their mouths shut and let the people of North Africa and the Middle East do as they wish. Western governments are to blame for most of these dictators’ power anyways. If it was not for the aid from Western democracies in the first place, most of these tyrants would not exist today. Our governments have provided them with the money and guns that have kept the people of these regions subservient to rulers that “we” could work with. Western greed and demand for oil from the region have dictated western foreign policy, especially that of the United States since the end of the Second World War. It is time for our governments to step back and allow the people of the world to decide for themselves how they want to be governed. The oil will still be there when the revolution is over and they will need money and trade to rebuild their countries.