madam president we should all applaud the fall or impending fall of repressive regimes but perhaps only when we know or are pretty certain about who or what is likely to replace them
tunisia like iraq and egypt was a politically repressive regime even by middle eastern standards but it was also by middle eastern standards a secular even socially liberal one
there is a danger that a socially liberal autocracy might be replaced by a socially repressive autocracy or even a socially repressive democracy
those who expect a cosy and civilised transfer of power in all or any of these countries might think again
if we should see civil wars atrocities and the destruction of the economies of these countries we might give good advice and our populations might send aid but i hope that we do not regard it as our job to send our troops there to be killed
it is certainly not our job to rescue the populations of these countries and bring them into europe
