Observations on developments in Egypt

Santayana really had it right: "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it!" One would think that Mubarak and the other autocrats would have learned from what happened both at the beginning and end of the Soviet Union. Each situation, has two unique problems which it has to face: 1. As Erich Fromm teaches us, there are two types of freedom: freedom from, and freedom to. The Jews were freed from Egypt some 3300 years ago and became a covenantal community, guided by the Torah. The Blacks were freed after the civil war in America, and continue to suffer to this day from without and from within as their freedom left a void. So, too, in Egypt. Not if, but when Mubarak is replaced, will the void be replaced by the likes of Lenin, Stalin and Khomeini, or will the world community provide support to build a meaningful and non-corrupt government of the people. 2. What will become of minorities such as the Copts? The world cries over the displacement of the "Palestinian" refugees, but has anyone considered that a far greater number of Jews were kicked out, had their property repossessed and were involuntarily sent into exile by Arab regimes after the establishment of the state of Israel?