A Farewell To Kings

So it seems that the fires of revolution which were sparked in Tunisia, and came to full flame in Egypt, have spread to Bahrain and Libya as well. You can tell that these are serious protests because people who have something to lose are out there in the squares standing up to authoritarianism. This is something of a contrast to Yemen, where it seems to be only college students out in the streets.

And let’s consider what it means when the military dictator of a nation orders his jet fighters to scramble and drop bombs on civilian protestors — and the pilots decide to disobey their orders, fly to Malta, and defect. If those guys didn’t pull it off, or were denied asylum for any reason, they would have been facing charges of high treason. But for putting their morals and basic humanity above their imperative to follow orders, those two pilots get this blog’s coveted Big Brass Ones Award.

If you think about it, most of the monarchies and a good percentage of the military dictatorships of the world are found in Africa and the Middle East. But the age of kings is over, and while history seems to have come a bit late to this part of the world, it is arriving at last.

Burt Likko

Pseudonymous Portlander. Homebrewer. Atheist. Recovering litigator. Recovering Republican. Recovering Catholic. Recovering divorcé. Recovering Former Editor-in-Chief of Ordinary Times. House Likko's Words: Scite Verum. Colite Iusticia. Vivere Con Gaudium.

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