Slate ran this piece in December deftly anticipating recent events in Egypt. As it makes clear, the removal of Mubarak is meaningless unless the democratic revolution underway in Egypt dismantles the military industrial complex atop of which Mubarak sat.

Yet, all signs point to the US backing that military in a transition to the post-Mubarak era. We are setting ourselves up here for a confrontation with the people in Egypt when they move beyond Mubarak and confront the true power structure of their country. Of course, the US government has no choice – the military and Mubarak have been key to overseeing the neo-liberal reforms of the last 20 years. In Egypt as elsewhere authoritarianism is the face of the globalization process in much of the world, from China to the mideast.

It is time for the United States to rethink its global policy – if the price of our place in the world is to get in bed with the brutal Egyptian military we are paying too high a price.

A WikiLeaks cable shows how Egypt’s regime has bought off the military – Slate Magazine.