In the comment section to Jeremy's new piece on Egypt, and in a dialogue between Chris, Scott and I, the question has been asked, "What should the Western response to the events in Egypt (and the Middle East) be?". In this very recent TED talk, the director-general of Al JazeeraWadah Khanfar gives his answer. Near the end of the talk he makes this impassioned plea:

 “Let us accept the choice of the people…Values of democracy, of freedom of choice, that are sweeping the Middle East at this moment in time, is the best opportunity for the world, for the West and the East, to see stability and to see security, and to see friendship and tolerance, emerging  from the Arab world, rather than the images of violence and terrorism. Let us support these people, let us stand for them, and let us give up our narrow selfishness in order to embrace change, and in order to celebrate to the people of that region a great future. The future has arrived, and the future is now”.

And at the end of the question period, he says, “I can tell you this is the moment to celebrate, through connecting ourselves with those people in the street, and expressing our support to them, and expressing this kind of feeling, this universal feeling of supporting the weak and the oppressed, to create a much better future for all of us”.

Khanfar's talk is a welcome perspective on the continually unfolding events in the Middle East.