Cairo courts Aug. 3 began trying former president Hosni Mubarak on corruption charges and the deaths of close to 1,000 Egyptians during the uprisings that ousted him after 30 years in power. Mr. Mubarak was under house arrest at a Sharm el-Sheikh Hospital. He was also the second leader to go on trial since the rebellions that swept North Africa and the Middle East.

The Tunisian court of justice found former Tunisian president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and his wife Leila Trabelsi guilty in absentia on crimes against the state and sentenced them to 35 years in jail.

Currently the couple is exiled under political protection in Saudi Arabia where they fled from a January revolt that toppled the pro-American Ben Ali government and jumpstarted the Arab Spring of revolts that engulfed North Africa and the Middle East. The court also ordered the couple to pay $82 million in fines relating to corruption in 23 years of rule. The conviction of Ben Ali was closely followed in the region and the Western world because it may be an indicator of fate for Mr. Mubarak.

Ben Ali and Mubarak were willing allies of American foreign policy until their usefulness was retired by the popular unrest among people.

America stepped aside when the winds of change blew against the leaders, leaving them to the whims of their own people and their justice systems. If found guilty, 82-year-old Mubarak may face the death penalty, a possible outcome that is a reminder of Iraq and the execution of Saddam Hussein who was an ally, then enemy of America after he threatened to drop the U.S. dollar for the Euro as the currency of trade for Iraqi oil.

America's desertion of these autocratic rulers who she favored highlights a history of how imperialists have no loyalty on the world stage. In the high risk game of international politics and world affairs there is neither honor nor trust among the big global players like America, France, England and Germany when it comes to robbing the natural resources and wealth of smaller less powerful nations—and protecting their own interests.

“Imperialism has no permanent friends, just permanent interests, and the interest is clearly the question of economic domination, economic neocolonialism, and political domination of the world,” said political analyst and Pacifica radio host Dedon Kimathi.

“They will utilize anybody from the left and from the right—whoever they can get in bed with,” he added.

Since the days of the transatlantic slave trade, colonialism and now neo-colonialism, death, mayhem and exploitation from the Western world remains the order of the day. Keeping the exploited weak, divided and marginalized is the modus operandi, usually with a “big man” serving as a minion at the top.

“Whenever you planted leaders, there were always those who put their personal wealth and gain over the best interests of their people. Thus, whenever you installed a dictator, whether it is in the Caribbean, Central America, South America, Asia, Africa or the Middle East, you always knew that the legitimate interests of the people would cause some of the people to rise against that dictator. So your dictator had to use methods of repression, torture and destruction of life to preserve your dictator, and to preserve your economic and strategic interests in that country,” said the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan at his June 15 press conference across the street from the United Nations.

Courting the enemy

Several historical examples show the fallacy of befriending Imperialists and such was the case of former Panama President Manuel Noriega who was reportedly on the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) payroll from the late 1950s to the 1980s earning some $10 million, according to court disclosures. Critics accuse the U.S. of turning a blind eye to blatant abuses of power from murder to drugs until Mr. Noriega fell out with America over issues surrounding the Panama Canal. The relationship became publicly exposed after the U.S. invasion of Panama, his capture and U.S. trial during the 1990s for drug trafficking.

Court records revealed Noriega threatened to expose classified information regarding his employment by the CIA to refute U.S. corruption allegations that said he accumulated unexplained wealth. A 1988 Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations concluded, “The saga of Panama's General Manuel Antonio Noriega represents one of the most serious foreign policy failures for the United States.”

Another example of a handpicked U.S. despot was its backing of the Duvalier dynasty in Haiti, one of the bloodiest and most corrupt governments in the Western Hemisphere. It was the CIA that financed the Duvalier private terror force, the “Tontons Macoutes,” which killed an estimated 100,000 Haitians between the 1957-1971 reign of Francois “Papa Doc” and his son Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, after the father's death. The despotic rule ended with a people's revolt against the son whose reign was assisted by America. Duvalier quit and exited Haiti after heavy international pressure in 1986 as America turned its back on her old friend even rejecting a request to provide asylum for Duvalier, only agreeing to assist with his departure.

“In 1986, however, when it became apparent that Baby Doc's presidency could not in fact be sustained for his entire life, the Reagan administration airlifted him to a retirement villa in France,” wrote Mark Zepezauer on www.thirdworldtraveler.com.

In the Congo, America propped up Joseph Mobotu after the 1961 overthrow and murder of popularly elected Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba at the collective hand of the CIA, Belgium and Congolese counter revolutionary leaders. Mobotu changed Congo's name to Zaire—now the Democratic Republic of Congo—ruling with an iron fist, notorious corruption and using the country as a personal fiefdom and U.S. client state for over 30 years. He was removed when he became bad for business. The Bill Clinton administration deposed Mobutu at the hands of African proxies Rwanda, Uganda and Congolese rebel leader Laurent Kabila.