By Martin Banks - 3rd March 2011
What we are currently seeing actually reminds me of 9/1
William Kennard
America's ambassador to the EU says that, historically, the current unrest in the Arab world is comparable to the fall of Berlin Wall and the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
William Kennard also said the "people's revolution" in Libya, Egypt and elsewhere was being driven by new social networks like Facebook and Twitter.
He said, "What we are seeing in these countries are revolutions driven not by bullets, but by laptops and mobile phones."
Kennard, said to be one of President Obama's closest allies, said the importance of new technology had been highlighted by the recent unrest in countries like Tunisia, Bahrain, Egypt and Libya.
The former Yale academic, said, "The deposed regime in Egypt tried to shut down the internet - in fact it succeeded in doing so for five days - in an attempt to muzzle the unrest. They thought they could contain the revolution.
"But what it failed to realise is that this merely served to further embolden the demands of its people for freedom and democracy.
"What we are currently seeing actually reminds me of 9/11 and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The world is shifting. We do not know where it is going but it is utterly dramatic."
He added, "One of the things that strikes me by recent events is that they illustrate how innovation and freedom of expression go hand-in-hand.
"You cannot have one without the other. We are seeing every day on CNN and BBC how people in these countries are appealing for a better future and that is something that we should all think about."
He called for "strengthened" ties between the US and EU in areas such as intellectual property rights and e-health. His speech came after publication of a new book on the EU-US relationship
Kennard was a keynote speaker at a conference, organised by the American chamber of commerce to the EU, on "innovation in the transatlantic relationship".
He said both the US and EU, whose economies are both struggling to emerge from the recession, had put innovation "at the top of the agenda."
"Both are realising that innovation is the key to making things happen," said Kennard, America's top diplomat in Europe.
The former lawyer was speaking at the publication of a new book on the transatlantic relationship.
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