Search






Jeff's Amazon.com Wish List

Archive Calendar

November 2024
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
252627282930  

Archives

BREAKING: Mubarak speaks

“I will not accept any advice that comes from outside, from wherever it comes and for whatever reasons.”

Meaning, he ain’t going anywhere until the elections in September. Though he says he’ll turn things over to the VP at some point.

And the feckless US — having turned on its ally — now has the worst of both worlds: we appear weak to our enemies and duplicitous to our friends.

Which, congrats on that!

138 Replies to “BREAKING: Mubarak speaks”

  1. Joe says:

    Well that was well played.

  2. Bob Reed says:

    SMART POWER!11!1! RESTORING AMERICA’S STANDING IN THE WORLD!

    Why do I get the feeling that a moment analogous to Carter’s, “BREZHNEV LIED TO ME!, is coming.

    That good ol’, 1979 Carter warmth all over again; it must be my cardigan…

    Evidently Mubarak got the call from the Saudi’s promising to stake-horse him should Obama try and cut him off.

    Now this is really going to get interesting.

  3. Bob Reed says:

    The Saudis assured him the check was in the mail.

  4. proudvastrightwingconspirator says:

    May we say, very well played Mr. Obama, very well played!

    Sincerely,
    Neville Chamberlain & Jimmy Carter

  5. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Somebody ought to ask Noonan and Brookes and Buckley’s idiot son and anybody else who publicly invested in the historic, transformational figure narrative bullshit if this was the kind of historic transformation they had in mind.

    G. W. Bush’s third term or Carter’s second. Clearly the electorate chose poorly.

  6. JD says:

    Obumblefuck is a feckless idiot. That is all.

  7. Mike LaRoche says:

    Where’s that reset button when you need it?

  8. happyfeet says:

    christ he’s full of himself – but I guess if you think about it then it sorta makes sense that the billion dollar whores wouldn’t have the same self-esteem issues most of their colleagues have

  9. happyfeet says:

    it’s just depressing that this Mubarak homo is the sort of dirty dirty whore our failshit little country calls “allies” these days

    we need to hang with a better class of people

  10. A fine scotch says:

    Somebody send Mubarak an “Overcharge” button, STAT!

  11. geoffb says:

    we appear weak to our enemies and duplicitous to our friends.

    In the Clapper-ed out reality of the current White House this is what is called a Win!-Win!

  12. Ernst Schreiber says:

    we need to hang with a better class of people

    Jesus Christ you’re fucking hopeless.

    A better class of people?

    Like the Marcoses? Noriega? Pinochet? The junta that ran El Salvador?

    or maybe you had the Sandinistas, Allende, FARC or Peru’s Shining Path in mind.

    Those are the bad and worse choices that I remember just off the top of my head.

    I get that you’re too young to have any clear memory of the Cold War (God how I hope that’s your excuse). But the fact is that we live in a shit neighborhood and pretty much always have, at least since the “smart set” surrounding the formerly crowned heads of Europe blew it up back in 1914.

    There’s a joke I remember from the Reagan-era military build-up. It came about as a result of someone (not Reagan himself I think) saying that “if the lion is going to lie down with the lamb I prefer we be the lion.” In other words, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…

    because I’m the baddest sonofabitch in the valley.

    There are worse options for the Egyptian people than Mubarak, just as their were worse options for the Iranians than the Shah, the Czar for the Russians.

    Grow the fuck up and stop making a jack ass out of yourself

    If your capable.

  13. newrouter says:

    mr. beck is doing a mbm/clapper beat down today.

  14. newrouter says:

    ouch “mr bald egghead” directed at clapper

  15. MC says:

    Protestors are moving on several state buildings around the country in Egypt tonight. The army has withdrawn equipment from the Presidential palace – of course, Mubarak isn’t there. Tomorrow should prove to be interesting.

    I’ll wager an armadillo testicle that Mubarak doesn’t last a fortnight.

  16. bh says:

    Worst moby evah.

  17. bh says:

    Too slow. #18 was for #16.

  18. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Part of the reason we’re in the foreign policy mess we’re in is that too damn many people in this country, and especially in this administration, and most particularly in the striped pants set at foggy bottom, don’t want us to be the sonofabitch. As if the alternative was no sonofabitch at all. Well, it’s not. Better that we stand ready to do it than stand by and let somebody else, or worse a bunch of little somebody’s do it.

    Pax Americana sine fine baby!

  19. newrouter says:

    As I told you, the regime was not going to give up and reports of its death were premature.

    This is a huge lesson in political culture. It also shows just how bad the media coverage has been! Mubarak is not resigning. He’s managing the “reform” process. He is appointing a committee to study constitutional changes. He will decide when there are elections. He is going to “consider” changing the emergency law.

    He basically said: I am an Arab warrior, not a community organizer. That speech should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand the Middle East.

    link

  20. Ernst Schreiber says:

    I’ll say this for Palin: She has a better understanding of America’s historic role in the present world order than the clowns currently minding the store.

  21. dicentra says:

    we appear weak to our enemies and duplicitous to our friends.

    Sooo, business as usual.

  22. Shaitan says:

    How do you say “Suck My Balls” in Arabic?

  23. Joe says:

    What Mubarak really said: “If you think some schmuck from beyond the sixth cataract is going to dictate terms to the President of Egypt you have another thing coming!”

  24. Joe says:

    Shaitan: El hass hasawee

  25. Makewi says:

    we need to hang with a better class of people

    As it happens, the world is mostly ruled by douchebags. Mostly. The only ones we don’t “hang” with are the identifiable worst of the worst.

    The only real alternative to this is to just bomb the everloving christ out of anyone who is not us or who is close enough to being us to get a pass. Like Canada. maybe.

  26. Jeff G. says:

    Obama is “dispirited” by today’s events. Especially because he spent the morning telling students in Michigan that they were watching history unfold, that the young folks of Egypt were rising up for hope and change, looking for their own Obama. Instead, what he made clear is that he is out of the loop, that the US has lost the respect of the world, that our allies shouldn’t count on us, and that the people in charge right now are so in over their heads that, in addition to worrying about impending national bankruptcy (we can all take the new bullet trains to the bread lines!), we should be worried about national security a lot more than we have been.

    This guy is a disaster.

  27. JD says:

    He is every bit as bad as I expected him to be.

  28. Makewi says:

    Historically bad. Unprecedentedly bad.

  29. Joe says:

    So was Mubarak going to step down, but when it looked like Obama was asking him to step down he decided not to do so? So is us observing him too closely affecting the outcome? Mubarak is like Schrödinger’s cat in that Sharm el Sheikh villa of his.

    Egyptians love cats.

  30. newrouter says:

    community organizing on a global scale.

  31. JD says:

    Sadly, it is not unexpectedly. That may be the only thing that they do not find unexpected. Hosni just gave them the finger, in front of the entire world.

  32. McGehee says:

    “…you have another thing coming!”

    <runs with scissors>

  33. newrouter says:

    imposing one country’s will on another: imperialism?

  34. Bob Reed says:

    It’s the same deal as Carter, and to a lesser extent Clinton…

    The glorious saviors of the people, the progressive Democrats, take control; running on a message of their brilliance, purity, and absolute mpral authority. Demagoguing the Rethugs! for cynically using geoplolitical concerns and issues relating to national security to “scare” the polity into “voting in their economic interests”, they proclaim that they will focus, laser like, on what’s really important; domestic issues of economic social justice and enforced gender and racial diversity, instead of “meddling”, or “adventuring”, overseas where we have no business trying to be the lead dog on the sled.

    And each time the electorate thinks that this time the Democrats won’t be the party that surrenders to our adversaries; who trade our strategic advantages away under the guise of fairness and diplomacy; who underestimates our adversaries ability to read their weakness of will when it comes to drawing that line in the sand.

    So when the shiesse hits the fan, as it usually does (read 9/11), and these naifs are caught with their pants down, not only have they no experience to draw upon, but haven’t even put a scintilla of thought into either what may occur or what they may be called upon to do.

    So you end up with episodes, like when Carter whined to the WaPo that, “Brezhnev lied to me!”, or when Clinton employed the military like one would a Daisy Red-Rider BB gun-all you had to do was poijt and shoot-and as a distraction when he needed to wag the dog; or epitomoized in Obama’s disastrously quixotic foreign policy which boils down to world apology tours, appeasing our adversaries, and using their usual tried-and-true method of talking out of the both sides of their mouths and wondering why it doesn’t work overseas like it does domestically where the MBM is willing to carry their water 24/7/365…

    Carter was a foreign policy imbecile, and still comes out of his hole to embarrass us all on occasion. Clinton had no idea what he was doing, and essentially allowed Madeline Albright and the other whacky transnationalist multicultural brigade to dictate foreign policy; where confrontation was avoided at all cost, unless of course there were muslims being killed in the former Yugoslavia. And even then acted merely as a player, part of the UN coalition, instead of boldly leading the way.

    And now we have Obama, our latest embarrassment, who spent the entire 2008 campaign striking thoughtful poses and criticizing US foreign policy, while offering no constructive solutions himself; assuring everyone that we needed to turn inward-that the war on terror was a phony political lever that BushCheneyMcHitler was using to divide us, and that foreign affairs would take care of themselves. And besides, he was sooooooooooo BRILLIANT! with such sagacious JUDGEMENT! and the superior TEMPERMENT! of a true leader. And now, he’s really screwed the pooch…

    And all he’s really worried about is not losing the 2012 election because the American people come to know him as, “the guy who lost Egypt”; just as the last scold-in-chief was the “guy” who lost Iran. And then lost the next election.

    He is truly a disaster.

  35. Joe says:

    Obama just got a Hosni Mubarak el caganer.

  36. newrouter says:

    we need a skylab event about now.

  37. Jeff G. says:

    What’s the contemporary equivalent of “Carter Country”? “Cougars,” maybe?

  38. JD says:

    Memphis Beat

  39. geoffb says:

    Obama questions credibility of Egypt’s action

    Showing impatience, President Barack Obama on Thursday openly and sharply questioned whether Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s pledge to shift power to his vice president is an “immediate, meaningful or sufficient” sign of reform for a country in upheaval.

  40. Ernst Schreiber says:

    we need a skylab event about now

    We’ll get one soon enough. Two(?) more shuttle missions and then we’ll be hitchin’ rides with the ruskies.

  41. Mikey NTH says:

    Was this the Hope or the Change?

  42. JD says:

    A sternly worded letter should be just the right touch.

  43. bh says:

    Remember, Obama is uniquely qualified by heritage, temperament, travel and education to reach out to the Arab world. I’m sure his magical unicorn powers will kick in at any moment now and then you’ll see.

    Just think how silly you’ll feel for doubting him.

    Racists.

  44. Mikey NTH says:

    “Obama questions credibility of Egypt’s action”

    It’s inconceivable!

  45. newrouter says:

    baracky losing command center rino:

    So there you go. They’re on the side of the protesters, but not so much that they’re willing to say Mubarak or Suleiman must leave immediately, which is … what the protesters want. We’re back in “orderly transition” territory, with a timetable not quite as urgent as “‘now’ means ‘yesterday’” but clearly a bit more urgent than Mubarak coasting all the way to September. So I say again: Who cares? Is there anyone in Egypt still paying attention to this lame windage except maybe the increasingly forgotten Mohamed ElBaradei, who might be waiting for some bold stroke from the United States to make him relevant again? As the Iranians like to say, America cannot do a damn thing. As best I can figure, this rhetorical garbage is simply the White House’s way of still pretending that we can.

    link

  46. Ernst Schreiber says:

    They told me if I voted for John McCain the American empire would continue to interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign nations….

  47. MC says:

    This guy is a disaster.

    He is truly a disaster.

    Word on the intel street is that 44 so screwed the pooch with King Abdullah and the House of Saud earlier today in defending 44’s position on Mubarak that Abdullah has bolted and directly defied 44. He has – get this – …ordered the process set in train for raising the level of Riyadh’s diplomatic and military ties with Tehran. Invitations had gone out from Riyadh for Iranian delegations to visit the main Saudi cities… This where we operate a joint air base with the Saudis.

    One of the fallouts from conducting foreign policy in public is that other regimes are watching that have their own fears about uprisings from the rabble. Mubarak has been emboldened today by Abdullah’s defiance of 44 and Abdullah’s promise of help which could be the reason for the sudden reversal in the last 24 hours. It’s likely that Mubarak is now passing out bits of his vast fortune to gain further traction with other military assets besides his own Republican Guard. Tomorrow could prove to be bloody.

    There are news items that Gibbs announced that 44 is meeting with the National Security Council this evening. When was the last meeting? Not too much of a regular occurrence, eh?

    We may find similes to use other than disaster very soon.

    *

  48. Ernst Schreiber says:

    What was it the admiral said? This thing will get out of hand and we’ll be lucky to live through it!

  49. newrouter says:

    hey the world looks disorganized! what do we need? oh.

  50. I knew we were headed back to the shitter when I went to visit my brother last year and there was graffiti on the train. The outside. Hadn’t seen it in years. It means that the people who are in charge have little regard for the things other people use, because they never had to pay for something if they broke it. Rich, poor or middle-class, doesn’t matter, it’s a disease brought on by weak parenting and inflated egos. I’m back in fourth grade in the “Land of Could-be-you” and we’ll all have to sit in a circle and listen to the insufferable, preening, jackass dweeb tell us that the best way to deal with bullies is to talk to them and find out why they’re sad.

    Think we’ll boycott the London Olympics? What could make Barry so mad he’ll take his ball and go home? I can’t wait. I can, actually. Really.

  51. Bob Reed says:

    …ordered the process set in train for raising the level of Riyadh’s diplomatic and military ties with Tehran. Invitations had gone out from Riyadh for Iranian delegations to visit the main Saudi cities…

    Wow…We’ve gone from bad to worse in the blink of an eye…

    He’s worse than Carter. If he’s not careful, Obama will be the “guy” who lost the entire middle east.

    But, in fairness, this may just be Abdullah scaring the fear of Allah into O!, since Dinner-Jackets got some funny mojo, and mofos, around him that might even spook the King.

    So I have 3 exit questions:

    1) How do you think this will effect any future actions against Iran that may need to be executed by either us or the Israeli, or both of us?

    2) What do you think will happen to the price of oil if should King Abdullah and Dinner-Jacket get cosy?

    3) What will a dramatic increase in the price of oil do to our already shaky economy?

    And if the Saudis decide to use a different currency to trade oil in? Well, let’s just say Bernanke can’t print enough dollars to make the result of that go away.

  52. geoffb says:

    It’s inconceivable!

    Channeling “Princess Bride” and the perfect Obama character eh?

  53. sdferr says:

    As a rule, never trust Debka. As another rule, always expect Obama to get rolled.

  54. Ernst Schreiber says:

    As if there weren’t enough problems already, we’re also playing diplomatic chicken with the Pakis

    via Ace of Spades HQ

  55. motionview says:

    Abdullah has been leading the West around by the nose since Saud’s son had that fatal heart attack in the hospital. He’s worried we’re going to fuck him before he can finish fucking us.

  56. newrouter says:

    i hope baracky gets a good hair dye like mubarack

  57. Jeff G. says:

    This guy is a disaster.

    Think the media will catch on? Or are they going to blame, say, the release of Rumsfeld’s book for the reaction this administration is receiving around the world.

    Turns out the rest of the world doesn’t want our paternalistic condescension. That it was probably best to be feared and respected rather than going around trying to gather cheap applause for badmouthing your own country, and apologizing for being the last best hope on earth for freedom and liberty.

    Who knew?

    A lot of people will be scraping off Obama bumperstickers in the weeks to come, is my guess. Because I don’t think even his 3000 press secretaries can hide this level of incompetence, played out on the world stage. (Which doesn’t mean they won’t try, naturally.)

  58. Bob Reed says:

    sdferr,
    I don’t know anything about them; is Debka unreliable?

  59. happyfeet says:

    America:last best hope on earth for freedom and liberty::Will Smith:rap music

  60. MC says:

    Debka was the only intel source directly warning about 9/11 – about terror attacks on that date in the US – well before they happened. FWIW.

    It could be a high bluff by Abdullah – but when all your cards are on the table – as 44’s “lets talk about it – that’s enough” are – what’s 44 going to do?

    I don’t believe our military will allow the price of oil to get out of hand.

    We live in interesting times. Indeed.

  61. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Think the media will catch on?

    I’d guess they’ll go back to “Is the job just too big for one man to do?”

    It’s in keeping with that 1970s thing we’ve got going.

    Don’t forget to top off your gas tank!

  62. Joe says:

    Bob, Debka has a very mixed record. But it does have a lot of sources in the region and it often does run with breaking stories days or weeks ahead of other news organizations. But it definitely has a mixed record.

    I would not trust Debka. But it is worth it to follow Debka on stuff like this.

  63. Jeff G. says:

    America:last best hope on earth for freedom and liberty::Will Smith:rap music

    Well, thankfully not all of us think like you.

  64. Jeff G. says:

    I’d guess they’ll go back to “Is the job just too big for one man to do?”

    POLITBURO!

  65. newrouter says:

    “I’d guess they’ll go back to “Is the job just too big for one man to do?””

    good time to make the gov’t smaller? oh noes they want larger. we need a global community organizer.

  66. newrouter says:

    or CALIPHATE!!11!!

  67. Jeff G. says:

    we need a global community organizer.

    I hope Rush Limbaugh fails.

  68. Big Bang Hunter says:

    “Wow…We’ve gone from bad to worse in the blink of an eye…”

    – Why bring up 2008 yet again.

  69. happyfeet says:

    well then when exactly is America gonna get cracking on that freedom thing? Freedom is losing ground at home to a degree what some find alarming to say nothing of America’s wavering/unwavering/wavering/unwavering support for dictatorship in Egypt, Honduras, Cuba

    chop chop, losers

  70. JD says:

    Who would’ve thought that Teh One could make Saudi Arabia and Iran buddies ?

  71. Bob Reed says:

    we need a global community organizer.

    The 12th Imam?

  72. Pablo says:

    This guy is a disaster.

    Think the media will catch on? Or are they going to blame, say, the release of Rumsfeld’s book for the reaction this administration is receiving around the world.

    Hey, now. He’s a Nobel Peace Laureate! Of course he’s got this covered!

    OK, we’re doomed.

  73. Bob Reed says:

    I hope Rush Limbaugh fails.

    Way to embrace the “F” bomb!

  74. Big Bang Hunter says:

    – So what exactly did you think would happen when the rest of the power centers and leaderships throughout the world finally had no choice but to see with their own eye’s that the “World’s best example of Democracy” had sold out to the Socialist nannystate approach, and the automatic empty leaderless, appearances driven disaster, it always represents.

    – No one really wanted to believe it. Now they can’t deny anymore.

    – Lock and load.

  75. newrouter says:

    “America’s wavering/unwavering/wavering/unwavering support for dictatorship in Egypt, Honduras, Cuba”

    honduras? stay away from the bad tacos.

  76. Pablo says:

    I don’t believe our military will allow the price of oil to get out of hand.

    We live in interesting times. Indeed.

    Their CinC likes the idea of skyrocketing oil prices. Interesting times indeed.

  77. happyfeet says:

    here is my secret new taco place … but the tortas there are really really special too

  78. newrouter says:

    i can get 100,000 teabaggers at the white in 2 weeks. will baracky and biden go?

  79. Pablo says:

    Word on the intel street is that 44 so screwed the pooch with King Abdullah and the House of Saud earlier today in defending 44?s position on Mubarak that Abdullah has bolted and directly defied 44. He has – get this – …ordered the process set in train for raising the level of Riyadh’s diplomatic and military ties with Tehran. Invitations had gone out from Riyadh for Iranian delegations to visit the main Saudi cities… This where we operate a joint air base with the Saudis.

    What???? This is the same Abdullah that quietly authorized Israeli overflight rights if they needed to have a little Iranian excursion? Please tell me you’re kidding.

    This guy makes Carter look like Patton.

  80. Jeff G. says:

    The US supports its own interests. And to the extent we can, within our own interests, we support liberty abroad.

    Sadly, “liberty” has been replaced with “democracy” — and we’re now told by sanctimonious idiots that not supporting democracy is tantamount to not supporting liberty. That’s nonsense. Just because a country votes itself the right to destroy another country in a free and fair election doesn’t mean we’re committed to supporting them for the legitimacy of their having done so.

  81. Jeff G. says:

    This guy is a disaster. Have I mentioned that?

    Good. And historic. And patriotic. But a disaster.

  82. happyfeet says:

    America’s done a stupendously crap job of supporting liberty in Egypt. At the very least we should stop giving the Egyptian dictator whores so much goddamn money I think.

  83. JD says:

    The idea that Barcky has managed to bring Iran and Saudi together is just remarkable.

  84. newrouter says:

    “At the very least we should stop giving the Egyptian dictator whores so much goddamn money I think.”

    oh yes and stop giving chavez money via kennedycommies. you go transexual cupcake!

  85. newrouter says:

    “America’s done a stupendously crap job of supporting liberty in Egypt. ”

    how’s our cuba thing going?

  86. newrouter says:

    how’s our nork thing doing?

  87. newrouter says:

    how’s the Zimbabwe thing doing?

  88. newrouter says:

    how’s our iran thing doing?

  89. newrouter says:

    “Egyptian dictator whores so much goddamn money I think.”

    whores like immelt and ge? or uaw/gm? or seiu? you like some whores no?

  90. Jeff G. says:

    Obama threw his support behind the protesters. Guess you know who to vote for in ’12, happy.

  91. Pablo says:

    America’s done a stupendously crap job of supporting liberty in Egypt. At the very least we should stop giving the Egyptian dictator whores so much goddamn money I think.

    The majority of that cash goes to the Egyptian military, which Egyptians seem to be pretty damned fond of. For now.

  92. newrouter says:

    “Egyptian dictator whores so much goddamn money I think.”

    or mexican whores who buy the nyt?

  93. happyfeet says:

    Obama is surpassingly irrelevant cause nobody takes him seriously except, somewhat counter-intuitively, Boehner and McConnell, who threw their support behind Obama who threw his support behind Mubarak, the protesters, and healthier menu items at popular chain restaurants.

    Meanwhile failshit America’s deficit is on track to hit a spectacular new record and we still have a slew of Egyptian whores on the payroll.

  94. JD says:

    Liberty and democracy are not synonymous.

  95. newrouter says:

    “somewhat counter-intuitively, Boehner and McConnell, who threw their support behind Obama ”

    i like the pelosi/reid way of treating precedents.

  96. newrouter says:

    “hit a spectacular new record and we still have a slew of Egyptian whores on the payroll.”

    cut the un move it out of nyc to zimbabwae. it is tropical and native no?

  97. Jeff G. says:

    I think they threw their support behind the office of the President. That’s not counter-intuitive. Plenty of others on the right took up the slack pointing out how Obama was out of his depth.

  98. Big Bang Hunter says:

    – In fact, the whole idea was for a liberated American citizenry to hold a tight rein on a very controlled and ordered “limited representative democracy”.

    – How we doing on that?

  99. Jeff G. says:

    Ron Paul. That’s who happy should vote for. So long as he patronizes real bagel shops and doesn’t buy Lender’s at the supermarket, he’s done his part to help Israel survive.

    There. That’s settled.

  100. happyfeet says:

    I live in California my vote is just for fun like cupcakes or replying to new other guy’s incessant emails.

  101. happyfeet says:

    Lender’s is owned by the Blackstone Group whose chairman compared Obama to Hitler. They are also very tasty I used to eat them a lot when I was little. Now mostly I eat the Sara Lees except they been wanting almost 5 dollars for a pack of 6. Can you believe that? Sara Lee makes a tasty bagel – as NG says, “Sara Lee never disappoints” – but I’m not paying 5 freaking dollars no way.

  102. Bob Reed says:

    Sara Lee bagels? Oy…They don’t come mit a schmear!

    You mean there are no decent bagel shops in L.A.? It’s not like Jews don’t live there.

  103. Bob Reed says:

    About a half a mile from my house there’s an awesome bagel shop, where for a buck you get a bagel that’s as big around as a plate.

    And they never get near a plastic bag…Dude, they are the best.

    I still can’t believe that a guy who goes out of his way for designer cupcakes suffers national brand bagels.

  104. geoffb says:

    Having an election is not a test of democracy. It is when one who was elected to be in power loses and relinquishes that power with grace, that is one test.

    The after election machinations that we have seen the Democrats do especially since the Al Gore tantrum of 2000 show that in some ways we are starting to fail that test ourselves.

  105. happyfeet says:

    there is *one* supposedly good bagel place in my zone that pablo found – they have the salt bagels – I really need to go see them I’ve never gotten around to it – maybe this weekend

  106. sdferr says:

    It’s going on to 7:00am in Cairo. Best wishes to them, as they’re likely in for a very bad day.

  107. Big Bang Hunter says:

    – If the military stays out of it, Mabarak is in for a bad day.

    – And Bummblefuck. “The first Socialist President of the US losses the ME”.

    – Just another jewel in the Left’s crown of shame.

  108. newrouter says:

    ” Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today’s world do not have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do have. Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors.”

  109. geoffb says:

    Well we should be able to defund another agency since the testimony they give to congress is simply based on media reports.

  110. Bob Reed says:

    I saw that WaPo piece. Hard to believe isn’t it, that the director of the CIA would cite stuff they read in the paper in testimony before Congress.

    I hope folks have been paying attention, and are taking in just how incompetent this bunch is.

    It may just be without precedent.

  111. Bob Reed says:

    Well, all the best to you folks, time for this ol’ Vagabond to hit the rack.

    Later.

  112. Pablo says:

    It’s going on to 7:00am in Cairo. Best wishes to them, as they’re likely in for a very bad day.

    Yeah, that. But not to worry, it’s a Berlin Wall moment!

    If you could bottle and sell idiocy, Rachel would be a very rich dude.

  113. Stephanie says:

    Bibi has ordered the IDF to further strengthen the borders, those trying to escape Egypt will be intercepted and turned over to the Egyptian forces. All Hell is about to break lose. Be ready. This is the radio chatter and word on the streets from the Egyptian Military sources here in Tel Aviv. To say that the Egyptian government is furious with Obama is the understatement of the millennium. It is as it he (Obama) is deliberately violating every Islamic honor tradition in the Middle East to provoke them. The toilet is about to flush.”

    http://radiopatriot.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/tea-party-nation-has-the-inside-straight-on-egypt/

  114. MC says:

    Quite a bit of Debka’s ‘spotty record’ is due to Mossad or Aman disinfo. Like all intel it’s good to ask who might be conveying the story and why.

    The Abdullah story seems credible because it’s difficult to think of another explanation that would unwind the ‘done deal’ made by Egypt’s Supreme Council in the last 24 hours and pretty well leaked worldwide. To embolden Mubarak there would have to be seriously reliable cash on the table – so that Mubarak can buy loyalty from more of the military and other factions – and a credible threat of a much worse situation. This certainly fits the bill. Plus it seems that the more extreme the situation is, the more likely that the Israeli services will leak what’s closer to the ‘truth’. With the US arsenal arrayed within 1,000 miles all around Cairo, what else might so upset the applecart?

    A US/Saudi rift will become much more visible shortly if this is true. So will 44’s fumbling of a key ME relationship by “talking one time and thinking that talking solves everything so no need to ever talk again” strategerie.

  115. Old Texas Turkey says:

    I would take the linked Debka story with a grain of salt. I have spent quite a bit of time in KSA and have some Saudi friends. In order of hatred, the Saudis place Shites way above Jews. Heck, if I were to hazard a guess, it would be Shites, the royal family, Jews and then the USA.

    The Saudi’s treat the Shites minority in Eastern KSA worse than dirt. Kind of an awkward moment in the budding bromance between the House of Saud and the Mad Mullahs of Tehran

  116. geoffb says:

    First Russia last year leading to the Egyptian crisis for one. Now China this year pushing things even farther.

    I would like to note that all the figures seem to, in both cases, be coming from State agencies and that the use of food as a weapon in pushing State policies and agendas is very old and especially not unknown in these two governments. The fudging of estimates in a direction which furthers State goals would not be unexpected.

    Juxtapose these quotes. From 2010:

    “This is the first time in 50 years we’ve seen the combination of such a long period of abnormal heat and both atmospheric and soil drought,” the center said in its statement. Russia’s Grain Union has said the drought is the worst since record-keeping started 130 years ago.

    From last Tuesday:

    The state-run news media in China warned Monday that the country’s major agricultural regions were facing their worst drought in 60 years. On Tuesday the state news agency Xinhua said that Shandong Province, a cornerstone of Chinese grain production, was bracing for its worst drought in 200 years unless substantial precipitation came by the end of this month.

    Another thing that caught my attention. Russia estimated that their crops would drop from 97 million tons to 70-75 million tons. China is estimating a drop of 4 million tons from 114 to 110 million tons and yet in the China piece there is this paragraph.

    Mr. Gunjal said the special alert on China was the first that the F.A.O. had issued anywhere in the world this year. There was only one last year, expressing “grave concern” about food supplies in the Sahel region of Africa, notably Niger.

    So no “special alert when Russia drops it’s estimated output by 25% but there is one when China drops it’s estimated output by less than 4%.

    Do I believe there is/was a drought? Yes. I simply believe that whatever figures are being put out by these governments are manipulated for State purposes when they can serve them.

  117. MC says:

    Yeah, the Sunni / Shiiite angle is troubling and we’ve been discussing that in a number of recent posts. But, as has been pointed out, when push comes to shove, Pan-Islamism might trump internecine feuding. A sentiment we analogously seemed to share in the US in the aftermath of 9/11.

    Additionally, it’s not the people on the ground in the KSA that this is attributed to, it’s the royal family – the king himself – who is so exasperated with 44 that he reportedly had physical heart issues as a result of their ‘discussion’ – now yesterday. The same king who has been reportedly holding meetings with the Israelis about Iran’s new clear aspirations and what to do about them.

    The ME autocrats all see the writing on the wall that threatens their rule from a wide range of factions. Perhaps not intuitively in terms of analysis, they are not willing to give up power and wealth – likely to the death. That often makes for strange bedfellows.

    Tunisia, now, Egypt, and the dominos all fall.

  118. Old Texas Turkey says:

    MC,

    Could definately be an outcome. We’ll watch to see. The House of Saud is already on shaky ground having ceded local policy to the wahabists and a latent family civil war amongst the 6,000 princes. I am not sure how an alliance with Shites, that would enflame the wahabists, would help the king’s situation – but like you said, desperation makes for strange bedfellows.

  119. Mueller says:

    I got news for you feets. WE’RE the better class of people.

    #117
    When they come to us looking for corn, we can give them ethanol.

  120. Carin says:

    Can’t Obama just eat his waffle w/o you folks questioning his Smart Diplomacy™?

  121. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Tunisia, now, Egypt, and the dominos all fall.

    But which way?

  122. donald says:

    http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/49275.html

    I would like this man to be president. The more you learn about him, the better he is.

    Course he’s a black guy, so you know…

  123. LTC John says:

    “I don’t believe our military will allow the price of oil to get out of hand.”

    I presume you are not an American then?

    Debka is good for translations of things Arabic, but as a source, they are quite often way over the top, wrong, or weird. That stuff about the Saud looking to patch up with Iran is wrong and weird.

    I am not in the least surprised that Mubarak gave the two fingers up to O! It is almost as if we were trying to lay out a case study for future history students to use as material in a “point out the many points at where failure occurred – rank by severity, and place in date order”.

  124. JD says:

    WTF does “course he’s a black guy, so you know …” mean?

  125. JD says:

    LtC John – do you recall any orders instructing you to secure the price of oil?

  126. donald says:

    There will be nasty things said about him once his message of the Fair Tax and gets center stage on his platform JD. Cause, that’s what he’s gonna run on.

    I’ve met Herman, I believe Stephanie worked on his senate campaign, and immediately surpasses Sarah Palin whom I adore by a wide margin in the if the world was run by donald sphere.

    Sorry if I wasn’t clear. Herman is the man. You’ll say that too after you learn more about him.

  127. donald says:

    OH, I got that at instapundit.

    Check Herman out Happyfeet, I believe you will dance a true dance of joy.

  128. donald says:

    He (Cain) recently stopped doing his radio show on WSB 750 in Atlanta, which is no small potatoes. He’s serious, and honestly, I’m very excited.

    Stephanie, where do I sign up?

  129. JD says:

    My bad, Donald. I just don’t really care if he is black, white , purple, or mauve with pink polka dots.

  130. happyfeet says:

    I like him I just think he needs to establish himself more better as a national figure before running for president … which, that may be what he’s doing – running for VP or somesuch

  131. donald says:

    Neither do I JD. But, he’s a serious dude and his message will resonate, he’ll have to be destroyed.

    Anyways, out the door. Gonna get the first test of my knee on the baseball field today. I have much trepidation. But I get to teach new guys my bestest skill. Wish there was some money in that.

  132. cranky-d says:

    If race weren’t being kept in the forefront by the left as an issue, would Cain still resonate as much? I don’t think so. I’m not knocking the man at all, but I’m disappointed (yet not surprised) that we’re still where we are and show no sign of moving ahead.

    However, since race is still in the forefront, the more conservative/classical liberal black folk who run for office, the better.

  133. Joe says:

    I like Herman Cain, he definitely says the right things, but it is a long trek to the nomination. We will see.

  134. McGehee says:

    When they come to us looking for corn, we can give them ethanol.

    Corn won’t grow at all on Rocky Top
    Dirt’s too rocky by far
    That’s why all the folks on Rocky Top
    Get their corn from a jar

  135. MC says:

    LTC John, actually you and I go back a ways to some fun times on Scribal Terror during which I made some P’shops as homage to your service to our great land. I’m truly thankful for your service.

    Since then I’ve gone a good bit sort of NeoCon and have concluded that top brass is about the only thing we have left in terms of competent leadership in the US. As I’ve stated recently, I think 44 has pretty much abdicated his role as CINC and has a “just do what you do” talking relationship with the JCOS and has had little to do and little comprehension of why we have a full complement expeditionary group and three CSGs with boomers in the region along with bolstered air assets even in the Sinai. Policy, State, and Intel all have a decidedly agreed interest – in our national interest – in oil not going to $250/BB – and with CENTCOM being truely a benevolent force for good in the region – it won’t.

    In the meantime, 44 is being schooled while he’s playing tinker toys in public – because he’s really still campaigning – posing is about the only thing he does well – and he’s taking the Executive dangerously into irrelevancy.

    So if it wasn’t Iran entering the mix – as Mossad has leaked – after the ‘deal was done’ yesterday – what flipped it? Was it really Mubarak’s force of personality?

  136. ThomasD says:

    #134 – Resonate as much? No, but if race was excluded he would only resonate slightly less. Cain has been what he is for quite a while. Only now is he coming into something of a ‘moment’ with the rise of the TEA parties and all the calls for smaller government and fiscal discipline. He’s a good talker, a very successful corporate manager, and a great thinker. I suspect he has what it takes to be a good President. But I’m not sure he has what it takes to win the Presidency, mainly because he needed this exact moment to be seen as viable, and that says his skills do not lie on the stump. All of which relates back to your point about his inability to gain traction.

    Pair his skills with the political acumen of a (slightly younger, and stronger) Fred Thompson and then you’d have something.

Comments are closed.