All things Egypt (or, wasn’t 2012 supposed to be the year of the apocalypse? Or did John Cusack lie to us. Again.)

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happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:14 pm

Cusack lied Egyptian kids died

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:17 pm

but I think the dithering uselessness of America’s response belies a theory that this was a cunning plan

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:22 pm

our Hot Air pals have a helpful link

In the streets of Cairo, many protesters are now openly denouncing the United States for supporting President Hosni Mubarak, saying the price has been their freedom. They say the Obama administration has offered only tepid criticism of a regime that has received billions of dollars in U.S. aid…

“Tell America that we get to choose our president,” Manshawi said. “We choose him, not them.”…

“We believe America is against us,” said Emad Abdel Halim, 31. “Until now, Obama didn’t talk to the Egyptian people. He didn’t support the Egyptian people.”

“Tell Obama to forget about Mubarak,” said Islam Rashid, 26. “He is done.”*

bh says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:22 pm

Couple from the other thread that I’ve been thinking about:

From Pablo, something positive. From a link of Geoff’s, something not so positive.

Jeff G. says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:24 pm

If only Obama had engaged in Muslim outreach, then they’d be cheering us on in the streets of Egypt right now!

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:26 pm

Ok, there’s this Working group on Egypt thing that’s evidently been around for a year or so. They have something to say by way of recommendations:

Statement of the Working Group on Egypt, Saturday January 29, 2011

Amidst the turmoil in Egypt, it is important for the U.S. to remain focused on the interests of the Egyptian people as well as the legitimacy and stability of the Egyptian government.

Only free and fair elections provide the prospect for a peaceful transfer of power to a government recognized as legitimate by the Egyptian people. We urge the Obama administration to pursue these fundamental objectives in the coming days and press the Egyptian government to:

— call for free and fair elections for president and for parliament to be held as soon as possible.

— amend the Egyptian Constitution to allow opposition candidates to register to run for the presidency.

— immediately lift the state of emergency, release political prisoners, and allow for freedom of media and assembly

— allow domestic election monitors to operate throughout the country, without fear of arrest or violence.

— immediately invite international monitors to enter the country and monitor the process leading to elections, reporting on the government’s compliance with these measures to the international community

— publicly declare that Mr. Mubarak will agree not to run for re-election.

We further recommend that the Obama administration suspend all economic and military assistance to Egypt until the government accepts and implements these measures.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:28 pm

that is spot on good advice I think Mr. sdferr

Mr. Callahan there’s your plan.

America needs to affirm its commitment to self-determination and freedom and here is that path.

serr8d says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:29 pm

Hosni Mubarak has been especially helpful to the U.S. over the years, since 1981 when he succeeded dead Anwar Sadat. He lent first-boots-on-the-ground in the Gulf War against Iraq (a kindness for which we forgave Egypt some $20 Billion in debt). He’s been a friend to Israel too, as was Sadat, who was assassinated for his troubles. Mubarak’s been targeted for assassination some 6 times, mostly by Islamic Jihadists (who will assassinate anyone they don’t like, it seems).

He’s walked a tightrope since he came in, obviously a tough son of a bitch. The U.S. had to be grateful over the years, and is still likely grateful. It’s very difficult to keep everyone happy, ‘feets, especially so when the unhappy ones tend to wear asplodey vests.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:31 pm

what’s happened is that our little country, what has spent hundreds of billions of dollars bringing freedom to muslim peoples, is now, thanks to bumblefuck and whore clinton’s dictator-loving uselessness, seen the world over as preferring tyranny to freedom.

That’s quite a coup for Obama I imagine, but rather dismaying for the rest of us.

serr8d says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:32 pm

Hillary speaks of dialogue opening. So, it’s rocks and teargas that opens dialogue for Democrats, not ‘civility’? Nice to know.

cranky-d says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:33 pm

If and when Egypt has free elections, they will elect the Muslim Brotherhood. The people will be repressed. That much is certain.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:34 pm

ok we can give America’s dictator whore Hosni a gold watch I guess Mr. serr8d but he has to promise to stop murdering young people

bh says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:37 pm

The Journal says ditch Mubarak.

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:38 pm

Fouad Ajami knows a bunch about Egypt. He also knows what he doesn’t know, which is a good thing too.

Pablo says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:39 pm

I need another drink.

If and when Egypt has free elections, they will elect the Muslim Brotherhood.

I wouldn’t bet on that. Egypt is not Gaza.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:40 pm

okey dokey I stand with the Journal.

But backing Mr. Mubarak as his regime desperately tries to keep power is also risky. At age 82, his day is passing in any case. After this week, the dynastic succession he favored to his son, Gamal, seems out of the question. If the U.S. is seen as supporting a ruler whose military is killing demonstrators in the streets, we will have no influence when the dictator eventually falls.

serr8d says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:41 pm

but he has to promise to stop murdering young people

Of course HE hasn’t killed any young people, ‘feets. He’s safely tucked away, probably in a bunker somewhere in the country. I would imagine he’s given orders to not kill civilians, but he cannot control the chaos, and cannot watch and be responsible for every move his police and military make in the streets. When chaos happens, people die, that’s a given. A shame, but there’s nothing else for it.

Your blame is broadsword-stroke and unhelpful I think.

Sears Poncho says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:43 pm

Claudia Rosett is saying the Muslim Brotherhood is looking to Baradei for representation:

http://pajamasmedia.com/claudiarosett/please-not-el-baradei/

That should make for some fun times

geoffb says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:43 pm

The Movements.org “Alliance of Youth Movements”.

Pablo says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:46 pm

This probably belongs better in the last thread, but that’s old now.

geoffb says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:47 pm

The Egyptian activists primer.

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:50 pm

Paul Wolfowitz interviewed at the Spectator.

PW: With so much at stake, it is a mistake to be sitting on the sidelines. Western governments can be a positive force on behalf of genuine freedom and against attempts to impose a new kind of tyranny of the Islamist variety. But we can’t do that if we are seen as propping up a hated tyrant, or worse, encouraging the kind of bloody crackdown that could at best produce an artificial “stability” for a relatively short period of time. The possibility of a bad outcome is very real, particularly because we did nothing to encourage more evolutionary change earlier, but I believe we have a better chance of a good outcome if we support positive change than if we support the status quo.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:50 pm

it’s hard not to feel very happy for and even a little proud of the Egyptian kids what are taking their country back

They are the best of us.

serr8d says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:52 pm

We’ll have our turns, ‘feets, I’m afraid.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:52 pm

okey dokey I stand wif Mr. Wolf guy too

Mr. Wolf guy and the Journal and the Working group on Egypt seem to have their head around the problem

geoffb says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:53 pm

Sandmonkey’s twitter updates.

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 2:58 pm

PW: [. . .] In the very interview that you cite I explained that I believed in an “evolutionary rather than revolutionary” approach to promoting democratic reform and specifically that “Egypt does not have to hold free elections tomorrow, but it could make a start by not throwing prominent human rights activists in jail.” If they had started that kind of reform seven years ago, we might have a happier situation today. We may not like some of the change that is coming, but I still believe, as I said then, that for the Arab world not to change at all is “a formula for eventual catastrophe.”

This is where the lessons learned in Egypt might be profitably employed elsewheres not now in crisis conflict, if only the Obama foreign policy apparatus will think to employ them. It’s not a breath holding expectation though, obviously.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:00 pm

Mr. Ajami from the link at 14 makes an interesting point

Mr. Mubarak has been merciless with his critics. For this isolated, aging man of the barracks, dissent is always treason. There remains, of course, the Muslim Brotherhood. It was in Egypt where the Muslim Brotherhood was born in the late 1920s. The Brotherhood has been the alibi and the bogeyman with which Hosni Mubarak frightened the middle class at home and the donors abroad in Washington and Europe, who prop his regime out of fear that Egypt would come apart and the zealots would triumph.

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:04 pm

MARXISTS & LEFTISTS RALLY to Overthrow Tunisian, Egyptian & American Regimes (Video)

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:04 pm

VDH makes a few good points too:

That is, a century after the onset of modern waste treatment science, many of the cities in the Middle East smell of raw sewage. A century after we learned about microbes and disease, the water in places like Cairo is undrinkable from the tap. Six decades after the knowledge of treating infectious disease, millions in the Middle East suffer chronic pain and suffer from maladies that are easily addressed in the West. And they have about as much freedom as the Chinese, but without either the affluence or the confidence. That the Gulf and parts of North Africa are awash in oil and gas, at a time of both near record prices and indigenous control of national oil treasures, makes the ensuing poverty all the more insulting.

Part of this analysis is why I’m well persuaded that Islamism is thoroughly bankrupt, even if its supporters can’t see it. What do they peoples want? Air conditioning! And Islamism has no clue how to get it for them.

Pablo says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:05 pm

Sandmonkey’s twitter updates.

That he’s calling them in to a friend in Jordan who’s posting them is teh awesome. They’re doing a very shitty job of information control.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:06 pm

American entrepreneurs deserve enormous credit for the tools — the Internet, the cell phone and social media — by which Egyptians have been organizing their rebellion … that is, until the regime pulled the plug days ago. It’s too bad these free enterprise innovations are overshadowed by our official national policy of supporting dictatorship. May the Egyptian people be forgiving of the U.S. government role in their current suffering.

Let’s hope this is a revolution in Egypt. For their sake. And for our sake, we need a new and far less costly foreign policy of not aiding and abetting tyranny.

And we need political leaders with the eye-sight and courage to recognize a dictator when they see one.*

SteveG says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:07 pm

Jeff

I only Obama had made a speech in Cairo or something.. if this seems to be turning out well in the days to come, the Cairo speech will be given as the reason for “liberating Egypt!”
Of course 4-6 years from now when Egypt is under the thumb of Hamas it’ll be Bush’s fault… all the Bush’s fault… Barbara, Laura, the twins, hell even the dog in the baked beans ad

bh says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:10 pm

Part of this analysis is why I’m well persuaded that Islamism is thoroughly bankrupt, even if its supporters can’t see it.

Quite true but, unfortunately, this reminds me of the good Keynes line:

Markets can remain irrational a lot longer than you and I can remain solvent.*

serr8d says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:13 pm

Heh.

Gotta leave now and head back to the protests. Down with Mubarak. Down with Obama the hypocrite. Long live the Egyptian revolution.

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:14 pm

I gotta say bh, drawing back is bigger in the wind today than ever in my lifetime. I don’t want it, but wouldn’t in the least be surprised to find we get it anyhow.

geoffb says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:17 pm

While Cairo Burns, Obama Parties.

LBascom says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:24 pm

Another good point from VDH in sdferrs link:

I don’t particularly like Mubarak and will be glad to see him leave, but please spare us the condemnation that we “made” him. We did not. He is a reflection of the pathologies that were outlined above, and would have to be invented had he not existed. He could not have come to power without an underlining culture of tribalism, gender apartheid, religious intolerance, and statism. And he has less blood on his hands than did the once beloved “authentic” Nasser (whose use of poison gas in Yemen provided the revolutionary model for Saddam in Kurdistan and at the time bothered no one in Nasserite Egypt).

Bolding for hf.

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:24 pm

Michael Ledeen reflects on the Carter-Iran/Obama-Egypt similarities, and concludes:

[. . .]The lesser of two evils is a legitimate policy decision.

In fact, it’s the most common one. I’m sure Obama hates being in this position, as any of us would. But he’s got to make decisions. Clearly and emphatically. And stay on top of it, which is not at all his style or inclination.

And that’s the final similarity with 1979: the wrong American in the wrong job at a crucial time. Let’s hope that the Almighty truly does protect the blind, the drunk, and the United States of America.

It’s even better to be lucky than to be smart.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:30 pm

who cares who made him Mr. lee we can’t stand by this murderous fuckhole dictator while he murders young people what just want freedom

America has yet to ask him to step down.

This is shameful.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:33 pm

Ledeen is depraved and a little evil himself I think

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:38 pm

The Egyptian peoples are crying out for freedom and Ledeen calls on America to back a dictator.

Good luck with that. Values like freedom and self-determination are among the mostest prized assets your declining sad little pathetically indebted country has left Mr. Ledeen.

And you want us to just go right ahead and squander those too?

Fuck that action.

Jeff G. says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:40 pm

Yeah. When has Ledeen ever agitated for freedom?

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:43 pm

Apparently when it’s convenient

Jeff G. says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:45 pm

Sure. He does it out of convenience. Not with any kind of concern for broader issues in the ME.

Nope. Only happy cares about freedom.

Well, happy, and Billy A, and Bernardine D.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:48 pm

America can stand with its murderous tyrant buddies, they just can’t whine like little piggies when the world takes them for hypocritical cowards

Spiny Norman says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:49 pm

I thought I’d leave this here:

‘feets, get your own fucking blog, ferchrissake.

I really don’t give a damn what you have to say anymore, and I’m damned sick of every thread ending up being about you. It’s gotten so bad I rarely read the comments here anymore, and post even less.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:51 pm

I feel your pain Spiny

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:52 pm

“America has yet to ask him to step down.”

castro?

geoffb says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:53 pm

Another angle to view.

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:57 pm

And while MB leaders profess support for democracy and free speech, my mother’s response still holds: “They would say that, wouldn’t they?” What I see is that they’ve quieted their usual inflammatory rhetoric in return for Mubarak not banning them. It would be delusory to take the MB’s democratic protestations at face value. Look at who their friends are—like Hamas.

The real danger is that our experts, pundits and professors will talk the Arab and American worlds into believing we can all trust the MB. And that’s dangerous because, outside of the government, the MB is the only organized political force, the only group capable of taking power. And if they do gain control, it’s going to be almost impossible for the people to take it back. Just look at Iran.

link

Jeff G. says:

January 30, 2011 at 3:59 pm

why are you against the freedoms mr newrouter?

serr8d says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:01 pm

CNN found some unhappy (but, strangely, happyesque) Alexandrians…

Woman #1 sets the stage for Woman #2:

“All the people hate him. He’s supporting Israel! Israel is our enemy. We don’t like him…Israel and America supported him. We hate them all!”

Woman #1 then explains that they will accomplish the removal of Mubarak by “revolution.”

Then the guy that follows them takes it up a notch by explaining that when the people in Egypt are finally free they will be able to “destroy Israel.”

So, by supporting Israel, we too are the enemy.

‘feets, where do you stand on Israel, on Zionism? Just curious, really.

B. Moe says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:02 pm

I remember just like it was yesterday students protesting in the streets of Atlanta, condemning the US for supporting George Bush and vowing to take their country back.

Just look how well that turned out.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:08 pm

I like Israel we should protect them especially since they make my favorite cereal plus they’re good people. But protecting them by oppressing our Egyptian friends is sorta not ethical.

serr8d says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:13 pm

Yep. This is looking more and more like 1979, with no good outcomes for the USA. All we need now are hostages.

Jeff G. says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:19 pm

your egyptian friends should have the freedom to stone the gays and womens and kill the jews and christians for to be fair.

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:19 pm

Has anyone heard from the Italians?

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:22 pm

Claire Berlinski says the Turks are very quite on the subject of Egypt right now.

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:22 pm

quiet I meant.

Jeff G. says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:23 pm

we need genghis khan to shoot arrows at the barbarians what want nuclear weapons and theocracy and kill them all plus bonus it saves the earf!

serr8d says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:26 pm

‘feets, seems many of the dead are escaped convicts. So much for the poor children caught under the boot heels of Mubarak.

Pablo says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:28 pm

Here’s a lesson what all protesting people should remember: Throwing rocks at people with guns gets you shot.

Sears Poncho says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:29 pm

As to the Muslim Brotherhood “bogeyman”

http://newledger.com/2011/01/muslim-brotherhoods-terrorist-money-flowing-to-anwar-ibrahim/

http://www.realclearworld.com/2010/10/11/muslim_brotherhood_declares_war_on_us_116141.html

And let us remember Muslim Brotherhood wants to implement sharia law, per their charter.

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:31 pm

Ledeen said:

As I’ve said, that we have come to this impasse shows a long-standing policy failure, just as it did in Iran in 1979. We should have supported democratic opposition forces all along (footnote: it’s quite amusing to hear former officials proclaiming “we can’t support dictatorship” when they did precisely that when they were in office. Including some, like C. Rice, who promised to support democrats and then didn’t.). But we didn’t, the London Telegraph’s misleading headline writers notwithstanding. Now we have no attractive options. Too bad.

He didn’t say support Mubarak that I can see. He does seem to recognize that sometimes there are rocks just to big to lift though. Which, meh, who doesn’t know that?

TmjUtah says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:37 pm

I believe that accepting the proposition that this administration possesses the administrative, organizational, and disciplinary skill set to actively influence such a dynamic situation to be a concept more laughable than any thing shown on SNL during the entire decade of the seventies.

It’s a big world, Barry.

I wish you weren’t using your time as President to figure that out.

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:38 pm

The key fact, in Egypt (paralleled in Yemen and elsewhere), is that the Muslim Brotherhood has not declared itself. The Islamists could put vastly more people on the street. They could subvert the loyalties of policemen and soldiers, who already resent the moneyed middle class. They could generate just enough heat to make large districts of Cairo and Alexandria, now simmering, boil over.

But instead, they are playing neutral, watching those policemen and soldiers put the demonstrators down, while most of Egypt remains quiescent.

For this is not their revolution, and for the moment they are content to watch the autocratic regime, and its frustrated middle class, weaken each other. Their moment will come when Mubarak totters.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah has effectively taken over, and the same middle classes who briefly prevailed in the Cedar Revolution of 2005 are on the streets to express their displeasure. But Hezbollah has the guns, and the will to power. Lebanon is finished as an “open society.”

And those who feel hopeful about the outcome in Egypt should explain just what they are hoping for.

link

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:39 pm

good point Mr. sdferr I misunderstood his lesser of 2 evils

Don’t inflict an even worse tyranny on the Egyptian people, one that is likely to plunge the region into a big war. If that means working with the generals to create a transition government that promises to shape a more attractive polity, so be it. The lesser of two evils is a legitimate policy decision.

I think that’s quite sensible really. I think Ledeen acknowledges that Mubarak has to get gone.

I’m sorry I called you depraved and a little evil Mr. Ledeen.

I Callahan says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:42 pm

I’m confused. The US apparently helped with the uprising, yet the protesters are still PO’d at us for propping up Mubarak.

We can’t win for losing.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:44 pm

I don’t think we helped with the uprising or bumblefuck and whore clinton wouldn’t look this bewildered, would they?

It’s hard to say I guess.

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:45 pm

I don’t think it’s that hard to say. The Telegraph is propounding dastardly propaganda. There, I said it.

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:47 pm

islamocommie cont.

Our disengagement and effective absence from Lebanon this month were a signal that big challenges are now possible; the US might not even try to intervene. Whatever our latent powers, we are not acting as a limiting factor, by defining and defending interests, and we have no apparent intention to.

This understanding is what’s missing from most coverage of the unrest in the Arab world. Riots in Egypt are not unprecedented; Mubarak has survived them before. He may again, for now. It may take time for newly-encouraged challengers of the status quo, like the Muslim Brotherhood, to develop actionable plans targeting specific governments. That hasn’t been their primary focus, unlike the always-prepared Marxist insurgents of the last century.

link

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:48 pm

I just meant it’s hard to say whether they wouldn’t look bewildered irrespective of US involvement… they’re both a lot ill-prepared and unready for this sort of real-world crisis

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:51 pm

I got to run to the kitchen for another hot enchilada but yes hf, you’re right about that. I was kinda opportunistic there squeezing off a hate bomb at the Telegraph I’ve been wanting to fire since I first saw that article.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:51 pm

but yes the Telegraph is suspiciously shy of extended quotes on the subject – just snippy snips

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:52 pm

I have to get up too I have a diet red bull in the freezer

serr8d says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:53 pm

Haaretz is harsh…

Obama will go down in history as the president who lost Egypt

The superficial circumstances are similar. In both cases, a United States in financial crisis and after failed wars loses global influence under a leftist president whose good intentions are interpreted abroad as expressions of weakness. The results are reflected in the fall of regimes that were dependent on their relationship with Washington for survival, or in a change in their orientation, as with Ankara.

America’s general weakness clearly affects its friends. But unlike Carter, who preached human rights even when it hurt allies, Obama sat on the fence and exercised caution. He neither embraced despised leaders nor evangelized for political freedom, for fear of undermining stability.

For the bleeding-edge stuff, see the hashtag #Jan25.

geoffb says:

January 30, 2011 at 4:59 pm

I don’t think we helped with the uprising

I don’t know about a “we” but nothing says “Community Organized” more than a leaflet with this as an “how to” illustration

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 5:02 pm

He will be accused of not pushing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hard enough to stop the settlements and thus indirectly quell the rising tides of anger in the Muslim world.

that’s just… a really weird observation from Haaretz there I think

I don’t think bumblefuck is in for any particularly large amount of criticism for not pushing Netanyahu hard enough to stop the settlements and thus indirectly quell the rising tides of anger in the Muslim world.

I could be wrong I guess but it seems kinda unlikely.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 5:04 pm

I thought Egyptian police were the scary people geoff what the people hated most

geoffb says:

January 30, 2011 at 5:21 pm

Haaretz is the Israeli “Guardian“.

serr8d says:

January 30, 2011 at 5:22 pm

Now for something entirely different (given that the Pro Bowl just started): who will the Titans interview to satisfy the Rooney Rule ?

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 5:23 pm

oh it’s a never let a crisis go to waste thing then

geoffb says:

January 30, 2011 at 5:26 pm

Hey, Peace, Love and carry some flowers for beauty and to put in the barrels of the guns. I just report ’em you get to decide ’em. Lots of propaganda flowing from all quarters.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 5:32 pm

I’d forgotten that Mohamed ElBaradei and president bumblefuck both have nobel peace prizes.

This makes a peaceful resolution like 84% more likely I think.

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 5:32 pm

@84 billy ayers last hurrah

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 5:34 pm

“I’d forgotten that Mohamed ElBaradei and president bumblefuck both have nobel peace prizes.”

and bumblefuck had a dinner the other night for the 2010 winners jailer

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 5:38 pm

oh. whore Clinton is in… haiti?

for reals?

…the chief US diplomat will visit a cholera clinic, meet Edmond Mulet, the special representative of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and consult with candidates in the disputed election.

okey dokey take your time honey Egypt can wait til you get back

LBascom says:

January 30, 2011 at 5:45 pm

@87- that just proves America hates freedom.

Our credibility is shot ‘cuz we support ourselves on a murderous dictatorships dime.

I blame Nixon.

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 5:54 pm

the freedom agenda

Eight members of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas also escaped from Abu Zaabal, with at least two of them back in the Gaza Strip via smuggling tunnels on Sunday, a Palestinian official said on condition of anonymity.

A senior official in the Hamas government confirmed all eight were on their way back to Gaza.

Among those who arrived back in Gaza on Sunday was Mohamed al-Shaer, a big name in the cross-border smuggling enterprise, who was arrested in Egypt six months ago after completing the haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

Shaer entered Gaza through the tunnels, witnesses said.

Several hours later, a second prisoner, Hassan Wishah also made his way through the tunnels to El Bourej camp in central Gaza. He had served three years of a 10-year sentence at the Cairo jail for unspecified security offences.

“All the Palestinian prisoners escaped from Abu Zaabal,” Wishah told AFP.

The remaining six prisoners were said to have reached the port city of Al Arish and were expected to reach Gaza later on Sunday, official sources said.

And 34 Muslim Brothers, including leaders of the banned Islamist group, left their prison at Wadi Natrun north of Cairo unhindered after guards abandoned their posts, one of their lawyers told AFP.

The Islamists, who are regularly rounded up and detained by Egyptian security forces, had been arrested on Thursday either at their homes or during anti-Mubarak protests.

“Their lives would have been in danger if they’d stayed,” lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud told AFP of the freed Brothers.

link

guinsPen says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:03 pm

I say we hang the next one what uses what instead of who or that.

No, wait

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:05 pm

It mightn’t hurt to recall how Hafez Assad dealt with the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria; how his son has dealt with democrats in Lebanon; how just now Obama has sent an ambassador to the Assad court, just as Hezbollah has taken virtual total control of the Lebanese gov’t. This is our President with the big thinkings going on.

Dismal, ain’t it?

Pablo says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:05 pm

…the chief US diplomat will visit a cholera clinic, meet Edmond Mulet, the special representative of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and consult with candidates in the disputed election.

Gee, I hope she doesn’t wash her hands while she’s there like that Palin nitwit.

Ululululululululuuuu!!!!

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:06 pm

islamocommie cont.:

Al Jazeera does leftoid talking points:

Of all the journalistic outlets that could understand the concept that “those with guns make the rules” you’d think that Al Jazeera would at least concede that point. The reason that the Arab people have to stand up to riot police unarmed is because guns and weaponry are illegal for the general populace so that the state and their actors (the riot police and the secret police) can act with impunity. The only time that things change in the Arab world is when those with BIGGER guns (the army) come and don’t support the riot police and secret police thugs; and then there is a change of power.

link

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:07 pm

Several former U.S. officials said Washington needs to side more formally with Egypt’s protesters and push Jordan, Yemen and other U.S. allies to more aggressively embrace democratic reforms. Failing to do so, they said, will expose the U.S. to more charges of double standards and possibly aid the efforts of U.S. adversaries regionally.

“We need to understand that an open society and free speech and press…really are the best weapons against al Qaeda and extremism,” said Elliott Abrams, who oversaw Middle East policy in George W. Bush’s White House.*

you are a wise man Elliott Abrams thank you for sharing your thinkings

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:12 pm

“Several former U.S. officials said Washington needs ”

foggy bottoms fags

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:13 pm

“We need to understand that an open society”

soros™

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:15 pm

Abrams is in that Working Group thingy what wants to cut our whore dictator loose

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:17 pm

He keeps a blog now over at CFR.

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:18 pm

The messages were troubling, and Islamic supremacists and their leftwing knob polishers set about to alter the narrative. Their objective is to turn this desire for political freedom into an anti-American, anti-Israel putsch.

Egyptians filled the streets in front of the office of the Consulate General of Egypt in Chicago shouting their support for the protesters back home. Also at the United Nations in New York there was a large rally. The people were carrying signs that said, “Down with Mubarak”, “Down with the Camp David Regime”, ‘Egypt is Free”, and “Egyptian Blood is our Blood”. (more here)

But if you look at the demonstrations in New York, Chicago and such……..you will see the infiltrators trying to transform the movement into an ugly, Muslim supremacist, Jew-hating movement.

link

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:21 pm

thank you his blog points you to this oped

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:26 pm

“Sixty years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe – because in the long run, stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty,” Bush said. “As long as the Middle East remains a place where freedom does not flourish, it will remain a place of stagnation, resentment and violence ready for export.”

This spirit did not always animate U.S. diplomacy in the Bush administration; plenty of officials found it unrealistic and had to be prodded or overruled to follow the president’s lead. But the revolt in Tunisia, the gigantic wave of demonstrations in Egypt and the more recent marches in Yemen all make clear that Bush had it right – and that the Obama administration’s abandonment of this mind-set is nothing short of a tragedy.

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:26 pm

we’re almost to utopia: first obamacare then the caliphate

Joe says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:31 pm

DaveO 25 minutes ago

In Egypt, President Obama’s foreign policy has been to… wait and see, with perhaps the gentlest of nudges to Mubarak. In Iran, during it’s electoral Green Revolution, President Obama’s foreign policy has been to… wait and see, phoning in support for the revolutionaries only after most had been rounded up or massacred. In Lebanon, President Obama’s foreign policy has been to… wait and see, and admonish Israel for not being grateful for all the rockets impacting inside its borders.

In Honduras, President Obama came off the bench early. He scolded, he withdrew funding, but otherwise, he did nothing. In Venezuela, President Obama’s foreign policy was to wait and see while American companies were taken over. In Brazil, President Obama’s foreign policy was to shut down American oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, freeing up resources such as the rigs to drill under Brazil’s aegis.

Even Ron Paul’s foreign policy stance is more aggressive and protective. Are we going to have to looks to Canada for some direction in foreign policy?

The Canada line made me laugh. Overall spot on assessment of Team Obama. This is a tell that even weekend poker players can spot.

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:31 pm

When President Obama called Saudi King Abdullah to discuss events in Egypt last night, he must have gotten a don’t-go-wobbly earful. The Saudi Press Agency, according to Stratfor.com, is reporting today that the king “affirmed the importance of Egypt’s stability, safety and security.” And, as the SPA put it, “the events in Egypt are accompanied by chaos, looting, intimidation of innocents, exploitation of freedom and expression as well as attempts to ignite chaos to achieve suspicious goals which are unapproved by either Saudi Arabia or the United States.” Abdullah would not look kindly on Mohammed ElBaradei as the next Egyptian president, of course. Far from cutting off the head of the snake, as IAEA inspector, ElBaradei was seen as overly accomodating and protective of Iran and its nuclear efforts. The king views Egypt as “integral” to the Arab and Islamic nations, as SPA explains, and thus within his sphere of influence. A rise to power of the Muslim Brotherhood, with or without ElBaradei, would pose a threat to this. Since the Saudi monarchy has been the go-to authority for nearly all matters Islamic and Arabic (Iraq was a glaring exception to this rule) for both Democrat and Republican administrations, I suspect we won’t see any immediate suspension of U.S. military aid to Egypt as is recommended by the Working Group on Egypt.

link

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:31 pm

Mercy, 35-0 with 7:16 left in the first half? What in the blessed hell is going on there?

Joe says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:31 pm

Dave O left his comment here..

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:33 pm

the perverted Saudi royal whores probably aren’t sleeping very well these days

And they shouldn’t.

Swen says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:39 pm

Here’s something I haven’t seen anyone mention regarding the reports that the U.S. secretly backed the Egyptian dissidents, the timing:

According to the Telegraph, American embassy officials helped at least one young dissident attend a U.S.-sponsored summit for political activists in New York while simultaneously working to keep his identity secret from Egyptian state police. Upon his return to Cairo in December 2008, the activist reportedly told American diplomats that an alliance of opposition groups planned to overthrow Mubarack before the country’s 2011 national elections. …

In a secret diplomatic dispatch, sent on December 30 2008, Margaret Scobey, the US Ambassador to Cairo, recorded that opposition groups had allegedly drawn up secret plans for “regime change” to take place before elections, scheduled for September this year. [emphasis added]

So.. How could the US have been secretly backing the dissidents while Obama now appears clueless and unprepared? Easy. He wasn’t President in December 2008, was he? It’s just another of those little foreign policy details he wasn’t interested in until it jumped up to bite his ass.

Joe says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:43 pm

Ironic that the spark that set this off was a Tunisian fruit merchant lighting himself on fire to protest oppressive government interference and taxes.

Are Glenn Beck and the Tea Party to blame for this?

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:50 pm

this is a good news aggregater thread, wonder what the business model is?

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 6:55 pm

Some may wonder why Barack Obama doesn’t just come out and denounce Mubarak for running a corrupt kleptocratic crony government. But I must remind you that Obama is a Chicago Democrat.

link

geoffb says:

January 30, 2011 at 7:11 pm

Abrams is in that Working Group thingy

As are some others not quite up to the same standard.

The Group includes Middle East and foreign policy experts ranging from Elliott Abrams of the Council of Foreign Relations and Ellen Bork of the Foreign Policy Initiative to Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch and Brian Katulis of the Center for American Progress.

Nice partner, a progressive choice.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 7:12 pm

I saw that too and HRW is just as bad I think

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 7:23 pm

“Council of Foreign Relations ”

foggy bottom faggots

The Sanity Inspector says:

January 30, 2011 at 7:34 pm

All kinds of amateur video hitting the nets.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8ca_1296302996

To find recent video, go to YouTube, search your keywords, and then at the top sort the results for most recent first.

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 7:37 pm

watching geraldo show protests in the us: who’s making the signs?

Stephanie says:

January 30, 2011 at 7:38 pm

JC has just completed his transformation to Kevin Bacon in Animal House. “All is Well!”

http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/01/30/jimmy-carter-weighs-in/#comments

“I know Mubarak quite well,” Carter said. “If Sadat had a message, he would send Mubarak.” …

As the unrest raged and escalated, Mubarak appointed Omar Suleiman, the country’s intelligence chief, as vice president.

“He’s an intelligent man whom I like very much,” Carter said.

Carter has maintained a relationship with Suleiman over the years.

“In the last four or five years when I go to Egypt, I don’t go to talk to Mubarak, who talks like a politician,” Carter said. “If I want to know what is going on in the Middle East, I talk to Suleiman. And as far as I know, he has always told me the truth.”

The former president, who performs work throughout the world for fair elections through The Carter Center in Atlanta, said this was not a revolution “orchestrated by extremists Muslims.

“The Muslim brotherhood has stayed out it,” Carter said.

The Muslim Brotherhood has not stayed out of it. There are reports that they are infiltrating the rioters in Egypt and the US to move the crowd to agitation against both Israel and the US. They are lying to the infidels to sneak in the back door.

Just as in WWII when Neville Chamberlain proclaimed that the Nazis were people with whom the British could work, it appears that JC has bought the shallow reality that the Brotherhood is staying out of “it.”

Marxists are really shallow thinkers. And naive. Bad combination.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 7:41 pm

Carter lurvs him some dictators. Always has. He thinks governance of muslims is a form of animal husbandry I think.

Stephanie says:

January 30, 2011 at 7:45 pm

watching geraldo show protests in the us: who’s making the signs?

CPUSA and the Muslim Brotherhood in the local SEIU union shop with a heavy dollop of the Soros Open Society groups. I’m not kidding. Check the similarity between the slogans and their respective websites.

It’s funny that the Communists and the Soros crowd think that they can use the muslims by proxy. Which group will turn on the other first?

In WWII the Axis powers and the arabists were hand in glove close working to destroy the jews. Now the same crowds are working to destroy Israel and Western cultures. Coinky Dink? I think not.

Why do I feel that somewhere in California, Charles Manson is smiling?

Stephanie says:

January 30, 2011 at 7:49 pm

Jimmy Carter, goat felcher. If only our soldiers could get some of that awesome you-tube footage of JC taken at dusk just when the lust in his heart is at its apex. I always wondered why he likes to spend time in the region. I think he has a few goats on his farm, too. And cows. But they kick. Hard.

Stephanie says:

January 30, 2011 at 7:58 pm

http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/01/30/report-from-afghanistan-on-egyptian-turmoil/

We are IMO, no shit, watching the opening shots on a Cold War type of struggle with the Axis of Evil + Venezuela, that will play out across everywhere we have a national interest. I guess I have job security for a while.

Let me just say it again for the record: Iraq was never about Iraq.

That the democrats would rather play politics with Iraq (2003-present) and bust Bush’s balls for short term political gain v protecting America’s interests for the long term security should have Kerry and crew lined up against a wall.

This is spot on. And I might add, that as goes Venezuela so goes a good chunk of South America. That retirement villa anywhere situated anywhere below Texas ain’t looking like a long term winner. I’m thinking Papeete, Vanuatu or some isolated island where you can see em coming. Anguilla or Bermuda if you absolutely want to stay be closer to the US, but they are real funny about foreigner’s owning any property.

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 7:59 pm

“in the local SEIU ”

yes the footage showed a sign-“SE then blank out by “protestors waving egypt flags” then cut vid.”

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:02 pm

i’m not into the The Coming Insurrection.

billy & bernie’s & fox piven’s last gasp

geoffb says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:08 pm

International ANSWER is also getting their feet wet in the protests also.

Now I see Fox News extolling “spontaneous demonstrations” in solidarity with the Egyptian people. In the background I see yellow signs from the communist front group International ANSWER.

Stephanie says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:18 pm

Answer is another of Soros’ Open Society groups.

The funny thing to me is that Soros is an OLD guy with not many years left. If he gets his Utopia, he ain’t gonna be around for very long to enjoy it, so why bother? Or does he have a standing reservation next to Ted Williams? If so, let’s hope the coming energy shortage pays him back in spades.

McGehee says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:22 pm

Staunchy stalwarts what are the staunchiest and stalwartiest really really like really a lot I think the absolute moral authority of being feelgoody about other people’s countries tearing themselves apart, as long as they get to denounce the failshitty ones what don’t like to watch other people’s countries torn apart.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:26 pm

people are fighting back against the American-sponsored dictator

good for them I think

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:28 pm

think of it as a unilateral implementation of the Bush Doctrine

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:29 pm

Kristol reads a shift in the Obama admin.

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:33 pm

Krauts, Frogs, Limeys and even the Wops climb aboard.

Jeff G. says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:35 pm

think of it as a unilateral implementation of the Bush Doctrine

Women, gays, Jews, other non-Muslims hardest hit.

serr8d says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:38 pm

Academe has spoken, including Noam Chomsky. They call for a shift, in the only direction they know; to shift ‘foreign policy’ left.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:41 pm

the status quo is untenable and failshit America was caught napping

we can try to help them make a more better government… we can put pressure on them to treat people nice… we move forward.

Or we can treat this like a woeful tragedy and fear fear fear the transition the middle east is going through. But this is how democracies get borned. Messy and icky. And possibly ill-fated.

But the Bush Doctrine held that freedom was the endgame, and except for possibly in Iraq, America dropped the ball. So you can’t blame other people for picking it up and running with it.

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:43 pm

“people are fighting back against the American-sponsored dictator”

yes the chicomm dude is ok

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:44 pm

“the status quo is untenable and failshit America was caught napping”

overthrow castro now!!11!!

The Sanity Inspector says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:45 pm

At the end of this clip, the CNN reporter is handed a leaflet by an Islamist group, supposedly more militant than the Muslim Brotherhood.

Jeff G. says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:45 pm

I’d like to buy the world a Coke…

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:46 pm

“Or we can treat this like a woeful tragedy and fear fear fear the transition the middle east is going through. But this is how democracies get borned.”

one vote, one time, for islam. ax what iran.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:47 pm

not a coke

it’s more like… what did people think America in decline was going to look like?

Plasmodium Pete says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:48 pm

people are fighting back against the American-sponsored dictator

good for them I think

Yessiree, happyfeet, fighting back against the American sponsored dictator, Isreal, Joooooos, and all the other things peaceful protesters who just want democracy want.

The sad fact is that there is a real world out here, and it resembles not at all the one that lives in your egocentric, cosseted, drama queen fantasy land.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:49 pm

we’re gonna have to figure out how we defend Israel we have a very for reals commitment there

Plasmodium Pete says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:52 pm

Reality really is a stranger to you, isn’t it, happyfeet /

Jeff G. says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:53 pm

It’s clear we defend Israel by allowing the ME to spontaneously reform the Caliphate, only with nukes this time instead of scimitars.

I have a tingle!

LBascom says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:54 pm

“Or we can treat this like a woeful tragedy and fear fear fear the transition the middle east is going through”

We could always just blame failshit America for everything, past, present, and future, and hope for change!

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:56 pm

Chinless speaks, makes jokes lapped up by Wall Street Journal writers.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:58 pm

what do you propose we do then Pete? Establish a more better dictator in Egypt? We don’t have the resources or the will. Our dictator has been rejected, so we have to help as best we can to guide Egypt to a post-Mubarak society. And – bonus – we have a freedom-hating cocksucker president in charge at the moment.

That’s your reality. We have to hope for the best though. Hope for the best plan for the worst.

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:58 pm

we need hillary to stress falafels at this junction of history. save the sphinx eat a falafel!!11!!

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:00 pm

“Our dictator has been rejected,”

not in havana, caracus, or points west

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:02 pm

“Our dictator has been rejected”

mugabe fine commie dick. where are you?

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:03 pm

Stephen Hadley in WSJ, defends Bush admin., lays blame on Mubarak, concludes with two possible paths forward, neither too swell.

Stephanie says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:06 pm

If the ME wants to obliterate Israel, it’s gonna be one big splodey dope wet dream. I suspect if Israel falls, the whole of the middle east will resemble a glass skating rink. Israel may be wiped out but every one of the countries who contributed will be wiped out, too. Eye for an eye and all that. There will be no US tempering their response like in the Gulf War when Israel didn’t respond to Saddam’s incoming fire.

I just hope JC and a good portion of the democratic side of the aisle is on a fact finding mission over there at the time. You do know that Kerry flew over to consult with the optometrist and his friends on Friday?

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:07 pm

“Mr. Hadley was national security adviser to President George W. Bush.”

ok

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:08 pm

You do know that Kerry flew over to consult with the optometrist and his friends on Friday?

I thought he canceled that trip?

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:09 pm

i think trading egyptian copts for the folks in gaza and the west bank comes into play. put the judeo/christian world on notice.

LBascom says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:09 pm

From sdferrs link:

The result was a political landscape that offered the Egyptian people just two choices: the government party (the National Democratic Party or NDP) and the underground Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. This sad outcome was President Mubarak’s own creation. He did it in part so that he could argue to successive U.S. administrations and his own people that the only alternative to his rule was an Islamist state. But it didn’t have to be this way.

Then the poor bastard got blindsided by a Islamist state loving US administration.

D’oh!

LBascom says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:11 pm

Oops, blockquote fail. Last two lines mine…

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:12 pm

If given an array of choices, I believe that the Egyptian people will choose a democratic future of freedom and not an Islamist future of imposed extremism.

Me too!

c’mon people now… smile on your brother everybody get together

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:15 pm

kneecap your brother rhymes better.

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:15 pm

“c’mon people now… smile on your brother everybody get together”

and stone the infidels now lalala LA!

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:16 pm

yes. lotsa bad actors.

LBascom says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:16 pm

That’s a pretty big if there hf.

Look at we had to choose between last presidential election…

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:17 pm

“I believe that the Egyptian people will choose a democratic future of freedom and not an Islamist future of imposed extremism.”

fuck off beltway credentialed idiot

Stephanie says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:17 pm

Last I saw was that he went. That he was even injecting himself in the situation shows the faith the dems have the One, though, doesn’t it? Don’t forget back in the 2004 elections Kerry was touting how he was super good friends with the eye doctor and knew he could bend him to his will. Plus he was over there in 2009 “cementing their relationship” as partners and stuff.

These democrats sure have overinflated egos and underinflated brain cells.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:19 pm

it’s really the only if we got though Mr. lee…

and it’s kind of exciting

early days yet… but lots of people want to help Egypt not be brutish and islamist and unpleasant to visit – both inside and outside the country

So, that’s hopeful.

bh says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:19 pm

If given an array of choices[…]

I’m sorry, didn’t the rest of the piece talk about how there isn’t an array of choices and they needed to time to develop? Hence the need to play a slower game here?

Non-Islamist parties need an opportunity to emerge to fill in the intervening political space. Time is short even if the presidential elections go forward as expected in September. The U.S. should resist the temptation to press for an accelerated election schedule. Hopefully wise heads in Egypt will do the same.

He’s urging restraint. You don’t even need to read between the lines.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:20 pm

yes the military needs to become a guarantor of the process is what I took from Mr. Hadley

Jeff G. says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:21 pm

Shit. Gas prices are going to skyrocket, and I just bought a Ferrari 430 Scudera ’07.

Isn’t that the way it always happens?

Pablo says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:22 pm

I’d like to buy the world a Coke…

Yeah, but that’s very American, and we’re a bunch of filthy cocksuckers without whom Hosni Mubarak couldn’t possibly exist, so maybe you should hold off on that until Mr. Soros purifies us.

Plasmodium Pete says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:22 pm

Do you have a platitude generator, or do you come up with this dreck all by your self ?

Get rid of a Batista, you get a Castro; lose a Shah Pahlavi, you get an Ayatollah. The world sucks, happyfeet, and the real reality, not you gumdrop fairy land reality but the harsh reality, too harsh for your delicate sensibilities, apparently, is that sometimes people and nations have to align themselves with bastards because the they will help protect your friends from even bigger bastards.

They will even help protect their own families and friends from the bigger bastards who want to hurt them on their own turf – see the comment above about the dead Muslim Brotherhood types – I have lived in and worked projects in Egypt, one of the most horrifying things I saw over there was the long lines of people waiting to eat, a line a block long. Who would thing that the ugly hobnailed boot of injustice would cause service at Pizza Hut to be so bad that people had to wait that long ?

The horror, the horror…

Stephanie says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:23 pm

Will the Egyptian people have a choice? If you create a vacuum in the government, the first to act usually get the important power levers for counting the votes. I see Egypt going the way of Lebanon. There may be a veneer of democracy, but the splodey dopes will be in control. And Jimmah will proclaim how awesome it all turned out, and the UN will proclaim that Obama really is the shizznit.

Oil however will be systemically enthroned at $150 a barrel.

Pablo says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:23 pm

Plus, failshit. You see our dilemma, no?

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:24 pm

yes the world sucks Mr. Pete so it was sorta highly important for America not to squander its wealth and power

oopsies

but yeah food is a problem in Egypt they have to import and import and import

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:26 pm

Barry Rubin‘s pessimistic analysis is very good. I can’t tell for certain but it would seem to accord well with the general take from Israel’s govt today. They no how no way want to trust Egyptian voters. I can’t blame them in the least.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:27 pm

I see Egypt becoming more like Italy, eventually

weird politics and lots of ruins and pretty girls

Stephanie says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:28 pm

Non-Islamist parties need an opportunity to emerge to fill in the intervening political space.

The power vacuum will suck in the first to act. As the MB is already mobilized, this won’t end well.

HF fairies are late to the party. Those who are late usually get the crumbs. And a good stoning for coming out of the closet.

Jeff G. says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:30 pm

International Answer, Soros, Hillary, the SEIU, Noam Chomsky, and happy — all sharing a staunchness!

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:30 pm

if it goes badly Stephanie we can just ignore it and think about other stuff like jeez why is the price of gas so high?

And it’s getting weird how everyone is so concerned about the Egyptian homos, if I may say so.

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:30 pm

Don’t y’all suspect the Egypt security apparats are rounding up MB honchos as fast as they can find them? I kinda do. And expect many of those to be simply disappeared before long.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:32 pm

I read about a lot of them escaping. Let’s hope you’re right Mr. sdferr. And that Mossad has people running about tcb as well.

Plasmodium Pete says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:34 pm

…lots of ruins…

Indeed, as Abu Simbel and the rest go the way of the Bamiyan Buddhas.

Plasmodium Pete says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:37 pm

Don’t y’all suspect the Egypt security apparats are rounding up MB honchos as fast as they can find them?

Maybe, but if so, what they do with them may depend on who they think is going ot come out on top.

Stephanie says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:38 pm

sdferr: from what I understand the prison guards were some of the first to abandon their posts and most of the MB and Hamas guys have escaped.

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTUyNjYyMjA3

Israel should probably have bombed the entire border between Gaza and Egypt to collapse the tunnels when this shit started. It’s not like Gaza isn’t one big army depot anyways.

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:39 pm

. . . what they do with them may depend on who they think is going ot come out on top.

To be sure. This is one of those “you pays your money, you takes your chances” sort of deals.

happyfeet says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:41 pm

speaking of ruins Kylie Pierogi did a concert in Egypt last year here she is doing her pierogi dance as the sphinx fixes her with a soulful gaze

bh says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:49 pm

A thought I just can’t shake is that I doubt guys like sandmonkey and other good actors have a few guns at home and I assume the MB guys do or will have them delivered shortly.

The army is obviously the strongest conventional force there but it’s not particularly hard to disrupt civil society or to intimidate non-Islamic political parties.

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:49 pm

“but yeah food is a problem in Egypt ”

don’t worry precedent soetoro will burn it in your gas tank. viva la bumblefuck rEVOLution!!11!!

LBascom says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:50 pm

“And it’s getting weird how everyone is so concerned about the Egyptian homos, if I may say so.”

I never had anything to say about Egayptions, I’m more worried about the Israelis myself.

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:54 pm

““And it’s getting weird how everyone is so concerned about the Egyptian homos, if I may say so.””

the sex practices of the copts concern me too also pigs. allan axbar!

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:57 pm

“kill the infidels” is kinda succinct no? well we’re waiting for the eeoc ruling on that one. holder what’s up?

Stephanie says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:58 pm

And I was worried about the freedom fairies flitting around with no ground game. Coming out of the closet does not just mean gays. It means anyone who aligns himself with the wrong side – instead of just hunkering down and playing it safe – will be targeted. The higher their visibility the more immediate the targeting will be.

Freedom loving Egyptians need a Sarah Palin. Right now all the freedom lovers are Romneys cowering in the closet waiting to see which way the wind blows. They need someone to rally behind and fill the vacuum.

LBascom says:

January 30, 2011 at 9:59 pm

The only good pig is a dead pig.

To eat I mean. Live ones are hard to catch and kinda chewy.

serr8d says:

January 30, 2011 at 10:01 pm

From that open letter to Baracky I linked, this paragraph is what really burns my ass …

There is another lesson from this crisis, a lesson not for the Egyptian government but for our own. In order for the United States to stand with the Egyptian people it must approach Egypt through a framework of shared values and hopes, not the prism of geostrategy. On Friday you rightly said that “suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away.” For that reason we urge your administration to seize this chance, turn away from the policies that brought us here, and embark on a new course toward peace, democracy and prosperity for the people of the Middle East. And we call on you to undertake a comprehensive review of US foreign policy on the major grievances voiced by the democratic opposition in Egypt and all other societies of the region.

Loosely translated: “We’ve got to stop being so high-horsed like we’ve been since the end of WWII and encourage WHATEVER form of government decides to coalesce, even if said government is anathema to our existence, because for too many years we’ve caused brown people to SUFFER! Oh, and Israel and Herzl be damned for causing all these problems. PBUH.”

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 10:01 pm

Mohammed El Baradei – The Iranian Frontman

Mohammed El Baradei — self-annointed “leader of the Egyptian opposition” — has more in common with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than anything remotely resembling democracy. He had a 12-year run, ending in 2009, as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) where his primary legacy was to bring Iran to the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons. He ran defense for Iran all those years, doing everything in his power to delay and delay and divert attention from the Iranian nuclear weapons program. Here is an example of El Baradei’s UN handiwork, after one more occasion when he helped push the issue off the Security Council table: “I am encouraged that the issue has not been referred to the Security Council, precisely to give time for diplomacy and negotiation.”… “…time is still available for diplomacy to resolve outstanding issues, for Iran to build confidence, and that the question of reporting to the Security Council could only be discussed at a later date.” (Sept. 24, 2005)

link

bh says:

January 30, 2011 at 10:05 pm

Fortuitously, via Glenn, we learn that Egyptians are creating local armed militias. Yay!

Let’s see, what are they armed with? One big stick. Check. Some Molotov cocktails. Check. One kitchen knife. Check. Buncha whistles. Check. There’s a rumor that someone might actually have a gun though.

Somewhere in the ME right now, there a few hundred AKs being loaded into crates to be sent to the stone age gangs.

Yeah, blow those whistles. That’ll let them know where to aim when it’s dark.

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 10:07 pm

“Somewhere in the ME right now, there a few hundred AKs being loaded into crates to be sent to the stone age gangs.”

the ballon went up days ago. it is over.

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 10:08 pm

So we have —

What must not happen: an Ikhwan takeover.
What cannot happen: Mubarak stays in power.
What will happen: ?

Time for Sicilian entrepreneurs to git busy loading boats with scatter guns.

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 10:12 pm

“What will happen: ?”

if smart all copts out of egypt all muslims out of gaza/west bank

bh says:

January 30, 2011 at 10:13 pm

At least the Sicilian entrepreneurs will sell to everyone with money. Which, good.

Btw, this organization and arming of the freedom-loving people? Remember the bad old days when the CIA actually did useful shit like this?

sdferr says:

January 30, 2011 at 10:15 pm

Remember the bad old days when the CIA actually did useful shit like this?

Yep. And when the Congress forbade it and they did it anyhow.

Stephanie says:

January 30, 2011 at 10:16 pm

Those tunnels flow both ways. Which group of folks do you figger Hamas will be arming? Plus Turkey probably has a “freedom flotilla” loading ships as we speak. Doubt those weapons will be going to mom and pop grocers, either.

This will not end well.

It is interesting that with all of Code Pink’s work with the MB over the last several years that none of them have seen fit to go to Egypt and join hands with the protesters. Either they don’t want to be too high profile in this or they are not really with the protesters who are currently roaming the streets.

Medea should be disrobing for freedom fighters everywhere, no?

serr8d says:

January 30, 2011 at 10:18 pm

Written November 2009…

Elections have never played a deciding role in choosing Egypt’s President: Mubarak, and before him, Anwar Sadat and Gamal Abdel Nasser, all became head of state by virtue of their position in the military, and some warn that the military may not welcome the presidency being handed to an outsider. But while Gamal’s lack of a military background poses a question mark over his prospects, analysts believe that a smooth familial transfer of power could be accomplished if the son was eased into position while his father remains in charge. …

Still, the prospect of a pharaonic succession in the modern Arab state riles many Egyptians, and economic pressures are stirring social unrest. “Since 2004, Egypt has witnessed more political and economic protests in any period since the 1919 revolution,” says Georgetown University political scientist Samer Shehata. “That potentially poses a big problem for the regime. Those are things that could get out of control.”

Shehata is a signatory to the open letter to BHO. He seems to have called this one; but calling it couldn’t be all that difficult, unless O!ne was more attuned to Chicago-style thuggery and the spin-cycle of permanent reelection politics. Oh, and ‘community organizing’, can’t forget the importance of that.

bh says:

January 30, 2011 at 10:26 pm

Doubt those weapons will be going to mom and pop grocers, either.

How cynical of you, Stephanie.

LBascom says:

January 30, 2011 at 10:34 pm

“What will happen: ?”

Happyfeet is hoping a Dr Frankenstein type mob mounts Mubaraks head on a stick.

I hope Mubarak announces his resignation, stays til after the elections (where he is not on the ballot), and executes a smooth transition of power to the winner, all with our assistance.

I’m thinking a stable middle east is preferable to one in full revolt. That’s bad for business.

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 10:39 pm

gather the jews/christians in one spot. let the games begin. go ax allan he’s 10′ tall. that bit for billy A. and Bernie D. f**k the pig chicomms.
yo thick pizza.

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 10:43 pm

“Egypt has witnessed more political and economic protests in any period since the 1919 revolution,” says Georgetown University political scientist Samer Shehata. ”

F88kin prove it axbar. scum credentialed class.

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 10:45 pm

“Shehata is a signatory to the open letter to BHO. ”

here’s an open fart to the credentialed class. a twofer.

serr8d says:

January 30, 2011 at 10:47 pm

newrouter, are you h8ting on Shehata ?

newrouter says:

January 30, 2011 at 11:15 pm

“Samer S. Shehata, a Woodrow Wilson Center fellow and a professor of Arab politics at Georgetown University,

http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.item&news_id=529502

enough said

newrouter says:

January 31, 2011 at 12:08 am

steely dan – the royal scam

geoffb says:

January 31, 2011 at 12:09 am

“The USA does not support democracy; they’re supporting Israel, which is like their baby,” said Ahmed, a 26-year-old Cairo resident. “They think Egypt is functional because it’s in favor of their considerations.”

“I don’t care if we have peace [with Israel] or not,” Ahmed continued, … “But will Israel allow us to have a real president? For example, Turkey elected an Islamic government, but it was their choice. Will Israel give us the freedom to make the same choice?” he asked.

newrouter says:

January 31, 2011 at 12:27 am

@209

My Old School – Steely Dan

newrouter says:

January 31, 2011 at 12:33 am

“But will Israel allow us to have a real president? For example, Turkey elected an Islamic government, but it was their choice. Will Israel give us the freedom ”

fuck you islamic cunts

newrouter says:

January 31, 2011 at 12:39 am

Show Biz Kids – Steely Dan

newrouter says:

January 31, 2011 at 12:48 am

The Clash – Rock The Casbah

newrouter says:

January 31, 2011 at 12:53 am

The Clash – London Calling

newrouter says:

January 31, 2011 at 1:07 am

f&&k limies. set that sun losers.

Stephanie says:

January 31, 2011 at 1:30 am

“But will Israel allow us to have a real president? For example, Turkey elected an Islamic government, but it was their choice. Will Israel give us the freedom ”

Why are Arabs always bowing to accept a yoke? Even where none exists?

It’s like they are trying to decide which master to serve – no an inkling that they shouldn’t have to have a master at all. It’s creepy. I know their governments fill them with all the “evil Israel” and “evil America” BS, but you would think that in striving for “freedom” they would have cottoned to the reality that with freedom government serves the people not the other way around. It’s like freedom is just one more yoke they are weighing against all the other yokes – red yoke blue yoke type thinking. Proclaiming freedom is the realization that you don’t need to bow because there is no yoke.

Remember that scene in The Hunt for Red October where Borodin is visualizing life in America:

I will live in Montana. And I will marry a round American woman and raise rabbits, and she will cook them for me. And I will have a pickup truck… maybe even a “recreational vehicle.” And drive from state to state. Do they let you do that?

A well trained ox will bow for his yoke. Will Arabs bow again or not?

cranky-d says:

January 31, 2011 at 2:16 am

These people have no idea what freedom is. Most people don’t, because they have never experienced it. Half of those who have bow to have a yoke placed upon them.

Seeing other people do that should not be cause for surprise.

Mueller says:

January 31, 2011 at 5:53 am

2&1/2)Blame Israel too.

It will be nothing short of a miracle if something resembling a democracy results from this mess.

Slartibartfast says:

January 31, 2011 at 6:27 am

Q: ‘feets, where do you stand on Israel, on Zionism? Just curious, really.

A: I like Israel we should protect them especially since they make my favorite cereal plus they’re good people. But protecting them by oppressing our Egyptian friends is sorta not ethical.

That answer reminded me of this

Slartibartfast says:

January 31, 2011 at 6:29 am

Oh, great.

Slartibartfast says:

January 31, 2011 at 6:39 am

And it’s getting weird how everyone is so concerned about the Egyptian homos, if I may say so.

This from the guy who just can’t stop talking about a woman who isn’t campaigning for public office.

Irony meter: I needs a new one.

happyfeet says:

January 31, 2011 at 6:42 am

you needs a meter plus some tasty Eshbol Vanilla Cream Cereal you don’t really eat it with milk it’s more a straight out of the box thing

Darleen says:

January 31, 2011 at 6:51 am

I don’t know if anyone has pointed this out yet to hf; but if he’s concerned about the human rights of Egyptians, then an Islamist theo/thugocray ala Iran is a non-starter.

happyfeet says:

January 31, 2011 at 6:59 am

who wants an islamic theocracy in Egypt? Not me. My feel is mostly just that America’s dictator buddy has to go cause he’s a murderous dick and America should try to make up for backing a dickwad like Hosni and promise to try and help our Egyptian friends move towards a representative democracy.

This is very much in accord with the principles Bush laid out with respect to the importance of advancing democracy in the Middle East. We can’t expect much from Obama, but hopefully the project of Egyptian democracy is one that will extend beyond bumblefuck’s white house tenure.

LTC John says:

January 31, 2011 at 11:35 am

I wish I was keeping up better – I have been laid low by some odd viral thingie (yes, that is my scientific diagnosis).

I have dealt with the Egyptian Army and am not real solid on what they will do as far as longer term solution. Don’t hope for much of democratic solution springing forth from them – they have put in or propped up all the previous rulers. But I don’t believe they will go out and act like the PLA did in China in Tianamen Square…

As for “us”, I guess the 3AM call came and was put on hold.

I put “us” in scare quotes, because some of “us” have put “ourselves” between theocratic killers and people who just want their kids to be allowed to go to school and not have ears cut off just because they listen to music or beaten because they weren’t sacked up like a bag o’ spuds.

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