Egypt is burning, Tunisia has been overthrown etc.

[Soul Crusher]

Egypt: The American Debate Has Gone Stark, Raving Crazy
Gloria Center ^ | 2/3/2011 | Barry Rubin

Posted on Saturday, February 05, 2011 12:38:39 AM by mojito

As I pointed out recently the mass media in America generally presents only one side of the debate nowadays. Then, it publishes nonsense which survives because it is protected from the withering critique it deserves. And even people who should know better are just losing it.

[....]

But why should we deal with real experience when we can engage in wishful thinking?

Consider the following chart:

Who in the Middle East could the United States depend on five years ago to support its basic policy goals? Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Turkey

Who in the Middle East can the United States basically depend on today? Israel, Iraq (?), Jordan (until next week?), Saudi Arabia

Who in the Middle East is likely to oppose basic U.S. policy goals today? Egypt (soon), Gaza Strip (Hamas), Iran, Lebanon (Hizballah), Libya, Sudan, Syria. Turkey

Might there be a trend here?


(Excerpt) Read more at gloria-center.org ...


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[Soul Crusher]

Breaking News: Failed Assassination Attempt on Egyptian VP Kills Two Bodyguards
Fox News ^ | Feb 4, 2011


Breaking News: Failed Assassination Attempt on Egyptian VP Kills Two Bodyguards, Sources Tell Fox News

Only a banner so far.


(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


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[Soul Crusher]

 

[Soul Crusher]

Obama Said to Fault Spy Agencies’ Mideast Forecasting
 Source: The New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Obama has criticized American spy agencies over their performance in predicting and analyzing the spreading unrest in the Middle East, according to current and former American officials.

The president was specifically critical of intelligence agencies for misjudging how quickly the unrest in Tunisia would lead to the downfall of the country’s authoritarian government, the officials said.

The officials offered few details about the president’s concerns, but said that Mr. Obama had not ordered any major changes inside the intelligence community, which has a budget of more than $80 billion a year. On Friday, a White House spokesman said spy agencies had given Mr. Obama “relevant, timely and accurate analysis” throughout the crisis in the Middle East.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/05/world/middleeast/05ci... 

[Skip8282]

Damn 33, that .gif is just wrong.  I'm not thrilled with Barry, but damn...lol

[Soul Crusher]

It is what it is. We all know where obamas affections lye, and its not with this country in the least bit.

[Johnny_Blaze]

Obama was "picked" to stir the pot in the eyes of the elitists.

[Soul Crusher]

ElBaradei: The Israelis Have A Peace Treaty With Mubarak, Not With The Egyptian People
The Business Insider ^ | 2/6/2011 | Gregory White

________________________ ________________________ ___


Mohamed ElBaradei, one of the key leaders of Egypt's protest movement, has brought his country's peace treaty with Israel into doubt in an interview with Der Spiegel.

From the Der Spiegel Interview:

SPIEGEL: Are you now saying that a government that included participation by the Muslim Brotherhood would continue on with Mubarak's policies toward Israel?

ElBaradei: No. Something the Israelis also need to grasp is that it's impossible to make peace with a single man. At the moment, they have a peace treaty with Mubarak, but not one with the Egyptian people. The Israelis should understand that it is in their long-term interest to have a democratic Egypt as a neighbor, and that it is prudent to

(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...

[whork25]

OMG

You are a sick sick man...

[Soul Crusher]

OMG

You are a sick sick man...

You could put George W Bush there and it would be equally valid.   

[whork25]

You could put George W Bush there and it would be equally valid.   

Sure is. Pretty sad when you think about it all that bowing to some fat asses who just happen to be born on top of a shit load of oil.

Pathetic really

[Soul Crusher]

Sure is. Pretty sad when you think about it all that bowing to some fat asses who just happen to be born on top of a shit load of oil.

Pathetic really

So long as we refuse to drill and explore and produce our own natural resources, we will be beholden to these criminals.     

[whork25]

So long as we refuse to drill and explore and produce our own natural resources, we will be beholden to these criminals.     

Any info on much oil that potentially could be drilled/pulled up from US soil?

[Soul Crusher]

Any info on much oil that potentially could be drilled/pulled up from US soil?

We have hundreds of years of natural gas, coal, oil, etc between the Bakken fiels, the natural gas in PA & NY, the oil off the coats, the oil in alaska, etc.     

[whork25]

We have hundreds of years of natural gas, coal, oil, etc between the Bakken fiels, the natural gas in PA & NY, the oil off the coats, the oil in alaska, etc.     

And its not used because of fear oil leaks, pollution etc..?

[Soul Crusher]

And its not used because of fear oil leaks, pollution etc..?

Partially.   

But its like saying you are not going to do surgery becaue yo are afraid of a scar afterwards. 

Oil goes back to $150 a barrell or $5 a gallon - we are FFUUUCCCKKKEDD   

[whork25]

Partially.   

But its like saying you are not going to do surgery becaue yo are afraid of a scar afterwards. 

Oil goes back to $150 a barrell or $5 a gallon - we are FFUUUCCCKKKEDD   

Good reply

So instead we buy the oil from these arab fuckers.
Imagine we drilled ourselves and got the hell out of the middle east sound sweet doesnt it..?

[The Showstoppa]

Good reply

So instead we buy the oil from these arab fuckers.
Imagine we drilled ourselves and got the hell out of the middle east sound sweet doesnt it..?

A smart plan would be to turn to our own resources and combine that with truly exploring more efficient/sustainable energy.  Not just pay lip service to it and continue to pay the ME creatures top dollar for it.

[Soul Crusher]

Tide turns in favour of Egypt's Brotherhood in revolt
Sun Feb 6, 2011 6:04pm GMT 
Print | Single Page[-] Text

• By Samia Nakhoul[/b]
  
  CAIRO (Reuters) - The first time Essam el-Erian, went to jail, he was 27. Last Sunday, he left prison for the eighth time at the age of 57.
  
  The medical doctor's crime for each incarceration was belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most influential and best-organised Islamist opposition movement and long feared by President Hosni Mubarak, Israel and the United States.
  
  Egypt's courts have repeatedly rebuffed the Brotherhood's requests for recognition as a party on the grounds that the constitution bans parties based on religion.
  
  Now the world could not look more different to the past three decades when Brotherhood members were repressed, arrested, tried in military courts and shunned by the Egyptian government.
  
  After the last tumultuous days of popular revolt against Mubarak, it is now the government that is seeking out the Muslim Brotherhood to discuss Egypt' future.
  
  Mubarak's Vice President Omar Suleiman met opposition groups on Sunday in talks joined for the first time by the Brotherhood.
  
  The once outlawed group is finally well-placed to play a prominent role as Mubarak's government struggles to survive after 30 years in power.
  
  I've been in and out since 1981," said Erian, a leading figure in the Brotherhood. "I have seen all forms of torture. I have been suspended by ropes, beaten, electrocuted and left outside in the cold for hours. I must say the treatment improved along the years and because of my age."
  
  "All this only increased my resolve," said Erian. "The Mubarak regime exists to monopolise not only power but wealth."
  Erian was among 34 Brotherhood members who walked out of Wadi Natroun prison last Sunday after relatives stormed the jail, overcame the guards and freed the prisoners during protests which spilt out of control across the country.
  
  Erian, rounded up last month during preparations for the protests, went straight from jail to Tahrir Square, the epicentre of anti-Mubarak protests.
  
  POWER THROUGH THE BALLOT?
  
  His group has been active in the uprising. But decades of repression have taught the Brotherhood to take a backseat and it is anxious to maintain the impression that the Islamists are one part of the wider protest movement.
  
  "We're not seeking power but our participation is a duty under a democratic and independent process. Our goal is to make sure the identity of society is Islamic," Erian said.
  
  "It is the right of everybody to compete and if people like us then where is the problem? We have sacrificed a lot...It is our right to win a majority as in any country, like Turkey."
  
  The popular uprising against Mubarak sent off alarm bells in Israel and the United States. They fear the Islamist movement might end up in power through the ballot and would eventually achieve its ultimate aim of implementing Sharia law in Egypt.
  
  The Muslim Brotherhood is certainly hostile to Israel and the United States's policy in the region. It has historic links with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and shares its belief in armed struggle against Israel.
  
  But unlike the militant groups that fought Mubarak's rule in the 1990s the Brotherhood has an overwhelmingly lay leadership of professionals with modern educations -- engineers, doctors, lawyers, academics and teachers. The core membership is middle-class or lower middle-class.
  The government's willingness to talk to the Brotherhood is a political shift with historic proportions and testimony to the perseverance of a movement seen by analysts as playing a long waiting-game.
  
  Western governments have until now avoided direct contacts with the Brotherhood, for fear of angering the government. But they have not been able to brand the group, which renounced violence in the 1950s, a "terrorist" organisation.
  
  In such a disfigured political environment it is impossible to judge the real popularity of the Brotherhood. In parliamentary elections in 2005, the first stages of which were relatively fair, the Brotherhood won 88 of the 165 seats they contested. In the latter stages police stopped people voting.
  
  ISLAMIC IDENTITY
  
  The crackdown failed to dent the movement's drive to expand its popular base through charity and social work.
  
  Brotherhood ideology steadily seeped into schools, households, the media, bookshops and even clothing shops. Much of this Islamic resurgence stems from social dislocation, economic hardship and political frustration.
  
  Arab defeat in the 1967 war with Israel, the political vacuum opened after the collapse of President Gamal Abdel Nasser's secularist pan-Arabism in the 1970s, and a sudden peace with the Jewish state after years of enmity gave impetus to Islam as a competing and substitute ideology.
  
  But for the Islamists the issue goes beyond the immediate future to a political landscape in which they believe they are steadily dominating by seeding the terrain with people of faith.
  
  Many Brotherhood leaders, most of whom have been jailed for years, believe that the future is for Islam as long as they are patient, determined and resolute.
  They are confident that Islam and sharia (Islamic law) will eventually rule and they are working to achieve that goal.
  
  The Brotherhood, founded in 1928, wants democracy, except governed by the main principles of the Sharia. It had for long demanded greater political freedom, freedom of expression, free and fair elections where people of all trends are represented.
  
  Supporters also dominate most of Egypt's main professional syndicates, have strong presence at universities and run thousands of charities providing health care and education.
  
  But perhaps the most novel element in its manifesto is that it advocates "jihad," innovative interpretation of the Koran to bring Islamic law in tune with the demands of changing times.
  
  FEAR OF IRANIAN MODEL
  
  Liberals involved in the uprising are also worried about the Brotherhood's ambitions -- that they will capitalise on an uprising, launched by a mixture of political and secular forces, to emerge on top as happened in Iran during the 1979 Revolution.
  
  He said the dynamics of Egyptian politics have changed from the 1990s when the Brotherhood versus the government was the only game in town.
  
  The January 25 uprising has revealed a diversity in liberal movements which could see the creation of new political parties.
  
  "The situation cannot be compared to the past. I don't think the experience can be repeated or compared with Iran in the same way but of course there are fears," Diaa Rashwan, an expert at al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, said.
  
  "Nobody can predict the future but the uprising was against a dark regime. We could have something better, but we could also have chaos as something may happen to spoil and sabotage this uprising."
  
  © Thomson Reuters 2011 All rights reserved
  

[Soul Crusher]

Carter: Muslim Brotherhood nothing to fear
Houston Chronicle ^ | February 16, 2011 | Joe Holley

________________________ ________________________ _____________-


Former President Jimmy Carter told an Austin audience Tuesday evening that he expects Egypt to hold elections in September and that he doesn't worry about the Muslim Brotherhood wielding inordinate influence.

"I've known members of the Muslim Brotherhood," he told an audience at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library. "They're not anything to be afraid of."

The 39th president and Nobel Prize winner said he believes the Muslim Brotherhood is likely to form a political party, but polls suggest their support is only about 15 percent. "There's no possibility at all that they would prevail," he said. He said he expects to see "a secular, non-religious government."

Carter said the finest man he ever met during his presidency was Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, whose assassination in 1981 ushered in the three-decade-long rule of Hosni Mubarak.

Although the Egyptian military has been in power for more than 50 years - through the presidencies of Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak - Carter said he believes the military will cede political power and allow "competitive elections both for the parliament and the presidency. "I believe there's good chance the military will give up political power," he said.

....At 86, Carter looked remarkably fit. For nearly an hour and a half he answered questions in a strong voice and in intricate detail about world events and the work of the Carter Center in developing nations. He told the Austin audience that the most significant accomplishment of his presidency, he believed, was keeping the peace. "We never dropped a bomb, we never fired a bullet, we never launched a missile while I was president," he said.


(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.chron.com ...

[Kazan]

Carter opened his trap, the kiss of death for a democracy in Egypt

[The Showstoppa]

Carter needs to take his peanut farmin', yellow teeth havin', worst president of the modern era ass back to nowhere Georgia and shut the hell up...The guy was a total disaster president in EVERY way, but now all of a sudden he has a clue how to solve all the worlds problems. 

[Soul Crusher]

And President Obongo can't say anything-- He certainly can't support the people of these countries because he refused to do the same for the Iranians. Now, the terrorist organizations that rule the region will create a power vacuum and turn the middle east into one big terror conglomerate.

Lebanon is next and Jordan will soon follow.

Change we can believe in!

Bump

[Soul Crusher]

Bump

EDITORIAL: Egypt’s blood on Obama’s hands?--White House is fanning flames of Islamic revolution
The Washington Times ^ | February 2, 2011 | Editorial

________________________ ________________________ ___________-



President Obama is signaling the Egyptian opposition that their time has come. In a terse statement last night, Mr. Obama announced a “moment of transformation” had arrived in Egypt, “the status quo is not sustainable” and a new government must begin to form “now.” An administration official later reiterated, “the key part of the statement was ‘now.’ ” Today the formerly peaceful protests in Egypt turned violent. It turns out that words do have consequences.

Egypt is at a crossroads, a time of suspense when change could come gradually and peacefully, or quickly with maximum instability. The White House has chosen to back the latter course, which will play into the hands of the best organized, most radical factions, which in this case is the America-hating Muslim Brotherhood.

The Obama administration is strangely adamant that Muslim religious parties have to play a key role in the new government, and U.S. officials reportedly are reaching out to the Muslim Brotherhood behind the scenes. White House wishes aside, an Islamist government is not in Egypt’s interest and certainly not in the interest of the United States. The Muslim Brotherhood seeks to increase the influence of shariah worldwide and reverse the progress Egypt has made in becoming a more Western, more secular state. Its foreign policy was succinctly summed up by brotherhood leader Muhammad Ghannem, who said the Egyptian people should “be prepared for a war against Israel.” None of this will be good for America, the Mideast or the world.


(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...

[Soul Crusher]

I wouldn't call that a bad move 333.  Egyptians want democracy, Obama nor Bush nor any president of the USA can stop the will of the people.  You want him to go in and bomb them or something? 

If you put all of the US eggs in Mubarak's basket, you end up being hated yet again by another country in the middle east.  Exactly what the US does not need. 

Worked out well for you didn't it moron?