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Israeli, Saudi and American Leaders Say Arabs Are Not Ready for Democracy
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday:
I'm not sure the time is right for the Arab region to go through the democratic process.
Also on Friday, Saudi King Abdullah said he support Egyptian president Mubarak and called the protesters troublemakers for calling for freedom of expression:
Saudi
King Abdullah has expressed his support for embattled President Hosni
Mubarak and slammed those "tampering" with Egypt's security and
stability, state news agency SPA reported on Saturday.The Saudi
ruler, in Morocco recovering from back surgery performed in the United
States, telephoned Mubarak early Saturday, the report said.During
the conversation, Abdullah condemned "intruders" he said were
"tampering with Egypt's security and stability ... in the name of
freedom of expression."
As FireDogLake notes, the U.S. State Department has taken a similar position.
As a large group of well-respected American academics wrote in an open letter today to President Obama:
As
political scientists, historians, and researchers in related fields
who have studied the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy, we the
undersigned believe you have a chance to move beyond rhetoric to support
the democratic movement sweeping over Egypt. As citizens, we expect
our president to uphold those values.
For thirty years, our
government has spent billions of dollars to help build and sustain the
system the Egyptian people are now trying to dismantle. Tens if not
hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in Egypt and around the world
have spoken. We believe their message is bold and clear: Mubarak should
resign from office and allow Egyptians to establish a new government
free of his and his family’s influence. It is also clear to us that if
you seek, as you said Friday 'political, social, and economic reforms
that meet the aspirations of the Egyptian people,' your administration
should publicly acknowledge those reforms will not be advanced by
Mubarak or any of his adjutants.
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.
As Agence France-Presse reports:
"Egypt
remains a major pawn in the Middle East," said [Didier Billion, an
expert at Institute for International and Strategic Relations (IRIS) in
Paris]. The West fears "a domino effect if Mubarak falls, with a
protest movement that could grow across the world." [And the Egyptian
situation is already affecting the Saudi stock market.]
***
"One
of the lessons here is that we need to be on the right side of
history in these countries," said US Senator John McCain, who lost his
2008 White House bid to Obama.
"We need to do a better job of emphasizing and arguing strenuously for human rights," he said on the CNN news channel.
"You can't have autocratic regimes last forever. The longer they last, the more explosive the results."
Indeed, the U.S. is now becoming concerned that continuing to back Mubarak will ensure that it is on the losing side of history.
For that reason, Obama changed his tune today, saying
that he supports an "orderly transition" in Egypt. This is not a
change in America's foreign policy so as to embrace democracy in the
Middle East. Rather, it is simply a realization that America's puppet in Egypt has lost his grip on power and is impossible to save. And see this.
As a prominent writer told me:
We really should
be embarrassed. TE Lawrence promised the Arabs democracy in return for
their support in WWI (it was critical to Allied victory) and Great
Britain welched on the promise. This is more of the same BS.
Indeed, Wikipedia notes:
Britain had promised, through British intelligence officer T. E. Lawrence (aka: Lawrence of Arabia),
independence for a united Arab state covering most of the Arab Middle
East in exchange for Arab support of the British during the war.
It
goes without saying that the hostility of the State Department and our
"allies" in the War on Terror Israel and Saudi Arabia towards democracy
in Egypt gives lie to the claim that the War on Terror is about bringing
"democracy" to the Middle East.
»
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When the going gets threadbare the real roots get exposed.
I have to say to some that express amazement that the US support Mubarak's torturous, ponzinomic thuggery to the tune of a couple of billion annually that our thugs pump more than 10 billion a day into the TBTF institutions. Is it any wonder these US policy makers fail to appreciate what a large sum a couple of billion seems to those whose household per capita is <10K a year, or <100K per year, or <500K?
Mubarak doesn't have shit on the current political climate in the US, from both sides of the kleptocratic isle....
#Jan25
It is no surprise that those who say they are not ready for democracy are the very same ones who will suffer at the will of the people.All of them benefit from imposing their will on the masses...the last thing they want is for the masses to reciprocate.
Rude awakening for the oppressors in progress.
"One more peep out of you and you're grounded Mister and I am not joking. " - D.E.
The governing thug class is betting, heavily, that their new sources of super technology will render the mass of humanity, and their concerns, obsolete.
In a 1948 State Department document, diplomat George F. Kennan offered this observation: “We have about 50 percent of the world's wealth, but only 6.3 percent of its population.” The challenge facing American policymakers, he continued, was “to devise a pattern of relationships that will permit us to maintain this disparity.” (from Andrew J. Bacevic, professor of history and international relations at Boston University.)
ANYTHING ELSE NEED DISCUSSING FOLKS???
GW thank you for all this twittering away
For Pete's sake, if the U.S. doesn't even have Democracy, is as corrupt as any other country...how can anyone else develop it?
The "American War Machine"...
http://seenoevilspeaknoevilhearnoevil.blogspot.com/2011/01/joe-roganthe-american-war-machine.html
It was never supposed to be democracy...it was supposed to be a republic.
Democracy = mob rule.
Republic = law rule.
The difference being, a minorities rights or any one of any individual's rights are equal to the whole under the law.
It's gone...it's over...every fuckin man for himself!...good luck wid dat.
Hilarious, you're getting junked for telling the truth!
Funny how the great unwashed masses that have migrated henceforth, would rather embrace the power of the state than the power of the sovereign individual.
In that regard the state has become their god to which they pledge their allegiance...
The god became omnipotent after Lincoln wiped his arse with the USCON, and today we are ALL slaves to the state...
Anyone that is in dis-belief only needs to read the following US Senate document on "Emergency Powers", from the Library of Congress, to see this is true (i.e. those that do not live in the statist fiction I previously described):
Emergency Powers Statutes (Senate Report 93-549)
Welcome to the United States of Disneyland!
"Hilarious, you're getting junked for telling the truth!"
ROTFL...I fucking love it. I got a couple of trolls that actually follow me around...they're like little fever blisters from an unfortunate past encounter...I can post to someone and say "good morning" and the trolls will junk them to make it appear like I did...LOL.
So you'll get one too for stating the obvious...or not...decisions, decisions.
"Funny how the great unwashed masses that have migrated henceforth, would rather embrace the power of the state than the power of the sovereign individual."
Blasphemy!...why we simply must change how 310 million people pay their doctors because 30 million don't want to or can't afford to pay doctors themselves!...(what illegals?...there are no illegals!) just for that we're adding an addendum to the law that requires you to fill out a 1099 on everyone you come in contact with that you pay over $600 to...the impertinence!
And this deranged person in Tucson who came into contact with the sheriff's office there numerous times for his wacky behavior...we must restrict the rights of all individuals because the state clearly didn't do it's job!...these people are loose among us!...it's the only way!
And 250k is way over the line with regard to wages...they can't possibly need that much!...why, the next thing ya know they'll be coming to our Kobe beef parties at the WH and playing around with the thermostat trying to turn it down like we told them to do in their own homes!
Bunch of ingrates, look at what we've done to you ;-)
Hang in there nmewn. I got junked for answering a guy when he asked how much a side of beef cost. I guess you can feel like you're getting somewhere when you piss people off so badly. I don't mean in a trollish way, rather that you are getting under their skin with shit they were more comfortable not knowing. Your posts are excellent; keep it up.
"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in the people's minds." --- Samuel Adams
"Hang in there nmewn."
Thanks Colonel, much appreciated.
The name nmewn (enemy within) can mean many things to many people under different circumstnces...sometimes I even fight myself ;-)
I agree democracy in pure form is mob rule.A representative republic is far better....but you have to be vigilant or it will become co-opted to "special interests"(read bankers,mil/intel/industrial complex...etc).
An enlightened despot is the best system.Problem is truly good dictators are so incredibly rare...and their successors usually are bad.
I like the system as put in place by the founders.But it is in need..RIGHT NOW of serious and deep reaching reform.Ending the abuses in lobbying and employment in the private sector after gov service along with wholesale repeal of evil laws would be a nice start.
Much more needs to be done...and damn soon.
PS.Prosecute the scum on Wall st.NOW!
A representative republic? What is that? Arent republics forcefully representative?
The contortions people must make to fit their propaganda in their boxes... Rejoicing.
That is what you get when you want to compare a political ideology (democracy) to a form of government (republic)
good luck finding that enlightened despot versus the guy just pretending to be.
Which is why that system=FAIL almost always.
There is nothing to comment on here. Its all about controlling the oil flow.
Britain appears to be our greatest ally but it must be understood that British geo-strategists are the masters of political manipulation and subversion. Even as the physical British colonial empire was declining in the first half of this century they were already building the framework for a completely global empire based on the legacy of Cecil Rhodes utilizing the resources of the super-capitalists and financiers of New York and London. These elites may be predominantly British and American in nationality, but they reject democracy and the American Constitution and work against the best interests of British, American and international citizens. By studying the history of the Middle East, and the elitist manipulation of it, we can perhaps predict what is to come after this last final push of the American Empire.
Some background here:
http://www.redmoonrising.com/Ikhwan/BritIslam.htm
The problem is that, lost in the background noise of MSM disinterest in the world's fundamental trends, has been the steady rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in the world's most populous arab country. The result of "democracy" in Egypt is most likely to be, thanks to the popularity of the Muslim Brotherhoods' totalitarian program, "not democracy", in a worse way than before.
This sort of thing has occured before, in Iran for example, in 1979. The shah was a dictator, yes, a lot of people wanted change and/or democracy, but the mullahs gained the upperhand because they had a solid block behind them, and so dropped Iran into a long night of islamic theocracy and economic stagnation.
When a large percentage of voters in a country want sharia law, that's what emerges from a democratic process. Even smallish percentages of pro-islamic voters, like those found in France or Holland, can detract from basic freedoms previously enjoyed, thanks to parliamentary political dynamics and weak constitutional protections for free speech, self defense, and respect of private property.
what you are saying is probably true, but we have to let them evolve their own way and make their own mistakes.
And get their own WMD, finance their own equivalent of wahhabi islam exports worldwide, give WMD to their apocalyptic suicidal terrorist networks, some cities around the world go boom. Oh, and Egypt goes from relative freedom to absolute and permanent(without external military intervention) tyranny. What's not to like?
Aggressive, Land grabbing, racist, murderous, intransigent Israel has WMD.
You are the pot calling the kettle black. But good luck with your shaky looking project.
Hey rabid-zino-phile junker. Let's here you make your case.
If Israel has WMD, why wouldn't the remaining states in the region, who have all been abused, one way or another by the creation of Israel, seek means to protect themselves?
It's an existential problem as your geeks like to put it.
<cricket chirps>
Sounds like fear mongering to me. If the US really cared about WMD's it would secure its borders like 10 years ago. But that's all besides the point...
I don't live in New York or DC, the two prime targets for WMD denotation. Why should I care if they blow up some Wall Street bankers, politicians, or bureaucrats. In fact, it might relieve some burden on my back.
We have WMD right here in NJ, just look up Naval Weapons Station Earl.
WMD-Attack on USA:
- all the cities targeted lie within a few hundred miles of an international border or the ocean.
- The president informs the country that he has directed a series of steps be taken in response to the crisis. They include placing the military on high alert; mobilizing the National Guard to support recovery operations in ... and to help seal the U.S. border with Mexico; placing U.S. nuclear forces on high alert; and directing the Justice Department (including the FBI) and Department of Homeland Security to provide support to states and municipalities as they conduct searches to determine whether they might also be harboring a nuclear time bomb. Finally, the president appeals to all Americans not to panic but to go about their daily lives. He pledges that "we will find those responsible for this infamous attack. When we do, retribution will be swift and sure."
- There is an enormous outpouring of sympathy and support for the citizens of ..., manifested both publicly and privately. Other states and municipalities send search and rescue teams to locate and recover those trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings. Charities and relief organizations provide food, clothing, and shelter to displaced citizens. Their efforts are greatly enhanced by the donations of the American people and, gratifyingly, many foreign governments and citizens. The American people are also angry and in a mood for vengeance
- Robert Oppenheimer, known as the "Father of the Atomic Bomb" for his leading role in developing the weapon, told Congress that a small number of men, less than half a dozen, "could destroy New York" by smuggling a nuclear weapon into the city. When a senator asked how such a weapon, smuggled inside a crate, could be detected, the famous scientist responded, "With a screwdriver." Oppenheimer was effectively saying that detecting a nuclear weapon, especially one that is properly shielded, is difficult almost to the point where nothing short of visual identification will suffice Nearly thirty years later, in late 1974, the FBI received a message from an individual claiming that he had hidden a nuclear weapon somewhere in Boston and would detonate it unless he received $200,000. A team of experts rushed in with scientists from the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission to locate the weapon and secure it. The operation quickly dissolved into a Keystone Kops comedy of errors. The group's radiation detection gear arrived at the wrong airport. When the gear was located, it was discovered that the tools needed to install the equipment had been left behind. As one of the researchers commented, "If they were counting on us to save the good folk of Boston... well it was bye-bye Boston."