How soon before Obama ushers in the next Islamic Republic?

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

The current U.S. administration is supporting Egypt in the same way that Iran under the shah was backed by the U.S. in the 1970s — as a regional power supposedly doing its bidding. U.S. administrations, unfortunately, have taken a dim view of internalizing historical lessons, and it may prove particularly perilous with the Obama administration.

The improbable fall of the shah, and his replacement by the radical, anti-American, messianic Islamic Republic led by ayatollahs, could very well occur in Egypt. Hosni Mubarak’s 28-year martial-law rule is similar to that of the shah’s, albeit the shah’s treatment of his people was somewhat more moderate. And the shah at least strove to build a middle class by fostering economic growth and expanding educational opportunities to average Iranians.

As with the shah, Mubarak is receiving some of the most sophisticated offensive arms in the U.S. arsenal. According to the U.S. General Accounting Office, large quantities of F-16 fighter aircrafts, M1A1 heavy tanks, Apache helicopters, E-2C Hawkeye Airborne Early Warning spy planes, as well as an array of missiles including the Patriot missiles, shoulder-borne TOW and Stinger missiles, Harpoon anti-ship missiles, air-to-surface and surface-to-surface Hellfire missiles, Maverick air-to-surface guided missiles, and cluster bombs have been delivered to Egypt by the U.S. (Most of these Israel receives as well.) Egypt receives about $2.1 billion annually courtesy of U.S. taxpayers (in 1990 the U.S. forgave $7.1 billion in past Egyptian military debt).

Egypt’s name, according to a report by the Federation of American Scientists, can be found on the CIA’s list of known proliferators, along with Iran, Iraq, and North Korea.

On the eve of the Iranian Islamic revolution, few pundits would have predicted the demise of the shah. The influx of rural workers to the cities, especially Tehran, along with the inability of educated young men and women to find suitable employment became a time bomb which Ayatollah Khomeini exploited. The Egyptian internal security forces are as brutal as the Iranian SAVAK, and Egypt’s exploding population (83 million at last count), high unemployment, low wages, rampant corruption, and nepotism (Gamal Mubarak, the president’s son, is being groomed to succeed the 81-year-old Hosni Mubarak) makes Egypt like Iran in 1979 — ready for an explosion.

The Muslim Brotherhood, with its largest following in Egypt, is waiting in the wings — and it may yet proclaim Egypt as the next Islamic republic. Opposition to Mubarak’s arbitrary rule and the possibility of Gamal Mubarak’s succession is a prescription for a combustible political situation.

Mubarak’s visit to the White House last August demonstrated the Obama administration’s willful blindness to the Egyptian people’s frustration with the corruption and nepotism of the Mubarak dictatorship. The words “freedom,” “democracy,” and “reform” were not included in the Obama press conference held in the Oval Office. A December 2008 Gallup poll showed that 75% of the Egyptians surveyed answered “No” as to whether or not the U.S. was serious about establishing democratic systems in the Middle East region. These results indicate an increase of 12% in the distrust towards America by ordinary Egyptians.

In the meantime, the Obama administration has reduced funding for democracy promotion in Egypt from $50 million to $20 million this year. The State Department has agreed to Egyptian demands not to use economic aid to fund civil society organizations not approved by the government. As a result, U.S. funding for pro-democracy and human rights groups will drop by about 70%. At the same time, the Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee inserted $260 million in additional security assistance for Egypt into a supplemental appropriations bill, along with $50 million for border security, without attaching any conditions on Egypt.

...

While Mubarak “hails” Egyptian-American relations to American policymakers, his government promotes radical anti-American thinking through the educational system, the media, and the mosques. Egypt’s human rights record is abominable. It is a police state with no accountability, either to it’s citizens or the courts. Islamism is on the rise and women’s rights have declined. And with the Obama administration supporting the status quo in Egypt, the U.S. is essentially backing the Egyptian government’s suppression of human rights persecution — especially that of the Copts, the largest Christian minority in the Middle East.

Egypt’s ambassador to Denmark, Mona Omar Attia, orchestrated the riots over the Danish cartoons in 2005 when the Danish prime minister refused to apologize for their publication. The ambassador, with a green light from Mubarak, organized international Muslim groups to take on this cause. Egypt’s Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit then circulated a report about the cartoons, suggesting anti-Islamic action in Denmark. This further inflamed the Islamic world. It was a deliberate use of misinformation, which Gheit was aware of, and he manipulated it into an anti-Western crusade culminating in violent Islamic riots throughout the world.

The stakes of losing Egypt to a fundamentalist Muslim regime are high, and it would have a dramatic (if not catastrophic) impact on the stability of the region. The cold peace with Israel would be abrogated, and sophisticated U.S. weapons would once again be used against Americans and Israelis. Will Obama’s inaction set the stage for a debacle similar to Carter’s in Iran? History should guide Obama in avoiding Carter’s mistakes.

Joseph Pruder
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/will-egypt-go-the-way-of-iran/

 

[Songcatcher]

Nobody ever teach you to shut up?

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Nobody ever teach you to shut up?

They tried.

The first episode was kindergarten, the teacher put me up in the corner and told me she didn't want to hear another peep out of me.

I gave her three steps, mister...


"PEEP!"

 

[1shmael]

They tried.

The first episode was kindergarten, the teacher put me up in the corner and told me she didn't want to hear another peep out of me.

I gave her three steps, mister...


"PEEP!"

That's why he got kicked out of school and was given a job guarding liquor stores. That saved a LOT of taxpayer dollars.

Ishmael

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

STFU LT...



really

 

[miles]

I'm not worried. Obama has failed at almost everything. This would be no exception.

 

[Powertone]

Nobody ever teach you to shut up?

where's the " C & P Choir " to ridicule Frisco ?

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

First Egypt, then Turkey, can Israel be far behind?

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

where's the " C & P Choir " to ridicule Frisco ?

Funny, considering the OP is a C&P job from a whack-job.
Not real hip on irony are you Semen4him?

Seriously though, why bother ridiculing something so obviously ridiculous?

 

[Ishmael]

An Armageddon for 2012 isn't looking nearly as ridiculous as it once did.

Ishmael

 

[busybody..]

Funny, considering the OP is a C&P job from a whack-job.
Not real hip on irony are you Semen4him?

Seriously though, why bother ridiculing something so obviously ridiculous?

typical

everyone is a WHACK JOB that isnt an "Obama" butt kisser

sorta like BUSYBODY is a HATER cause he POSTS NEWS

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

An Armageddon for 2012 isn't looking nearly as ridiculous as it once did.

Ishmael

We will have crippled our ability to do more that protest loudly by then..




I see someone's graduated to 200-level Alinsky; double down on "ridicule."

 

[Ishmael]

We will have crippled our ability to do more that protest loudly by then..




I see someone's graduated to 200-level Alinsky; double down on "ridicule."

Ridicule back, they get all filled with righteous indignation when you shove their own tactics up their ass.

Ishmael

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Ridicule back, they get all filled with righteous indignation when you shove their own tactics up their ass.

Ishmael

I prefer to let it stand for what it is, so I sit down...




Stand Down

Let their freak flag fly.

I'll let U_D try to tell people how to think and I'll continue to allow them the opportunity.

 

[Ishmael]

I just ignore him. Life's too short to debate ignorance.

Ishmael

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

I just ignore him. Life's too short to debate ignorance.

Ishmael

Sadly, that's their plan man...

__________________
"Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them."
Paul Valer

 

[busybody..]

To be fair

Things werent any different under Bush

 

[busybody..]

So I looked up what J Pruder has written

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/author/josephpuder/

What makes him a whack job???????????????

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

An opinion outside of the happy altruists collective consensus...

 

[busybody..]

So I looked up what J Pruder has written

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/author/josephpuder/

What makes him a whack job???????????????

so here is a guy who writes about the atrocities of what muslims and palis perpetrate

THAT earns him a WHACK OH label

Of course, the MUSLIMS KILLERS are not the bad guy

Its the GUY that WRITES or POSTS the NEWS

 

[Wrong Element]

I'm pretty sure that this


Mubarak’s visit to the White House last August demonstrated the Obama administration’s willful blindness to the Egyptian people’s frustration with the corruption and nepotism of the Mubarak dictatorship. The words “freedom,” “democracy,” and “reform” were not included in the Obama press conference held in the Oval Office. A December 2008 Gallup poll showed that 75% of the Egyptians surveyed answered “No” as to whether or not the U.S. was serious about establishing democratic systems in the Middle East region. These results indicate an increase of 12% in the distrust towards America by ordinary Egyptians.

In the meantime, the Obama administration has reduced funding for democracy promotion in Egypt from $50 million to $20 million this year. The State Department has agreed to Egyptian demands not to use economic aid to fund civil society organizations not approved by the government. As a result, U.S. funding for pro-democracy and human rights groups will drop by about 70%. At the same time, the Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee inserted $260 million in additional security assistance for Egypt into a supplemental appropriations bill, along with $50 million for border security, without attaching any conditions on Egypt.


and this


On the eve of the Iranian Islamic revolution, few pundits would have predicted the demise of the shah. The influx of rural workers to the cities, especially Tehran, along with the inability of educated young men and women to find suitable employment became a time bomb which Ayatollah Khomeini exploited. The Egyptian internal security forces are as brutal as the Iranian SAVAK, and Egypt’s exploding population (83 million at last count), high unemployment, low wages, rampant corruption, and nepotism (Gamal Mubarak, the president’s son, is being groomed to succeed the 81-year-old Hosni Mubarak) makes Egypt like Iran in 1979 — ready for an explosion.

The Muslim Brotherhood, with its largest following in Egypt, is waiting in the wings — and it may yet proclaim Egypt as the next Islamic republic. Opposition to Mubarak’s arbitrary rule and the possibility of Gamal Mubarak’s succession is a prescription for a combustible political situation.


are contradictory. The U.S. (and this all way predates the Obama administration) isn't thrilled about the prospect of true democracy in Egypt precisely because Mubarak is considered the only way to keep the lid on the radicals.

As usual from threads like yours, no answers, just bitching and moaning.

 

[busybody..]

it ISNT contradictory

and YES, it predate "Obama"!

 

[KingOrfeo]

We will have crippled our ability to do more that protest loudly by then..




I see someone's graduated to 200-level Alinsky; double down on "ridicule."

I really must read this Alinsky one of these days . . . (At present, I know him only at second hand, through excerpts in The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington, by David Sirota.)

 

[unregistered]