With Libya now moving to a Sharia-based system that will impose religious values on the population, Egypt is also rapidly moving toward an extreme Sharia based system. Indeed, Hesham al Ashry (the leader of the Salafists) announced this week that “I am the enemy of democracy.”
Businessman Naguib Sawiris now calls Egypt’s future “dim … bad.”
Al Ashry put the reality into perspective: “This is a big opportunity and it’s not going to go back. This was mentioned by the Prophet Mohammed. Peace be upon him. He said this was going to happen.” Thus, the freedom that led to the overthrow of Mubarak regime will now be extinguished to embrace a new form of oppression — just faith-based rather than tyrant-based repression.
One of the objections made to the intervention of the United States in Libya was that, in addition to the absence of any declaration from Congress, President Obama could bring bring about a more radical regime. Even at the time, Libyan rebels were known to have extremist elements, including some linked to Al Qaeda. Some of the same concerns were heard in our Egyptian policies. I am less critical of the Obama policy on Libya. Indeed, I thought the Administration struck the right tone — without military intervention. However, there is a general misconception that the “Arab Spring” necessarily means a triumph of democracy and human rights. Movements in both Libya and Egypt show the powerful pull of theocratic oppression. The denial of the separation of mosque and state (as well as religious freedom) undermines a host of other rights from free speech to free association. The Obama Administration undermined those rights further with its shocking support of a United Nation’s resolution that embraced the concept of blasphemy prosecutions.
With the move to Sharia law, Egypt is showing other signs of extremism. Sectarian violence, particularly against Christians, has increased with little intervention from the military.
The loss of Egypt to religious extremism would be extremely destabilizing for the regime. It will also raise a question of our continued massive support for the country. Even though we have cities and states breaking under economic pressures, we are still pouring billions in aid to both Israel and Egypt.
Did I hit a nerve?
Come on. Blame the millions of crime victims for the situation instead of the criminals some more, Bdaman.
It shows who exactly butters your bread.
By the way, I’m still waiting for you explain how your logic on OWS isn’t corollary to the logic that the followers Gandhi were responsible for the conditions leading to the Indian revolution and not the British Raj for being occupiers.
Port officials sent some workers home at 3:30 p.m., preparing for what is expected be a massive march to the Port of Oakland later this evening. Officials sent out a statement just now, saying it is “to ensure their safety and the flow of traffic in case there are any public actions impacting the immediate area.” The peaceful protest seemed to escalate slightly in the Lake Merritt area, where demonstrators vandalized a Whole Foods, bashing in one of the windows, and spray-painting the word “strike” across the front of the building. The store locked its doors with customers still inside after the window was smashed. People milled around outside, contemplating where else to get groceries nearby. One protester spit on your correspondent’s car as I drove through the chaos, snapping photos. We’ll keep you posted on tonight’s march.
Your full of shit Gene. Don’t disrupt my way of life because your not happy with yours. Don’t infringe on my rights because you feel someone has infringed upon yours. What exactly in 6 weeks have they accomplished.
“It would be one thing if it was done by peaceful means, it’s not.”
Bullshit.
Like in every populist uprising, the key to peaceful resolution rests with the government, not with the people acting out of necessity. If you force people into desperate action by creating desperate circumstances and then taking no corrective action, then their inevitable escalation rests on your shoulders, not theirs.
Ever hear of logic and the value of numbers?
Millions.
Let that sink in if you can comprehend the scale of the crime you’re defending.
Millions of lives and jobs ruined and you’re worried about what? A few hundred at most as the cost to bring the larger criminals to justice?
Your allegiance is showing, Bdaman, and it’s not to the maximum number of wronged individuals. You can dress your pig up in populist clothes all you want, but that doesn’t change your stand is in defense of letting criminals who harmed millions of people go without punishment. That makes you either a dupe or a boot licking toady. Or as I said already, dumb or complicit.
It would be one thing if it was done by peaceful means, it’s not.
Dude we aren’t just talking about 22 people. Heard of trickle down Mr. too bad. Heard of the West Coast Mr. Punisher of Evil Doer’s
Bdaman,
I’m still waiting for you explain how your logic on OWS isn’t corollary to the logic that the followers Gandhi were responsible for the conditions leading to the Indian revolution and not the British Raj for being occupiers.
Why not blame the victims some more. Like you do when you try to blame OWS for the hot dog vendor instead of the people responsible for OWS being there in the first place. All transactions have a cost. There will be costs associated with forcing the government to hold the Wall Street criminals accountable for the crimes they perpetrated against millions. That you don’t see the fallacy of bemoaning 21 jobs over seeking justice for the literally millions of jobs lost and lives ruined by these criminals says that either you’re mathematically ignorant or you’re in league with the 1% criminals. That’s not a false dilemma either, but rather the only two choices. Either you’re stupid or complicit. As to your video straw man? That situation, like the current situation, could have been stopped before it escalated if the government would quit trying to protect criminals and prosecute them instead. I don’t want it to come down to riots, but I fear that it will. I’d much rather the likes of Jamie Dimon and Lloyd Blankenfein doing the perp walk before a trial which results in a lengthy prison sentence and a substantive forfeiture of assets.
Bdaman,
I suppose saving a hot dog vendors business and 21 jobs is more important than getting justice for the literally millions of jobs and lives ruined by Wall Street.
Dude, you need to learn basic math.
Gene are you trying to tell us that thats the price you pay for working for the devil which in essence is actually paying for your sins? Dude you might be more religious than you think. You definitely got a great understanding of the dark-side workin.
Powerful message man, powerful.
Gene, who I’m not sure if he believes in God but he sure does believe in the Devil and thats the price you pay
Gene wants to see this happen again because thats the price you pay.
Noah, we ah, talkin bout ebery day p pull. I posted a video up thread from back in the day, by a group known as Sly and the Family Stone in case you missed it or weren’t around back then. It’s a powerful message when one actually hears it and even more so when you actually live it.
Even though there are different strokes, for different folks, the message is loud and clear. We got ta live together if we are ALL going to be, everyday people.
Gene here, aka ? guest poster extraordinaire, Innovator of website tracking at JonathanTurley.org along with his cohort Mr Scrapper himself, made a statement.
Gene said, ” And even if the support staffs of those who work on Wall Street are being affected? Too bad.”
I clearly gave him an example of who, and what, we were discussing by these examples.
Because the protesters are disrupting the lives of the very people they say they support. The people who work in New York and elsewhere
Notice how I said New York and ELSEWHERE
Gene brings in Wall Street and the support Staff.
Earlier I posted the story about the “Milk Street Cafe Owner Sacks 21 Employees As Consequence Of Occupy Wall Street Demonstration”
Clearly an example of everyday people but Gene says ” And even if the support staffs of those who work on Wall Street are being affected? Too bad.”
But then he brings in the devil because he said “That’s the price you pay for working for the Devil.” your evil you had it comin, your vermin.
So now all of the support staff who actually staff Wall Street must suffer because that’s the price they will have to pay. I’m sure the fucking hotdog vendor on the corner is just overjoyed with Gene’s analogy and the 21 people that were laid off from the cafe should be burned at the stake because Gene says that’s the price you pay. Who cares it’s not my mom. Not my brother. I don’t live there, who cares. If you do live there that’s the price you pay for working for the devil.
Way to go Gene, dude your on fire. I look forward to reading your next Guest Blogger Post. Can you give us an idea what your workin on next?
Rhetorical
Is anybody still talking about Egypt here?
Be sure to do so in partisan terms too, Bdaman!
Wouldn’t want to disappoint the Koch Brothers.
You still can’t explain how your logic on OWS isn’t corollary to the logic that the followers Gandhi were responsible for the conditions leading to the Indian revolution and not the British Raj for being occupiers, Bdaman?
Why not blame the victims some more.
It looks good on you.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about” isn’t an argument, Bron.
It’s your unfounded opinion without any support whatsoever except your religious beliefs in Objectivism and laissez faire economics.
Laissez faire economics, by the way, which created the very environment that allowed these crimes to take place in the first place.
Again, less about me, more about the argument.
As to Schiff? He’s just as in love with your greedy “it’s all good if a profit is made and the market mechanism will look out for the greater good” ideology as you are. Shiff’s argument is the same old tired crap you try to sell: corruption exists because of government. Which is nonsense. Graft is a crime that requires at least two parties and trying to load all of that blame on pols? Is disingenuous and in denial about the nature of corruption. It takes a party to offer payment and a party to accept it. Both government and industry are to blame for the current state of affairs.
However, only We the People can fix the government and force it to do the job it is dropping the ball on right now and it’s dropping it not because of “socialism”. It’s dropping the ball because of graft. Both parties, industry and government, are responsible for the corruption that created this situation, but only the government can do our collective will and police the corporations better so that payment to politicians by business interests is simply not allowed in any way, shape or form. As a citizen, you have zero chance of affecting how a corporation does business unless you’re a major stakeholder in the enterprise. In a democratic society, every citizen is a stakeholder in government.
There’s a difference between being anti-capitalist and being anti-laissez faire capitalism. I’m all for capitalism in most market sectors with the exceptions of providing health care insurance and – because of the events leading up to the Iraq war – oil production. In those two market sectors, bad corporate actors have put profits above human lives and the cost in blood is simply not worth paying for their profits, ergo, the solution is to remove the profits from the equation and make those businesses run on a not for profit basis.
What I’m not for is laissez faire capitalism in any sector. There has to be rules. If you think not, look at the history leading up to the creation of the FDA. You say you want business criminals held accountable for their actions? You cannot define their actions as criminal without rules prohibiting their bad actions. Bad actors in the marketplace cannot be left to the “justice” of the marketplace. The social costs are too high to allow that kind of fantasy justice. Would you rather 1,000 people die from adulterated processed food to drive a company out of business or would you rather their be rules in place that don’t allow for that practice and provides inspection to insure against it in the first place? Is your profit worth a cost in lives until an uncertain market mechanic brings justice? Because continued deregulation of business is going to give you exactly that: higher profits at the cost of human lives.
The business of our government is justice for all, not just justice for those who pay for it. It doesn’t interfere with your “economic freedom” to tell you that you can’t do business a certain way without suffering consequences. You’re still free to spend your money how you see fit. You are just not free to make it anyway you see fit. There is no difference between regulation of business activities and the regulation of more garden variety criminal activities. Because a banker steals with a pen and a gangster steals with a gun does not make one a more desirable component of society that doesn’t merit punishment. Both are thieves.
As for your repeated attempts to call what happened socialism and frame it in partisan terms?
1) It wasn’t socialism that bailed out the banks. It was fascism. And despite what you and numbnuts Schiff think, they are not the same thing as a matter of political science and economics. That’s your von Mises brainwashing showing through.
2) In partisan terms, it was fascism bought and paid for by the GOP and the Bush Administration. I’m no fan of Obama. In fact, his continued usurpation of the citizen rights as started by the Bush administration and exemplified by Obama’s assertion he has the right to execute citizens without due process makes me want to vomit. However, if you want to assign blame for the bailout? It wasn’t “Obama is a socialist” (because he isn’t). It is “Bush was a fascist” (because he was). Bush signed TARP into law.
Yeah, somebody here doesn’t know what they are talking about, but it sure isn’t me.
So regardless who starts what your ok with Chaos in the streets. It’s ok in your book for say 2500 people marching in the street shutting down traffic of everyday people trying to live there lives. Your ok with that.
Bdaman, Oooooh, be afraid, be very afraid, it’s (violence) starting, oooooh.
No doubt it’s it’s the police or FBI or DHS or some paid provocateurs starting/doing it. SSDD.
‘Occupy Atlanta’ Denies Rumors Of Partnership With Nation Of Islam
http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2011/11/04/occupy-atlanta-denies-rumors-of-partnership-with-nation-of-islam/