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.
“Bailing out wall street was either communism, socialism or fascism, take your pick.”
False equivalence stated by someone with a demonstrated lack of understanding of what constitutes either communism or socialism. While this is probably due to your religion (Objectivism), it is still an error. The only answer is fascism. Fascism created by an ever deregulated business environment being allowed to interfere with the political and legal systems of this country.
Bron,
How about this….
Decoding Buffett’s tax plan
Why Buffett only pays 17.4% of his income in federal taxes: “Last year my federal tax bill … was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent.”
http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/15/news/economy/buffett_taxes/index.htm
“Tax the rich, Warren Buffett says — and a majority of millionaires agree.
According to a survey from the consulting firm Spectrem Group, sixty-eight percent of millionaires — defined as people with investments of $1 million or more — support raising taxes on people who earn $1 million or more in income, the Wall Street Journal reports.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/27/millionaire-tax-warren-buffett_n_1035763.html
Any more Randian/von Mises fascist elitist bullshit you want to try to spread this morning, Bron?
Elaine:
“In fact, one could well argue that the truest evidence of Wall Street corruption is the fact that prior to the economic collapse, what Wall Street was practicing wasn’t really “capitalism” at all.”
Yeah duh. Free market believers have been bitching about the bailouts since they happened and saying they were not capitalism in any shape or form. About time you figured it out.
But then Taibbi and Kristof are such geneeouses it only took them 4 years to figure it out. Go back a couple of years on this blog, Puzzling and others said exactly the same thing.
Bailing out wall street was either communism, socialism or fascism, take your pick.
Bron,
You really REALLY need to stop using words you don’t know the meaning of such as socialist. When privately held or publicly traded corporations that are not state owned and held in public trust are allowed to socialize their risk? That’s not socialism. It’s fascism. And a reminder once again, socialism and fascism are not the same thing. In this instance, this is fascism brought about by the very same laissez faire economic approach you love so much combined with “purchase a candidate” campaign financing. However, it was a lack of regulation and enforcement that led to this current situation. Your dreams of laissez faire capitalism being the be all end all solution in economics is a fantasy.
I was listening to NPR about OWS….It appears that they can’t tell you what they want only what they don’t want…..
“Millionaire’s Tax in order to increase taxes for those who earn more than $1 million a year.”
a bunch of millionaires have already left the state to go to states with more favorable tax laws. Good luck with that, you will have to pass a law to make it illegal to leave the state.
It always ends up that way, no matter that the intentions are good; tyranny is always the result.
Otteray Scribe:
“We are winning. They are losing. And they know it.”
You are kidding, right?
If you think that, you are really going to hate November 2012.
You need to get out more and actually talk to people.
I agree with a couple of points of the OWS crowd and so do most conservatives. Namely the bail out of Wall St. and the take-over of GM.
But those points are laissez faire philosophically. OWS is not laissez faire philosophically. At the beginning I thought it was a libertarian protest because of some of the signs.
So people supporting the protests may just be agreeing with some of the points.
It should be pointed out that bailing out banks and car companies is a socialist or a fascist economic solution. It is hardly laissez faire.
rafflaw,
“The 99% bailed out the 1%!”
Therein lies the rub.
Great updates Elaine. I love the headline. The 99% bailed out the 1%!
Occupy Wall Street: Not Here To Destroy Capitalism, But To Remind Us Who Saved It
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/27/occupy-wall-street-isnt-h_n_1035988.html
Excerpt:
Over at The New York Times, Nicholas Kristof has enunciated an excellent defense of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators, aimed at dispelling the notion that the Occupiers are some single-minded mass movement targeting the capitalist system for destruction. In fact, Kristof says, “while alarmists seem to think that the movement is a ‘mob’ trying to overthrow capitalism, one can make a case that, on the contrary, it highlights the need to restore basic capitalist principles like accountability.”
Kristof says that what Occupy Wall Street represents is “a chance to save capitalism from crony capitalists” and an entrenched system of “government-backed featherbed[ding]” that amounts to “socialism for tycoons and capitalism for the rest of us.” As Kristof notes, he’s seen this before: Years of covering the ’90s-era Asian financial crisis brought Kristof face-to-face with the same critique. It’s now unspooling in the United States and having its own deleterious effects, such as the near-intractable income inequality that was, at long last, reported on fully this week (perhaps thanks to the presence of the Occupiers themselves).
Kristof’s right to suggest that the Occupiers aren’t “half-naked Communists aiming to bring down the American economic system.” This isn’t the “Project Mayhem” of Chuck Palahniuk novels — we’re talking about a movement that’s spurring people to move their money from “too big to fail” banks into credit unions. That’s not exactly “smash the system.” That’s more like a group of people seeking out a means to maximize their power within the system, or using consumer choice to preserve, enhance and improve the best parts of the system. As Matt Taibbi notes in a fitting companion piece to Kristof’s, “These people aren’t protesting money. They’re not protesting banking. They’re protesting corruption on Wall Street.”
Taibbi calls them “cheaters,” Kristof calls them “cronies,” but the concept of “corruption” is intrinsic to both critiques. In fact, one could well argue that the truest evidence of Wall Street corruption is the fact that prior to the economic collapse, what Wall Street was practicing wasn’t really “capitalism” at all.
And here, Kristof absolutely nails it:
Capitalism is so successful an economic system partly because of an internal discipline that allows for loss and even bankruptcy. It’s the possibility of failure that creates the opportunity for triumph. Yet many of America’s major banks are too big to fail, so they can privatize profits while socializing risk.
I posted the following on another thread. I thought I’d post it here too:
NYPD Sergeants Union Blasts Protesters In Oakland For Violence
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/27/nypd-sergeants-union-oakland-violence_n_1062823.html
Excerpt:
NEW YORK — A union representing 5,000 New York City Police Department sergeants blasted Occupy Wall Street protesters on Thursday and threatened to sue them should they injure police.
“New York’s police officers are working around the clock as the already overburdened economy in New York is being drained by ‘occupiers’ who intentionally and maliciously instigate needless and violent confrontations with the police,” said Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association. Although sergeants are higher in rank than patrol officers, they do not wear the white shirts of some of the more senior officers.
Protesters have at times played confrontational cat-and-mouse games with the police, but incidents of serious violence directed against the NYPD by protesters in New York have been extremely rare.
Busted! 😀
Blouise
1, October 27, 2011 at 10:47 pm
I’m going to go read a book
====================================================
when johnney depp is going to be on letterman
right
“Lottakatz they will be forced from the streets. People are getting fet up. The signs are there.”
Really.
“67 percent of New York City voters agree with protestors’ demonstrations and 72 percent of New Yorkers statewide desire a Millionaire’s Tax in order to increase taxes for those who earn more than $1 million a year. The numbers were released on Monday by two separate polls conducted by Quinnipiac University and Siena College.
An even higher percentage, 87-10, had city voters saying that they were ‘okay that they were protesting.'”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/17/new-yorkers-want-milliona_n_1015801.html
The “signs are there”, are they? Where exactly, Bdaman? On the walls of the cubicles in the Breitbart propaganda operation? At the BoA board meetings? On the talking points handed out by GoldmanSachs?
Because New Yorkers overwhelming agree with and approve of the OWS movement, Oakland is in damage control mode and let protestors be tonight with only a minimal police presence and San Francisco police handed out letters saying that the previously announced “raid” (read “beat down”) for tonight was being cancelled.
For all their love of money, the 1%’s fail at simple math.
99 > 1
You are right OS.
Blouise:
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt256/otteraylens/Samuelsstone.jpg
By the way OS … my gggggrandfather has COW on his tombstone … Comrad in arms of Washington … the only ones entitled to have that carved on their tombstone were those who served under Washington in the Continental Army. We Scots know how to pick our battles.
“He said their signs were no where near as good as the Tea Party signs.” (Bron)
Oh my God … did someone actually tell you that?! I’m going to have to dig into my collection of teabagger signs. How short do these people think our memories are … misspellings of the most idiotic sort were the hallmark of teabagging signs. It was a national joke. then there were all the thousands of racists signs carried by the teabaggers … those were a national shame.
There’s a reason the teabaggers failed to gain any kind of lasting traction and are now in the basement of all the polls … they were stupid as just totally illustrated by someone who thinks their signs were better. Unbelievable 6th grade student council idiocy.
I’m going to go read a book
Raff, first they laugh at you………
We are winning. They are losing. And they know it.