Ali Abdel Aal, Egypt’s parliamentary speaker, triggered an outcry after he used Adolph Hitler as a model for infrastructure leadership. Abdel Aal explained “Hitler had his mistakes, but what allowed him to expand eastward and westward was that he created a strong infrastructure.” Well, that and a combination of war crimes, genocide, and wanton destruction. Most people do not start with the good roads on that list of notable elements of Nazi rule.
Abdel Aal insisted that his words were taken “out of context” but, unless the preceding line was “I am about to say something really moronic and grotesque to show children how not to speak”, I don’t think context will be much of a defense here. It is akin to saying Mussolini “made some mistakes” but “kept the trains running on time.”
It was a telling reference in a country that has been condemned for its repression and denial of basic rights. He was praising President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi for his effort to “build a modern Egyptian state.”
Abdel Aal tried to explain why “harsh” measures are a sign of greatness: “Building nations in times of transition requires harsh measures… because it is during these times that institutions are built and infrastructure is laid down.”
Most people would not view Hitler as good company but most would not try to sell a country on authoritarian measures as a path to “greatness.”
Strike a spark and watch the fires blaze. Was it just a week ago I mentioned that Genocide has it’s twin meaning large scale selected murder in Dem-ocide. The dictionary prior to PC is a wonderful source of truisms.
Benito Mussolini made the trains run on time using fascist tactics and methods. Something Benita Pelosillyni has only used to make things that work fail.
The Nazis had a presence in the Middle East. That legacy continues, unfortunately. Combine that with the anti-semitism that is a key element in the Qu’ran, along with children taught that the Holocaust never happened, and you get statements like this.
Brainwashing is difficult to overcome.
Put everything else aside and thing about the infrastructure that Hitler built early in his career. Our freeway system is modeled after his Autobann. Eisenhower was smart enough not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
What’s so great about Interstates? I can think of ready alternatives.
Shame the left doesn’t have an Eisenhower and is so far backwards and incapable of keeping the National Defense Highway System aka Freeways in operating order.
More serious than this recent hoopla, is the fact that the government has obviously been involved in a major pyramid scheme for years!
“Dictator”. A “tator” is a reference to a potato. A “dic” is a reference to a first name Dick. Or…. Mao was a tatortot. Hitler a German all the way but not with LBJ. Stalin was a horse of another name. Mao created a country that allows capitalist oligarchs to make billions. They now roam the world spending money in our plush hotels. Russia is a slow boat to China. Germany has revived since WWII and since the Berlin Wall came down. We had one American President who achieved something since Hitler. “Mister Gorbachov: “Tear down that Wall!” Who said that?
He was praising President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi for his effort to “build a modern Egyptian state.”
I take it you hadn’t noticed much of what has gone on in Egypt over the last nine years. I’m afraid your best approximation of just and prudent government there is a conventional military regime. Some countries have perfectly wretched political cultures, and Egypt is one.
Well, to be honest, Hitler was pretty good at convincing other countries to do his demolition work for him. . . I am sure the Third Reich saved a bunch of money having the U.S. Eighth Air Force knock down buildings. For free! Plenty of shovel ready jobs!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
From the above: “Only five years later, when he sensed that revolutionary fervor in China was waning, Mao proclaimed the Cultural Revolution. Gangs of Red Guards — young men and women between 14 and 21 — roamed the cities targeting revisionists and other enemies of the state, especially teachers.
Professors were dressed in grotesque clothes and dunce caps, their faces smeared with ink. They were then forced to get down on all fours and bark like dogs. Some were beaten to death, some even eaten — all for the promulgation of Maoism. A reluctant Mao finally called in the Red Army to put down the marauding Red Guards when they began attacking Communist Party members, but not before 1 million Chinese died.”
———
Kinda sounds like Antifa to me. But I can understand why Mao targeted the “intellectuals” and “professors.” Although we can watch people like Rachel Maddow bark like a dog nightly if we wish, and a whole host of others like Don Lemon, and Joy Reid, it would be nice to see them wear an actual dunce cap instead of the virtual one. And the whole ze and zer crowd, too.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
And Stalin could whip up a mean Borsch! What a maroon!
“Building nations in times of transition requires harsh measures… because it is during these times that institutions are built and infrastructure is laid down.”
And here I thought infrastructure was built out of cooperation. People mutualliy deciding as a community (through city councils and voting) that electricity would benefit the community as a whole, so they pool their resources (via taxes) to lay down electrical infrastructure so everyone can turn on lights.
Of course, putting up the West or the United States as great examples would have really gotten him in hot water.