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2011-01-26 Africa North

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Posted by Fred 2011-01-26 14:37|| || Front Page|| [11129 views ] Top

#1 From what I can glean (Israeli news source), the protests are a response to "alleged" election rigging. Since rigging is a way of life in this part of the world, most likely it is not only alleged but true. The election rigging has been an attempt to get rid of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Egyptian government. The rigged elections have swept out something like 88 Muslim Brotherhood seats in the government.

Posted by JohnQC 2011-01-26 15:07|| 2011-01-26 15:07|| Front Page Top

#2 Is there any democratic parties we can back as we dont want the Brotherhood in control!

Posted by Paul D 2011-01-26 16:30|| 2011-01-26 16:30|| Front Page Top

#3 That's something we should have thought about as a nation before our sternly worded communique's to ~~the Shah~~ Mubarak.

Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2011-01-26 16:53|| 2011-01-26 16:53|| Front Page Top

#4 The protests are spreading to other cities.

Al jazeera reports major riots in Suez

British reporter describes being arrested and beaten.

Posted by Frozen Al 2011-01-26 17:19|| 2011-01-26 17:19|| Front Page Top

#5 Ho-ly crap.

As Claire Berlinski via Instapundit notes, the US has been supporting Mubarak ever since he gained power, and Sadat before him. The Egyptian 'street' isn't going to think to kindly of us.

Wow. Two Arab countries revolt in the same month. What were the stated odds of that happening back around Christmas?

Posted by Steve White 2011-01-26 17:26|| 2011-01-26 17:26|| Front Page Top

#6 Saudi next?

Posted by Paul D 2011-01-26 17:30|| 2011-01-26 17:30|| Front Page Top

#7 If Egypt loses Mubarak and the Muslim Brotherbood (or similar) group gets power, what are the chances Israel does something like regrabbing the Sinai to get a defendable depth?

Posted by Laurence of the Rats 2011-01-26 17:31|| 2011-01-26 17:31|| Front Page Top

#8 The United States bluntly urged Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday to make political reforms in the face of protesters demanding his ouster, marking a pivot in its stance toward a key Arab ally.

Goodbye Shah, hello Khomeini. Another Democratic administration, another anti-American administration in the Mid-East. I'm kinda hoping we can skip a re-enactment of the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2011-01-26 17:41|| 2011-01-26 17:41|| Front Page Top

#9 Most likely the Muslim Brotherhood is instigating and fueling the protests despite claims of being non-violent. When it's over, they are waiting in the wings to take over. In the short run they don't care about losing seats in the government. They plan to get them back the next time around. Another Muslim country goes fundamentalist.

Posted by JohnQC 2011-01-26 17:47|| 2011-01-26 17:47|| Front Page Top

#10 I don't think Hosni was 'pro-US', he was more 'pro-greenbacks'.

Posted by Steve White 2011-01-26 17:48|| 2011-01-26 17:48|| Front Page Top

#11 As Claire Berlinski via Instapundit notes, the US has been supporting Mubarak ever since he gained power, and Sadat before him. The Egyptian 'street' isn't going to think to kindly of us.

Both Berlinski and the Egyptian street are off their meds. US aid is mainly used to buy American weaponry. And the primary use for that weaponry? Fighting off Israel. Egypt's GDP is $188b. American aid = $1.3b. If Uncle Sam stops handing out free weaponry to Egypt, it will simply buy fewer tanks and F-16's. It's got no problem buying the stuff required to keep Mubarak in power. The primary reason Egyptians are angry at Mubarak (and Sadat) are not that they are dictators, but that they are not as hostile to Israel and the US as Egyptians think they ought to be. The Muslim Brotherhood is gaining in popularity despite the fact that it would merely create a religious dictatorship in place of a secular one because it is extremely virulent in its professed hatred for the Israel and the US. If Mubarak is weak enough to give in to Obama's demands that he step down, Egypt will eventually become the Middle East's third nuclear power, next to Israel and Iran.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2011-01-26 17:53|| 2011-01-26 17:53|| Front Page Top

#12 I don't think Hosni was 'pro-US', he was more 'pro-greenbacks'.

Mubarak's the most pro-US person who could simultaneously be a leader of Egypt. And that's his Achilles heel. The unfortunate bottom line is that our problem isn't with allied Muslim governments, most of which are presenting as pro-American a face as they can without being toppled - it's with the Muslim public.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2011-01-26 17:58|| 2011-01-26 17:58|| Front Page Top

#13 Do the Marines at the Cairo embassy have live ammo?

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2011-01-26 18:01|| 2011-01-26 18:01|| Front Page Top

#14 An Islamist Middle East must be our biggest fear.

Posted by Paul D 2011-01-26 18:02|| 2011-01-26 18:02|| Front Page Top

#15 Once the Moslem Brotherhood rules Egypt, Iran will look like Liechtenstein. Thank you Carter, thank you Obama.

Posted by Shereter Poodle9774 2011-01-26 18:04|| 2011-01-26 18:04|| Front Page Top

#16 ElBaradei -- member him? former director of the UN nuclear "watchdog" and angered long ago by Sadat's refusal to let him develop nuclear weapons -- called on the Egyptian masses to join the street rallies against Mubarak.

Posted by Shereter Poodle9774 2011-01-26 18:22|| 2011-01-26 18:22|| Front Page Top

#17 Do the Marines at the Cairo embassy have live ammo?

I'm kind of hoping they evacuate the embassy before we get another hostage type situation. On the other hand, it would be amusing to see how Obama, the uber-Carter, handles an embassy hostage situation.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2011-01-26 18:24|| 2011-01-26 18:24|| Front Page Top

#18 I don't think anyone pays attention to Dr. Elbaradei. Yes, he was once in charge of Egypt's nuclear program, but he's been away for an awfully long time.

Mubarek wouldn't have nearly as much of a problem with the common people hating Israel if it weren't such a prominent part of the educational curriculum and so many government-sponsored television programs. Jew-hatred has been a convenient distraction for the peepul since 1948, while those who would rule them played with pan-Arab socialism (and got aid from the Soviet Union) and national strong man-ism (and got aid from the U.S.). America-hatred is a mere offshoot of the antisemitism, as the U.S. is seen as the country that keeps good Muslims from driving those juices into the see as they are entitled to do.

Posted by trailing wife 2011-01-26 19:07|| 2011-01-26 19:07|| Front Page Top

#19 Are weapons and terrorists flowing in the opposite direction in the tunnels?

Posted by airandee 2011-01-26 19:25|| 2011-01-26 19:25|| Front Page Top

#20

Posted by Water Modem 2011-01-26 19:25|| 2011-01-26 19:25|| Front Page Top

#21 Mubarek wouldn't have nearly as much of a problem with the common people hating Israel if it weren't such a prominent part of the educational curriculum and so many government-sponsored television programs. Jew-hatred has been a convenient distraction for the peepul since 1948, while those who would rule them played with pan-Arab socialism (and got aid from the Soviet Union) and national strong man-ism (and got aid from the U.S.). America-hatred is a mere offshoot of the antisemitism, as the U.S. is seen as the country that keeps good Muslims from driving those juices into the see as they are entitled to do.

No offense, but this is complete tosh. For non-Western countries, territorial issues are extremely emotionally-charged*. We view Israel as a tiny sliver of land in the Mid East. They view Israel as land that was stolen** from them by Jews at gunpoint with assistance from the US. (The unfortunate thing is that Muhammad chose to make Jerusalem Islam's third holy city. That rubs salt into the open wound). Nobody has to wind a Muslim up about Israel - teaching an alternate view of Israel would be tantamount to treason. The US is hated not for its modernity or decadence - Japan and Europe are equally modern and arguably more decadent, and you don't really see that level of animosity. It is hated because it is seen as the only thing between the Muslim world and the re-establishment of Muslim rule over what is now Israel.

* Note the strong expressions of anger among ethnic Chinese around the world over Japan's temporary detention of Chinese fishermen who were fishing illegally in Japanese waters around the Senkakus.

** Now, the fact is that title to every piece of land in the world was originally established - some recently, some in antiquity - via the right of conquest. But you're going to have trouble convincing the average Muslim that land that he sees as legitimately Muslim really justly belongs to Jews. As to the idea that land titles established by the right of conquest ought to be frozen, in Israel's case, in 1948? Muslims are simply not going to accept it, barring some major revolution in thinking at the street level.

Note that during the Sino-Japanese war, it was not Chiang Kai-shek who wanted to escalate towards total war with Japan, despite Japanese incursions into China. He understood that China was weak and would suffer grievous losses against the Imperial Army. It was the Chinese people who were spoiling for a fight. In the end, they forced his hand. He went all against the Japanese, while the Communists sat out the war, and in so doing, lost the cream of his army (millions Nationalist dead vs 100K Communist dead) and eventually, China itself.

Bottom line, in the Mid-East, as elsewhere, the people are not zombies who will adopt the attitudes whatever ruler is in charge. Dictators do not command the absolute obedience of their generals or the public. If a dictator deviates too much from the attitudes of the public, especially in a way that is seen as treasonous, he will be deposed. There are many generals waiting in the wings for an opportunity to replace him.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2011-01-26 19:38|| 2011-01-26 19:38|| Front Page Top

#22 The EGYPTIANS are agz Israel until Saddam, now Iran, etc. comes over the proverbial Hill agz them, then they're suddenly Israel's BFF-N-ALWAYS-WERE.

[ACTOR-COMEDIAN ROBIN "THE FRENCH ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY UNDENIABLY CATEGORICALLY ... HATE AMERICANS UNTIL THE GERMANS INVADE" WILLIAMS' post-911 TV skit here].

Posted by JosephMendiola 2011-01-26 19:55|| 2011-01-26 19:55|| Front Page Top

#23 Duh! The US is at war with Islamonazis. Therefore the US needs allies who will kill Islamonazis.

Posted by Jack Angurong1317 2011-01-26 21:35|| 2011-01-26 21:35|| Front Page Top

#24 tw: you're wrong about ElBaradei. Maybe you shouldn't make statements on things you clearly know nothing of.

Here is an easily found news item
http://af.reuters.com/article/egyptNews/idAFLDE70P2JL20110126

Posted by Shereter Poodle9774 2011-01-26 21:41|| 2011-01-26 21:41|| Front Page Top

#25 Shereter Poodle9774, I've only just seen your comment, so I won't be able to respond to your link before the rollover. But I will read it, as thoughtfully as I am capable of. The problem -- for me at least -- is that for so many things I don't know what I don't know until someone educates me. So thank you. Please do so again, the many times that I need it.

Zhang Fe, we agree on the reason America is hated more than the rest of the non-Muslim world by the Ummah. For the rest, you are right, but Muslim governments do push the anti-Zionism/antisemitism hard -- trying to distract them from bad governance. (Not that it appears to be working any more.) But their people are not better educated for Ramadan television series based on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and maps missing a neighboring nation, however much they may not want it to be there. Were the maps correct, the teachers might (would probably) teach that Israel ought not be there, but that is different than "I can't see you, so you're not there!"

Posted by trailing wife 2011-01-27 00:07|| 2011-01-27 00:07|| Front Page Top

00:07 trailing wife
23:55 Redneck Jim
23:44 CrazyFool
23:39 George Hupaviger4591
23:32 gorb
23:22 gorb
23:19 gorb
23:15 JosephMendiola
23:05 Bright Pebbles
23:04 CincinnatusChili
22:54 swksvolFF
22:52 OldSpook
22:47 swksvolFF
22:43 DarthVader
22:42 swksvolFF
22:09 swksvolFF
21:49 Coverup Participant
21:41 Shereter Poodle9774
21:39 Pappy
21:39 OldSpook
21:39 Jack Angurong1317
21:38 Shieldwolf
21:36 Jack Angurong1317
21:35 Jack Angurong1317