KOOK, Kommenting Out of Karacter:

I yield to no one in criticizing Obama when he's wrong (often, I must say). Were there missteps since the beginning of the "revolution" in Egypt? Yes. Were there missteps by Reagan in trying to navigate the wisest path in our relations with the Phillipines when Corazone Aquino's husband was murdered during a presidential campaign? Yes. Yet in the latter case, Reagan navigated the course successfully. Thus far, it seems that despite missteps, Obama has navigated the course successfully. We must continually support the sizeable elements in the Egyptian "revolution" appearing to embrace the enlightenment of fundamental rights (free speech, etc.), and we must unrelentingly oppose those in Egypt who would institute an "Islamic State" rather than a country tolerating Islam, Christianity, Judaism, etc. We must not confuse the Muslim Brotherhood with the Rotary Club. We need a new DNI.

In the case of this "revolution" in Egypt, we don't yet know how it will end. We all hope it ends with changes requiring respect for liberty and not by being hijacked by the medieval views and practices of the likes of the Muslim Brotherhood and like-minded groups of fanatics. But thus far, Obama seems to have managed to steer perception of the United States as being rightly on the side of changes favoring freedom. His speech this afternoon was excellent. Even at the Cube, which finds much that Obama does to warrant criticsim, credit is due when credit is due.

To the exent this revolution begets freedom, is it also fair to credit George W. Bush for part of the inspiration for its success? Of course. One only need read speeches Bush and Condi Rice gave on the universality of the human craving for individual freedom. One can't fairly ignore the beneift of harvesting seeds previously planted.



Now, I'm headed away for quite a few days, so I won't be able to post further comments.


--KOOK

As much as I hope Egypt comes out of this with a system of government like ours. I can only foresee another dictatorship.

To quote Ayn Rand, "The people of France revolted and they got Napoleon. The American people revolted, and they got freedom."

I can't help but wonder where his support was when there were demonstrations in the streets of Tehran.

This is the beginning of the end. The domino's are falling and it cannot be stopped. The only thing we can do is ensure our defense and diplomatic postures keep pace with developments and should this result in coordinated attacks against Israel that may threaten their very existence. We must also be prepared to take actions on any attempt to destabilize the global economy by threatening oil supplies. Ensuring we have kept pace with the events with an appropriate posture will prepare us should it come down to a military showdown or war.

Ah horseshit, I'm with the Lumberjack and that little Koreean feller above me. Where the hell was this jackass when the Iranian people were clammering in the streets? When Neda died? Where the hell was Mr. Credit when credit due then.... hey... I like that mister credit line, fitting.

Let it fly...

I might be more willing to agree, had Obama show one little tiny bit of support of the true "democracy" uprising that took place in Iran. But he gave his verbal support to that whinny of a fascist dictator Ahmadinejad. NOT the people. I honestly don't believe BHO or his regime have any idea what is really happening there (or worse, they DO)... or don't much care, except for how they can "portray" it to make BHO look good. I have real fears that Egypt won't turn out well for the people living there, the protesters and mostly importantly, America's interst. All we have to do is look at what happened in Iran '70's. I just imagine Egypt will be taken over by "extremist", i.e. terrorist, hamas, Muslim "brotherhood", etc. But the bottom line is, BHO and his regime PRIMARY JOB is to look out for the well being of this country and it's citizens. Nothing else. And I bet the day will come with Egyp will wish they had old Mubarak back... instead of what is forced upon them.

Oh dear.


Always remember to close your tags, Fraulein. For The People™.

:)

Comrades,

What we saw on the streets of Egypt was perfect democracy in action, many did not know what they were there for, it was the best paying job they could find.

Things are not what they appear to be, rather than a politically motivated effort, this was all a bought and paid for stage production. In my humble view.

Comrades,

I have found a inside account of the uprising here.Every time I hear about this, I keep think of the USSR: They had a nice interim gov't, then the Bolsheviks took over. The Muslim Brotherhood, I think, wants to be the Bolsheviks. Our one saving grace might be this: The Egyptian and US militaries are very close. If things go downhill, bet on the army cooling things off.


And keep Egypt's socialism on the down low, da?

Kommenting Out Of Karacter,




Managed to find a wi-fi for a few minutes while away. Fear you guys will be proven right but hope like hell you're wrong. Consistent with your fears, I remember how encouraging was the brif revolution in Lebanon only to be crushed by Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for this one. Take care. --KOOK

On another blog, Sabutai Bahadur gave well written and thought out reasons why he thought TS was about to hit TF, not only in Egypt, but throughout the 2nd and 3rd world countries: the cost of food. Most of the food exporting nations will not have enough of a crop to export this year due to either flood, drought, or cold. The rioting throughout most of the muslim world isn't because the head guy is a meany, it's because they don't have enough in their bellies. Canada's grain crop is 12% below last year's yield, Australia had the floods in the west and drought in the east, Argentina had drought, Russia isn't exporting, China, who has been feeding itself had drought caused crop failures. And, the U.S. is turning corn into inefficient fuel to combat global warming.
I don't think it's going to get better before it gets much, much worse.

Not comforting: https://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/2807.htm --KOOK

To recognize the potential for inroads against Islamic fanaticism are real:

Following last year's Coptic Christmas Eve attack on congregants as they left their church in the Upper Egyptian city of Naga Hamady, Youssef created the crescent and cross logo with the slogan “A nation for all” - that was adopted during the past couple of days by many of Egypt's 4 million Facebook users as their profile picture. [Source] .

Jan. 6, 2011: Egyptian Muslims organize to protect Coptic Christians' religious services.

Jan. 7, 2011: Egyptian Muslims protect Coptic Christians Christmas Mass.

is not to ignore ...

the glaring threats posed by the Muslim Brotherhood

and

the glaring dangers from Obama/Clapper naivete about the Muslim Brotherhood.

What's needed is agressive support for anyone and everyone in Egypt exhibiting willingness to oppose Islamic fanaticism and support movement towards liberty.

Today, there are Egyptians planning to demonstrate in support of Iranians demonstrating and attempting to demonstrate against the Iranian regime of Islamic fanaticism. The coming days will reveal whether such demonstrations materialize. Our challenge is to determine how to give moral and material support to Egyptians supporting movement toward liberty and to then do it effectively.

How can we best act in an effort to stiffen the spine and courage of those Egyptians? One thing we can do is recognize their existence. To fail to do so would be a serious mistake just as it would be a colossal mistake to misconstrue the Muslim Brotherhood as anything other than a force seeking reimpositon of medievalism.

Will it be easy? Of course not. Can we afford not to try? Of course not.


--KOOK