The White House led by American President Barack Obama has given political cover to Islamists in the Middle East. Sadly, it's not clear that the Republicans offer an alternative.
Obama has encouraged those reactionary elements by suggesting that Islamists who try to achieve sharia states through the political system rather than through suicide bombs are legitimate and worthy diplomatic partners. The Arab Spring has been spun as a positive development in Middle Eastern democracy, rather than a catastrophe for democracy and human rights. Islamists are scrambling to sieze power through corrupt elections (and plan to hold on to power by even more corrupt elections).
.For the record, these sharia-inspired politicians include the Islamists in Egypt who are aiming to implement the "serial rape for 14-year old girls" law or the "screw your dead wife" law, or the thugs now in charge of Libya who have no compunction about using Gaddafi's methods of torture, rape and executions. The masks have come off and the Islamists are well on their way to sending the Middle East back to the stone age in terms of respect for women and ethnic and religious minorities -- not to mention the tiny secular demographic.
Editor's Note: In the wake of the barbaric desecration of Second World War graves of Commonwealth soldiers by jihadis in Libya, Ahmed Shebani, founder of the Democratic Party in Libya, issued a press release condemning the action; "Certainly, the dark forces of Wahabism have no place in democratic Libya." That message was encouraging. Unfortunately, most of Mr. Shebani's statement centered around an implausible conspiracy by Saudi intelligence which seemed to at least partly absolve Libyans of guilt for the atrocity -- falling into the timeless trap of blaming foreigners for their own failings. As Jewish Libyan refugee Gina Waldman's response shows, the desecration of the graves was not an isolated incident, but simply another example of Libyans' deep-seated intolerance for religious minorities that predates the Ghadafi era. Below, read Ms. Waldman's response:
Dear Mr. Shebani:
Although I applaud you for being the founder of the Democratic Party in Libya, as a Libyan Jew I add my voice to calls that you take responsibility for the actions of your people. The Libyan people need to confront the blatant violations of human rights which they have perpetrated against their own Jewish population. They have humiliated us, confiscated our properties and all...More >>
Polanski sat down in his usual spot. Soon, Weissman joined them at the table. A waiter instantly came over to pour them hot black coffee.
“So what’s going on in the neighborhood?” Herzl asked.
“Two of Fariq’s fish ended up shot dead in an alley last night about a block from us,” Polanski reported. “No confirmation yet on who did it. Too many little bosses running their own operations. Everything’s still out of control down there.”
“No spillover to us?” Herzl asked.
“None yet,” Polanski said. “We’re clear. The Muj are really fucking themselves over.”
“So what else is new? Anything else?”
“Big shipment from Ivan into the harbor early this morning. A whack of AK-47 rifles and two crates of ammunition. Mortar rounds. Something that looked like it might be an artillery piece.”
“Excellent,” Herzl said with a shrug. “The putz must have a gun in every spare closet by now. You’d think he could dole out some cash to fix up his borough. Maybe fill in...More >>
Sorry, my mistake. There is no Egyptian democracy under the military regime. Rather, the trial of pro-democracy activists in Egypt, including 16 Americans, is itself a clear indictment of the junta for continuing to destroy Egyptian civil society. The Egyptian judge who has deferred proceedings until April (presumably to allow a political solution, er, billion-dollar ransom payment) is complicit in this travesty of justice.
The activists are accused of being on foreigners' payrolls. You know who else takes money, directly from the US government? The tyrants in Egypt.More >>
Presumably, the losing side blamed a conspiracy of soccer players aligned with American-Zionist agents. The other side took offense and counter-claimed that the other fans were being funded and supported by Mossad and the CIA, in league with the current Egyptian military regime. Then the mob did what mobs do.
The Propagandist's Allies are on the warpath. Better get out of their way, bubba.
Jailed Cuba dissident dies in hunger strike. "Villar launched his hunger strike shortly after he was arrested in November, put on trial and sentenced to four years in prison for crimes including disobedience, resistance and crimes against the state."
Malawian women protest over 'trouser attacks'. Just try to imagine some retail vendor beating you up and stripping you down in the middle of the street because he doesn't like how you dress. Yes, this really happened.
The Arab Spring has also been called the Arab Awakening, which begs the question of why the oppressed people living in the Arab states and Iran don't wake the hell up already.
There are hints that the international mainstream media (despite the wilful blindness of the BBC, CNN and other big outlets) has begun to catch on to the fact that all of the revolutionary activity across the Middle East has actually set back the region by decades and may end up putting them back centuries. Some of the people who live in those countries, such as the few genuine liberal democrats hoping for a break with the greater and petty tyrrannies of the past may be catching on a bit quicker. But the vast majority of Arabs appear to be quite willingly signing up for another epoch of theocratic serfdom.
In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood is triumphant (much to the chagrin of the country's Christian minority, which is already on the verge of being totally ethnically cleansed). The head of Tunisia's victorious Islamist political party gloats over the pending arrival of a Sixth Caliphate. In Libya, the dictator has been replaced by gaggles of Al Qaeda-sympathizing hillbillies. These are...More >>
SYRIAN AMBASSADOR: "Just so we're clear, here: you are pretty sure that we've committed the worst possible crimes against humanity: the torture, mutilation and killing of children. Assuming we did it, we'd have to be the worst kind of human scum imaginable. That's what you're accusing us of."
SYRIAN AMBASSADOR: "You really think we we're capable of such inhuman conduct?"
UN REPRESENTATIVE: "Well, it seems that way. The evidence we've seen so far points to this."
SYRIAN AMBASSADOR: "Let's assume we did it, just for argument's sake. Let's assume we pull fingernails out of 10-year olds and knock all of their teeth out just for crying for their mommies. Let's say we flay the flesh from their bodies and then burn them to cover up our crimes. What makes you think we would be so nice and ethical that we would actually cooperate with any investigation of yours?"
UN REPRESENTATIVE: "You cannot simply disregard diplomatic protocols..."
SYRIAN AMBASSADOR: "Fuck you and your American spymasters. And I'll tell you something else. You ever come back here, we're going to find your children and assume they are...More >>
Watch the "revolutionaries" in Egypt's Tahrir Square announce their dedication to unending warfare and subjugation of others and their enthusiasm for murdering Americans and Jews (note: not Israelis. Jews).
Yeah, I think we're done here. If there is still anyone out there who thinks the Arab Spring is set to unleash a hitherto silent flood of liberal democrats, this video should end their illusions.More >>
The Propagandist's Allies are on the warpath. Better get out of their way, bubba.
