Far more worrying than Egypt in my view is Bahrain. That really will become a radical islamist state when the present government falls unfortunately. Libya and Egypt are very moderate and secular in comparison with other gulf states such as Bahrain, Qatar and in particular Saudi Arabia (Funny how we hear very few complaints about sharia law being applied vigorously in Saudi for many many years under the current corrupt but western friendly regime!). Once the ruling families are out then the majority Shiite muslems will follow Iran methinks. However demonstrations in Iran show that not all of this is being orchestrated by radical islamists as is widely reported in the west.
(Funny how we hear very few complaints about sharia law being applied vigorously in Saudi for many many years under the current corrupt but western friendly regime!).
No, I don't find it funny at all.
While I'm sure that many reporters are well aware that an unkind report on Arabia will result in an invitation never to return, ( or a missing reporter ) one problem is that Saudi Arabia owns the news feed ( based in England ) for all those stringers in the middle east. If they don't like the story, you never see it.
I'm having a hard time remembering their name at the moment.
I'm what was once called a "womens libber". I find it incomprehensible that the former womens rights groups have so little to say when a politician abuses a women ( depending on his party & ideology ) and near total silence on the Islamic countries, and even less about "honor killings" and the penalties for being raped under Islamic Law, as practiced by barbarians from Pakistan to Buffalo. The idea that you could be given 100 lashes for having sex before wedlock when an uncle rapes you...........
Unlike Wisconsin, ( Ohio, etc. ) a planned and well organized action with people bussed and flown in to protest, (with full support from the Communist Party USA, Obama's election campaign, and the Democrat Party ) and the Arab world's look authentic. I'm skeptical.
What do you figure before this is the acceptable way of life in America? 3 years? I, at least, will never live to see this happening here as a matter of "the new normal".
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday called on Muslims to "remove" the US from the Islamic world.
"The main problem in the Muslim world is the presence of the United States. It is the biggest problem. We need to address that," he told a gathering of Shiite and Sunni scholars in Tehran for an international conference on Islam.
"It is necessary to remove the US from the Islamic world," the all-powerful cleric and Islamic republic's commander-in-chief said, adding that the country's arch-foe was currently weak.
Khamenei urged Muslims worldwide to preserve the "people's movement in Egypt," saying it was the duty of both the people and dignitaries of Arab nations and the entire Islamic community.
He reiterated that the Arab revolts were "Islamic" and must be consolidated.
"The enemies try to say that the popular movements in Egypt, Tunisia and other nations are un-Islamic, but certainly these popular movements are Islamic and must be consolidated," he said.
Khamenei also urged that "the conspiracy of enemies to create differences between Sunnis and Shiites" be confronted.
On February 4, in his Friday prayer sermon, Khamenei called for an Islamic regime to be installed in Egypt, a week before that country's strongman Hosni Mubarak was ousted.
Iranian officials expressed support for the uprising in the Arab world's most populous nation. -Sapa-AFP
Tell me again why we should welcome islamism within free nations of the West? What we are doing by allowing islamists free reign is akin to allowing Hitler's SS or Stalin's KGB to freely setup bases of operation all over our countries.
Islamism is not mere religion. It is totalitarianism.
AFP/File – Influential Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi, pictured in 2007, issued a fatwa on Monday that any Libyan … – Mon Feb 21, 4:20 pm ET
DOHA (AFP) – Influential Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi issued a fatwa on Monday that any Libyan soldier who can shoot dead embattled leader Moamer Kadhafi should do so "to rid Libya of him."
"Whoever in the Libyan army is able to shoot a bullet at Mr Kadhafi should do so," Qaradawi, an Egyptian-born cleric who is usually based in Qatar, told Al-Jazeera television.
He also told Libyan soldiers "not to obey orders to strike at your own people," and urged Libyan ambassadors around the world to dissociate themselves from Kadhafi's regime.
Famous in the Middle East for his at times controversial fatwas, or religious edicts, the octogenarian Qaradawi has celebrity status in the Arab world thanks to his religious broadcasts on Al-Jazeera.
He has in the past defended "violence carried out by certain Muslims."
The West accuses the cleric of supporting "terrorism" because he sanctioned Palestinian suicide attacks in Israel. Britain and the United States have refused to grant him entry visas.
The cleric, spiritual leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and longtime resident of Qatar, heads the International Union for Muslim Scholars.
I heard on the radio, ( so use a large amount of salt ) that the ferry the U.S. hired was a little one. 67 meters. I don't trust radio nuts, so let's see....
Nice boat, I think made in the same yard as the really nice one I pay for that we had in Rochester NY for the Rochester Toronto run. Firm went bust, probably because no one in Toronto wants to go to Rochester. ( don't blame them... though the discount mall between Rochester & Syracuse does get a lot of Canadian trade ) Ok, it also had to do with stupid regulations that required a pilot for foreign built vessels, which the bozo's who started the Ferry company seem to have not known before ordering a real nice Aussie boat. So... broke. then the City bought it, tried to run it for a few months. gave up and sold it to some Germans. ( who got an awesome deal ) and the City somehow spent the money it got for the ferry and stuck the taxpayer with the bill. And the ferry company got a sweet deal on the ferry terminal deal... Anyway, Nice Boat.
The Chinese chartered a bit larger one. 204 meters.
Darn. the radio nut was right. More than one person is complaining that the U.S. State dept is stupid for getting the little ferry...which was delayed by high winds. ( I'm always ready to believe State is stupid ) Others guess the Captain delayed for other reasons? I dunno.
Anyhooo. Last i looked they had a nice uncivil war going. I'm not a Gaddafi fan. Good luck to the good people. A pox on the evil folk.
This Google exec's little protest thing ( and the wikileaks jerks leaks ) is spreading a lot of death and destruction in the "arab world". While I'm all for shooting bad dictators, I fear for the results, in the end.
Egypt went from a country with a medium crappy dictator, ( Some say ) slated to step down with a planned peaceful transition with free elections, to a military junta, hopefully with the same goals... Good luck.
Meanwhile in Libya, Syria, Iran, etc. protesters get killed. While America is in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation when it comes to influence in that part of the world... ( help any one side and the other will use that as a weapon against the side we support, for example. ) Some support for rational people who want freedom seems in order. IMHO
IM not so HO.. I would prefer national foreign policy leadership a bit less like Jimmy Carter. I have to agree with my Mother that Hillary would have been a better choice. ( not my preference, but better than what we got..... )
"Evidently a little sensitive to the related charges of being a) taken yet again completely by surprise, b) apparently without a policy of its own, and c) morally neuter, the Obama administration contrived to come up with an argument that maximized every form of feebleness. Were we to have taken a more robust or discernible position, it was argued, our diplomatic staff in Libya might have been endangered. In other words, we decided to behave as if they were already hostages! The governments of much less powerful nations, many with large expatriate populations as well as embassies in Libya, had already condemned Qaddafi's criminal behavior, and the European Union had considered sanctions, but the United States (which didn't even charter a boat for the removal of staff until Tuesday) felt obliged to act as if it were the colonel's unwilling prisoner. I can't immediately think of any precedent for this pathetic "doctrine," but I can easily see what a useful precedent it sets for any future rogue regime attempting to buy time. Leave us alone—don't even raise your voice against us—or we cannot guarantee the security of your embassy. (It wouldn't be too soon, even now, for the NATO alliance to make it plain to Qaddafi that if he even tried such a thing, he would lose his throne, and his ramshackle armed forces, and perhaps his worthless life, all in the course of one afternoon.)"
Don't believe everything you read in the newspapers Some of them (the Daily Mail in particular over here!) just happen to have some very fixed political views rather than just report the news as it happens
A gunman shouting "Allahu Akbar" opened fire on a bus carrying U.S. airmen in Frankfurt, Germany, killing two and wounding two others before his gun jammed and he was subdued, officials said. ...
When he opened fire, the gunman, identified as a long-term resident of Germany, shouted "Allahu Akbar," according to sources. He fired nine times, killling two and critically wounding two others before the gun jammed and he was subdued by other passengers. While being wrestled into submission, the suspect shouted either "Jihad Jihad" or "Allahu Akbar," sources said.
...just happen to have some very fixed political views rather than just report the news as it happens
Yeah, we have that problem here.
Young folk go to Journalism school, and their professors are almost uniformly red. Then they hit the real world, and most newspapers and networks are run by very red folk, who, gee, also went to those same schools, and same professors. ( who are nigh impossible to fire even if the school admin disagrees with their lectures on why America is Evil. ( hint, England is too, it's that lingering sense of self worth as shown in Dr. Who. That blind foolish desire to not be a ward of the state some still have )
In the end they all want to top Woodward & Bernstein and bring down a president, etc.
Barring that, if the Senator etc. is a Democrat, it takes "a dead girl or a live boy" to get published. Any chance to get a Republican is eagerly grabbed.
For a good example look at a Presidential candidate who had an affair while his wife was dying of cancer, then had a staffer claim his mistresses baby was his, and had them live with the staffer and his wife while the affair continued. Not a lot was said, and almost nothing before he failed to win the nomination. ( then the knives came out, a little ) He's now under investigation for bribing his mistress with donated campaign funds. There will be a little coverage of that, but mostly sympathetic, since his wife has died. ( after kicking him out of the very very expensive house ) He should be in the dictionary under "sleeze".
Other ideological Pravda include support for "global warming", socialized medicine, multiculturalism, and the deep conviction that Joe Stalin could have been a success, and ruled the world, if only he'd been as smart as the folk running NPR.
Blake, did he yell "durka durka Mohommed jihad"?
The Prez is "unsure of the facts", and so won't say what the murderers motives were, ever. If it was a redneck, he'd know, and tell us. Repeatedly.
Too bad Barack canceled Poland's ABM system to make Putin happy. That was all England had to defend themselves against Iranian missiles. Maybe the French will deploy an ABM system to defend Wester Europe?
Also, no one was ever hurt at the peaceful gathering at tiananmen square, all those intellectuals either committed suicide or voluntarily went to work on the collective farms out of shame for being skeptical of mao, and your children's toys are perfectly safe, and not made with toxic chemicals.
The muslims have been driven out of Europe before, last time by the Poles and Lithuanians led by Jan Sobieski: Following his victories over the Ottoman Empire, he was called by the Turks the "Lion of Lechistan" and held as the saviour of European Christendom by the pope.
Did you know there are more Islams in India than there are in all those ***stan countries? They also played an integral role in the progressiveness of India as a whole.
The book "The World is Flat" theorizes that the reason the ***stan Islams are angry is because they are taught they have the superior belief, and as such God will take care of them. Unfortunately, they're surrounded by goats and sand. Then they see the US with Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. This causes them some internal conflict.
Normally, to fix a low standard of living, society will educate its people. As they become educated, their earning power increases. Worked very well for India, and it shows. In the ***stan places, they don't have to educate their people. The government is able to subsidize their people through their money printing press: the oil. This makes them enough money that they don't need their people to compete with the rest of the world. No need to educate them, which may even lead to independent thought. And who buys that oil, allowing this to continue? Me and you.
Here's the nail in the coffin for them. Growing up, they did the goat/sand thing. When asked, "what do you want to be when you grow up", they replied, "the goat/sand thing, and God takes care of me". From day 1, they are taught this. They never answered "fireman", "astronaut", or "writer". It was goat/sand/God. Not much of a dream, is it?
Quick recap: 1. Taught to have no hope 2. Overly dependent on religion 3. System prevents progress
If you were them, you'd be pretty angry too. But here's the kicker: you wouldn't even know you were doing anything wrong. You simply wouldn't have the ability to draw your own conclusions.
Lot of truth in that post. Let's see it updated to the slums of Europe and the U.S.
...No need to educate them, which may even lead to independent thought. ...
... Here's the nail in the coffin for them. Growing up, they did the goat/sanddole/drugs thing. When asked, "what do you want to be when you grow up", they replied, "the goat/sanddole/drugs thing, and GodHoly State takes care of me". From day 1, they are taught this. They never answered "fireman", "astronaut", or "writer". It was goat/sand/Goddole/drugs/Holy State. Not much of a dream, is it?
Quick recap: 1. Taught to have no hope 2. Overly dependent on religion 3. System prevents progress
If you were them, you'd be pretty angry too. But here's the kicker: you wouldn't even know you were doing anything wrong. You simply wouldn't have the ability to draw your own conclusions.
Scary how totalitarians think alike? Well, they use the same books. Adolph's Mein Kampf, Mao's little red book, Marx & Engel's Communist Manifesto, Ayers's Dreams From My Father, etc.....
Did you know there are more Islams in India than there are in all those ***stan countries? They also played an integral role in the progressiveness of India as a whole.
Interesting take, but probably quite wrong. On 9/11/01 I was working in IT as a consultant. Demand for IT workers was very high and many came from India. I had the opportunity to discuss Islam/Taliban with some of these folks from India during that time. They painted a very different picture of Muslims in India than you present.
He may be thinking of Sikhs. Not the same deal at all.
I'll make it simple for the religiously challenged. Islamic turban looks like kitchen towel on head. Sikh turban looks cool, like someone with a clue wrapped it.
Got it? Cool Turban = warrior culture/citizens/honor code that doesn't kill you for disagreement. ( big on defending the weak ) Crappy turban = warrior culture/tribal/honor code that kills you for saying they are violent. ( big on killing little girls and children )
>>> They also played an integral role in the progressiveness of India as a whole.
The truth in that is that the islamists in India indeed do seek to exploit freedoms towards their own desired ends there just as they do here. The Cordoba mosque comes to mind along with any of the other myriad propaganda projects of CAIR, liars for islamists.
I wonder, what is the excuse for the violent jihadis back in 700 A.D. through mid twentieth century? Are we to ignore the violent mandates of the "religion" as splr seems want to do, or should be become informed and recognize truth?
Islamism is not mere religious faith; it is totalitarianism. The islamist doctine declares it, the islamists themselves affirm it, history proves it. Wake up.
It's not the fine people of simple faith that are the enemies of civilization, not the majority of Christians/Muslims/Pagans/Hindi.... ( End Disclaimer.)
It is those whose faith is the State, no matter if that state is bound by the strictures of Sharia law or the unholy lies and totalitarianism of "marxism" in it myriad forms.
It could have been worse. The tactic NOT used by the Islamofascists, at the beginning of the 21st century was one of cooperation with and the exploitation of mainstream religion in the Western World.
Imagine, if you will, the combination of our President's faith, Liberation Theology, that "demonic" ( thank you, Pope Benedict ) mutation of Christianity in open, not secret, ( as now ) conspiracy with the Islamofascists.
Imagine If the Imam's had followed a path of quiet persuasion and united with the mainstream churches of the west in fighting corruption, sin, the long decline away from core values, civility, and amorality that typifies "Hollywood" and the gossip mongers of todays "media". Who knows what kind of repression of rights and truth might have been accomplished before the inevitable falling out of faiths, each sure of their own righteousness and monopoly on Truth and the True Nature of God. And how to enforce such monopoly. In the end, I suspect, only the Islamofascists and marxists would survive the first wave of inevitable purges, then, only the most ruthless. The loser of that final battle before darkness falls will be the most surprised of all I'd wager. ( except for Public Radio types, they will always be surprised when their love of the enemies of civilization leads them to the re-education camps... again. )
Yeah, could have been worse. By openly declaring that their goal is world domination and the enslavement of all other faiths, the chance of religious war winning in the West is reduced. Not eliminated.
There is a hardline effort to excuse every "radical" statement as "fringe/radical". With "mainstream" believers in ( quite rational ) fear for their lives from the jihadi, and their message of quiet faith and personal struggle against temptation ignored by the "mainstream media" the ONLY voice of islam on tv seems the fringe/radical Jihadi and the ignorant that excuse them. ( see Public Radio useful idiots in full suckup to those who would kill them on video. )
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 On Libya: Max Boot has an article in today's Wall Street Journal called "It's Not Too Late to Save Libya." Link His main point as expressed in the title is correct. We could do it. We could probably do it with a no-fly zone, and almost certainly with air support of the rebels, although coordinating that would be very difficult without putting some ground observers/controllers in. As to the no-fly zone:
In reality, it would not be hard to ground Gadhafi's decrepit air force.
The job could probably be performed with just one American ship—the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, now in the Red Sea, which has 34 F/A-18F Super Hornets and 10 F/A-18C Hornets along with a full complement of electronic-warfare aircraft. The Enterprise strike group could also unleash a devastating array of Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Which is quite true. What hasn't been stated is what the targets of those cruise missiles would be. One would be a massive air strike against Gaddafi's air defense radars and missiles. To do it right, to really establish air supremacy, you also hit fuel dumps -- which would of course also be the proper targets if we are to support the rebels. So far all that sound, well, almost acceptable: a series of military air strikes against a country we are not at present at war with. With or without a Declaration of War (American Pearl Harbor?); but perhaps the ends, saving Libya from Gaddafi, justify the means. (If ends don't justify means, nothing does.)
Now add something I don't know for a fact but am pretty sure of: Gaddafi is not an idiot, and many of his air defense radars are conveniently located at mosques, orphanages, hospitals, synagogues & Christian churches if there are any left in Libya, and grade schools. Confining the strikes to night might be all right for schoolyard targets, but hospitals run 24 hours a day. You may be sure that an al Jazeera photographer will be first on the scene after the strikes, followed closely by Katie Couric and CBS News. (One presumes that Gaddafi has his crowds under control so she will not be assaulted; that can't be assured if she visits a rebel stronghold to get a picture of the people we are saving.)
There will then be a series of pictures showing the costs of war. Teddy bears, wounded infants, crippled children, elderly grandparents frantically searching for their relatives -- you can make your own list. Then the rebels will triumphantly go from town to town along the coastal highway, firing all their ammunition into the air in exaltation at each town they take (someone will have to bring more in for them). This will be known as "saving Libya." If there is any attempt to impose order on this situation it will be depicted by the BBC, al Jazeera, and the US news media as the return of colonialism.
I may exaggerate but not by a lot: if we save Libya we need to be prepared for all this. I suspect the President is aware.
I will say this: if we are going to save Libya, we need to do it quickly while there are some non-Gaddafi Libyans to save."
Some of them (the Daily Mail in particular over here!) just happen to have some very fixed political views rather than just report the news as it happens 
