The Pharoah’s Curse
Egypt will soon run out of food and money. America has already been driven out of Eastern Libya. Syria may soon be taken over by jihadi-like elements. Jordan is teetering. And Iran is shipping new rockets to Gaza. What are the odds for the “calm” that Victoria Nuland hopes for?
The president will be increasingly caught between preserving the very life of Israel and salvaging the ruins of his attempts to “lead from behind.” It is now turning out to be a case of “lead by the nose.” Hamza Hendawi of the Associated Press recounts how Morsi tricked Obama into letting him hold his wallet while he went for a dip in the public relations ocean.
CAIRO (AP) — The Gaza cease-fire deal reached Wednesday marks a startling trajectory for Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi: an Islamist leader who refuses to talk to Israelis or even say the country’s name mediated for it and finally turned himself into Israel’s de facto protector.
The accord inserts Egypt to an unprecedented degree into the conflict between Israel and Hamas, establishing it as the arbiter ensuring that militant rocket fire into Israel stops and that Israel allows the opening of the long-blockaded Gaza Strip and stops its own attacks against Hamas.
“I want to thank President Morsi for his personal leadership to de-escalate the situation in Gaza and end the violence,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who met Morsi on Wednesday, said at a Cairo press conference with Egypt’s foreign minister announcing the accord.
Translation: “Thank you for leashing the pit bull you unleashed in the first place. And would you please hold my wallet while I take a walk? Gee, thanks, you’re such a nice guy.” Attagirl, Hillary!
Obama talks to Morsi as Air Force One returns from Burma
It’s not as if the administration had no warning of trouble ahead. The attack on the Benghazi consulate was a big neon sign blinking the message “danger” in glowing red letters in the dark of the Obama administration’s night. But all they could think of in the face of that danger signal was to get Susan Rice to talk about a video. Anything to get Obama elected. Any lie, any deception, any debt to history. Now the bandages are coming off the mummy’s face.
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Why do I suspect that this is only one of the first tearful and disillusioned columns from Mr. Friedman?
Who knew that ‘democracy’ != ‘liberal democracy’?
Actually, are the early reports on Morsi even accurate? It seems that he is not claiming permanent power, but only postponing any judgement until a new constitution is in place. I just heard a radio blurb that the speculation is that this will be basically sharia law, and he doesn’t want the current committee to be ruled invalid before it is finished.
While that is very high-handed, it is not a personal, permanent power grab.
Frankly, it is perhaps no worse than the “deeming passed” by Pelosi, or the refusal to pass a budget by Reid, or the naming of recess appointees by Obambus even when Congress is in session, or even half a dozen hare-brained SCOTUS judgements in the last couple of years, certainly including Roberts’ on Obamacare. Or single-party, “pass it to find out what’s in it” Obamacare in the first place.
The administration is now faced with the necessity of feeding Egypt or watching it descend into chaos. Imagine, they could now get Syria by the Nile. Hoist by their own petard. Assad must be laughing. What’s to stop every Jihadi, foreign secret service and adventurer within hail from going to Cairo and trying his luck?
And there’s plenty of dry tinder lying on the ground. Egypt’s cupboard is bare. It’s bank account, even after it spends whatever it finds in Hillary’s wallet, is about bust. Cooking gas is already subsidized. What the heck do people do when they have no grub, no money and not even a light to commiserate by?
Why blame the Jew of course. And at some point Israel is going to realize that these fake ceasefires are just too much of a joke to agree to any more. I guess Obama can now say to himself: “Damn. If only I had left that Mormon holding the bag! It would have all blown up in his face!”
Yes, Obama could have spent four years on the links criticizing Romney for destroying his beautiful Arab Spring. Too bad it didn’t work out that way.
It is somewhat amusing that the calming and cooing writings of Thomas Friedman have come a cropper. What will his dear readers now think of a world that is hot, flat and crowded, and apparently does not pay attention to what Tom Friedman writes?
People like Thomas Friedman have an image to maintain. It will be interesting to view his revisionism in the near future, if it was possible to make any sense out of what he is actually writing about. The Orwellian departures which it appears the many major news organs in this country take from reality, will probably not shock us here, but it makes one wonder when the sheep will look up.
I suspect both Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire in part because they need to replenish their arsenals–Hamas of medium-range artillery rockets and Israel of Iron Dome missiles.
Iron Dome has made rocket bombardment a new game, and Hamas and Israel have been dancing around, feinting and testing like a pair of prize-fighters at the beginning of a bout. They’ve called a time-out, but the match has only just begun.
Wretchard, I think you’re correct that Egypt is the schwerpunkt now. The vital weak point that, once taken, collapses the defense. Can Morsi and the MB hold on to their gains? Do they have the backing required to do so? From whom? If Iran makes Egypt a satrapy, they’ll try the Gulf kingdoms next. What, if anything, is Washington doing to prevent this? Are the Administration players or are they played?
International Lefties are always scheming. They see themselves as players in clever plans to build a new utopia, putting one over on the troglodyte conservatives. Funny, you would think such schemers would be on the alert for the schemes of others, but they’re too full of themselves to think someone else could be playing them.
will Israel realize America WON’T BE coming to Israel’s aide in the future, 0bama see’s Israel as a Western Colonial created obstacle. Israel needs to break Egypt, get some weird Jihad group to bust that Anwar Dam, it’ll be the death of Morsi/MB power grab and Egypt as a major player in anything ME, that’ll throw enough of the worlds focus off Israel and Gaza so Israel can clear the Rats nest one house at a time! China is flexing its military more and more to Japan, how long before they realize America is a Paper Tiger?
Now the New York Times is saying that Hamas is “complicating” the ceasefire by unilaterally telling its inhabitants that the blockade is over. Some Palestinians have been killed approaching the Israeli border. And fishermen are running into the Israeli navy.
The New York Times writes:
The mixed messages raised the question of whether Hamas might be trying to provoke the Israelis to break the cease-fire. Do you think? Is it possible? The NYT is scratching its head. Like Tom Friedman they are shocked! Surprised! Baffled, even.
The best descriptor for their perplexity is “cognitive dissonance”, the condition of believing one thing and seeing another. “But … but … I thought they were peace loving … didn’t Obama say … how could this be? Help! I want to wake up!”
What will happen when they find out that the economic recovery is fake; that Paul Krugman’s spending nostrums are bogus and that Hope and Change is just a marketing slogan? What happens when the activists realize they lied and cheated for the privilege of getting themselves into this fix?
There will probably be no admission of error; no acceptance guilt; no mending of the ways. Just a prolonged, despairing yell.
Wow, sure stinks to be wrong, right Mr. President? You and Hillary really goofed on this one, thinking that a part of the world that never, ever, had democratic forms of government would suddenly be transformed into models of Jeffersonian democracy. So we ended up getting rid of dictators that were friendly to both the United States and Israel and traded them for fanatical radical Islamist dictators that want to eliminate both the United States and Israel. Good going, Mr. President. Will you do me a big favor? Just stay home and don’t say a word. I think the world will do a lot better without any more of your “help.” I think 2013 is going to be a terrible year for not only the Middle Eas, but for the world as a whole. Hope the people who voted for Obama can live with that.
…that includes checks and balances, and respects fundamental freedoms, individual rights, and the rule of law consistent with Egypt’s international commitments.
I like the part about “checks and balances”.
One may doubt, however, that remonstrations of this kind will make Morsi think twice, especially since he knows (at least he thinks he knows) that Obama and Hillary owe him big time for the “cease-fire” he helped orchestrate and don’t really mean the crap they’re spewing, which is purely, as he knows, for public consumption.
Especially since nothing the US communique included none of those high-powered key words that are used when the administration is really serious (i.e., we are “upset” or “concerned” or “saddened”).
As for Friedman, the increasing cluelessness he’s been demonstrating with each and every column has catapulted him into alternate reality mode. Pathetic punch-drunk pundit.
I asked Sylvester the Cat what he thought of all this, and he shook his head sadly and said, “Thufferin’ thuccotash.”
#7. JMH
International Lefties are always scheming. They see themselves as players in clever plans to build a new utopia, putting one over on the troglodyte conservatives. Funny, you would think such schemers would be on the alert for the schemes of others, but they’re too full of themselves to think someone else could be playing them.
Yes indeed. We have only to look to the example of Iran. Much of the opposition to the Shah actually came from the communists rather than the religious fanatics. They joined ranks with the hard core religious fanatics thinking that once the Shah was overthrown they could throw the Islamists under the bus. Why not? They were so much smarter than those Neanderthals they were using.
But there was a funny surprise in store for those who thought they were the future vanguard of the Iranian proletariat. It was they who were thrown under the bus, and then the bus kept going forwards and backwards until they were a little red mush that surrounded that bus. And then the bus drove on without them leaving the red slime behind.
But that’s the Left. What a superstitious group of people. They actually seem to believe that uttering the right magical slogans will automatically raise their intelligence to genius level, never realizing that you have to be a genuine idiot to believe that mouthing slogans could ever do that in the first place.
Leading from behind is going extremely well.
Given:
a) that the modern world is an extistential threat to 1.5b muslims
b) the fractious nature of Arab societies
c) the only power that once could contain the gathering storm is broke
d) the inevitable outcome in the MENA is mass slaughter on an horrific scale
there is nothing the rest of the world can realistically do but watch on in horror. Watch on until the MENA comes to terms with the modern world. Projecting past trends, this takes the slaughter of the males of two generations.
On a cold calculation, best to get it over quickly, before nukes are everywhere, before Europe becomes yet another Islamic “democracy”.
Granted, Obama stumbled into this latter strategy by foolishly telling the MENA how “great” they were, only contributing to their cognitave dissonance between having a glorious past and a hopeless future. That’s what Hope and Change schtick does in Cairo – accelerates the inevitable in MENA.
But inevitable it is, and we are best out of it.
Otherwise the Palestinian model (‘gimme or I’ll blow stuff up’) will extend to Syria, then Egypt, then the Gulf states.
ADE
“The president will be increasingly caught between preserving the very life of Israel and salvaging the ruins of his attempts to “lead from behind.” It is now turning out to be a case of “lead by the nose.” ”
Ahhhh…….Obama’s leadership style morphs from “leading from the ass”" to “lead by the nose”. This is “change we can believe in”. Ahhh yes…. we are the ones we have been waiting for.
Barack Hussein Obama! ooooh, ooooh, oooooh!
This thread, the short course.
“Whoopsie.”
wretchard, By your leave I suggest that the appropriate video is, “Face it Flounder, you f*cked up. You trusted us.”
The immediate question is whether the Congress will fund Egypt after the coup. Graham threatened a cutoff before. Or will they be blackmailed by threats to Israel and arm twisting by Obama. The answer is they will cave and, lo and behold, we will be supporting a son of a bitch but our (read Obama’s) son of a bitch. His for awhile that is, say to past the midterms. Funny how these things go. Not funny of course if you are an Israeli.
Tommy boy should stick to bootlicking Chinese Communist Party members.
Surprise surprise. Only politicians liberals dreamers and fools were stupid enough to buy into that load of Arab Spring crap. To bad they couldn’t all be shipped over there to experience and live their naive and gullible fantasy. The world really is unfair because these same stupid and short sighted people are never held responsible for their actions and beliefs.
There will probably be no admission of error; no acceptance guilt; no mending of the ways. Just a prolonged, despairing yell.
… but a whimper.
‘The administration ended its silence on Morsi’s coup in Egypt by saying “the current constitutional vacuum in Egypt can only be resolved by the adoption of a constitution that includes checks and balances, and respects fundamental freedoms, individual rights, and the rule of law consistent with Egypt’s international commitments.”’
Let me see if I have this straight – the administration is asking Egypt to adopt constitutional standards that it is working assiduously to abrogate here in the United States. Hey, why not?
There’s probably a couple of things that the administration should now consider to stop loss. The first is to prevent Iran from going nuclear. If there’s one thing that could make a bad situation into a nightmare scenario is is Iran getting the bomb and the Sunni powers following suit, as Henry Kissinger and others have warned. The second is to level with the American people.
If the administration knows that “hard and heavy tidings” lie ahead or that the rapids are near, they had better ‘fess up. No more of this secret diplomacy, leading from behind, smart adhocracy bullshit. They need to bring Congress and the public in on it. For only in that way can things be hashed out and everybody or at least most can be brought behind whatever comes next. The European allies must also be brought into the picture.
In the near future the people of the Middle East are probably going to have to sort things out for themselves. The era of the Cold War strongmen is over; and the populace of the region are now going to have to choose a new paradigm. The West may or may not like it. It may or may not be ultimately hostile to Israel. That’s pretty much up in the air now.
But at the minimum the administration has got to recenter the strategic calculus in the region. Exiling a huge ground force to Afghanistan was geopolitical mistake. Obama may have hated Bush and Iraq and all it stood for. But that was cutting off the nose to spite the face. Iraq may have been less than perfect. But it was in the right place. There needs to be a fire brigade against contingencies and it can’t be in a landlocked country trapped by Pakistani and Russian logistics.
And then maybe the world will ride it out. A wise US policy can keep the raft mostly in the center of the rapids. A push off with a paddle here, and push off there. But the rapids themselves are by now unavoidable.
Clearly the time for fantasy and spin and talking points and BS are over.
Of course I don’t really think the administration will do any of this. They can’t tell the truth. That is almost contrary to their nature. Their instincts will be to trot Chris Matthews out and bend the narrative. Always the big ha-ha. Always the photo op. It’s a pity really.
I cannot conjure up the quote or the exact novel in which it occurred (I think it was Stranger in a Strange Land but I am not sure–it was written by Robert Heinlein), but it says something to the effect that you had better scrutinize the new scoundrels well before you let them replace the old scoundrels that are now ruling.
Is the world any better off for having the poisonous blooms of the Arab Spring replace what was there before them? I doubt it. We shall long for the days when the Duck of Death ruled Libya and Mubarak ruled Egypt.
I fear this whole thing has been in the works for years. The global agenda which DaOne, and Company are flag holders for, was going well for the agenda until Libya. What unlawful order was not followed? Why were a few higher ups removed from duty?
Was it weapons to the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood thugs that was not given, causing Egypt to get Hamas to unleash it’s rockets? Knowing Israel could wipe them off the planet at any time, and when Israel was about to, said weapons were given to the so called rebels? I don’t know. But, Hamas’s string was pulled to get something for someone, as Hamas knew it could be overrun. Right?
I mean, it is not just 4 Americans murdered over a video. We know that. But, we do not know yet what really happened.
Has DaOne broken the law to much this time, and has had to leave the country so others can get things calm down, and a deal reached?
Could it be that Morsi is thumbing his nose in delight at Obama and Clinton (when they happen to look in the opposite direction away from Egypt and towards Israel?
Wretchard@22: “It’s a pity really.”
Yes, indeed, it is pitiable. But more than that, as history teaches us when it turns each loop of its spiral, a huge number of innocent people could very well end up dead because of the administration’s inability to “tell the truth.”
Unsurprisingly, Andrew C. McCarthy’s latest reality check “Spring Fever: The Illusion of Islamic Democracy” not only detailed the steps leading up to the latest current events in Egypt but also explains the importance of the Turkish model championed by Erdogan bringing Sharia Law to the formerly secular, singular ME democracy. In a video trailer promoting his book McCarthy highlights his thesis statement which he proves convincingly, conclusively and concretely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOwP9rtZvVc
The Left has a tendency to consider autocrats that are U.S. allies as the worst imaginable bloodthirsty tyrants. Autocrats that don’t like the U.S. aren’t considered so bad.
The Left always considered the Shah of Iran to be another Hitler. (Their real hate of him, of course, is that deposing Mossadegh kept Iran from turning into another Cuba, with Mossadegh as the Iranian Castro.)
And when the Ayatollah Khomeini took over, Andrew Young said that the Ayatollah would turn out to be “some kind of saint.”
In truth, the Shah’s regime was much milder than, say, the Soviet Union’s.
And as we all know, the Ayatollah was no saint.
And so the same playbook was put into action in Egypt: Mubarak was suddenly reinvented as a horrible monster, and the Muslim Brotherhood as “democratic.”
Morsi won’t become a dictator. If he tries to fix up some law to extend his Presidency the street will kick him out just like Mubarak. If Morsi chooses to go that way, his only hope will be to rig the election.
As for Israel, the MB despises them with every fiber of their being so I’m not sure what Friedman was thinking. Obama doesn’t have to worry about propping up a power grab by Morsi in exchange for a meaningful peace with Israel. Morsi would be assassinated by his own backers if he did that. Sadat was murdered and Mubarak survived assassination attempts by people with far less access to the power than now. Discomfiting Israel is probably at or near the top of Morsi’s list.
Now you see why people were stupefied H. Clinton has an MB as a top adviser in Humedin. Official member or not, that woman is MB. That means Clinton has no credibility with half the Egyptian electorate or Israel. Not good optics as they say. Remember, the Presidential election in Egypt was so close to 50/50, they had to wait to announce the results.
Nathan (“The Arabist”) Brown writes in the Guardian that Morsi may be pretending to be authoritarian so that he can save democracy: “an Egyptian Cincinnatus . Perhaps he will use his authority to protect a process that will build a functioning democratic and pluralistic system. That is not impossible. But it’s an odd way to build a democracy.”
Brown was part of the Project on Middle East Democracy. They believed they could develop “techniques for engaging political Islam”. One paper said “the EU is thinking about engagement but doesn’t really know how”. Maybe they still don’t.
But like Friedman, they were fascinated by the “if only’s”. If only this. If only that. Perhaps they wanted to believe in that goal so much that the “wish because the father of the thought”.
Now even Brown has to say: “it’s an odd way to build a democracy.” Damned peculiar, I’ll admit. In many ways it reminescent of those 1950s monster movies were a dotty professor watches the Rhedosaurus advance on him, fascinated by the beauty of the creature, never thinking for once that it is opening its mouth to swallow him.
“It’s coming closer,” the professor called out from the diving bell, “he’s opening his jaws as if …” And then the line goes dead. “Hello professor … professor…” And the cable when hoisted up is cleanly cut.
The world is not always as we wish it to be. One of the biggest challenges is when to admit that.
By the way I laughed when I read Obama’s call for the Egyptian Constitution. Obama’s folks must be really out of touch, cuz that kind of Constitution’s not going to happen – 100% certainty. Christians, and women, for starters, will continued to get screwed. The Christian delegation already has pulled out of helping to write it. They see the handwriting on the wall.
The Associated Press recounts that the Gaza cease fire puts Morsi in the strange position of having to prevent the smuggling of weapons into Gaza. However, the provision has been in place since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2004. All the reporter had to do was read Wiki.
From Wikipedia, The Philadephi Accord of 2004:
To mitigate the risk associated with complete disengagement from Gaza, Israel signed the “Agreed Arrangements Regarding the Deployment of a Designated Force of Border Guards along the Border in the Rafah Area” or the Philadelphi Accord with Egypt. It authorized Egypt to deploy 750 border guards to patrol the Egypt side of the Philadelphi route to prevent “smuggling … infiltration and other criminal activity”. The agreement specified that the Egyptian force is “a designated force for the combating of terrorism and infiltration across the border” as opposed to for military purposes.
The Accord specifically indicated that the new agreement did not modify or amend the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty, and maintained the status of the Philaldelphi route and Sinai desert as a demilitarized zone.
The parties acknowledge that the BGF [border Guard Force] deployment and these Agreed Arrangements, in no way constitute an amendment to or a revision or modification of Annex I to the Peace Treaty. Rather they constitute additional mission-oriented security measures agreed upon by the parties. -Philadelphi Accord, Article 9
Instead, it “enhance[ed] Egypt’s capability to fight smuggling along the border,” while ensuring that the forces would not serve any military purposes. Israel insisted on the inclusion of the agreement provisions indicating that it was not an amendment to the 1979 Peace Treaty because during negotiations Egypt attempted to frame the agreement toward the re-militarization of the Sinai and its borders with Israel and Gaza.
The Accord itself contains 83 clauses and specifically describes the mission and obligations of the parties, including the specific types of machinery, weaponry and infrastructure permitted.
Too bad the morons in the White House are nowhere near as good at making decisions and governing as they are at winning elections. Gee, if only they could get a bunch of Tweets going amongst the “voters” in Egypt – “Morsi should do like Obama says or we’ll lose Big Bird!” Yeah, that should work.
Does anyone besides me see a Divine Hand in all this? We are continually amazed at how events are developing – the increasing speed of forces set in motion. I am afraid that Wretchard is right in his post #22 – and that Obama and his Administration is incapable of admitting error. My heart beats faster, as does my breath, every day I get up.
Another thing to prepare for is the fighting retreat from Afghanistan. The Marines had better have a plan to seize Konarak on the southern Iranian coast and then push inland to meet up with the force retreating south. After the slaughter of the Copts, the whole concept of ROEs will go by the wayside.
Israel made a big mistake.Basic military theory tells you that if you have five enemies DESTROY one by one as quickly as you can, with RESOLVE. Your Victory will precede you and weaken the next (enemy) If You show weakness, they (your enemies) will unite against you and victory will flee you. (remember Attila)
I posted the following here several days ago. No one agreed with me. I am afraid I was right:
“Hamas has now the support of Egypt. Even passive support (meaning, turning a blind eye to weapons transported across the Sinai to Gaza) is very dangerous because knowledge about it can be denied and will not create a conflict with the US.
Hamas has now the support of dissatisfied factions of Fatah in Jordan. Only the total destruction of Hamas could have eliminated this potential threat. Egypt would have no one to support and Fatah would have been silenced by the resolve of the Israeli government.
And there is the heavily armed Hezbollah in Lebanon which would probably think twice before attacking Israel. Hezbollah is now definitely emboldened.
And so is Turkey. She will have soon Patriot missiles, supposedly directed towards Syria but positioned in a way to cover airspace over Lebanon against IAF attacks.
I hope the Israeli government has anticipated this scenario and is prepared to fight against three sides simultaneously. Yet, I do believe that it would be easier, with Hamas out of the picture, to face a somewhat discouraged Hezbollah than three or four enemies, encouraged by the abort of the Gaza campaign.”
Would that it were at least that much! Or would be.
But aside from, possibly, a few pseudo-intellectuals like Friedman trying to excuse their own stupidity, for the vast, vast majority of Obama voters it will not matter.
It wasn’t his fault. It was Bush’s. The Republicans sabotaged everything. The Rich should have coughed up more money and saved Egypt. Yadaaa, yadaaa, yaddaaaa.
It will not change the mind of the person driving the car with the Obama sticker I saw today. Or the one driving the car with the Republicans for Obama sticker, complete with a picture of Mitt next to a Liar! Tag.
It probably won’t change the mind of the Bernie Madoff Jews who voted for Obama the last two times.
These people a re lost, utterly lost to us, lost to the country, lost to the world. As utterly lost as the most demented Alzheimer’s case. Lost.
So much suffering will have to take place before even the ones not utterly lost come to their senses. But some, an appreciable percentage of Americans, probably at least 35%, will never come around.
“All across North Africa and in the Levant, forces which the administration imagined would be friendly to the U.S. are now proving they will behave in a hostile and possibly reckless manner.”
But did they really imagine that? Did they really believe that? Are they really so stupid as to believe something so absurd? Granted, they are not especially bright, nor learned, and neither was George Bush with his Islamic Nation Building in Iraq and Afcrapistan, but they had George Bush’s folly to learn from. No, I think they did it on purpose.
The administration ended its silence on Morsi’s coup in Egypt by saying “the current constitutional vacuum in Egypt can only be resolved by the adoption of a constitution that includes checks and balances, and respects fundamental freedoms, individual rights, and the rule of law consistent with Egypt’s international commitments.”
They lie. Obama doesn’t want checks and balances, and respects fundamental freedoms, individual rights, and the rule of law for Egypt. He doesn’t want “checks and balances, and respects fundamental freedoms, individual rights, and the rule of law” for the United States, so who would anyone believe him when he says he wants it for Egypt?
Obama foreign policy is to remove European colonial influence from Africa, Arabia and Asia. He is abandoning allies everywhere in the world. Africa for the Africans. Arabian for the Arabians (remember Billy Carter). Asia for the Asians.
He argues that these regions each have its own natural culture which must be purified to remove the toxins introduced by colonialism. “Let a thousand flowers bloom”, is the Obama Doctrine. Therefore, the colonial powers must surrender their monopoly on nuclear weapons and become equal to their colonies.
Egypt, Libya, Syria, etc etc etc is all part of Arabia for the Arabians and Africa for the Africans and Asia for the Asians.
The US has lost its influence except with Israel.
“Egypt will soon run out of food and money.”
Then I say let them start selling their vast number of planes and tanks for food – do that or starve. Of course Herr Hussein Obama will give them lots of your money and my money and the kids and the grandkids money that he will borrow from the Chinese.
I couldn’t agree with you more Fred. A couple of years back when this Arab spring crap first started I suggested that Israel should hit their enemies hard, fast and decisively, I too was ridiculed.
In the beginning God created the idiot. That was for practice. Then He created Thomas Friedman.
#40 – Is not the influx of immigrants to the United States from these very nations a form of colonialism? Maybe not in name, but surely in our multicultural and diversity haze and daze.
How can Friedman be so naive? How can Obama, Hillary, and the others not see what the Brotherhood is? Is it Donilon who thinks they are a secular organization?
Thanks for your article, Mr. Fernandez. You might have to do reporting on the Brotherhood for the West. The MSM seems incapable of seeing beyond the silly platitudes spewed by Obama.
I would first like to see (to paraphrase a previous line) respect for checks and balances, and respect for fundamental freedoms, individual rights, and the rule of law consistent with the Administration’s Constitutional commitments.
Re: #10 Libertyship46′s ….”I think 2013 is going to be a terrible year for not only the Middle Eas, but for the world as a whole. Hope the people who voted for Obama can live with that.”
From now on, without letup, we must constantly remind these “cool” Chicago arrivistes that they indeed have sown these very seeds of the uninformed, smug naif. Community-Organizing in a Muslim country?…”….ahhhh, so very “cool”, man. Now, don’t forget our new entitlements, man.”
We mustn’t let Obama & Co. evade this Morsi-messiness in the same way as they are currently evading Benghazi-Gate. The voters who re-elected their “cool” chameleon-in-chief must be held accountable, and reminded, and reminded again via our letters to Democrat Congressmen and -women. Hillary shouldn’t be allowed to get off scot-free, even if she’s really jumping ship. She’s a smiling iceberg, a lot submerged, unseen. She’s not finished.
Kerry? and/or Rice?…..as the next smiling-grimacing busy-body automatons-in-charge at State?
This is the outcome every realist on Earth was saying would come to pass. It would have been far better to even have left Qaddafi in power since he wasn’t causing much trouble these days. Mubarak and the rest were the only thing keep the radicals in check. Now that check is gone and we’re going to pay for it.
#17 ROB
This is Lindsey “do-as-the-Democrats-say-except-for-6-months-every-6-years” Graham. And this is a Congress which Obama ignores at will. And a regime that refuses to commit to a budget and spends money in violation of the Constitution.
Morsi has the Ultimate Platinum credit card drawn on the American taxpayer. Others have noted the bovine residue in the regime’s statement. I will add, using what Wretchard said:
Nowhere in the list of priorities held by the current American regime is there “preserving the very life of Israel” or defending any constitutional order; including our own.
Subotai Bahadur
I knew Friedman is a traitor when I read his 1989 book “From Beirut to Jerusalem” I had the impression it was written by two different people. An abundance of sympathy for Lebanon and cold and distant for Israel.
I hope he will be denied sanctuary in Israel when the day comes.
“Another thing to prepare for is the fighting retreat from Afghanistan.”
My fear exactly. This won’t be Saigon in 1975, when loyal Vietnamese units were still
fighting to hold the capital (and winning a great if overlooked victory at Xuan Loc).
Who exactly is going to hold the perimeter in Kabul, while we airlift our forces out?
“…forces which the administration only imagined would be friendly to the United States are now proving they will behave in a hostile and possibly reckless manner.”
IMHO, the administration knew full well that islamists would fill in the vacuum created when american-friendly dictators were deposed in tunisia, egypt, and libya. salafists, the muslim brotherhood, and AQ have all gained power. despite the kumbayah mentality of the left, these people are not our friends. every country that falls to islamists is a step on the road to their dream of a worldwide caliphate governed by sharia law.
it would be hopelessly naive to think that obama, who does nothing to further our country’s best interests domestically, would have any wish to further them internationally.
37. RWE “But some, an appreciable percentage of Americans, probably at least 35%, will never come around.”
More than that, it seems to me. But then, I live in Cook County, where voting Democratic is bred in the bone.
I believe that most of Obama’s supporters will continue to support him unto the world’s end. They will remain blind to his errors, his flaws, his incompetence … his mendacity. And when things fall apart, they will hold Obama and themselves blameless. They will blame someone else, something else; they will blame outsiders, barbarians, circumstances, the stars in their courses. The end of their world will never be their fault.
In one of the books about the first CIA team in country after 9/11, the author said the military wouldn’t send any assets yet because there was no was to rescue troops in trouble and they likely couldn’t fight their way out either. Now we got a couple tens of thousands there supported by an air route that could be shut down easily, a line through Russia (ditto) and the quickest land route out runs through very mountainous terrain into Pakistan. There are some roads but a handful of Taliban can shut it down for days so imagine what will happen if the US troops are trying to get out and everybody and their brother is piling on? Then there is Pakistan which might not allow the troops in country, and India might not allow them in either. So that would be a fighting slog through tens of millions of angry Pakistanis.
Twice the British got their butts handed to them in Afghanistan when they tried to get out and that was with control of land up to the border. Isolated as they likely would be, the troops wouldn’t have much chance, especially considering they need huge daily supply deliveries to keep functioning.
Friedman is an intellectual wanker!
Just another bump on the road.All this contrary to what people might thing has been planned long long ago.Why was Morsi anointed by Obama and not the real Egyptian Democrats?
I don’t know why so many think 0bama has any intention of “saving” Israel, Israel in 0bama’s world (mind) is a Western Colonial construct, 0bama is in the process now of creating the situation in which Israel will surrender enough to its enemies that it reaches the indefensible position (1967 boarders), just as 0bama (and Hildabeast) created the situation in which Mubarak would through deceit hand over power only to be betrayed and jailed (because Mubarak was a Western Colonial creation) same as with the Duck of Death, 0bama has a proven MO, 0bama foreign policy is to correct (Destroy) all the Western Colonial works! The 2014 Elections will be the return of Demoncrat rule in both houses via the legal voting of all people in America, and by the end of 2015 the Demoncrat congress will pass the unlimited terms as President bill.
Just to recap if I may:
”This fixity of malice was recognized in President Bush’s West Point address in the summer of 2002, when he concluded that “deterrence — the promise of massive retaliation against nations — means nothing against shadowy terrorist networks with no nation or citizens to defend.” The enemy was equally indifferent to inducement or threat. Neither making nice … the payment of billions in aid to Egypt and Pakistan — nor the gravest of threats would alter the enemy’s intent to utterly destroy and enslave America. Allah had condemned America. The Faithful only had to find the means to carry out the execution.”
read again ”fixity of malice”
from conjecture no 2
re: http://belmontclub.blogspot.ca/2003/09/three-conjectures-pew-poll-finds-40-of.html
regards
SF
If we swapped Eqypt, Obama for Morsi, how would anyone be able to tell the difference? They both want as much power as they can get and neither believes in individual freedom nor rule of law.
As I watched these events unfold I could only marvel that after all the huffing and puffing Obama brought Mubarek back.
@24 Leatherkneck
I fear this whole thing has been in the works for years.
I agree, although I don’t fear it. They have the oil, 1.5b people with a doomed culture, and we are broke. We were never going to be able to influence it “kinetically”.
@38 FeralCat
But did they really imagine that. Did they really believe that? Are they really so stupid as to believe something so absurd?
Of course the US Government is not so stupid to believe that “forces which the administration imagined would be friendly to the U.S. are now proving they will behave in a hostile and possibly reckless manner?”.
34 Knight1
Does anyone besides me see a Divine Hand in all this?
Well I don’t.
What I see is a frozen way of life self-destructing as the tide of modern world rolls over it. I see a US military that is well aware of this, and has been since Iran hostages (at least), concluding that the self-destruction is inevitable. We are powerless to stop it.
The Arabs must come to terms with the modern world on their own, in their own way. Thinking that we, the US, can get this right for them is a gigantic mistake. Our inevitable failure on such a project (because we are not ruthless enough) will lead to another 500 years of “Death to America”.
Nevertheless, we have a future, so we will need a narative our grandchilren can be proud of. We must be able to show that the disintegration of the Arab World was self-inflicted. Even more so, we need the Arabs to be genuinely proud of their own New World. Hence, you don’t wipe Hamas off the map. #36 fred capio Israel did not make a big mistake – the Israelis don’t need to wipe out Hamas, they need to let the Gazaians wipe out Hamas. Similarly, we should not feed Egypt, we need Egypt to come face to face with it’s starvation and its consequent need to let girls go topless in Sharm-al-Sheik.
The belief that WE have to abase ourselves, protect, guide, is a conceit that could only be held by the Left. Outside Leadership, whether from behind, front, or sideways, is to be eschewed.
ADE
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-11-24/russia-sends-warships-gaza-coast
Okay, if this report is correct, things just got down right serious.
Fred Capio’s comment @ 36 is right on the money. Israel must take out it’s enemies when it has the chance. No more friggin Diplomacy. Wipe out every last palestinian. This is what it has come down to, and it may be already too late. There is absolutely no chance Buraq Hussein is going to defend Israel from the Russians. Israel may now be in one hell of a fix.
I really don’t see, how anyone, can say, with a straight face, that our middle eastern policy is a failure.
It is a roaring success!
Read it and weep, this is one reason the Republicans could not take the Presidency. They had nothing to say on foriegn policy, Obama’s and theirs, are the same.
It is sheer foolishness, to think someone could “contain” a popular revolutionary movement. You either lead the revolution, or get trampled by it. The US has chosen to “lead” it.
But, lead it to it’s own eventual destruction. Egypt…is no longer a threat to Israel. Mission accomplished…by President Obama, and the ususal assortment of people who know about, and manage these things. Remember the Soviet Union? GONE. It’s gone, because we made sure, that the Communist’s got exactly what they wanted…Communism! After that, just sit and wait.
This idiocy on the right…really. No one can take it seriously.
Josh @ 3:
Good heavens, do you even hear yourself or is this snark? I cannot tell.
Here is the common thread = wannabe and real-life despots reaping the whirlwind.
Obama goes to Burma and says he does not want to deal with another government body to get things done, just wants to rule by decree.
Neil @ 6: “Are the Administration players or are they played?” Played. They really are not the smartest kids in the room but they certainly think they are. The wake-up call is gonna smart. Hopefully, we do not get caught in the fall-out but I think that is a vain hope.
@63 Xiaoding
Well said Xiaoding.
You know sometimes I used to refrain from writing on this blog because I thought that I was giving the game away, it seemed so obvious to me what was afoot.
Personally, I’m long popcorn.
ADE
# 61 ADE
I posted here on November 16, 2012 – 3:53 am (before the cease fire) the following:
“Let the population in Gaza remove hamas from power. How? Every time hamas attacks Israel destroy the complete infrastructure. No telephone, water, banks, television, electricity, gasoline-stations and roads and control imports. I wonder how much time it would take until the population turns against its own “government.” They don’t seem to care about human casualties, but make them live without telephone and internet and cars and ATM and they may come to their senses.”
The IDF did not even half of it!
Less than 2 years from now there will be a 100 years since the start of WWI. Will the world be at war by then?
@66 fred capio
Agree with your Nov post. Sorry I missed it.
I’d just add one thing – a doomsday count-down clock. Have a sign that counts to, say, 10, with the warning that when Hamas has fired 10 missiles, the infrastructure goes out, just as you indicate, and then we start again.
ADE
@16 BftP
Here’s the video — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOXtWxhlsUg
@40 Hubbub
Don’t doubt for a minute we are being colonized, along with every other Western country. It’s a demographics game for one, hence the phrase “Eurabia” as Europe sees more friction with its (increasingly numerous) restless Muslim immigrants. There are many cities in France from which the FRENCH police have completely retreated and fear to enter.
It also plays perfectly into the multicultural, diversity = everything BUT white / Christian agenda seen all over the United States. Frankly demographics show similar troubles here, though not nearly so bad as Europe. From Dearborn to Detroit to … heck, even Houston has minarets. But pray openly at a gay-pride parade in Philadelphia, well that we just cannot abide.
…that includes checks and balances, and respects fundamental freedoms, individual rights, and the rule of law consistent with Egypt’s international commitments.
Of course, it could be that Morsi miscalculated.
And needs a few more billion.
In which case, he can always “be persuaded” to back down and agree (i.e., pretend) to “respect fundamental freedoms, individual rights, and the rule of law consistent with Egypt’s international commitments,” etc., etc.
In which case—if it is the case—he gets more money, Obama is further praised (or ridiculed) for his statecraft, and the US is further impoverished (both diplomatically and economically).
Win-Win-Win!!!
On the other hand, there’s no real way of knowing what’s really happening in these situations, where master cynics rule the roost, where “Truth” is an empty concept and where conspiracy theory runs rampant.
Once again I would recommend “The Game of Nations” by Miles Copeland. This because the US has been there before…..
I don’t see any way to look at current events only within a standard context. Of course, all the points that Richard makes are quite valid. The Obama Administration has proven a disaster for both the US and the world. American allies are most directly affected, I suppose, but individuals within societies such as Egypt are even more so.
What is going on seems to be a mixture of crises, a confluence. There is the stoking of Sunni fundamentalism by the Muslim Brotherhood’s rise. Clearly, US policy has been an instrumental assist in this process. Whether the motives are because Obama desires a strengthened Umma as part of an effort to rectify some mythical balance between the Muslim world and the West (and the Third World and the West), or whether it is sheer incompetence is suddenly less relevant now that these events are in process (well under way).
Israel has won a military and tactical victory, but in strategic terms any progress – if at all – is halting. Setting the ground for a potential success action against Iran will be a benefit of this operation (should an attack occur). Testing Iron Dome was part of that. Assuring more secure daily life for southern and central Israel was important. Yet, the apparent boost in the prospects of Morsi and the Brotherhood – to the extent that this was tied to the operation – hardly helps us.
Did Obama make a deal with Morsi, you play peacemaker (a phony one) and we do nothing while you institutionalize MB control of Egypt? Or did it just happen that way? In any case, it appears to have happened. Perhaps Egypt’s last chance is a return of the generals, but that looks unlikely. We will see.
Of course Friedman is “the useful idiot by name only” and is always in the mainstream. Though the triangle is a stable figure, the company of Obama,Morsi and Netaniahy looks fragile and dangerouse for Israel. The North Africa flames looks like the fire made by naughty boy, this delusion covers sofisticated project,I`m sure.
Somehow I think its all about bags of cash.
TAke one to Morsi and he’s a happy camper for a while.
Stop fighting in isarel calm down Hamas,ok that will be two bags of cash. Stop Iran from making nukes or at least slow them down,ok that will be three bags of cash. Appease Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai–1/2 a bag of cash, overhead is lighter over there! Get the pakis to stop being mad we shot OBL, five bags of cash after all they have nukes.
After a while a pattern seems to emerge…..
For “my money” I would just as son drill my own oil…..
In what way is Hussein’s policy failing? From his standpoint it’s a roaring success. The “Jewish Entity” is now almost completely surrounded by hostiles. When the Hashemite Kingdom falls to the next branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, whatever it calls itself, the encirclement will be complete. Next step, annihilation of Israel, with Hussein standing on the sidelines saying “Who, me?”
Egypt was at peace with Israel with Mubarak on the throne. Lybia was safely emasculated.
Now we cross our fingers and hope the new Egypt will honour the old treaty with Israel. Meanwhile Iran has already shown its possible to suppress a popular uprising with enough firepower. The only success is Syria. Syria is a good one though.
Does this now settle that Friedman has no credibility on what Mid East policy is advised?
Friedman is usually cited as a knowledgeable source on Mid East affairs. I suspect his historical accounts are fairly accurate but he is infected with the liberal virus that always lead to idiotic policy decisions that is somehow based on some idealistic (non realistic) view of the Islamic world.
Truly amazing that the “intellectuals” of our own country can be so duped, while the mere common folk (moi aussi)could see things quite clearly. If one did but a brief precursory glance at what the MB is and stands for, how could one not be forewarned?
We can’t do anything about what citizens of other countries want to do. If they want to get rid of Mubarak, go ahead that’s their choice, if they don’t like Gaddafi what are we to do? We must speak out against leader who attack their own people, we go thru the UN to get world support for action to help. This is not Obama’s araba spring, it’s the arab’s arab spring. Also, you bozos seem to think that the US has infinite power, that we can control everything that happens on the planet, that we can foresee attacks, or uprisings, or that we can manipulate radical leaders and citizens of other countries to do what we will. Well, it ain’t ever gonna happen no matter how hard we try. That’s why we always get into trouble when the Republicans are in the white house, they think America has the right to do what ever it wants on the world stage without consideration or consequences. Don’t like the way things are going, invade a country, blow up some stuff, kill women and children, and lose thousands of soldiers. Yeah, right, real bright.
Hey Jack. It’s kinda late to be trying to boost this thread with inane trolling. However much you got paid to write 78, your masters should demand a refund. I wouldn’t be surprised it was the old guard in the GOP and your job is to rally people to their support. If there is any group that lacks a legitimate reason to continue to exist, it is them.
And in the outside possibility that your purpose is to deflect criticism from the Won, he’s still the bum he always has been, and only tyranny will keep him from being mocked more and more.
Re. # 74. ricpic
“In what way is Hussein’s policy failing? From his standpoint it’s a roaring success. The “Jewish Entity” is now almost completely surrounded by hostiles. When the Hashemite Kingdom falls to the next branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, whatever it calls itself, the encirclement will be complete. Next step, annihilation of Israel, with Hussein standing on the sidelines saying “Who, me?”
I read the situation somewhat differently.
First, let’s assume that Iran’s external danger dissipates. For example, it either undergoes “regime change” and becomes preoccupied internally or turns friendly (it is possible, they were friendly during Shah times). Anyway, danger emanating from present Iran removal will suffice.
Given such single assumption can you generate any scenario with any combination of various arab actors that is externally dangerous for Israel?
I cannot.
“A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself. The one produces aspiration; the other ambition, which is the way in which a vulgar man aspires.”
Marcus Aurelius
2nd Century A.D.
People like Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Dodd have been around for at least two thousand years. A necessary burr under the saddle that is civilization, I believe. We will endure this but I fear at great cost overall.
Attn:
” 73. rodguy911
Somehow I think its all about bags of cash.”
Excellent post.
I’m so sick of the World rattling their assorted tin cups at us Americans and then having them toss the leftover change in our faces by the next generation.
And, Hussein Obama keeps cranking up the printing presses, smiling, smiling…..”Step Right Up!”
“Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability.”
Marcus Aurelius
Hmmmm. Seems they had Barry Obamas back then as well.
Bolton: Obama’s blindness to what motivates Egyptian President Morsi is a “bad, bad sign”
http://www.therightscoop.com/bolton-obamas-blindness-to-what-motivates-egyptian-president-morsi-is-a-bad-bad-sign/
EGYPT FOR THE EGYPTIANS!
This is one of my favorite lines from George Bernard Shaw’s “Caesar and Cleopatra. I have always maintained that Egypt will be best served by the citizens recalling their ancient roots and remembering that they are Egyptians first and foremost.
The Obama admin says the current constitutional vacuum in Egypt can only be resolved by the adoption of a constitution that includes checks and balances, and respects fundamental freedoms, individual rights, and the rule of law consistent with Egypt’s international commitments.”
That’s the admin which rules by Executive Order, in petulance that Congress doesn’t roll over and obey. Stones, glass houses.