The west can no longer claim to be an honest broker in the search for peace | Gary Younge
February 13, 2011 No CommentEgypt proved that our leaders see freedom as a question of strategy, not principle ‘You think you know what Arab rage looks like,” claimed an article in Time magazine last week. “Wild-eyed young men shouting bellicose verses from the Qur’an as they hurl themselves against authority, armed with anything from rocks to bomb vests.” But after some time witnessing Egypt’s uprising the author had a revelation. Arabs had humanity and a range of attributes to go with it: humour, subtlety, sophistication, conviviality and, yes, anger – the full compliment. “So who were these impostors gathered in Tahrir Square?” he asked, seeing his prejudice confronted by reality. “They were smiling and laughing, waving witty banners.” Though he didn’t mention them, many women were present too. And most of the weaponry on display, from teargas to tanks, was either made in, sponsored or subsidised by America. The events of the last month in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere have challenged the way the west thinks of the Arab world (and how the Arab world thinks of itself). What remains to be seen is the extent to which these ongoing events confront the way in which western powers view themselves and their relationship to the Middle East. Over the last decade in particular, the
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Click here to view this media I suspect Bill was ordered by Rupert to treat Beck as though he’s credible, and not cuckoo bananas! Beck insists to O’Reilly that he’s right, because there’s no evidence that he’s wrong . Time to adjust the meds! During the weekly “At Your Beck And Call” segment on his Friday show, Bill O’Reilly dismissed Glenn Beck’s theory about the Egyptian revolution–namely, that it marks the beginning of an alliance between Communists and Islamic fundamentalists and will lead to a new caliphate across the Middle East and into Europe. Beck repeated the theory to a skeptical O’Reilly, saying that the world is “seeing the beginning of the ‘coming insurrection.’” He said that the goal of the movement was “revolution” and “the end of the Western way of life,” and that it would end in a caliphate. He also repeated his assertion that a recent New York Times article had validated this theory, because it showed that the Egyptian revolution was being organized by people from a wide range of political ideologies. “I don’t know if that’s news to anyone,” O’Reilly said. The Internet, he continued, made it much easier for people to say, “‘everybody show up in the square.’” “It’s community organizing on a global scale,” Beck said. O’Reilly was still skeptical. “I know they’re not going to be able to overthrow the army,” he said. “I don’t see that. But you do see it.” Then Beck said that the revolution was coming to America and Europe, something which O’Reilly completely rejected. “I don’t see the constituency in Britain, in Germany, in the United States, I don’t see it,” he said.
Continue reading …Egypt’s military rejects swift transfer of power and suspends constitution
February 13, 2011 No Comment
Ruling military council intends to retain power for six months or longer while elections are scheduled and will rule by decree The Egyptian military has rejected the demands of pro-democracy protesters for a swift transfer of power to a civilian administration, saying it intends to rule by martial law until elections are held. The army’s announcement, which included the suspending of the constitution, was a further rebuff to some pro-democracy activists after troops were sent to clear demonstrators from Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the centre of the protests that brought down Hosni Mubarak. “We do not want any protesters to sit in the square after today,” said the head of the military police, Mohamed Ibrahim Moustafa Ali. Many agreed to leave but a hardcore refused, saying they would remain until the army took a series of steps toward democratic reform including installing a civilian-led government and abolishing the repressive state of emergency. The ruling military council said it intends to retain power for six months or longer while elections are scheduled and will rule by decree. It suspended the constitution and said a committee will draw up amendments that will be put to a referendum. It also dissolved the widely discredited parliament, elected in a tainted ballot last year. In a sign that the army will only tolerate a limited challenge to its power, it is expected to issue a communique on Monday saying that it will crack down on those creating “chaos and disorder” as well as effectively banning strikes. The moves were welcomed by some opposition figures including Ayman Nour, who was jailed after challenging Mubarak for the presidency in 2005. “It is a victory for the revolution,” he told Reuters. But others were disturbed by the army’s failure to agree to a civilian-led interim government as well as to end the 30-year state of emergency and the release of political prisoners. “We need heavy participation by the civilians,” said Mohamed ElBaradei, the former nuclear inspector who has become an opposition spokesman. “It cannot be the army running the show.” Mahmoud Nassar, one of the organisers behind the Tahrir Square protests, said the demonstrations would go on. “The revolution is continuing. Its demands have not been met yet,” he said. “The sit-in and protests are in constant activity until the demands are met. All are invited to join.” The military regime has also retained Mubarak’s cabinet, to the frustration of some protesters. “There is no change in the form, method or process of work. Matters are completely stable,” said the prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq. “Our main concern now as a cabinet is security. We need to bring back a sense of security to the Egyptian citizen.” The Egyptian uprising, along with events in Tunisia, continues to have an impact across the region, prompting protests over the weekend in Algeria, Sudan and Yemen. Protests have also been called in Bahrain on Monday, where the king has tried to ease tensions by vowing to give £1,600 to each family. Egypt Middle East Chris McGreal guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …John Boehner Still Pandering to the Birthers: It’s Not My Job to Tell People What to Think
February 13, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media On this week’s Meet the Press, after David Gregory played a portion of Frank Luntz’s focus group following President Obama’s State of the Union Address, John Boehner refused to take any responsibility for Republicans continuing to pander to the birther crowd. Boehner on birthers: ‘It’s not my job to tell the American people what to think’ : House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Sunday that while he believes President Obama is an American citizen and a Christian, Americans have a right to think otherwise if they so choose. “It’s not my job to tell the American people what to think,” Boehner said on NBC’s “Meet The Press” when asked about a recent focus group of Iowa voters shown on Fox News during which several said they believe Obama is Muslim. “The state of Hawaii has said he was born there. That’s good enough for me,” Boehner said. “The president says he’s a Christian. I accept him at his word.” Boehner rejected the suggestion that he and other Republicans were not forcefully denouncing myths about the president’s citizenship and religion because it weakens Obama politically. “I’ve made clear what I think the facts are,” Boehner said.
Continue reading …This Week: Gingrich Worried That Egyptian Muslims May Follow "Gingrich Model" And Take Over The Country
February 13, 2011 No Comment
I think these Sunday shows would be serve a more useful function if they were in front of a live audience, with heckling and throwing of tomatoes not only allowed, but encouraged. Because the properly deferential handmaidens and footmen of the corporate media so rarely contradict the inanities and contradictions that burble from the mouths of such masters of cognitive dissonance as Newt Gingrich. Witness this exchange from today’s This Week with Christiane Amanpour: AMANPOUR: You talked about the Muslim Brotherhood. And, clearly, many people are worried about the future. Now, they’ve made statements that they’re not interested in the presidential position right now. You said under no circumstances should the United States be willing to support a government in Egypt that lifts this ban against the Muslim Brotherhood. Well, already the Egyptian authorities have de facto, because they’ve been talking to them. So, “under no circumstances.” What does that mean? Pull aid? GINGRICH: Well, I think — I think we should — I think we should be very — we should try every way we can to ensure — the two things the Muslim Brotherhood will ultimately want are the Interior Ministry and — and education. AMANPOUR: But they haven’t said that. GINGRICH: No, but I’m just saying. If you watch them with Hamas, if you watch them — everywhere in the region, they understand that if they can get control of the schools — they’re very patient. They have — they have a 20- or 30-year strategy. So this is not an overnight group. AMANPOUR: So let me ask you. The logical denouement of democracy is that they may elect people who you don’t like. You’re not able to control democracy. So how do you thread that needle? GINGRICH: This is a huge challenge. It’s not a question of liking or disliking. I mean, I’m perfectly — we have lots of governments… (CROSSTALK) AMANPOUR: No, but, still, how do you try to control democracy… (CROSSTALK) GINGRICH: Every society has to come to grips with the fact that there are some elements who would create a dictatorship, so you’d have one last vote. It wouldn’t be a democracy; it would be one last vote. And whether it is Lenin replacing Kerensky, whether it is Hitler taking over in Germany, whether it is the Ayatollah running Iran, you have to be very cautious about the idea that — that every — that you can automatically accept a group if, in fact, you have pretty good reason to believe that their goal is a dictatorship. It’s the challenge — it’s the tragedy of Zimbabwe, where you have a kind — a government which clearly is totally illegitimate. Wow. Newt Gingrich, the man who engineered the “very patient” strategy of the Republican right wing by which they infiltrated school boards all over the country with extremists and fundamentalists, is worried that Egyptian Muslims might do the same thing . The man who’s a founding father of the extreme right wing, the one that wants to impose a social dictatorship of overturning gay marriage rights, abortion rights, and even the right to use birth control, is worried that Egyptian Muslims might follow his template. Apparently the similarities simply eluded Amanpour.
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Supporters say Turkey’s ruling AKP party’s brand of political Islam could be role model for Muslim Brotherhood, but opponents warn of authoritarianism According to conventional wisdom, Turkey has become the template of our times: a large Muslim-majority country that has moved from military domination to civilian rule in a few years, spearheaded by a popular democratically elected government trumpeting its EU membership ambitions. If Egypt is seeking a path to help it navigate the transition from authoritarianism to democracy, the argument runs, then Turkey surely provides it. The once all-powerful Turkish armed forces – which have toppled four civilian governments in the past 50 years – have been cut down to size by the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) as it has sought to transform the national political landscape. Fuelling the AKP’s rise, according to its advocates, has been the emergence of a new religious, conservative middle class from Turkey’s Anatolian heartland, whose increasing affluence has undermined the economic power base of the army and other traditional secular pillars, such as the judiciary. Supporters depict the AKP, a party rooted in political Islam, as a modernising role model for other Middle East Islamist movements, such as Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, to reinvent themselves as democratic parties. That rosy view is challenged by opponents who believe the ruling party is driven by an authoritarianism that aims to subvert Turkey’s traditional secular constitution. Erdogan – Turkey’s prime minister – is a former radical Islamist who even in his supposedly new moderate incarnation has bitterly criticised Israel and fostered warm ties with Iran and its fiercely anti-western president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Some fear Turkey is turning its back on the west. The army, long a key component in Nato strategy, appears ever more defeated. Worse still are accusations that the assault on the armed forces has lurched into persecution. Hundreds of serving and retired officers have been arrested in connection with two separate but linked alleged plots to overthrow the AKP in military coups. In the latest development, police at the weekend arrested 162 officers charged with involvement in an alleged 2003 plot called “sledgehammer”, which aimed to topple the government after sowing chaos by bombing mosques and provoking war with Greece. The army denies the charges and has described the plan as a war-game exercise. Gareth Jenkins, an Istanbul-based specialist in Turkish security affairs, said Turkey provided no model for Egypt to emulate. “Turkey has been exchanging a military form of authoritarianism for civilian authoritarianism,” he said. “What we have seen in the last couple of years is blatant political persecution, suppression of the free press and people being thrown in jail without knowing what they are charged with. The police have been used as an organ of internal repression. Far from being a model, Turkey has been becoming more like Egypt.” Robert Tait is a senior correspondent with RFE/RL and former Istanbul correspondent for the Guardian Turkey Middle East Europe Muslim Brotherhood Egypt Robert Tait guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media At least one Republican presidential contender isn’t running from his past. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour was proud of his past as a “lobbyist, a politician and a lawyer” when he was asked about it Sunday. “You said last year, you’re the governor of a poor state, you have a distinct drawl, and you have been — were a big time Washington lobbyist for a decade, Fox News’ Chris Wallace noted. “You said, some people would consider those handicaps for running for president, you don’t. Why not?” “I’m a lobbyist,” Barbour admitted. “The guy who gets elected or the lady who gets elected will immediately be lobbying. They’ll be advocating to the Congress, they’ll be lobbying our allies and our adversaries overseas, they’ll be asking the business community, the labor unions. You just — that’s just what presidents do for a living.” “You were one of Washington’s biggest most successful lobbyists for more than a decade,” Wallace pressed. “Let me just make this very plain. I’m a lobbyist, a politician and a lawyer,” Barbour replied. “That’s the trifecta and I’m willing to have my record in front of everybody.” If Barbour does decide to try for the Republican presidential nomination, he may have an uphill battle. Only 3 percent gave the Mississippi governor their vote in the this weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll .
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The fall of the regime in Egypt has raised hopes in the Gaza Strip, as Palestinians look for an easing of restrictions at the border. Before Egypt’s mass demonstrations began, it would allow up to 500 Gazans a day to enter Egypt. But only patients, foreign passport holders and people who had special co-ordination with Egyptian intelligence. The Rafah crossing has been closed for the last few weeks and patients can not get out of Gaza for treatment. Al Jazeera’s Nicole Johnston reports from Gaza
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