Britain sold £16.4m worth of arms to Egypt in 2009, according to the Campaign Against the Arms Trade The British government refuses to say whether it would follow the example of Germany and France and suspend exports of arms and riot control equipment to Egypt. Instead, UK officials say decisions will be taken on a “case by case” basis in line with its own and EU guidelines. Officials “will assess whether the current circumstances in Egypt and the granting of a licence will contravene the criteria”, the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills said. The criteria says that arms will not be sold to countries or regions where they would exacerbate tensions and contribute to the abuse of human rights. However, Britain sold £16.4m worth of arms to Egypt in 2009, the last year for which figures are available, according to the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (Caat). 81 export licences were approved for a wide range of weapons systems components. EU countries have dramatically increased their arms sales to north African countries in recent years, from €372m to €2bn, according to the European Network Against Arms Trade. EU countries’ arms sales to Morocco amounted to €1.36bn in 2009 – €343m to Libya, €293m to Egypt, €275m to Algeria, and €52m to Tunisia. European arms exports to four of the five countries doubled between 2008 and 2009. The exception was Egypt, where sales increased but not to the same extent. “The EU arms export figures are shocking,” Kaye Stearman, a Caat member, said. “It is obvious that these weapons are bought primarily by north African governments to prop up their authoritarian governments. At a time when these same governments are experiencing popular protest, it is inevitable that some of the EU weapons will be used to crush internal opposition. “While some EU countries, such as France and Germany, have belatedly suspended arms exports to Egypt, this is not good enough. There should be an immediate arms embargo on the whole region.” Egypt Middle East Arms trade Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …From Barefoot and Progressive, more words of wisdom from wunderkind Sen. Ron Paul (R-WI). Rand Paul then decided to play some Tea Party History. You know Tea Party History, right? How the Founding Fathers ended slavery, Sputnik brought down the Soviet Union, Reagan never raised taxes, so on and so on. Rand Paul’s been known to play this before with
Continue reading …Egyptian web activist freed after protests tells TV station: ‘I am no hero’
February 8, 2011 No Comment
Google executive’s emotional interview after his release hailed as a landmark moment in Egypt revolt An emotional television interview given by a young Egyptian Google executive who was arrested after playing a key role in using the internet to spark the uprising against Hosni Mubarak is being hailed as a landmark moment in the ongoing revolt after it struck a chord across Egypt and beyond. Wael Ghonim, a marketing manager who became a hero to anti-government protestors after he went missing on 27 January, confirmed in the interview following his release that he was behind a highly influential Facebook page that helped lead to what he described as “the revolution of the youth of the internet.” Before his appearance on Monday on a privately owned Egyptian television channel, the father-of-two was held in repute by many who believed that he was the anonymous activist behind a Facebook page named after a young Egyptian businessman whose death at the hands of police in June set off months of protests. The page, ” We are all Khaled Said “, became one of the main tools for organising the demonstrations that started the revolt in earnest on 25 January. However, Ghonim’s stature across the country now appears destined to rise dramatically if the post-interview reaction on the internet is anything to go by. Calls are being made for him to stand as president. Others predicted that his performance, which was being acclaimed as a tour de force of calm but explosive political passion, would inevitably boost the numbers of those attending the latest mass demonstration in Cairo’s Tahrir square and elsewhere this morning. “I am not a hero. I only used the keyboard, the real heroes are the ones on the ground. Those I can’t name,” said Ghonim, who sobbed throughout the interview, which ended with him being overcome with emotion as he was shown images of some of those who died in the uprising. While insisting that he had not been tortured and saying his interrogators treated him with respect, he said he was taken aback when others who he met in jail believed that he was “a traitor”. “Anyone with good intentions is the traitor because being evil is the norm,” he said. “If I was a traitor, I would have stayed in my villa in the Emirates and made good money and said like others, let this country go to hell. But we are not traitors,” added Ghonim, an Egyptian who oversees Google’s marketing in the Middle East and Africa from Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates. According to early English translations which were posted online hours after the Arab language interview on DreamTV, Ghonim added: “I wasn’t optimistic on the 25th but now I can’t believe it.” He went on: “Inside I met people who loved Egypt but their methods and mine are not the same. I pay these guys’ salaries from my taxes, I have the right to ask the ministers where my money is going, this is our country. “I believe that if things get better those [who he met in prison] will serve Egypt well. Don’t stand in our way, we are going to serve Egypt. I saw a film director get slapped, they told him ‘You will die here’. Why?” He also downplayed the supposedly cental role of Islamist activists in the revolt, saying: “There was no Muslim Brotherhood presence in organising these protests, it was all spontaneous, voluntary. Even when the Muslim Brotherhood decided to take part it was their choice to do so. This belongs to Egyptian youth. Please everyone, enough rumours. Enough.” Ghonim’s whereabouts were not known until Sunday, when a prominent Egyptian political figure confirmed he was under arrest and would soon be released. He looked exhausted and said he had been unable to sleep for 48 hours, but not because he was being mistreated. Egypt Middle East Google Facebook Internet Social networking Ben Quinn guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Those who admire Ronald Reagan may want to steer clear of tonight's HBO documentary on the former president, if that film's director's comments, on Monday's Hardball, are an indication of how slanted the project will be, as he trashed many of Reagan's historic accomplishments. From reinvigorating the economy to his staunch anti-communist stance, Eugene Jarecki, who also wrote the film, was egged on by MSNBC host Chris Matthews to deny the 40th president many of his legacies as he charged Reagan's economic policies “hurt the very people he sought…to most
Continue reading …Timothy Garton Ash ( If this is young Arabs’ 1989, Europe must be ready with a bold response , 3 February) says: “What we need are people on the spot who speak the language, know the history, have been there repeatedly over a number of years, and can evaluate the main players and social forces.” Well, how about the 80 million Egyptians? What we don’t need are western security services telling the Egyptians what they need. A really “bold response” to events in the Arab world would be for Europe to throw off its own self-perpetuating elites. Andy Croft Middlesbrough Egypt Middle East European Union Foreign policy guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Best Laid Plans: Palin Tries To Trademark Her Name, But Little Details Cause Problems
February 7, 2011 No CommentYou know, when you have a multi-media empire you’re trying to build–a basic cable “reality” show, books, lecture circuits, Fox News contributor status–you gotta protect the brand. You don’t want people making porn or tacky merchandise hurting your brand. Now some people may say that horse is already out of the barn, and at the hands of those closest to you , but let’s give Palin credit for thinking ahead to her possible presidential run. Except… Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s bid to trademark her name and that of her daughter, Bristol, ran into trouble at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office because the application forms were unsigned , government records show. Applications to trademark the names Sarah Palin and Bristol Palin, both for “motivational speaking services,” were filed on November 5 by the Palins’ longtime family attorney, Thomas Van Flein, but were quickly slapped down by a trademark examiner. “Registration is refused because the applied-for mark, SARAH PALIN, consists of a name identifying a particular living individual whose consent to register the mark is not of record,” the patent agency said in an office action. “Please note this refusal will be withdrawn if applicant provides written consent from the individual identified in the applied-for mark,” the patent office said. The office also said Palin’s application failed to show that her name had been used in commerce and could also be rejected on those grounds. This is a person who thinks she should be given the nuclear launch codes and she can’t even remember to sign a petition protecting her own name? Methinks little details elude the half-governor just a wee too often for comfort. But if she (or her obviously crack legal staff) manage to get their act together and successfully trademark her name, we’ll have to find a new name for her…I’m partial to Sarah WordSalad, but Blue Gal is lobbying for Grifty McQuitter. Your thoughts? Addendum: Bristol’s burgeoning career as a “motivational speaker” seems to have a hit a speedbump or two, thanks to actress Kate Walsh and students at Washington University in St. Louis . Maybe trademarking shouldn’t be Bristol’s first priority either.
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Wael Ghonim, the Egyptian Google executive and internet activist who was released on Monday after being arrested and held for 12 days, gave a short interview to Egypt’s On TV.
Continue reading …Newstalgia Reference Room – Dean Clarence Manion: Grandfather of Modern Conservatism – 1951
February 7, 2011 No Comment
( Clarence Manion – an eye for interesting “tableware” ) Click here to view this media I had always wondered just when it was the conservative movement took a dramatic, screeching shift to the right. What was that moment, who was the spark. I have on a number of occasions heard that the catalyst was a fellow named Dean Clarence Manion (the Dean comes from his tenure as Notre Dame Law Professor) and it was Manion who gave us Barry Goldwater and was quoted as saying Ronald Reagan was the perfect example of the Modern Conservative Movement. But I had never heard him speak – as I am sure most readers haven’t either. So needless to say, when I discovered this disc (sadly not complete and partially deteriorated) I was pretty excited to hear just who this guy was. I wasn’t disappointed. Clarence Manion: “Now we have heard a lot about American equality. We have been twitted with it by our subversive enemies. Taunted with the alleged hypocrisy of what we profess to be equality and which is, in their jargon ‘not equality at all’. We hear a lot about the rich and the poor and the exploiters and the exploited,, and the malefactors of great wealth and the underprivileged and the this and the that. Let’s see what the doctrine of America is as it is stated and set forth in the blueprint. All men are created equal, they are equal in God’s sight. And for that reason and for no other reason that I can ever find in any law book, they are equal before the law of the land. Equality before God and the equality before the laws of this country. That is the sum and the substance, the beginning and the end of American equality. ” I have heard some strange interpretations of the Bill of Rights, but this interpretation nails it on the head why there is so much misguided righteousness floating around. It all came from someplace. Unfortunately, there is only part one and two and the address goes on, I suspect for at least another half hour, but the rest of it is missing and I don’t think recorded. So we don’t get to hear the summation of this argument and I’m not going to venture to guess where it goes. Important to at least hear part of where so much of our confusion comes from . And just how ingrained it is. Remember, this address was made on December 17, 1951, almost sixty years ago. That is a very long time to misrepresent something.
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In recent days, the civilian blockades that check for identification cards and screen for weapons at the entryways to the square have been augmented by a celebratory greeting crew that welcomes visitors with chants of “Here, here, here! The Egyptians are here!”
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In the six days since anti-government demonstrators defended central Cairo in vicious street battles, the occupied square has turned into a warden of semi-permanent housing.
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