At a my place and a few other blogs, I've said that I think America's government and radio/TV talking heads are being short-sighted, a little prejudice, and quite pessimistic about the future of Egypt. It was my opinion (and basically still is) that the Muslim Brotherhood couldn't fill the void Mubarak will leave behind because most Egyptians, at least in Cairo, are highly sophisticated, well educated people. Metaphorically, I couldn't imagine a scenario where the Egyptian women of Cairo would want to suddenly take to wearing burqas...impossible.Then, a friend reminded me of IRAN's history. Iran was MORE sophisticated and their people were probably even more highly educated than Egyptians today, and their women and women were amazing fashion plates....until the Shah left. I see evidence of this here in Los Angeles, where many Iranians came after Iran fell apart because of his departure. Yes, 'because of'.
Since my friend's reminder today, I'm wondering now, more fearfully, about what will happen in Egypt and the terrible repercussions it could have for Israel's safety, something I'm vitally interested in. I don't believe there are only two choices for Egyptians (Mubarak or the Muslim Brotherhood): I believe there's Mubarak staying until September, Mubarak leaving, the Muslim Brotherhood pushing Sharia Law on them and taking them back to the Stone Ages as Iran's had happen, AND the choice, the hope, of a democratic election where Egyptians pick a leader who is not fundamentalist, who will deal beneficially with the West, and who will push for a better future for all Egyptians.
Do you think Egypt could become another Iran, with a fundamentalist theocracy hiding behind the still quite fashionable modern suits of Ahmadinejad? Do you think my last scenario of a well-liked, democratically-elected leader is a possibility? I also think our media and talking heads need to stop looking at all Egyptians as Muslim savages who don't have a clue. Do you think I'm giving Egyptians too much credit? Tell me.By the way, check THIS out and watch the Anderson Cooper "They kicked me in the head" video and tell me if you think that happened or if he looks like he's been harmed in any way at the end of it, okay? Very weird...I hope he wasn't hurt and it sure doesn't look like he was. The Christiane Amanpour video below is even less threatening, but Yahoo's headline is "Journalists Get Attacked..." ??
geeeeZ
46 comments:
Only time will show us what will be.
I am no expert so I can't say much about this.
The big issue is the state of the economy in the world with food prices increasing.
A very bad economy can also push people toward anti-democratic movements and populist politicians promising gratis food.
I think we're seeing a shift in the world overall. I wouldn't surprise if it comes to Western countries once the financial system tanks for good and oil prices get crazy with this middle east tension.
Well, I hope that we don't get Iran 2.0, but since we seem to have Carter 2.0 in office right now, I am very pessimistic about Egypt's future.
In short... Israel is screwed.
If the men of a country do not stand up for the women but stand against them, women become subjugated. I pray for the Egyptians.
I'm pessimistic about Egypt's future as well. Given this President with his acquiescence to Islam it isn't promising for a positive outcome.
Furthermore, I'm very pessimistic for Israel's well being. I'm afraid all bets are off. Iran is involved in all of this, and will continue to be.
Pris
I'm dreadfully afraid that Egypt will be the next domino to fall---then Yemen. Jordan's king is running scared now. The future of Israel looks grim at the moment, but then they've whipped the Arabs in 6 wars so far. The Arabs would do well to remember what Israel has said re the Holocaust: Never again.
I swear that I heard a snippet on the telly, going from one room to another, something to the effect of the heads of mummies being cut off. Did any of you hear this? I hope it's not true, but it made me think of the two giant statues of the Buddha being blown to smithereens by those wild-eyed, unwashed, whacked out zealots. When one thinks of the incredible treasures held by Egypt it's a truly frightening prospect for the world's culture.
Silvrlady
If , no when the Muslim Brotherhood takes over they will have no choice.
The rise in food prices is a contrived crisis to bring about the New World Order.
If the idiots in DC would see what is happening it would be DRILL BABY DRILL and Obama could take his no drill executive order to hell.
Found this on Yahoo.
Looters rip heads off 2 mummies at Egyptian Museum - Yahoo! News
... Cairo's famed Egyptian Museum, ripping the heads off two mummies and damaging about 10 small artifacts before being caught and detained by army soldiers, Egypt ...
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110129/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt... - Cached.
Silvrlady
Ticker you're spot on.
Obama is too worried about subsidizing ethanol and using land for wind mills.
This man is incredibly brilliant & so very right.
Charles Krauthammer - Never Again? - washingtonpost.com
[May 4, 2006] When Iran's mullahs acquire their coveted nukes in the next few years, the number of Jews in Israel will just be reaching 6 million. Never again?
Silvrlady
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/04/... - Cached.
Very good points by both Vegas and Opus.
I think it's headed towards being another terrorist nation
People caught in the great game. A dictator comes to power and clamps down. In this case it satisfies "our strategic interest" so we go along. It festers and opposition is further repressed. No alternative programs are organized.
Finally it bursts and something tries to fill the vacuum. In this case maybe the army.
Maybe we should take a look at what's happening in other states. Tunisia isn't moving in that direction.
There have been demonstrations in Algeria and the state of emergency (15 years old) has been lifted.
Jordan is calling for change but not the deposing of the king.
... and if we find out that the scary Muslims aren't bent on making the world wear a burqa (which they aren't) then what do we do about changing our decades of support for dictators in the region?
Only the Leftist's at the UN and NGO's will be able to save Egypt from itself, now. Think of the billions in aid that they'll get to funnel and skim now...
Never let a crises go to waste! Learn how to "profit" from the adversities of others!
Not only could it happen in Egypt, it could happen here.
The glory that was ancient Greece didn't last very long, and when it ended, five hundred years of darkness and barbarism followed in its wake.
Throughout history civilizations rise, strengthen, prosper, become complacent and self-indulgent, then weaken and die out. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Rome, The British Empire, Germany, Russia, most of Europe have followed this pattern.
We are in process of decline and fall right now. I can't foretell when the end will come, but it appears to be on the horizon.
All the conquerors and oppressors of the past have wound up being conquered and oppressed, themselves. The only exception that I know of is the way the victorious USA unselfishly and altruistically helped her enemies rebuild their countries and grow to become strong independent competitors in the world economic arena. Neither have we taken advantage of the opportunity to wipe out potential enemies when we were able to do so.
But change, as they say, is the only constant. Human history moves like the ocean waves, and is every bit as unstable and unpredictable as those mysterious currents.
Doubtless God, who never changes, wants it to be so.
We blossom and flourish
As leaves on tree
Then withereth and fadeth,
But nought changeth Thee.
~ from the Protestant hymn: Immortal, Invisible God Only Wise
Humanity, itself, never seems to perish altogether, but it never seems to learn much from its mistakes either. The same cycles repeat themselves with endless variations.
Some are determined to believe in The Eschaton -- a fancy name for the end of the world. Possibly, but I suspect after the next round of massive death and destruction survivors will pick up whatever pieces may be left and begin the process anew.
The lesson humanity cannot seem to learn is that conquest and subjugation plant seeds of resentment that inevitably lead to rebellion and more destruction.
Maybe if we stopped trying to overpower and exploit one another and learned to work cooperatively, instead, the vicious cycle might be broken. Unfortunately, it's more likely that a rhinoceros will one day sprout wings and fly.
Jesus gave us the Answer, but we are too vain to accept His word and too stupid to understand it as He intended, so we live with endless uncertainty, fear and misery.
reins
There's a blackout now. There's been a limited roundup of journalists.
The MB is largely a rural movement. They are unlikely to gain much control in Cairo or Alexandria.
Mrs FrogBurgerette read a book about the cycles of history.
We're in the cycle that is the same as the American and French revolutions.
I have to read it. The author has a blog too.
... and forget Israel, the Saudi royal family may be soiling themselves. Not so much as a peep from them, 'ol br'er fox, he lay low.
Ducky, for once I agree with you...the Saudi royalty are in the biggest trouble.
I'll never forget Israel, but I know your sentiments on that.
pray for Israel hun thats all I have to say...but hey..hugs and TGIF!!:)
No prayers for the Egyptian people? They're the ones doing the bleeding.
"most Egyptians, at least in Cairo, are highly sophisticated, well educated people."
Really? Maybe 5000 years ago when they gave the world a wonder of the pyramids...which I personally believe were delivered by the same folks that gave other savages Stonehenge!
Take a walk into any Suez or Cairo quaint neighborhood. If the smell and sight of raw sewage doesn't upset your tea time...and the garbage thrown into the "streets" doesn't make you puke and gag then I suppose you're missing at least two of your major senses.
Try and drink the water, if you dare.Or if surgery has replaced your original stomach with a steel canteen that's impervious to dysentery, retching and other gastronomical indignities. We laugh about Mexico's water??? Hell...at least you won't die immediately.
So...what we have here is a "21st Century" , 3rd world country that despite modern cures for sewage treatment ...recycling of sewage water to render it drinkable and safe for human consumption ( as is common in America ) still is a total mystery to these "sophisticated" and "well educated people". As far as I can see, it was OMAR SHARIFF that was the last sophisticated Egyptian...due to his prowess in Bridge.
Before him? Probably Ramses!
Furthermore...these educated and sophisticated Egyptians are doing what? Emulating the "rebelliousness" of their American Tea Party....errr...."counterparts".
Please. Give it a rest. Muslims...in turd wirld countries know only one thing...savagery. Intolerance.
Ducky, funny you should say that...we prayed for the Egyptians this morning at Bible Study...and for Israel.
"What do you mean by your TP comment?"
Well Ms.Z, they have been compared to the Egyptian equivalent of our TParty by the likes of Anderson ( I love teabagging ) Cooper.
As far as..."just happen to know tons of Egyptians and none of them is uneducated, stupid, etc. "...
Well OK then. However I met them in their streets and not in an air conditioned limo!!! My ride was in an APC....with the windows rolled down!
And BTW...poor AC....the slag fag is getting his head slapped. If the muslims really knew who he was...the degenerate inventor of the "teabagger" slur...they would have cut his tea bag off and stuffed it into his mouth.
Let me tell you how I know this.Libya...1969. The evacuation of Americans from TRIPOLI before his excellency Mohmar Kadiffi(?) sent Americans packing...homos were laying all over into gully's and sewerage ditches during the revolution.
RedWood, I saw the video at CNN of Cooper and his crew getting beaten and I just DON'T SEE IT....I wish you'd look for it. I'm turning in soon and don't have the energy to find it.
Christiane Amanpour claims to have been assaulted, too, and she was, verbally, but the headlines were huge about the journalists being ATTACKED.
Cooper walks away like someone gave him an ice cream cone, I was very surprised seeing him not hurt at all. Glad, I don't wish anybody harm, but I"m getting the feeling that now it's become a "I got hurt worse than you did" thing for the good ol' PUlitzer!
"Cooper walks away like someone gave him an ice cream cone"
Right you are Ms. Z. All he needed was someone...errrr...something to lick.
And Christie Armapoop.....just another body to spit on. And lay her low rent Brit accent on for the rubes watching CNN.
Egypt's food prices can be tied directly to our quantitative easing.
They were using 50% of their salaries for 2 meals a day...(the average American uses 10% for three).
Since inflation has hit Egypt terribly they are now paying a third more for 1 1/3 meals a day. And what is the average income of an Egyptian?
2400 per annum
this is about FOOD
No prayers for the Egyptian people? They're the ones doing the bleeding.
My sister lives in Cairo and I can't reach her.
Thanks for your "concern," dirtbag.
On assignment for several years Cooper had very slowly become desensitized to the violence he was witnessing around him; the horrors of the Rwandan Genocide became trivial: "I would see a dozen bodies and think, you know, it's a dozen, it's not so bad." One particular incident however snapped him out of it:
On the side of the road [Cooper] came across five bodies that had been in the sun for several days. The skin of a woman's hand was peeling off like a glove. Revealing macabre fascination, Cooper whipped out his disposable camera and took a closeup photograph for his personal album. As he did, someone took a photo of him. Later that person showed Cooper the photo, saying, "You need to take a look at what you were doing." "And that's when I realized I've got to stop, [...] I've got to report on some state fairs or a beauty pageant or something, to just, like, remind myself of some perspective."
Um, yeah.
You don't get any yellower than Anderson Cooper 1.5
"My sister lives in Cairo and I can't reach her."
Terrible for both you and her. I'm sorry you have to go through such an ordeal.
Has she ever reported anything that would confirm Redwood's opinion, or is it better than that over there? I hope the latter.
Anon,
Redwood's not too far off the mark, I'm afraid.
No prayers for the Egyptian people? They're the ones doing the bleeding.
...thanks to all the "revolutionary" encouragement they're getting from their American Leftist friends...
Funny how the bureacratic Leftists at the UN NGOs all profit and feed off aid money going to places like Egypt after they've had "social justice inspired" revolutions.
No wonder the Left is always encouraging revolutions...
It's their bread and butter. They wouldn't have high-paying jobs at "Human Rights Watch" or "Save the Children" otherwise.
Visit my blog post on Egypt. I believe we fall along the same lines of belief. That's good, and it is also good we're not kow-towing to what the media tells us.
Although Christopher Boyce was a traitor and sold out secrets to the Soviet Union, he saw the same deals going down that I used to see when I read the intel reports on how our government was bombing and pillaging Serbia and thus interfering with a process that came against illegal immigrant muslim squatters.
history repeats itself, and yes, Jimmy Carter installed the Ayatollah into Iran.
Cui bono ("To whose benefit?", literally "as a benefit to whom?", a double dative construction) is a Latin adage that is used either to suggest a hidden motive or to indicate that the party responsible for something may not be who it appears at first to be.
If Egypt falls, cui bono?
I look for more such risings throughout the Middle East -- possibly even in Saudi.
Don't underestimate the power and influence of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has chapters in all Islamic nations.
I expect the Brotherhood to grab the bulk of the power -- if not immediately, then soon after regime change in Egypt.
BTW, education does not necessarily mean that Moslems won't gravitate to the Muslim Brotherhood and similar groups.
Ockmadinnajod doesn't look fashionably dressed to me. He looks like he needs a bath and a shave after he's had a good delousing.
Taboate
I don't see a good outcome from this if the moslem brotherhood takes over in Egypt.
When the Shah fell, the Iranian population was even more cosmopolitan that that of Egypt today and look at them today.
Egypt does have one thing going for it, the telecommunications of our age makes them politically more sophisticated that Iran circa 1970's.
The left accuses the USA of "hypocrisy," because we've often supported brutal foreign dictators who support or at least cooperate with us. Well, isn't it better to support a brutal oppressive regime who isn't out to kill us than a brutal oppressive regime who is? It really is as simple as that.
Sorry, butchagotta be pragmatic in the real world or you can't survive.
Liberty and equality can't be achieved by forceful intervention from the top down. The only reason the USA was as successful as she was was because a few incredibly smart, enlightened men of property who were well read and forward thinking took their courage in their hand, took an enormous RISK and made tremendous SACRIFICES to shake off the shackles of a central government (King George III) and strike out ON THEIR OWN.
The Europeans who came over in the Great Migration of the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were also RISK TAKERS, who bravely left everything they knew behind in order to take a CHANCE at a better life.
The Neocon idea that we should take it upon ourselves to "export democracy" to third world hellholes is nutsy Fagin. Indigenous peoples have to yearn so much for the blessings of freedom that they become willing to lose their LIVES and PROPERTY to achieve it ON THIR OWN. It can NOT be done FOR them.
The idea of IMPOSING FREEDOM on anybody is self-contradictory. Just insane.
No wonder our Middle Eastern policies have gotten us into so much trouble! We need o BUTT OUT and mind our OWN business. What's the use of weeding your neighbor's yard and cleaning his house, when your OWN property is falling into wrack and ruin?
Atiolex
If Egypt falls, cui bono?
Suez Canal, Horn of Africa, Yemen, Straits of Hormuz...
Smoke on the water...
My sister managed to contact my parents and we are trying to arrange getting her out of there.
Keep praying.
Beamish, WOW, that is GREAT! She WANTS to leave? WITHOUT HER HUSBAND?!!!
Keep us updated.....I'll be praying!!
The best of luck in getting her out of there, Beamish.
I'm glad she wants to come home. I'll keep my fingers crossed for whatever that may be worth. I'll pray too.
Take care.
FreeThinke
AFAIK, she's coming back alone, though I wouldn't mind if her husband came along as well.
But, once my sister is out of there, Egypt can go to hell for all I care.
It matters little how sophisticated and modernized the Egyptians may be, all it takes is enough violent and brutal islamists to take over and that's the end of that.
The question isn't just whether enough are civilized, but also are they wise enough to know that to win they must be prepared to go down into the ditch and annihilate those who want to drag them back into the dark ages.
That is the only language the islamists understand.
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