I wonder if it's less bleeding heart liberalism and more that failure to recognize Palestine raises concerns for domestic terrorism, and, more generally, unfavorable public opinion towards the Government. Seems like a win win situation for me. Israel's in the doghouse anyway, as the boycotts seem to illustrate.
Scahill says: "And the point he made is, “If you kill those of us who grew up, you know, in the ’60s and ’70s, who speak English and understand the outside world, if you kill all of us, you’re not going to have anyone to negotiate with, because this younger generation, that you’ve produced as a result of your global war, are far more militant than we were, and they don’t care about diplomacy at all.”
Creating a generation of anti-US fighters was the whole point. Perpetuate the war and then there's no other choice. Guaranteed business for the military industrial complex for 100+ years. A simple business move.
I don't see Sunnis in Iraq or Syria preventing Shiites from combat with Israel in any way, shape, or form. Not all Sunnis hate Shiites despite recent sectarian conflict, and if even if a local Sunni militia was faced with the decision (do we stop and report these Shiites transporting weapons intended to fight Israel, or do we let both of our foes do each other in?)
Some data on interceptions of weapons shipments specific to this theory would be valuable.
I'm willing to bet that Morsi was misled into making this decree. It seems like somebody told him things would go a lot more swimmingly than they are. I think this is an effort to sabotoge the Brotherhood's legitimacy early before it gained more credibility. This isn't Gaza, so hopefully they retain some legitimacy. There's no way Egypt would tolerate a Caliphate though, so I think the concerns about Morsi intending to be a dictator are unfounded. I have a feeling these Presidential decrees are somehow tied to the Gaza peace deal. Maybe the peace deal was a carrot the US threw out if Morsi agreed to the decrees? The truth remains to be seen!
Juan, your posts recently have been incredibly thoughtful. Everyone, please share this information as much as you can, mainstream America needs to tune in to Juan on a regular basis.
my father in law is a fervent liberal and would never vote for Romney. I find most Muslims in America to be liberals that are conservative on social issues (marriage, abortion, etc)
I've gotten some feedback from people about this issue: one young Egyptian I spoke with expressed rage at the fact that "the American people sat idly by and allowed their country to destroy Iraq." I responded by saying we were strongly against the war and protested it severely, to the point that anti-war groups were put under surveillance from the Government and infiltrated. This interaction made me feel that we, as Americans, could do more to reach out to Arabs in the ME and explain "our side of things." Perhaps rented billboards on the sides of markets in obscure locations, things like that? I would get involved in something like that.
Most of the Muslims I spoke to expressed an honest shock that people are so offended by the video. They said "it's just a video, get over it, we know who Muhammad is (salallahu alayhi wa sallam) so why are people getting so riled up?" Note - this was the American Muslim community, who has developed some thick skin over the years in the face SOME bigotry. For every example of bigotry against Muslims in the US we could likely find 100 examples of Americans reaching out to the Muslim community as neighbors, friends, visitors, etc.. experiencing the culture happily and learning curiously.
The Arab world needs to understand that most of America (at least liberal America) is pretty cool towards Muslims, open to experiencing Islamic culture, and VERY interested in stopping conflict and being at peace. America is really divided on this issue, with the media seeming to mostly push for intolerance.
A media blitz in the ME led by progressive-minded friends of American Muslims is in order.
It's encouraging that the rest of the world can be brave enough to hold such an event, especially in Iran. It allows me to breathe a sigh of relief, as it shows the bullying tactics of the US are not sustainable and will be circumvented.
Loved your comment "Islam needs more heretics." It's really true.. and not to disrupt or hurt Islam, but to revive it and refresh it (you could think of the heretics as having the effect of a forest fire on the "old guard" of muftis and malvis, by saying things they might "burn" for they effectively give new life to the community by letting the smaller plants (unique ideas within the community) get some light.
Anyway, you do find, in fact, that fundamentalist Christianity and Islam are virtually identical on many social and ethnical issues. After all of the hollering and fighting from both sides, these two groups may find they have more in common with each other than they have in common with the rest of the world.
Is it a plausable theory that the US, working together with the Egyptian Military, is using this election process as a "steam valve release" to lessen revolutionary pressure in Egypt, all while maintaining a stranglehold on real power?
I wonder if it's less bleeding heart liberalism and more that failure to recognize Palestine raises concerns for domestic terrorism, and, more generally, unfavorable public opinion towards the Government. Seems like a win win situation for me. Israel's in the doghouse anyway, as the boycotts seem to illustrate.
Scahill says: "And the point he made is, “If you kill those of us who grew up, you know, in the ’60s and ’70s, who speak English and understand the outside world, if you kill all of us, you’re not going to have anyone to negotiate with, because this younger generation, that you’ve produced as a result of your global war, are far more militant than we were, and they don’t care about diplomacy at all.”
Creating a generation of anti-US fighters was the whole point. Perpetuate the war and then there's no other choice. Guaranteed business for the military industrial complex for 100+ years. A simple business move.
I don't see Sunnis in Iraq or Syria preventing Shiites from combat with Israel in any way, shape, or form. Not all Sunnis hate Shiites despite recent sectarian conflict, and if even if a local Sunni militia was faced with the decision (do we stop and report these Shiites transporting weapons intended to fight Israel, or do we let both of our foes do each other in?)
Some data on interceptions of weapons shipments specific to this theory would be valuable.
I'm willing to bet that Morsi was misled into making this decree. It seems like somebody told him things would go a lot more swimmingly than they are. I think this is an effort to sabotoge the Brotherhood's legitimacy early before it gained more credibility. This isn't Gaza, so hopefully they retain some legitimacy. There's no way Egypt would tolerate a Caliphate though, so I think the concerns about Morsi intending to be a dictator are unfounded. I have a feeling these Presidential decrees are somehow tied to the Gaza peace deal. Maybe the peace deal was a carrot the US threw out if Morsi agreed to the decrees? The truth remains to be seen!
What's even more interesting is- why did he feel compelled to have this information come out? What message does this send to Syrian rebels?
What international laws does this violate?
Juan, your posts recently have been incredibly thoughtful. Everyone, please share this information as much as you can, mainstream America needs to tune in to Juan on a regular basis.
only thin skinned in the Muslim world? Clearly you haven't heard of the Anti-Defamation league :)
my father in law is a fervent liberal and would never vote for Romney. I find most Muslims in America to be liberals that are conservative on social issues (marriage, abortion, etc)
absolutely, and you can friend me at Drew Abu Adam (i'm no journalist, just an IR grad and humble fan of Juan)
tl;dr Palestine is still an issue but most people now cite Iraq as the most clear indicator of American aggression towards Muslims.
(comment above was in response to #9 in the article)
I've gotten some feedback from people about this issue: one young Egyptian I spoke with expressed rage at the fact that "the American people sat idly by and allowed their country to destroy Iraq." I responded by saying we were strongly against the war and protested it severely, to the point that anti-war groups were put under surveillance from the Government and infiltrated. This interaction made me feel that we, as Americans, could do more to reach out to Arabs in the ME and explain "our side of things." Perhaps rented billboards on the sides of markets in obscure locations, things like that? I would get involved in something like that.
Most of the Muslims I spoke to expressed an honest shock that people are so offended by the video. They said "it's just a video, get over it, we know who Muhammad is (salallahu alayhi wa sallam) so why are people getting so riled up?" Note - this was the American Muslim community, who has developed some thick skin over the years in the face SOME bigotry. For every example of bigotry against Muslims in the US we could likely find 100 examples of Americans reaching out to the Muslim community as neighbors, friends, visitors, etc.. experiencing the culture happily and learning curiously.
The Arab world needs to understand that most of America (at least liberal America) is pretty cool towards Muslims, open to experiencing Islamic culture, and VERY interested in stopping conflict and being at peace. America is really divided on this issue, with the media seeming to mostly push for intolerance.
A media blitz in the ME led by progressive-minded friends of American Muslims is in order.
It's encouraging that the rest of the world can be brave enough to hold such an event, especially in Iran. It allows me to breathe a sigh of relief, as it shows the bullying tactics of the US are not sustainable and will be circumvented.
excellent piece by the way
A darker thought:
The Neocons have been subtly instituting their agenda under President Obama and stuck Romney into the race as a sure loser.
Loved your comment "Islam needs more heretics." It's really true.. and not to disrupt or hurt Islam, but to revive it and refresh it (you could think of the heretics as having the effect of a forest fire on the "old guard" of muftis and malvis, by saying things they might "burn" for they effectively give new life to the community by letting the smaller plants (unique ideas within the community) get some light.
Anyway, you do find, in fact, that fundamentalist Christianity and Islam are virtually identical on many social and ethnical issues. After all of the hollering and fighting from both sides, these two groups may find they have more in common with each other than they have in common with the rest of the world.
Is it a plausable theory that the US, working together with the Egyptian Military, is using this election process as a "steam valve release" to lessen revolutionary pressure in Egypt, all while maintaining a stranglehold on real power?
having a guilty smoke and thinking of poem brings a tear to the eye
they will turn them back as well but this is such exciting news of course no main stream media coverage so far