And we'd do well to hope that he's not an Islamist fundamentalist who wants to turn the country into KSA but rather a secular socialist-leaning leader with a focus on Africa rather than the Arabian peninsula..........
Simple question: Why can't they simply override these people and get on with it? I honestly don't understand how a minority of disgruntled obstructionists can simply block the functioning of the entire govt. day after day. Just propose a vote, have it, and if they want to stew, let them. What could they do about it?
Interesting how the blame-the-victim narrative has reached fever pitch in Pakistan, much of it expressing itself in nonsensical and illogical ways. You're participating in this, sadly.
I am pretty sure Malala is not "grateful" to the Taliban for ANYTHING, and for you to say this reveals you do not have the empathy to understand what it must be like to have a hole blown in your head and to lie near death for weeks. I am sure that Malala would trade it all to have her health back and her body whole again. I know I would. And don't imagine that she is healed-- you can see that she is somewhat disfigured and is going to be fragile for the rest of her life.
The rest of your comment is not very intelligible. You state that it is a "fact" that girls have an "unimpeded" access to education-- well it is not a fact in Pakistan, where many girls are not in school, nor is it a fact in the minds of the Taliban, who have bombed hundreds of schools-- iow you sound like you are trying to say Malala's point is not important but clearly it is a very urgent issue in Pakistan presently. UNESCO claims that only 12% to 26% of women and girls are literate.
I am not sure what is driving all the resentment of Malala in Pakistan but frankly many of the comments sound like envy to me. It is hard to imagine that so many people are angry at a young woman for attention she has done nothing to bring on herself, and seems to be handling with great maturity. Yes, the Western audiences are enthusiastic about her story. What is there in that to make you so angry? I am genuinely curious.
That said-- I agree entirely that parties which would overturn democracy if they gain power have no right to participate in democratic elections. Such parties should be banned from registering in elections. ANY parties which are explicitely non-democratic meet this requirement. Since hard line Islamists want to establish a caliphate, they are not good candidates for democratic participation.
Morsi's actions after gaining power-- trying to rewrite the Constitution and grant himself and the MB sweeping new powers-- make it necessary for me to agree with requiring the MB to take a break from elections until they can figure out how to commit themselves to the democratic process. Of course, I also agree that the loss of life is deplorable and violent repression of Islamists is bound to backfire.
"“The Brotherhood without Violence” is also making wild charges that the inner circles of the Brotherhood leadership are planning a bloody campaign of violent reprisals."
Er, what makes you think these charges are "wild"? Elements within the MB have been pretty open about their plans to drag Egypt into a civil war if they don't get their way. There are "reformers" but there's no evidence any one is listening to them at the moment:
From the NY Times:
" “You are here because of the evil that wanted to eliminate religion from our lives,” a mosque speaker railed on a recent night.
Some Islamists seem to welcome the idea of a bloody contest. Posters bearing the words “Martyr Project” adorn the walls around the sit-ins, hinting at the power of fallen comrades to inflame public anger and extend the protest movement.
Sitting in the darkness at a street-side cafe about a block from the edge of the Nasr City sit-in, Ali Mashad, 34, a former Brotherhood member, marveled at the movement’s new role as the center of an energized Islamist camp.
“This is not the Muslim Brotherhood I knew,” said Mr. Mashad, who left the group soon after the 2011 revolution. “They are now speaking the language of the Salafis, because that is what is popular on the street.” "
German television is reporting over 420 dead and thousands injured, just as an addition or update. Civil war looks like a very real possibility right now. The Egyptian academic they are interviewing on ZDF says frankly there are no short term solutions at all. I hope he is just being pessimistic.
Well, sure, we could build something good out of this mess, something post-racial and humanistic and dignified and uplifting. But I think you know what the chances of that are.
It's many times more likely that the robber barons will let a billion people die in some war (or kill them outright) and then use the struggle out of the ashes as a growth opportunity for business. It will be horrible, but human history generally has been.
For all these vanity projects, Dubai remains one of the most environmentally unfriendly places on the planet. It has the world's large per capita carbon footprint, and its "World" artificial islands scheme imported sand from Australia, which contributed to destroying coral reefs in their waters. They had a plan to artificially cool a posh section of waterfront, environmental impacts be d**ned. Dubai cares nothing for the environment. They are all about big, flashy, and expensive.
I have no doubt this little plan, too, will destroy more than it creates. That's the Dubai way.
My understanding is that Imran Khan has also made a great show of is piety and is playing up to religious fundamentalists, in spite of his Western married-to-a-socialite past. Can someone tell me more about this? Is it anything to worry about? If his party did well in NWFP I cannot imagine that it is really very forward looking or good for women and minorities.
Nobody questions whether they have a right to live there, but whether they have a right to disenfranchise all the non-Jewish people who live there too, and establish an apartheid state that discriminates against non-Jews and steals their water.
If genocide, misogyny, and covering up for pedophilia don't make the RCC "any less the true church", then please tell us what it's going to take for you. Because at this point, they've pretty much done almost everything imaginable.
I'm not religious, but if I were forced to pick a religion the RCC would have to be very much at the bottom of the list of possibilities.
Brian. Saying that lack of religious belief is the same thing as religious belief is a tired old false equivalency that doesn't play in Peoria any more. Find something else.
Religion in general and the RNC specifically can't disappear fast enough for me. I am a woman and the history of what the Catholic church has wrought upon women is almost unbearable to contemplate.
There is a village in Bavaria, which, after one of the fits of witch burnings which were so common, had a single female survivor. That's ONE. One girl/woman left in the entire community.
There's a village along the Mosel river which has a rock on which are inscribed the names of the women who were burned on an outcropping overlooking the river. There are hundreds of names.
That is a church led femicide.
And yet you say the church serves some good purpose because once in a while some pope mumbles something that puts him on the right side of a political issue, by accident rather than design? Well that's kind and generous of you but I'm afraid I don't agree.
I want to see the whole operation consigned to the dustbin. The suffering they have brought upon humanity is incalculable. And spiritual, they are NOT.
17 people in Afghanistan including two women were beheaded for having a party with music and dancing, if you want to know where this sort of thing is headed.
Think the funamentalists are kidding? They're not. Mr. Cole is spot on with this post.
Regarding droning fundamentalists and stripping them of their citizenship to avoid legal reprecussions of summarily executing them and so on--as much as this violates their human rights, this (beheading women for dancing) is why people do not get more upset about the violent supression of Islamists than they do.
This is a group of extremists it is very, very difficult to want to defend in any way.
I think of myself as a person who cares deeply about human rights but I just cannot bring myself to care very much when a group of Islamic extremists meets an untimely end. I'm not sure what the solution is to this problem (and yes, I think it's a problem we're refusing to face).
"And what exactly is there here that Palestinians should have been ‘grateful’ for, as Netanyahu keeps asserting?)"
Oh, le's not be coy, I'm sure you know---he's saying Palestinians should be grateful that Israelis haven't pursued open genocide against them, you know, just killed them all outright. He's saying they should be very thankful that they are allowed to live at all, and they better accept whatever low quality of life Israelis are pleased to let them have.
Although universal health care may be on the paper in some of these countries, it is absent in reality due to extreme underfunding. Mexico and India are two examples that come to mind through personal experience. There are "state" hospitals in India (right now health care is mandated on a state by state basis) but you wouldn't want to leave your dog there. There's no reason to think this will change if health care is handed over to the national government.
Libya isn't going to become the next Iraq, that's true.
It's going to become the next Nigeria.
Also, it's a mistake to blow off the racism of the Libyan "rebels" and the organized persecution of immigrant communities from places like Tchad and Niger.
The new regime is already well into its own crimes.
Mr. Haider also needs to point out that the wealthy class in Pakistan need to live in bunker like compounds to protect themselves from the masses of desperately poor, whom they fear. It's a future the wealthy envision for the States.
Also, to admit that part of the reason they build these razor wired encircled edifices is to keep their women jailed in them is just...well. It's horrible.
Thank you for your work on this blog. I always come here first for news about Egypt. The rest of it is, as you pointed out, ridiculous (but I wouldn't limit the use of that term just to Fox). I don't always agree with your viewpoint, but your commentary is always the most well reasoned and intelligent.
There will be political arrests over the coming weeks and months, and many of the protestors will vanish into prison. The international community would do well to pay attention to this.
This is why the protestors were so determined to get Mubarak to move out right away. Now he's still there, and will deploy knocks on doors in the middle of the night to show the futility of resistance.
This is not a victory for the protestors. It is a defeat. And some of them will pay with their lives.
I am afraid that they have given up on public repression, but that a plan for widespread quiet payback is underway. They have collected names and addresses. Over the coming weeks and months, there will be many knocks on doors in the middle of the night, and many men and women dragged away to vanish and be tortured to death in prison. This is why the demonstrators were so desperate. They know that if Mubarak stays in, there will be retaliation. The international community will do well to pay close attention to what goes and deploy pressure to minimize political arrests.
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It's "martial law", Bill. Pretty sure it has never been Marshall law. There was a Marshall plan, though.
And we'd do well to hope that he's not an Islamist fundamentalist who wants to turn the country into KSA but rather a secular socialist-leaning leader with a focus on Africa rather than the Arabian peninsula..........
Oh wait. That WAS Qaddafi. Hmm.
Simple question: Why can't they simply override these people and get on with it? I honestly don't understand how a minority of disgruntled obstructionists can simply block the functioning of the entire govt. day after day. Just propose a vote, have it, and if they want to stew, let them. What could they do about it?
Munir,
Interesting how the blame-the-victim narrative has reached fever pitch in Pakistan, much of it expressing itself in nonsensical and illogical ways. You're participating in this, sadly.
I am pretty sure Malala is not "grateful" to the Taliban for ANYTHING, and for you to say this reveals you do not have the empathy to understand what it must be like to have a hole blown in your head and to lie near death for weeks. I am sure that Malala would trade it all to have her health back and her body whole again. I know I would. And don't imagine that she is healed-- you can see that she is somewhat disfigured and is going to be fragile for the rest of her life.
The rest of your comment is not very intelligible. You state that it is a "fact" that girls have an "unimpeded" access to education-- well it is not a fact in Pakistan, where many girls are not in school, nor is it a fact in the minds of the Taliban, who have bombed hundreds of schools-- iow you sound like you are trying to say Malala's point is not important but clearly it is a very urgent issue in Pakistan presently. UNESCO claims that only 12% to 26% of women and girls are literate.
I am not sure what is driving all the resentment of Malala in Pakistan but frankly many of the comments sound like envy to me. It is hard to imagine that so many people are angry at a young woman for attention she has done nothing to bring on herself, and seems to be handling with great maturity. Yes, the Western audiences are enthusiastic about her story. What is there in that to make you so angry? I am genuinely curious.
That said-- I agree entirely that parties which would overturn democracy if they gain power have no right to participate in democratic elections. Such parties should be banned from registering in elections. ANY parties which are explicitely non-democratic meet this requirement. Since hard line Islamists want to establish a caliphate, they are not good candidates for democratic participation.
Morsi's actions after gaining power-- trying to rewrite the Constitution and grant himself and the MB sweeping new powers-- make it necessary for me to agree with requiring the MB to take a break from elections until they can figure out how to commit themselves to the democratic process. Of course, I also agree that the loss of life is deplorable and violent repression of Islamists is bound to backfire.
"“The Brotherhood without Violence” is also making wild charges that the inner circles of the Brotherhood leadership are planning a bloody campaign of violent reprisals."
Er, what makes you think these charges are "wild"? Elements within the MB have been pretty open about their plans to drag Egypt into a civil war if they don't get their way. There are "reformers" but there's no evidence any one is listening to them at the moment:
From the NY Times:
" “You are here because of the evil that wanted to eliminate religion from our lives,” a mosque speaker railed on a recent night.
Some Islamists seem to welcome the idea of a bloody contest. Posters bearing the words “Martyr Project” adorn the walls around the sit-ins, hinting at the power of fallen comrades to inflame public anger and extend the protest movement.
Sitting in the darkness at a street-side cafe about a block from the edge of the Nasr City sit-in, Ali Mashad, 34, a former Brotherhood member, marveled at the movement’s new role as the center of an energized Islamist camp.
“This is not the Muslim Brotherhood I knew,” said Mr. Mashad, who left the group soon after the 2011 revolution. “They are now speaking the language of the Salafis, because that is what is popular on the street.” "
link to nytimes.com
German television is reporting over 420 dead and thousands injured, just as an addition or update. Civil war looks like a very real possibility right now. The Egyptian academic they are interviewing on ZDF says frankly there are no short term solutions at all. I hope he is just being pessimistic.
Alia,
"The U.S. also has some bad things, so that makes the horrific repression in Saudi Arabia okay", is NOT an argument. It is really weak excuse-making.
I am truly sorry you are so brainwashed. I guess it's the BMWs?
Well, sure, we could build something good out of this mess, something post-racial and humanistic and dignified and uplifting. But I think you know what the chances of that are.
It's many times more likely that the robber barons will let a billion people die in some war (or kill them outright) and then use the struggle out of the ashes as a growth opportunity for business. It will be horrible, but human history generally has been.
Trying hard not to be pessimistic...........
The people who they are replacing don't believe in democracy either. It's a mess.
I'd be happy with that, too. The two don't have to be mutually exclusive. Why would you assume these two goals would be in conflict?
You must be kidding me. I military putsch is "true democracy"? On what planet?
For all these vanity projects, Dubai remains one of the most environmentally unfriendly places on the planet. It has the world's large per capita carbon footprint, and its "World" artificial islands scheme imported sand from Australia, which contributed to destroying coral reefs in their waters. They had a plan to artificially cool a posh section of waterfront, environmental impacts be d**ned. Dubai cares nothing for the environment. They are all about big, flashy, and expensive.
I have no doubt this little plan, too, will destroy more than it creates. That's the Dubai way.
My understanding is that Imran Khan has also made a great show of is piety and is playing up to religious fundamentalists, in spite of his Western married-to-a-socialite past. Can someone tell me more about this? Is it anything to worry about? If his party did well in NWFP I cannot imagine that it is really very forward looking or good for women and minorities.
Nobody questions whether they have a right to live there, but whether they have a right to disenfranchise all the non-Jewish people who live there too, and establish an apartheid state that discriminates against non-Jews and steals their water.
That's the question, and you haven't answered it.
If genocide, misogyny, and covering up for pedophilia don't make the RCC "any less the true church", then please tell us what it's going to take for you. Because at this point, they've pretty much done almost everything imaginable.
I'm not religious, but if I were forced to pick a religion the RCC would have to be very much at the bottom of the list of possibilities.
The church has misused their power consistently and it has largely been taken away from them. The process needs to be completed.
Brian. Saying that lack of religious belief is the same thing as religious belief is a tired old false equivalency that doesn't play in Peoria any more. Find something else.
Yes, I would. Yes, without hesitation. And I have.
I think you'd be much happier if you would try it yourself.
That's not "RNC", sorry. I meant, Roman Catholic Church.
Religion in general and the RNC specifically can't disappear fast enough for me. I am a woman and the history of what the Catholic church has wrought upon women is almost unbearable to contemplate.
There is a village in Bavaria, which, after one of the fits of witch burnings which were so common, had a single female survivor. That's ONE. One girl/woman left in the entire community.
There's a village along the Mosel river which has a rock on which are inscribed the names of the women who were burned on an outcropping overlooking the river. There are hundreds of names.
That is a church led femicide.
And yet you say the church serves some good purpose because once in a while some pope mumbles something that puts him on the right side of a political issue, by accident rather than design? Well that's kind and generous of you but I'm afraid I don't agree.
I want to see the whole operation consigned to the dustbin. The suffering they have brought upon humanity is incalculable. And spiritual, they are NOT.
17 people in Afghanistan including two women were beheaded for having a party with music and dancing, if you want to know where this sort of thing is headed.
Think the funamentalists are kidding? They're not. Mr. Cole is spot on with this post.
Regarding droning fundamentalists and stripping them of their citizenship to avoid legal reprecussions of summarily executing them and so on--as much as this violates their human rights, this (beheading women for dancing) is why people do not get more upset about the violent supression of Islamists than they do.
This is a group of extremists it is very, very difficult to want to defend in any way.
I think of myself as a person who cares deeply about human rights but I just cannot bring myself to care very much when a group of Islamic extremists meets an untimely end. I'm not sure what the solution is to this problem (and yes, I think it's a problem we're refusing to face).
The same will be true in Egypt as well but on a larger scale.
"And what exactly is there here that Palestinians should have been ‘grateful’ for, as Netanyahu keeps asserting?)"
Oh, le's not be coy, I'm sure you know---he's saying Palestinians should be grateful that Israelis haven't pursued open genocide against them, you know, just killed them all outright. He's saying they should be very thankful that they are allowed to live at all, and they better accept whatever low quality of life Israelis are pleased to let them have.
Dubai is back because Abu Dhabi picked up the bill, but Abu Dhabi is now the go-to party spot in the Emirates.
Although universal health care may be on the paper in some of these countries, it is absent in reality due to extreme underfunding. Mexico and India are two examples that come to mind through personal experience. There are "state" hospitals in India (right now health care is mandated on a state by state basis) but you wouldn't want to leave your dog there. There's no reason to think this will change if health care is handed over to the national government.
Libya isn't going to become the next Iraq, that's true.
It's going to become the next Nigeria.
Also, it's a mistake to blow off the racism of the Libyan "rebels" and the organized persecution of immigrant communities from places like Tchad and Niger.
The new regime is already well into its own crimes.
Come now, you don't consider it a serious possibility that she will get anywhere near the nomination, much less the White House?
Mr. Haider also needs to point out that the wealthy class in Pakistan need to live in bunker like compounds to protect themselves from the masses of desperately poor, whom they fear. It's a future the wealthy envision for the States.
Also, to admit that part of the reason they build these razor wired encircled edifices is to keep their women jailed in them is just...well. It's horrible.
Thank you for your work on this blog. I always come here first for news about Egypt. The rest of it is, as you pointed out, ridiculous (but I wouldn't limit the use of that term just to Fox). I don't always agree with your viewpoint, but your commentary is always the most well reasoned and intelligent.
There will be political arrests over the coming weeks and months, and many of the protestors will vanish into prison. The international community would do well to pay attention to this.
This is why the protestors were so determined to get Mubarak to move out right away. Now he's still there, and will deploy knocks on doors in the middle of the night to show the futility of resistance.
This is not a victory for the protestors. It is a defeat. And some of them will pay with their lives.
I am afraid that they have given up on public repression, but that a plan for widespread quiet payback is underway. They have collected names and addresses. Over the coming weeks and months, there will be many knocks on doors in the middle of the night, and many men and women dragged away to vanish and be tortured to death in prison. This is why the demonstrators were so desperate. They know that if Mubarak stays in, there will be retaliation. The international community will do well to pay close attention to what goes and deploy pressure to minimize political arrests.