State Of The Union?

 

Last night was the first night of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. For those of you who've been there, it's  a serious street party and a night when people put on masks and costumes and pretend to be something they're not - to deceive people.

It was a perfect choice for the night of this president's State of the Union.

For the masochists among you, the entire text is here, but I can tell you everything you need to know about it with a lot less pain.

First, the president's delivery was astounding for a man who just won re-election. It was halting, stumbling and for the most part gave the impression that President Obama would rather have been anywhere else.There was even a faint air of resentment. Can it be that even he realizes deep inside that the act is wearing thin, but still was obliged to put on the performance?

Rather than an energetic war cry to the progressive Übermenschen we were told to expect, it was, well, small. Just a tired restatement of the same old failed agenda and false claims. It was even even petulant at times.

The content itself is what you'd call a target rich environment, to the point where it's difficult to know where to start to deconstruct this lame gibberish, although I though Senator Rand Paul did a decent job:


Marco Rubio wasn't bad either, and probably a bit more charismatic:

Interesting how both of them trod pretty much the same ground...

For my part, and especially since I don't have to be correct in the least, here are just a few specific nuggets neither one mentioned per se. I won't even bother going after President Obama's fairy tales about deficit reduction or job creation:

 "My message is simple. It is time to stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas and start rewarding companies that create jobs right here in America. Send me these tax reforms, and I will sign them right away."

 Please,my sides. Shipping jobs overseas? You mean like the UAW that owns GM courtesy of your rewarding them for campaign donations and political support, let alone taxpayer dollars to seal the deal and a $450 billion tax break so they needn't pay taxes and can build cars in China? And after all, Mr. President...with ObamaCare,a poisonous regulatory environment, high energy costs and the highest corporate taxes in the developed world, why would they create jobs here?

 "I will not cede the wind or solar or battery industry to China or Germany because we refuse to make the same commitment here. We’ve subsidized oil companies for a century. That’s long enough."

 First of all, almost all of the president's pet green energy projects ala' Solyndra have been total failures, except when it comes to fattening the personal wallets of the well connected Obama donors running them. They haven't created jobs, and they haven't provided cheaper or more reliable energy unless you count political hot air.

Oh, and by the way..the Germans are more than willing for you to take as much of the solar action as you can handle.You must of missed that briefing too.

 And that bit about 'subsidizing' the oil companies.. The average profit for one the Evil Oil Companies for locating the oil, drilling it out of the ground, shipping it, refining it into gasoline, marketing it and shipping it to your local gas station is around 9% per gallon. Government's cut, just for being there? Depending on your state and local taxes, between 22-28%!

So guess what...Big Government loves high gas prices,because the higher they go, the more of your money they get to grab.Any wonder that President Obama's policies have been grooved to encourage price hikes, by handcuffing domestic production, vetoing the Keystone Pipeline and encouraging monetary policies like quantitative easing that weaken the dollar? And that affects not just the price at the pump, but the price of food at the market and goods people buy that get shipped by trucks and trains that gulf fuel to run. And might we mention all the jobs this has eliminated?

Way to champion the middle class, Mr. President!

The president mentioned in passing in last night's remarks that Americans are using less oil. At $4.00+ per gallon, we sure are, Mr. President. As little as we can, because we can't all  manage to be driven around in pimped out black Cadillac Escalades or on Air Force One at someone else's expense.

 The president also thumped his chest about how he ended the Iraq War, even though the entire agreement on withdrawing our forces was set up by President Bush and all Obama had to do was keep hitting the golf course for that to occur. Howdy Doody could have been elected president and the war would have ended. Not only that, but let's not forget how the Iraq war ended...the surge strategy, which President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, John Kerry and yes Chuck Hagel all opposed and did their very best to sabotage. How hypocritical and self-deluding to you have to be to take credit for something not only did nothing to bring about but did your best to prevent in the name of partisan politics?

 Oh, and I loved this one: "And while it’s ultimately up to the people of the region to decide their fate, we will advocate for those values that have served our own country so well. We will stand against violence and intimidation. We will stand for the rights and dignity of all human beings, men and women, Christians, Muslims, and Jews. We will support policies that lead to strong and stable democracies and open markets, because tyranny is no match for liberty."

So that's why this president has enabled and supported the Islamist takeover of Egypt, because they're oh-so-democratic and into human rights and all that.That's why we're shipping F-16's and Abrams tanks to Mohammed Morsi who considers Jews the descendants of apes and pigs, has his paid gangs rape women protestors in Cairo and supports sharia law that will take away the rights of women and Christians! That's why we're funding Hamas and the unelected dictator of the Palestinian Authority.That's why we've been arming the Syrian rebels even though we know that they're dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood and even al-Qaeda affiliates.Who knew?

And I won't even get into the numerous people with strong Muslim Brotherhood connections or people whom can only be considered their dupes who work in the administration..

President Obama may be advocating for something,but it isn't liberty or American values.

I often wonder how future generations will view these times. We've had three Boomer presidents, and all three have been self-involved, narcissistic, and self-serving, with President Obama by far being the worst of the lot.Former President Bush, with all his failings at least had the grace to appear embarrassed some of the time and at least to demonstrate some humility from time to time.

In an e-mail thread today, it was mentioned that Fidel Castro came from the middle class, and that his father owned a banana plantation. My response was that Castor was a typical Marxist - just like Lenin, someone whom came out of the comfortable well-off, middle class bourgeoisie and grew up to somehow learn to hate his own class so much that he made it his life's mission to destroy it.

It occurs to me that this is President Obama's story as well.

It's embarrassing that this president considers us fools, expects us to swallow this kind of swill and say 'thank you sir! May I have another?' But that's the situation we find ourselves in.It's like living in Rome during the period of the Bad Emperors that started once Commodus became emperor in 180 AD and continued for about a century - no term limits back then except the ones you get with a sword in the ribs or a poisoned wine cup.

The country is crying for leadership, whether those in the DC and media bubbles realize it or not.And politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum.

As the Chinese say, we live in interesting times.

Under Pressure, Egypt's Morsi Annuls Most of Dictatorial Decree - But Gets What He Wanted

 

Apparently, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Morsi reacted to domestic unrest in Cairo
and perhaps even some pressure from Washington.

He has annulled a large part of the decree he issued on November 22 that gave him near-absolute dictatorial power..except for the most important part, the part he really wanted.

Morsi chiefly wanted to protect his Islamist-dominated constitution-writing panel from dissolution by Egypt’s highest court. The new sharia-licious constitution was duly passed by the Islamist dominated parliament and the December 15 referendum vote on accepting it that the opposition had wanted canceled is going to go ahead as planned. Martial law, of course, will still continue.

The Islamist constitution will likely pass, and when it does, Morsi is going to get everything he wanted anyway. And all done democratically too.

Hitler, where ever he is would applaud this masterstroke. It's reminiscent of how he and the Nazis came to power.

Mitt Romney: Common Sense On The Arab-Israeli Conflict

 

Much is being made by the left about a hidden recording of  Mitt Romney's speech in a fundraiser back in mid May in Boca Raton, Florida. The big news is what he had to say about a lot of potential Obama voters, which I'll address shortly.

But of equal note were  his remarks about the Israeli-Arab conflict, which struck me as some of of the most sensible and useful statements on the matter I've ever heard out of a public figure:

"I'm torn by two perspectives in this regard. One is the one which I've had for some time, which is that the Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish. Now why do I say that?

Some might say, well, let's let the Palestinians have the West Bank, and have security, and set up a separate nation for the Palestinians. And then come a couple of thorny questions.

And I don't have a map here to look at the geography, but the border between Israel and the West Bank is obviously right there, right next to Tel Aviv, which is the financial capital, the industrial capital of Israel, the center of Israel. It's—what the border would be? Maybe seven miles from Tel Aviv to what would be the West Bank…The other side of the West Bank, the other side of what would be this new Palestinian state would either be Syria at one point, or Jordan. And of course the Iranians would want to do through the West Bank exactly what they did through Lebanon, what they did near Gaza. Which is that the Iranians would want to bring missiles and armament into the West Bank and potentially threaten Israel. So Israel of course would have to say, "That can't happen. We've got to keep the Iranians from bringing weaponry into the West Bank."

Well, that means that—who? The Israelis are going to patrol the border between Jordan, Syria, and this new Palestinian nation? Well, the Palestinians would say, "Uh, no way! We're an independent country. You can't, you know, guard our border with other Arab nations." And now how about the airport? How about flying into this Palestinian nation? Are we gonna allow military aircraft to come in and weaponry to come in? And if not, who's going to keep it from coming in? Well, the Israelis. Well, the Palestinians are gonna say, "We're not an independent nation if Israel is able to come in and tell us what can land in our airport."

 These are problems—these are very hard to solve, all right? And I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel, and these thorny issues, and I say, "There's just no way." And so what you do is you say, "You move things along the best way you can." You hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that this is going to remain an unsolved problem. We live with that in China and Taiwan. All right, we have a potentially volatile situation but we sort of live with it, and we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it.

 On the other hand, I got a call from a former secretary of state. I won't mention which one it was, but this individual said to me, you know, I think there's a prospect for a settlement between the Palestinians and the Israelis after the Palestinian elections. I said, "Really?" And, you know, his answer was, "Yes, I think there's some prospect." And I didn't delve into it.

Governor Romney finished by saying: "The idea of pushing on the Israelis to give something up to get the Palestinians to act is the worst idea in the world."

What Governor Romney said is what any intelligent observer would figure out after watching the events  on the ground since Oslo.

As Yasser Arafat's former political commissar in Jerusalem,Faisal Al-Husseini famously admitted, Oslo was never anything more than a Trojan Horse designed to fool the Jews into giving Arafat a base to attack them. The so-called two state solution of two states living in peace side by side was never on the agenda, and Arafat himself admitted it on Jordanian TV by referring to to Oslo as a version of the peace of Hubidiyeh, a treaty Mohamamed made with the Quraysh in Mecca that was supposed to be a long time peace but only lasted until Mohamamed gathered enough forces to take the city and massacre them.

That's exactly what Arafat intended for Israel, and what the people whom identify themselves as Palestinians still intend today. That's why even a so-called moderate like Arafat's former right hand man Mahmoud Abbas continues to say he will refuse to make any concessions at all to Israel in negotiations.Or to put it even more plainly,  the Palestinians refuse to enter 'negotiations' unless al their demands are agreed to in advance..and they use the failure of Israel to do so as an excuse for avoiding negotiations!

Only an Israelphobe like Barack Obama would allow them to continue to get away with this scam.

It's also a fact that  the Palestinians have already declared that the Oslo Accords, the whole basis for the two state solution null and void as far as they're concerned..not to mention th eRoad Map, which they've also never abided by anyway.

In truth. the  whole idea of land for peace everywhere Israel has tried it, whether it's been in Gaza, in the Sinai, or in Judea and Samaria (AKA the West Bank) has proven to be a lousy, one sided deal for them.
Nor are the Israelis going to allow a future 'Palestine' within easy firing range of their air ports and major cities to be militarized unless they're suicidal.

Governor Romney is also wise to distance himself from the musings of this former secretary of state, whomever that was ( It sounds like the clueless Condi Rice).

If there is ever another Palestinian election, the winner by far is going to be Hamas, just like it was the last time by over a two third's majority.The corrupt, kleptocrat Fatah Old Guard already know they're on the way out, Their stolen money is salted away in the EU or the Emirates, and most of them already hold Jordanian passports and citizenship as their exit tickets.

In a monstrous irony, this is happening even while the Bedouin monarchy that rules Jordan is actively stripping Palestinians who live in Jordan  of their Jordanian citizenship who've held it for years.

So the truth of the matter is exactly as Governor Romney expressed it:

The majority of the people who consider themselves Palestinians are far more interested in revanchist fantasies than they are in peace, which is how they've been programmed by their mosques, schools and media since Arafat originally took over. And that certainly applies to their leaders.

For the Israelis to once again by that decrepit used car called Oslo and allow a Palestinian state on their borders for Iran and Syria to arm with heavy weapons and missiles would be the ultimate folly, and they aren't going to but into it.

So that makes the best hope for at least continued cold peace the status quo, with the hope that as life gets better for the Palestinians living in autonomy in the Arab occupied areas of Judea and Samaria, the idea of war will be less appealing.

Even more likely to my mind is a Muslim Brotherhood led takeover of Jordan that ousts King Abdullah and the Bedouin led monarchy. That would put Jordan under the control of its majority Palestinian population and make Jordan what it was intended to be all along since the British carved it out of 80% of the Palestine Mandate in 1923..the partition of  Palestine between Arabs and Jews and  and the  actual Palestinian Arab state.

-selah-

The Arab Spring Islamist Governments Work To Destroy The Last Remnants Of Any Jewish Presence

When the Arab Spring first began, the usual suspects hailed it as the birth of new 'Arab Democracy'. And even when Islamist governments took over, the same suspects, notably in the Obama Administration assured everyone that these particular Islamists were pragmatists, and committed to democratic government, in spite of all the evidence that Islam and what we would think of as democracy don't really mix in the least.

Further evidence of what the Arab Spring and the accompanying Islamist governments are really about surfaced in how Tunisia and Egypt are treating the remnants of their Jewish communities.

Tunisia has an ancient community of Jews that once numbered 110,000 at its peak. Today, there are about 2,000 left. Under the old Ben Ali government, Tunisia's Jews enjoyed freedom of worship and relative tolerance. But with the new Islamist Ennahda government, that's changing rapidly.

Tunisia's new Islamist parliament is working to pass a law that will prohibit the import of religious books, kosher food, and even visitors from Israel, thus isolating the community:

In an interview with Makor Rishon, Rav Haim Biton, Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community in Tunisia said, “Today, the government lets us bring in food, medicine, religious and educational books from Israel. If this law passes, our condition will completely change.”

He continued on to say that they are trying to explain to the government that if the law passes, in a few months from now, their relatives from Israel won’t be able to visit, they will not have much needed kosher food items, and, of course, they won’t be able to bring in religious and educational materials.

Other community members were less optimistic as they believe this is the government trying to cut off Jews from their culture. “Behind this law to prohibit the import of kosher products and visiting relatives is their desire to cut off our connection to Israel,” they said.

In November, Tunisia passed a separate law limiting NGOs to importing medicine only from foreign sources in with diplomatic ties with Tunisia, which, obviously, excluded Israel.

Despite the fact that the new proposed law hasn’t yet been passed, Israeli citizens who have requested permission to visit Tunisia recently have been repeatedly turned down, while eight months ago, they could visit.

Reportedly Tunisian-born Israeli vice prime minister Silvan Shalom had previously appealed back in December to what's left of Tunisian Jewry to immigrate to Israel, but met some resistance even though there were signs that endemic Islamist Jew hatred was becoming more common. If this new law passes, it may be a matter of them getting out while they can.

In Egypt, the situation is different. Unlike Tunisia, Egypt actually had formal relations with Israel.

Egypt has already ethnically cleansed almost all of its Jews, with less than one hundred remaining in the country, most of them elderly. The two main communities, or rather what's left of them are in Cairo and Alexandria. The last Jewish wedding in Egypt took place in 1984, at the old Jewish synagogue is Chaar Hashamaim, in downtown Cairo.

In Alexandria there is a small community of 18 women and 4 men, all of them aged between 70 and 90. This year will be different for them because for the first time, the Islamist government of Egypt is not going to allow a Rabbi or Cantor from Israel or enough Jewish men from Israel to enter the country for Rosh Hashona and Yom Kippur services at Alexandria's last remaining synagogue, Eliahou Hanavi.

Jewish religious worship requires a minyan, ten Jewish men in order to properly conduct services. Critical parts of the service cannot be done without it. This will be the first time in 2,000 years that there will be no minyan in Alexandria.

The remaining elderly Jews will attempt to hold services themselves, as best they can.

The Egyptian government justified this on the grounds of 'security'. What that actually means is, just as with the Israeli embassy in Cairo, they're unwilling to protect Jews coming in to Egypt to visit, or to allow a few elderly Jews a feeling of community as they have every year since the Israeli Egyptian peace treaty.

There's a frequent saying bandied about by people who call themselves liberals that a society can be judged by the freedom accorded the least of its members.

Considering that many of these same people are still agog over the Arab Spring, I'm curious about how they'd rate the so-called democratic societies of Tunisia and Egypt.

Netanyahu FOX Interview: Syria, Bulgaria, Hezbollah, Iran, Romney, The Arab Spring

A revealing and interesting interview worth your while to watch. Note how registered Democrat Chris Wallace tries to trap Netanyahu into stepping into partisan American politics and how skillfully Netanyahu evades him.

Of particular interest to me were the segments on Iran, Hezbollah and Syria, where apparently the Obama Administration is trying apparently beginning to try to talk Israel into intervening militarily on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood rebels against the Assad regime.

Will the Israelis do it? Possibly, if nothing else but to stop Assad from moving his chemical weapons over to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Egypt Explodes

Massive riots occurred throughout Egypt this weekend as protesters in major cities challenged army rule of the country.

Hundreds were injured, and the death toll, depending on who's counting, ranges from 12 to 15 people. According to my sources, it was even higher.

The protest was directed against the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and its head Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the de facto transitional rulers of the country.





The army has shown signs of being reluctant to give up power. With the first set of staggered parliamentary elections set to start November 28th, The protestors are accusing the army of trying to retain power from behind the scenes as it oversees the transition, which could see military rule until the presidential elections that have no set date at this time and may not happen until late 2012 or early 2013.

Additionally, the army is involved in a dispute with various political groups and the army-picked cabinet over ground rules for the drafting of Egypt's new constitution. The army wants provisions that could leave the military essentially free of civilian control, free of any oversight over the army's budget and the 'guarantors' of Egypt's new constitution once it gets written. This, as you might recognize is the old Turkish model, and Egypt's Islamists have no intention of going to the trouble of taking power if the army can legally depose them.

The initial clash came when the Egyptian police attempted to clear out the protesters in Tahrir Square in Cairo. As the police moved towards them the protesters in the front lines used a tactic that worked during the clashes that brought down Mubarak, kneeling in an attitude of Islamic prayer. Last time, the army backed off. This time they didn't.

For the first time since the initial revolt, Egypt's state police force, a symbol of the Mubarak regime was deployed in force, and they were openly backed up by the army. The protesters were badly beaten without any regard for age or sex, and protesters later showed reporters spent shotgun cartridges, bullet casings and empty teargas canisters. Some of the tear gas canisters had been purchased by the Mubarak government from America, the UK and Israel had English and Hebrew markings on them, which caused fresh outrage

Here's the back story and it's an interesting one. The Brotherhood and other Islamist groups have been a major force in gradually fomenting discontent against the army's rule since it became obvious that the army was not quite ready to completely cave in to Islamist rule.

According to my sources, the Muslim Brotherhood initially instigated the protests after Friday prayers in anger over the army's refusal to obey what amounted to an ultimatum from them to bar ex-members of former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party from running for office in the upcoming parliamentary elections. They used the excuse of the army's rather heavy handed rule as a sparking point.

Then, once the festivities were under way, the Brotherhood officially pulled back from the protests as they ramped up so as not totally antagonize the army while leaving just enough 'independent' Islamists in the crowd to give them credibility with the protesters.

What passes for Egypt's current government played right into this . Mansour el-Essawy, the interior minister whose resignation the protesters demanded sounded just like his predecessor in the Mubarak era, claiming that the police hadn't fired at anyone and that the demonstrators had shot at each other. And the generals stuck to a hard line.

"If security is not applied, we will implement the rule of law," said General Mohsen al-Fangari, a member of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egypt's de-facto government. "Anyone who does wrong will pay for it."

I have to admit this was a master stroke. Initially, the army was seen as the people's hero for not participating in crushing the initial revolt against Mubarak. After this weekend, they're seen as oppressors and the chief obstacle to 'democracy' and it's the Brotherhood that's now seen as the heroes. Watch for the Brotherhood to use this to get even more of the army and police lower ranks and officers on their side.

The Brotherhood was expected to get a 40% majority in the upcoming parliamentary elections. Assuming the elections are fair and honest and the results implemented, their majority will probably be even greater after this weekend's events, and they will be seen as the saviors of Egypt's 'democracy'. And if the elections are rigged or not held, look for Egypt to explode again.

It's a perfect lead in to the establishment of a new Islamic Republic.

UPDATE: My sources were apparently proven correct once again. The reported death toll has risen to 35. Meanwhile, Egypt's interim civilian cabinet has resigned en masse.

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Tunisia's Elections...'Arab Spring' Or Islamist Takeover?

Tunisia is holding elections today for the 217-seat assembly that will draft a constitution and appoint an interim government. Former President Zinedine el-Abidine Ben Ali was overthrown nine months ago.

Regardless of what some of the usual suspects are saying, this is not going to be some kind of signpost as to where the other elections in the region will be heading.Tunisia is unique in that a higher percentage of its population is literate and has a degree of education than say, Egypt, tribalism is not a major factor as it is in Libya, and Tunisia was always a more moderate country than either. Unique in the Arab world, the country even actually has a tiny Jewish population, with an historic synagogue on the Island of Djerba and a small one in Tunis. However, there were a number of indications from the demonstrations that this tolerance could change rapidly,particularly if an Islamist regime comes to power.

In spite of Tunisia's moderate image, an Islamist party, Ennahda, ( formerly Al-Nahda) is expected to win the most votes, although it may not gain enough seats to win a parliamentary majority. It's chief secular opponent is likely to be the Left-leaning, Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), led by Najib Chebbi.

Ennahda and its leader Rachid Ghannouchi have made a point, particularly in the cities, of reassuring Tunisians of their commitment to democracy and women's rights.The PDP favors a secular, European style socialist government.Significantly Ghannouchi has said that he considers the Islamism of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and the AKP as a model, which means essentially that he likes the tactics of a gradual takeover, turning a formerly moderate Muslim country into an Islamist state bit by bit.

Results are expected Monday.

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The Real Arab Spring

From my pal Ya'akov at Dry Bones, of course...via Liberty's Spirit.

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Khaddaffi: The Fall Of The Brother Leader

Rebels entered Tripoli today from the west, meeting almost no resistance. A planned uprising within Khaddaffi's stronghold broke out as the rebels attacked the city.

According to what rebel spokesperson Adel Dabbechi told Reuters, Khaddaffi's younger son Saif Al-Islam had been captured and his eldest son Mohammed Al-Gaddafi have surrendered to rebel forces.

The rebels have secured Green Square in central Tripoli, there are racous celebrations going on and the city appears to have fallen although sporadic fighting continues.

And the Brother Leader? Conflicting reports. Some reports on Twitter say he was shot and killed near the Rixos Hotel while trying to escape. Other reports have him in Algeria and en route to Tunis and exile.

In any case, the regime has obviously fallen. But before we break out the champagne, there's an important thing to consider - what happens next?



As those regular members of Joshua's Army know, the rebels are severely divided and there are Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda factions among them. The Obama Administration got us involved in this costly adventure on behalf of one side in a civil war without even a clear idea of whom we're helping.

At this point, Khaddaffi's arsenals have been looted and the booty widely dispersed, including cute little toys like SA-7 missiles, portable shoulder fired surface-to-air heat seeking missiles that can be used against civilian and military aircraft.

What happens next? My bet is chaos as various factions fight for the spoils.And I doubt the ultimate outcome is going to be what the Obama Administration expected.

I only hope he doesn't waste more of our money on another farcical nation building extravaganza.

Between this and an Islamist regime taking over in Egypt, the foundations for the New Caliphate have likely been laid.

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The Obama Administration Continues Its Weakness And Vaccilation On Syria

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton obviously got a spanking from President Obama behind the scenes.

Last week, Secretary Clinton had finally dropped her line about Syrian Thug-in-Chief Bashar Assad being 'a reformer' and said that Assad had 'lost legitimacy', language that looked like a lead up to calling for him to leave power.

This week, the story changed,with Secretary Clinton saying the administration still hopes that Assad's regime will stop killing and imprisoning the regime's political opponents and "work with protesters to carry out political reforms."

Yes, we're back to Assad The Reformer again.

Let's recap a bit. Here's a regime that actively aided and abetted jihadis and weaponry traveling through its territory to kill our troops in Iraq, who's allied with our enemies in Iran,who put together an illegal nuclear weapons program through North Korea until the Israelis bombed their main reactor, who actively and openly supports groups like Hamas and Hezbollah that are officially named terrorist groups by our state department and brutalizes its own people on a grand scale and we're 'hoping they work to institute reform'?

Syria is probably the one true 'Arab Spring ' pro-democracy revolt, the real game changer, and I can only imagine the feelings of Syrians risking their lives for their freedom when they see the vacillation of America's leaders.Those Arabs who saw Obama's farcical Cairo speech as an encouragement to freedom in the region have probably realized by now that it was just words and wind.

Syrian activists and their supporters were encouraged last week when the U.S. ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, unexpectedly visited the opposition stronghold of Hama and met with protesters. The highly publicized visit appeared to be a direct challenge to Assad's regime.

Then, after a pro-Assad mob broke into the U.S. Embassy compound in Damascus, Clinton angrily told reporters that "from our perspective, he has lost legitimacy." That sparked speculation that President Obama would call for Assad to step down.

But U.S. officials said no such decision had been made. And the next day, Obama appeared to soften Clinton's criticism. "Increasingly, you're seeing President Assad lose legitimacy in the eyes of his people," he said.

U.S. officials say that although some administration officials, including Clinton, have pressed for a more forceful policy, others argue that the administration would look weak if Obama called for Assad's departure and nothing happened.

I wonder...is it actually possible for President Obama took look any weaker? Just to emphasize how President Obama is perceived, the Assad regime restricted the movements of US Ambassador Robert Ford, warning him not to leave Damascus without permission.

Instead of at least putting our moral authority on the side of the protesters, condemning the carnage outright and withdrawing our ambassador, steps that would gain the US some street credibility in the Arab world if nothing else, the president just hedges.

Oddly enough, only an outright foe of the United States is accorded this kid gloves treatment. Mubarak of Egypt, who was at least nominally an ally of the US certainly didn't. Neither did Moamar Khadaffi, who was no friend to America but at least not an active enemy.

I can't help but wonder if the Israel factor came into play as part of this..replacing a regime that was committed to keeping the Israeli-Egyptian accords with one that likely won't, and coddling another regime that is an avowed enemy of Israel and supports Hamas and Hezbollah.

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The New Egypt - Muslim Brotherhood Poised To Take Over

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

(h/t Foreign Confidential)

NBC talking head Brian Williams seems shocked, simply shocked that the 'Arab Spring' isn't turning out the way he told everyone it would. The Muslim Brotherhood is out to create a Sunni version of Khomeni's villayat-e-fiqh , an Islamist state along the lines of Iran.

Notice,by the way, the gratuitous Israel bashing and Jew hatred voiced by the Brotherhood spokesperson. These are the people President Obama encouraged all along and has now officially recognized.

Based on how the Obama Administration has acted from the first, that should hardly be a surprise.

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Egypt Opens Rafah Crossing To Hamas, Begins Steps to Cut Off Gas Shipments To Israel

Over the weekend, the Egyptian junta formally reopened the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Hamas ruled Gaza Strip. This was done without coordinating anything with Israel, a violation of the 2005 Egyptian-Israeli accords on the Gaza crossings which call for them to be manned by European monitors and supervised by Israel.

Those accords were part of the security assurances Israel was given when Israel agreed to retreat from Gaza and were signed on to by both the US and the EU.

In response to Israeli concerns, Egyptian Chief of Staff General Sami Anan warned Israel not to interfere in Egypt’s internal affairs.

Anan wrote on his Facebook page that “Israel has no right to interfere in the issue of the opening of the Rafah crossing. This is an Egyptian-Palestinian matter.”

Another sign that Egypt plans to abrogate the Israel-Egyptian Camp David Accords was decision by Egypt's Oil Minister Abdallah Ghorab to liquidate EMG (the East Mediterranean Gas Company), jointly owned by the Israeli company Merhav (25%), PTT (25%), EMI-EGI LP (12%), and Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (10%).EMG is under contract to deliver Egyptian gas to Israel and supplied 40 percent of its needs in 2010. As part of the treaty, Egypt had agreed to supply natural gas to Israel at slightly below market prices, and a the contract was just renewed in 2009. Deliveries were made via a pipeline that was jointly built by Israel and Egypt from El Arish in Sinai to the Israeli port of Ashkelon.

On May 28th the Egyptians informed Israel that deliveries were not going to resume. The ostensible reason is that ex-President Mubarak and his sons are now in jail on corruption charges involving a rake off they allegedly took from the gas sales and the Egyptians are saying that the contract is therefore void, but the real reason in the Egyptian junta's desire to appeal politically to the Egyptian street, a major portion of which wants all relations broken off with Israel...especially the Muslim Brotherhood contingent.

Mubarak was fined the equivalent of $33 million by the Egyptian courts simply for cutting off internet and telecom access for a day or so during the revolt, and the eighty-year-old dictator is also scheduled to be tried for 'the murder of unarmed protesters' as well. He'll probably end up being executed after all his wealth that can be found is expropriated.

It's interesting to contrast the fate of Hosni Mubarak, who wasn't willing to use his military against his own people with that of Syria's Basher Assad, who was.

Of course, having the president of the United States actively work on your removal likely has something to do with it.

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22 Killed By Assad's Forces in Today's Death Toll In Syria

The Assad Regime is continuing its brutal crackdown on protesters, although it's barely being noticed in the media.

Fridays are usually the big demonstration days in the Muslim world as people emerge from the mosques.Mass protests broke out today in cities all across Syria, and they were harshly repressed by Assad's forces.

The bloodiest activity took place in the city of Homs where 15 protesters were killed. Syrian state television admitted that an army officer and four police were killed in Homs by a "criminal gang".

As I reported here, Assad's security forces stormed the city of Deraa last week and did a house to house 'cleansing', and there's no real information on how many were killed and arrested there.The overall death toll is said to be over 500 people (the equivalent population -wise to killing 8,000 Americans) and could be much higher, while an anonymous Western diplomat said that at least 7,000 people have been arrested. Remember, it was Basher Assad's father Hafez al-Assad who literally sacked the city of Homs in 1982 and killed an estimated 20,000 people.

Two of the opposition leaders are among the arrested - Riad Seif, who helped found Syria's nascent democracy movement and prominent Damascus imam Mouaz al-Khatib, another major leader in the uprising. They were literally dragged from their homes, and their whereabouts or even whether they're still alive is unknown.

Assad has largely prevented high profile protests by keeping foreign media largely out of the country and by blocking access to Damascus to prevent large groups of protesters from establishing a central location as happened in Egypt's Tahrir Square. But the protests continue to mount and expand.

Given the Arab bloc in the UN, that body is obviously not going to do anything meaningful about this. The EU has imposed selective asset asset freezes and travel restrictions against Syrian officials they consider responsible for the violence,but that notably does not include any members of the Assad family.

Apparently Libya's oil and the French and British need to preserve those lucrative oil contracts made Libya a very different story.

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Radical Islamists Poised To Seize Control of Egypt

As Egypt prepares for the first post-Mubarak elections in September, it becomes more and more obvious that Egypt is going to become the Obama Administration's Iran, just as I predicted a long time ago.

President Obama and his minions encouraged the Muslim Brotherhood and undermined Mubarak politically and now the West is going to be faced with the consequences of that decision.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most organized political power and the founder of Hamas is overwhelming the middle class 'pro-democracy' protesters, and Mohammed Badie, the Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual leader, last week predicted the group's candidates would win 75 per cent of the seats it contested.

And there are even more Islamist groups like Gamaa al-Islamiya, an al-Qaeda linked group that promotes Salafist policies who will likely win enough seats to be part of the government.

In another sign of how things are going, Egypt's Coptic Christians, 10 per cent of the population are starting to flee the country. Al-Masry al-Youm, an Egyptian newspaper, reported last week that the Canadian embassy had been swamped by visa requests from Coptic Christians.


The army, just as it did in Iran, is standing aside in a devil's bargain that the Islamists will allow them to keep their perks and power in exchange for supporting the regime.

Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party, which won 80 per cent of seats in parliament in December's election has been officially disbanded by the Egyptians courts, Mubarak is in the hospital after suffering a heart attack prior to being subjected to questioning over accusations of corruption and his two sons, along with other members of the Mubarak regime are in jail.

There's very little standing in the way of the Islamists taking over.

The leading candidates for Egypt's presidency have all but acknowledged th efact that the next Egypt will be Islamist. The front runner right now, Amr Moussa, the Arab League president, is essentially running on a quasi-Islamist platform that will incorporate sharia, end Egypt's blockade of Gaza, resume relations with Hamas and severely curtail if not end relations with Israel.

At that, Amr Moussa may very well be a stop gap President in the manner of Iran's Mehdi Bazargan, who was pushed out of the way by Khomeini as soon as Khomeini was ready to take over.

Egypt has a population of 80 million people that is can't support, half of its food is now imported, unemployment is rampant, the government admits to 12% inflation and one in four Egyptians is illiterate, including almost 70% of the women.

Mubarak being gone is not going to change this. It might very well be to the Muslim Brotherhood's advantage to have someone else in the president's chair for awhile. These problems guarantee that no matter who rules Egypt, a combination of Islam, harsh repression and the use of a convenient scapegoat like Israel or America may be the only way a new regime will have to keep things in line.

Like every Arab democracy thus far, Egypt's can be counted on to last for one election.

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Libya - Stalemate

NATO's war of choice in Libya appears to be dead in the water as far as a final resolution goes.

Even with NATO airpower, the rebels lack the military muscle to defeat Khaddaffi, and while NATO has succeeded in protecting the rebel's base in Benghazi, the rebels haven't been able come close to delivering the coup de grâce to the Brother Leader.Aside from Benghazi, the only other major city the rebels still hold is Misrata..which is under seige by Khaddaffi's troops and could fall any day.

What's more, the rebels are apparently broke. They're seeking a $2 billion 'loan' from their 'allies' to purchase food, medicine, and fuel ( yes, fuel..in Libya) so as to be able to keep up the fight against Khaddaffi.

It is a little amusing, I admit, to see the British and French so engulfed in a quagmire of their own making after they prematurely dumped their good friend Khaddaffi and all those lucrative oil deals they made with him, figuring that the rebels were a shoo-in. Now that the rebels are on the ropes, they're stuck with them, and there's no real end in sight.

The US is officially still having American aircraft perform missions, but there's definitely been a ramp down, and Cameron and Sarkozy are screaming for more decisive action on the part of the so-called coalition.

That coalition, which goes by the moniker of The Libyan Contact Group and includes Britain, France, The US, and other countries lending military support held yet another meeting in Doha, Qatar yesterday , and agreed in a released statement that “Qaddafi and his regime had lost all legitimacy and he must leave power, allowing the Libyan people to determine their own future.”

What they're not agreed on is exactly how to go about that little task short of sending in ground troops, which no one really wants to pull the trigger on, especially President Obama.

To add to the mix, the Germans, who were sensibly opposed to the whole adventure from the start, have started a peace initiative to negotiate an end to conflict in partnership with the African Union.

The AU is not particularly interested in seeing Khaddaffi deposed, and sent a peace delegation to see him April 10 headed by South African President Jacob Zuma. The German emissary was Bernd Schmidtbauer, former chief of the Bundesnachrichtendienst ( BND), Germany's equivalent of the CIA or MI5.

The delegation met with Khaddaffi and his son Saif several times and Khaddaffi agreed to the immediate cessation of all hostilities and to negotiations with a view to "adopting and implementing the political reforms necessary for eliminating the causes of the current crisis," according to a statement issued April 10th.

What they're talking about is elections, where one of Khaddaffi's sons could conceivably run for President and win,given Libya's experience and tradition with western style elections and democracy ( and yes, I'm being sarcastic).

The problem is that the rebels, backed up by the British and French are refusing to consider any settlement that doesn't involve Khaddaffi turning over power to them immediately and leaving the country.And at this point, there's absolutely no reason for Khaddaffi to agree to that whatsoever.

Of course, any deal that leaves Khaddaffi in power, or might pave the way for one of his sons to take power would be a major political, military and financial setback for the French and the British, both of whom were confident of laying their hands on all those oil concessions at bargain prices once the rebels were in and Khaddaffi was out of the way.

Unfortunately for them, Khaddaffi proved a lot stronger and more durable than they thought, the rebels ended up lacking the punch and support needed for his overthrow...and the Brits and French are stuck with a losing bet on the wrong horse they're now desperately trying to turn into a winner.

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The Real Battle In The Middle East: Syria

The major game changer in the Middle East isn't in Egypt, or Libya or Bahrain, or Yemen...it's in Syria, where major protests against the Assad regime continue to explode.

In spite of heavy crackdowns by the regime's security forces, there are violent protests currently going on in Homs (Hama), in Damascus, in Baniyas, in Aleppo, even in the regime stronghold of Latakia. So far, at least 170 protesters ( and that's a conservative estimate) have died in clashes with police and the Syrian military.

This is even more significant when you realize that Basher Assad's facist police state makes Moammar Khaddaffi's look like Disneyland. And remember, while Khaddaffi's current body count is higher, his is happening in the context of a civil war.

There's a long history of brutality here. Assad's father Hafez al-Assad murdered an estimated 20,000 people the last time something like this broke out back in 1982 , sending his army and heavy weapons into Homs against his own people to sack and devastate the city.

Basher Assad is reportedly even using Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon to murder and terrorize his own people.

Last Sunday, four protesters were killed by Assad's goons during demonstrations in Baniyas. According to Al-Arabiya, an eyewitness said that gunshots could still be heard in Baniya’s Ras Al-Naba’a quarter, the site of the largest demonstrations.

In the village of Bayda, security forces together with Assad's Shabbiha militia decided to make an example of the inhabitants for offering refuge to people fleeing Baniyas after the military attacked. Wissam Tarif, a Syrian human rights advocate said Assad's forces raided houses and pulled men and women into the town square, where they were “collectively beaten’’ byAssad’s thugs.

“They formed circles around them in the square, and they beat them,’’ Tarif said.

What's causing the Syrian uprising? There are a number of causes. The first one, as with many of the other Arab 'uprisings' has to do with food prices.

The rise of the Asian economies, particularly in China and India means that the newly prosperous consumers of Asia are able to pay prices for food grains far beyond the reach of the destitute Arab poor. World food prices have doubled over the past year, someone is going to eat less, and in this case, it's the decrepit Arab command economies in places like Syria where the current economic situation has overwhelmed many Arab despots' ability to manage through the usual mechanism of government subsidies.

Assad did an incredibly stupid thing when the unrest started when he tried to prevent a rise in prices by lowering taxes on oil and sugar, and cutting import tariffs on basic foodstuffs. Perishables, like vegetables and fruit stayed low in price, but what happened to items with a longer shelf life was a wave of hoarding that has pushed the staples like oil and rice sky high. Accordingly, the price of basic foodstuffs in Syria have risen by 25 to 30%.

This intensified as prices went up, because importers and bazaar retailers reacted to the higher prices by bribing customs officials to control the flow of goods and then simply hoarding their stocks to sell at the higher prices.

Another significant factor is the tribal one, as in Libya. The al-Assads belong to the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam. During their reign, they have made sure to stock the military and the government with their fellow Alawites. Most Syrians, on the other hand, are Sunnis. And there are significant minorities of Druse (Arabs but not Muslims) and Kurds (Sunni Muslims, but not Arabs) who have long suffered second class status in Syria. In short, there are lots of people whom bear a grudge against the Assad regime.

Assad has managed to survive because many of his troops ( if not all) are still willing to shoot down their own people, but there's a practical limit to how far that can go before it becomes unsustainable. And however violent the crackdown, it isn't going to affect Syria's economic problems in the least.

If the Assad regime falls, it will have repercussions throughout the entire Middle East and beyond. Iran would lose an important ally, as well as a badly needed terminus for arms shipments to its proxies Hezbollah and Hamas, which is exactly why Iran is helping Assad with the crackdown on his own people. Hezbollah would have difficulty maintaining its hold on Lebanon, and would have to face any conflict with Israel on its own, while Hamas would lose a haven for its high command in Damascus, making it a lot more isolated and likewise facing a lot more difficulty obtaining arms.

Oddly enough, one of the best things Basher Assad has going for him is the Obama Administration. While there have been a few perfunctory statements about the regimes brutality towards the protesters, we're not hearing anything like we heard about Egypt's Mubarak, or Libya's Khaddaffi.

Instead, we're hearing the likes of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton describe this brutal dictator as 'a reformer', the UN tribunal that linked the murder of Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri to key members of the Assad regime has effectively been sidelined and Assad's good friend Senator John Kerry continues to shill for him in Washington. The UN's 'Responsibility To Protect' doctrine? Never heard of it when it comes to Syria.

Assad, you see, has used friends like Kerry to run the narrative that if the Assad regime falls, in the words of Kerry, "Wahhabism, or Muslim Brotherhood, or whatever it is" will triumph. Just as though the Assad regime wasn't a major facilitator of Islamist terrorism itself.

The Obama Administration, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, still views Assad and Syria as a key partner in the Middle East peace process even though any semblance of it died a long time ago. We still have an ambassador there and maintain relatively normal relations.

Perhaps Obama has fond memories of his old partner in crime, Syrian Tony Rezco. Perhaps it's because maintaining the 'Syrian track' is another convenient stick to beat Israel with. Maybe it's just that Assad at this point is a known quantity, or maybe it's a combination of all three.

Whatever the reason, it's a good indication of how amateur and clueless the current team in Washington actually is that the one Arab revolt that would actually promote peace in the region and advance US interests is the one the Obama Administration shying away from helping.

-Selah-

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The New Egypt: Blogger Sentenced To 3 years Criticizing Army Rulers

The new Egyptian government isn't only cracking down on demonstrations - it's cracking down on even ordinary notions of free speech.

Blogger Maikel Nabil, 26, was taken from his home in Cairo by five military police officers early on March 28 and charged with insulting the military establishment and "spreading false information."

The 'false information' involved posting pictures and video clips on his blog of protesters he said had been beaten by military police during demonstrations in Tahrir Square and elsewhere.

Nabil's lawyers were informed the judge would rule today, April 12th, but later discovered he had already been sentenced to three years in prison in their absence the previous Sunday.

The fact that Nabil is a Coptic Christian and champions Israel on his blog for its rights and democratic freedoms probably didn't help him either.

Various human rights organizations suspect that anything from hundreds to thousands of Egyptians are being held and tried before military courts behind closed doors since President Hosni Mubarak's ousting on February 11.

"The methods used by the Egyptian military do not seem to have evolved since Hosni Mubarak's fall," said Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-Francois Julliard.

"A civilian should not be tried by a military court. This is not the way things are done in the democratic society to which Egyptians aspire," he added.

Au contraire Msr. Julliard...what made you think most Egyptians aspire to a democratic society? I guarantee you,blasphemy laws against criticizing Islam will come next.

I have a feeling that some Egyptians may end up wishing Mubarak was back in power..

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Egypt Now Says"Iran Is Not An Enemy State" And Wants To 'Open A New Page'

Yes Obama leaning on Mubarak to step down certainly has brought dividends - for America's enemies.

For over thirty years, ever since Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979, Egypt has cut all ties with Iran.

That has been an important part of America's Middle East strategy, with Egypt as one of the leaders of the Arab World along with the Saudis and a cornerstone of the Arab versus Persian, Sunni versus Shia balance in the region. No more.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Nabil el-Arabi said today that Egypt is ready to “open a new page” with Iran.

“The Egyptian government doesn’t consider Iran to be an enemy state,” MENA cited el-Arabi as saying. “We’re opening a new page with all countries, including Iran.”

The Iranians already have an alliance with Omar al-Bashri's Sudan as well as bases there. Egypt will just be one more stepping stone, especially when the Egyptians turn a blind eye to Iran's arming of Hamas via Sudan.

That has implications for NATO's soft underbelly in the Mediterranean as well as for Israel.

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Egypt: Arab 'Democracy' Giving Way To A New Islamist State

Remember when the columnists and the newsrooms in the dinosaur media were practically jumping out of their shoes touting the Egyptian 'pro-democracy' movement? How wonderful it all was, and how Egypt was going to be the new liberal paradise in the Arab world? How sagacious and wise Obama was for encouraging it all and dumping Mubarak so quickly?

Well, it appears that some second thoughts and some serious walking back are in order as reality rears its ugly head.

They've finally noticed that the secular unemployed and underemployed twitter addicts and students in Cairo aren't the ones who will be running the new Egypt...it will be the military in partnership with the Ikhwan, the Muslim Brotherhood.

“We are all worried,” said Amr Koura, 55, a television producer, reflecting the opinions of the secular minority. “The young people have no control of the revolution anymore. It was evident in the last few weeks when you saw a lot of bearded people taking charge. The youth are gone.”

In other words, something more along the lines of Iran, just as I predicted.

And the 'youth' will go along with it, as will the military...just as they did in Iran.

Whaddya know about that?

The folly of the whitewashing of the 'secular' Muslim Brotherhood by the Obama Administration and people like their shills at the Times is about to become all too plain.

The Egyptians, urged on by their imams and the Ikhwan turned out in record numbers to vote for early elections that favor the Brotherhood, not the nascent 'liberal' movements. And it is the new Brotherhood dominated parliament that will revamp Egypt's laws and create a new Islamic Republic that will be absolutely sharia-licious.

The rabid response Ikhwan leader Yusef Qaradawi received when he returned to Egypt should have been one clue to the boys and girls at Parvda-on-the Hudson. So was Lara Logan's gang rape while the crowd screamed "Jew! Jew!"

Islam and the western notion of freedom and democracy don't mix, for the most part.

I'm also going to make another prediction, one that seems quite obvious to me. The Obama Administration's policies in Egypt and the Middle East are almost certain to lead to a new war in the region between Israel and the genocidal Hamas, with a good chance of Hezbollah joining in and Egypt participating, at least tacitly and perhaps overtly.

Mubarak was no friend of Israel, but after seeing the Muslim Brotherhood murder his predecessor Anwar Sadat, he realized that they were a threat to his regime and made efforts to suppress them at home and keep Iranian arms out of the hands of Hamas, the Ikhwan branch in Gaza.

The new Egyptian regime is going to be much more sympathetic to Hamas and isn't likely to make any such efforts, even if they elect to go through the motions of observing the Israel-Egypt peace treaty to keep that fat $2 billion US subsidy coming in. As soon as Hamas feels it's ready, we'll see another war against the Jews.

Since Hezbollah now owns Lebanon and is an Iranian proxy like Hamas, they will almost certainly join in. And we could actually see a scenario where Egyptian popular opinion and religious fervor has the new regime putting their US trained and armed military into the mix as well.

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