go women!

http://bikyamasr.com/53028/egyptian-women-cane-morality-police

1/14/2012 7:43:38 PM

1 year anniversary of the dictator from Tunisia stepping down today

1/14/2012 8:12:49 PM

down with dictators....kill em off and hang em high. then we will see who tries it again

1/14/2012 11:54:37 PM

Syria update... very surprising news:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16771542
The worst is yet to come.

Libya torture of Gaddafi-suuporters:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16771372

Quote :

""There's torture, extrajudicial executions, rape of both men and women," she told the Associated Press news agency."

Libyan town of Gaddafi-supporters cleansed:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16051349

Quote :

"In the middle of August, between the end of the siege and the killing of Gaddafi, Misratan forces drove out everyone living in Tawergha, a town of 30,000 people. Human rights groups have described this as an act of revenge and collective punishment possibly amounting to a crime against humanity."

[Edited on January 28, 2012 at 6:50 AM. Reason : ]

1/28/2012 6:41:24 AM

damn. some harsh ass language coming out after the UNSC vote. unanimous vote outside of russia/china

2/4/2012 1:14:30 PM

It's refreshing to see someone else propping up a brutal arab dictator for a change.

It's good to see we have common ground with the soviets.

[Edited on February 4, 2012 at 1:21 PM. Reason : .]

2/4/2012 1:18:25 PM

i agree. horrible timing for russia too...big protest today. i hope we are propping up those protests.

2/4/2012 1:23:13 PM

There are a lot of people unhappy but 52% of syrians support the regime. This is no different than the occupy protests. Its just that they don't have as much freedom to protest as we do and when they protest they get shot with live munition instead of pepper spray and teargas. They still have more freedom than the Saudis but we wouldn't dare challenge them because they are our allies. Well Syria is Iran's ally and Russia and China aren't having it.

Russia is sending a military buildup to the region. We could be looking at WW3 in 2012 if Israel or US make one dumb move.

http://rt.com/news/syria-iran-russia-china-921/

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/218815.html

http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093479351

[Edited on February 4, 2012 at 5:10 PM. Reason : k]

2/4/2012 5:00:36 PM

so, Russia is sending troops to another nation to impose its political will on that nation. and we don't like it. sounds like Ron Paul is right when he says that we wouldn't like it when others do what we do

2/4/2012 5:18:52 PM

Quote :

"There are a lot of people unhappy but 52% of syrians support the regime."

where is the data?

myth shattered:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17155349

(hint: sample size of 98 syrians)

2/25/2012 4:32:13 PM

Do you have any data that suggests most want him out? Many Americans would like for Obama to step down. Should he?

2/25/2012 6:46:32 PM

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2106230/Insult-WWII-heroes-Graves-British-soldiers-smashed-desecrated-Libyan-Islamists-protest-U-S-soldiers-Koran-burning.html

im sure allah is real proud of them.

2/25/2012 8:01:47 PM

Quote :

"Do you have any data that suggests most want him out?"

Where did I say that the majority want him out, let alone most? If I did, I shouldn't have. I have no clue about the percentage who want him out.

Quote :

"Many Americans would like for Obama to step down. Should he?"

Is he a dictator? If so, yes.
Equivalent answer:
The elections will decide.

2/26/2012 10:45:43 AM

all this flag burning is offsetting my electric car miles i'm driving.


(lol i bet this gets more attention now than the threat of a madman getting nuclear weapons)

2/26/2012 10:48:54 AM

Bump by request

5/31/2012 1:39:10 AM

great... i was going to ask for this to be bumped, but didn't yet.

so now in egypt there are 2 presidential candidates who will go into the run-offs.

one is a muslim brotherhood member, and the other is a mubarak regime loyalist.

young revolutionaries are left scratching their heads saying this is not what we wanted.

5/31/2012 1:44:34 AM

i don't mean to detract from ^, but given the differing roles that the military has played and continues to play in the struggles of the countries of Egypt and Syria, I am somewhat curious:

If the indebted classes of the United States were to rise up against our nation's plutocracy, for whom would the U.S. military declare its allegiance?


With regard to ^, I wonder what relevance low voter turnout had to play and what the causes for low participation may have been.

5/31/2012 1:52:23 AM

Quote :

"If the indebted classes of the United States were to rise up against our nation's plutocracy, for whom would the U.S. military declare its allegiance?"

Who do you think? The indebted classes aren't cutting them a check every two weeks or providing their families with housing and medical care. Sure, you might have a handful of defectors, but not enough to matter.

[Edited on May 31, 2012 at 9:11 AM. Reason : l]

5/31/2012 9:10:30 AM

Yes, I think the chances of an armed rebellion working in the U.S. are so small that they could be approximated by the word 'impossible.'

5/31/2012 9:26:17 AM

An armed rebellion could "work", assuming that (some of) the military was on the side of the people. Given the level of support for a candidate like Ron Paul, that's not out of the question.

The reality is that the so-called plutocracy has a weapon more powerful than guns or missiles - financial warfare. If the power brokers feel threatened, like there is a real chance that they could lose most or all of what they've stolen, they will do what they can to pull the rug out from beneath the economy.

5/31/2012 10:34:19 AM

To the Point had a good discussion about the current fubar in Syria. The summary is that there's pretty much nothing that outside powers can realistically do to stop the Assad regime, with the effective choices being allowing the Syrian government to bloodily massacre its population back into line or sending the country into outright civil war.

Western nations are much less likely to do anything because Syria, unlike Libya, actually has a strong military and a highly effective air defense system; a quick unilateral option is not possible especially if neighboring countries like Turkey don't cooperate. The US won't do anything this close to an election, and Europe is distracted. Stronger sanctions or large scale military intervention with UN-backing is not possible as the Sino-Russian block will block any action. Sending arms will only destabilize the situation as the rebellion is simply too weak and disorganized. There doesn't look like there will be any happy ending.

http://www.kcrw.com/news/programs/tp/tp120530the_syrian_governmen

5/31/2012 5:30:55 PM

Oops...

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/06/22/syria-idINDEE85L0EW20120622

Quote :

"(Reuters) - Syria shot down a Turkish warplane over the Mediterranean on Friday, risking a new crisis between Middle Eastern neighbours already at bitter odds over a 16-month-old revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said Syria had admitted it had shot down the plane and apologised, BBC Monitoring reported, citing Turkey's state news agency Anatolia. Turkey said earlier it had lost contact with one of its military aircraft off its southeastern coast after it took off from Erhac airport in the eastern province of Malatya..."

I guess between the threat of air strikes and defectors, the Syrian Air Defense guys are just a tad bit skiddish these days.

6/22/2012 2:50:24 PM

damn

using his dead body as a ventriloquist

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/16/new-gaddafi-video-footage_n_1677550.html

7/18/2012 12:37:53 AM

good read, in light of recent events

Arab Spring nations don't yet grasp freedom of dissent
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/14/opinion/husain-arab-spring-democracy/index.html

9/17/2012 5:43:28 AM

Another good read in light of recent, and ongoing, events. From Ayaan Hirsi Ali:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/09/16/ayaan-hirsi-ali-on-the-islamists-final-stand.html

9/17/2012 1:14:20 PM

The more frightening thing about this is that the "deplorable" things the video says about Islam are things that I've heard anti-religion people argue time and time again.

Could Richard Dawkins be in danger for calling Muhammad a pedophile? The video is terrible, but there's only marginally better grounds for calling it insulting than what many people were already saying.



[Edited on September 17, 2012 at 4:01 PM. Reason : ]

9/17/2012 3:57:12 PM

Almost a week old:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/battle-for-syria/#a
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/battle-for-syria/#b

[Edited on September 23, 2012 at 11:28 PM. Reason : ]

9/23/2012 11:10:41 PM

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/10/destruction-comes-to-aleppo/100381/

10/5/2012 1:42:08 AM

Government is dropping Russian cluster bombs on cities.

May the Butcher of Syria and his barbarians dwell in hell forever.

I hope he dies a slow painful death at the hands of his citizens.

10/14/2012 7:36:10 PM

Let's invade Syria.

10/15/2012 5:17:14 PM

Apparently shiitie militias are fighting on Assad's side:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/16/us-syria-crisis-iraq-militias-idUSBRE89F0PX20121016

10/16/2012 12:43:05 PM

perhaps arabs are better off under dictators...?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20584573

12/8/2012 4:45:05 AM

How does "not ideal" become worse than "literally being bombed by their insane leader" ?

12/10/2012 11:05:51 AM

It is far from "not ideal". There is a pattern of potential and/or actual oppression and abuse of women, ethnic minorities, and religious minorities in all the now democratic Arab countries that went through an Arab Spring in the last 2 years.

Yes, dictators bring their own abuse, but they also keep a lid on things and run a tight ship preventing ingrained ethnic/religious rivalries from flaring up. And besides, there is such a thing as benign dictatorship/monarchy. Being "literally being bombed by their insane leader" or pseudo-democracy (as they exist now), that's a false dichotomy.

Forget Saddam, Bashar, and their ilk. They are/were monsters. Look at the monarchies in Jordan, Qatar, and UAE. Unlike Saddam, they don't commit genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Don't get me wrong, I would rather there were no monarchies or dictators. I loathe them. But in the case of Arabs, it seems as if they are incapable of handling freedom and democracy. It always comes down to Islam, as Islam is intricately intertwined with their daily lives, culture, and all business and personal dealings. You cannot separate Arabs from Islam, at least not for the next few centuries.

So, when Arabs get a taste of 'democracy', they end up using it in the wrong way to abuse minorities and women, and outlawing various freedoms, all (according to them), in the name of Islam.

I deal with Arabs daily, 6-10 hours a day, and seriously, it is very depressing and frustrating. Anybody not in my shoes should be thankful they don't have to deal with Arabs.

12/10/2012 2:22:31 PM

I deal with Arabs every day too, in a university setting, and I find them to be just as agreeable as any other ethnic group.

Quote :

"Look at the monarchies in Jordan, Qatar, and UAE"

Or look at Saudi Arabia, or Iran.

[Edited on December 10, 2012 at 2:42 PM. Reason : Congrats on breaking out the "These peoples are too savage for democracy" argument]

12/10/2012 2:32:28 PM

lol, you know how much I hate religion but I think the Libya situation has more to do with no government enforcement than crazy Muslims. You've got a bunch of militias running around armed and unchecked.

12/10/2012 2:45:16 PM

Quote :

"I deal with Arabs every day too, in a university setting"

That's a different rare breed. I am talking about your average middle class or lower class joe. Secretaries, clerks, drivers, unemployeds, etc, which is most of the population, not talking about highly educated people in academia or elsewhere.

But here is the thing, even those educated ones hold abhorrent views when it comes to freedom of women, religion, and expression.

I was sitting in my office one day, and another faculty member came to visit my office mate, both of whom have PhDs. They were talking about the riots surrounding that movie about Muhammad made by that American moviemaker just a few months ago. They both agreed that he should be killed, without trial, without hesitation, and immediately. One also semi-condoned the violence of the protesters around the world.

And those are certainly not uncommon views or thought processes. Most Muslims, especially including Arabs, would agree with those two.

Even when they get highly educated, they still cling on to medieval views regarding women and freedom of expression. That's most definitely the norm, as per my personal observations over the last 25 years.

If you want to phrase that as "These peoples are too savage for democracy", go ahead. That's the idea, although I wouldn't use the word "savage", at least not in polite company.

12/10/2012 7:37:25 PM

Iran does not commit genocide or terrible atrocities.

12/11/2012 2:54:51 AM

Quote :

"They both agreed that he should be killed, without trial, without hesitation, and immediately. "

Huh, that's funny. I was discussing it with a Pakistani national student (Who for all I can tell is quite devout, insofar as dietary abstensions, fasting for holidays, maintaining a beard, and the obsessive PBUH's after every mention of Mohammad, Moses, or Jesus) and he abhorred the violence. Weird, it's almost as if these people are individuals with their own thoughts and opinions, just like white people.

Quote :

"If you want to phrase that as "These peoples are too savage for democracy", go ahead. That's the idea, although I wouldn't use the word "savage", at least not in polite company."

Yeah, because you're a fucking pussy racist who's afraid to admit it openly.

Quote :

"Iran does not commit genocide or terrible atrocities."

I know most of you guys are from the South so maybe doing this to gay men this isn't an atrocity in your eyes, idk.

[Edited on December 11, 2012 at 9:57 AM. Reason : .]

12/11/2012 9:51:44 AM

^ i will respond to that soon, but another day.

but on the same topic, here is a good read. two year old article, but still accurate.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/democracy-delusion/

1/22/2013 7:35:57 PM

Excellent commentary by Robert Fisk on the latest chaos and confusion griping Arab countries currently

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/fisk/death-is-noweveryday-among-arabs--butculprits-and-facts-are-rare-8784453.html

9/1/2013 11:22:39 PM