Blogs > MIDDLE EAST BOILING AGAIN

Feb 2, 2011

MIDDLE EAST BOILING AGAIN

I have been MIA in Patagonia. Indeed, I planned to focus my first blog on that wild South. Alas, the Middle East decided to roar again. Every ME watcher knew it was merely a matter of time but the timing of the explosion remained a mystery.

High oil and food prices seem to have provided needed match. That and Arab dictator respecting Obama. For as long as the US was advocating democratic reforms, Middle Eastern political activists stood defiantly by their dictators. Who were Bush and Condi to tell Arabs the era of Pharos should be over?

But now the Arab world can stand up to Obama's"disappointing" America and insist on getting rid of"pro American dictators."

Yes, VDH is right. It is Obama's and our 1979 or will be if Mubarack proves to be as soft as the Shah rather than hard as Ahmadinejad. As the Chinese taught dictators, it is all about the"guts" to shoot thousands of people. The world would quickly forgive if not forget.


comments powered by Disqus

More Comments:

Elliott Aron Green - 2/6/2011

And when the Saudis killed between 400 and 1500 Iranian pilgrims at the haj in Mecca in the summer of 1987, the liberal American press justified that slaughter. Yes, the NYT, WAPO, IHT, Time, syndicated columnists, etc., all wrote that the Saudis just had to do it. So something else is going on here in the press. It is not concern for freedom or civil liberties.

Elliott Aron Green - 2/6/2011

Judy, you know how unreliable the American press is when it comes to judging or even reporting on how Arab govts kill civilians. When Saint Anwar [sadat] was in power there were bread riots in Egypt too, more than once, I believe. But Sadat shot down scores of protestors mercilessly. These events were hardly reported. I read about one instance on the inside pages, maybe page 17 or so. Back in the 1970s it didn't matter if Sadat slaughtered scores of his own poor. Now, Mubarak kills far fewer and he's a bad guy. Of course, he is. But we recall what happened in Iran. The Shah was oppressive and carter and brzezinski supported Khomeini against him in the name of civil liberties, freedom, etc. Ramsey Clark too supported Khomeini. Then Khomeini took over and civil rights went totally down the sewer in Iran, as PM Netanyahu said. The MB would surely be worse than Mubarak. But Obama & his gang seem to want to see the MB as the authentic voice of Egypt. Authentic, perhaps, but is it a good idea to support those who believe in jihad?