It's easy to say that the President is weak and waffling about the situation in Egypt. Just as it's easy to say that the Arab Spring has failed, and that its failure is somehow President Obama's fault.
The hidden contradiction stems from the fact that the people saying that are generally the people who want our foreign policy to be dictated by Israel's current right wing government headed by Benyamin Netanyahu.
And Israel's current government wants us to be doing exactly what President Obama is doing--not fully supporting anyone, not fully withdrawing from our current commitments to Egypt.
As for the Arab Spring failing--that's just shortsightedness. How long did our Colonial Spring take to succeed? From the first protests to becoming fully independent, it took us at least 35 years (to the end of the War of 1812). Giving the Arab Spring a couple of years to succeed makes no sense at all. And it should be obvious that things will never return to the old status quo there.
Interestingly, left wing ideologues are also very unhappy with President Obama's cautious approach. Ideologues Left and Right love the simple, bold approach based on principle, without taking consequences into account.
But the Leftists don't hate President Obama because he's black, while a majority of the Rightists do. And this provides a perfect example. Given their slavish devotion to Israel's Netanyahu government, they should be praising President Obama for--in this case--doing exactly what Netanyahu wants him to do.
Yet they just can't help themselves--they're compelled to denounce the President for whatever he does, even when he's carrying out conservative plans, such as the Affordable Care Act.
Another argument for supporting the Egyptian military's brutal crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood is the fact that in the last few days Brotherhood supporters responded to the Army crackdown, in part, by attacking a dozen Christian churches around Egypt. Right wingers talk about Muslim persecution of Christians, and they're factually correct. So shouldn't they support President Obama supporting the force in Egypt that's protecting Egyptian Christians from Muslim extremists?
Showing posts with label Arab Spring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arab Spring. Show all posts
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Monday, October 22, 2012
"Al Qaeda is stronger now"
Tonight Romney argued that Al Qaeda is stronger now.
The problem with such a statement is that Al Qaeda is not one organization. Terrorists don't respect copyrights. The original Al Qaeda has been decimated and is no longer able to centrally command resources and training and high-impact operations like 9/11. Most of what the West has experienced since 9/11 has been much smaller scale--the biggest being the Spanish and London train bombings. The attempts made on an in America have all been thrwarted, and have all been small scale--mostly one-man operations that had had some training and equipment from organizations such as "Al Qaeda in Yemen."
That organization is as radical as the original Al Qaeda but it doesn't report to the original group and is in no way controlled or coordinated by it.
These regional self-named Al Qaeda knockoffs are dangerous in their areas but do not represent a significant threat to America. We must pursue them but not turn ourselves inside out on their behalf.
So Romney's wrong. He has been continually campaigning on the scaremongering scenario that Al Qaeda has practically taken over the Arab nations. It hasn't, though right wing Arabs and Arab groups are trying to take over in every Arab country.
The Arab Spring is just the beginning of revolution across the Arab world--of people trying to get rid of the dictatorships that have parasitized the Arab world for many centuries. Democracy has a chance there but there is going to be decades of upheaval in most countries there. Trying to hang this around Obama's neck is ridiculous--as if America could turn back this tide, and as if this tide is uniformly right wing Islamist. That plays well with Tea Party types, and helps pry loose some Jewish votes, but it's false.
The problem with such a statement is that Al Qaeda is not one organization. Terrorists don't respect copyrights. The original Al Qaeda has been decimated and is no longer able to centrally command resources and training and high-impact operations like 9/11. Most of what the West has experienced since 9/11 has been much smaller scale--the biggest being the Spanish and London train bombings. The attempts made on an in America have all been thrwarted, and have all been small scale--mostly one-man operations that had had some training and equipment from organizations such as "Al Qaeda in Yemen."
That organization is as radical as the original Al Qaeda but it doesn't report to the original group and is in no way controlled or coordinated by it.
These regional self-named Al Qaeda knockoffs are dangerous in their areas but do not represent a significant threat to America. We must pursue them but not turn ourselves inside out on their behalf.
So Romney's wrong. He has been continually campaigning on the scaremongering scenario that Al Qaeda has practically taken over the Arab nations. It hasn't, though right wing Arabs and Arab groups are trying to take over in every Arab country.
The Arab Spring is just the beginning of revolution across the Arab world--of people trying to get rid of the dictatorships that have parasitized the Arab world for many centuries. Democracy has a chance there but there is going to be decades of upheaval in most countries there. Trying to hang this around Obama's neck is ridiculous--as if America could turn back this tide, and as if this tide is uniformly right wing Islamist. That plays well with Tea Party types, and helps pry loose some Jewish votes, but it's false.
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