Louafi Larbi/Reuters
Posted on 08/23/2011 3:06:25 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The "Arab Spring," a phenomenon that has aroused the enthusiasm of many, has aroused mainly apprehension in me.
On February 23, I wrote that "to optimistic observers, especially to eastern seaboard liberal-democratic types, the ouster of Tunisian tyrant Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January amounted to lighting a long fuse to blow up all tyrannies in the Middle East. Pessimistic observers agree that the fuse has been lit, except the ensuing explosions aren't going to herald something better, such as democracy, but worse, such as theocracy."
My concern only increased when I saw much of the Western media not being able to tell the difference between a popular uprising and Egypt's military ridding itself of Hosni Mubarak. I wrote that the question to ask wasn't "Will the protesters win?" but "Will the protesters win if they do?" The answer seemed to me very much in doubt in Egypt, and increasingly so as the Arab Spring wore on.
(Excerpt) Read more at fullcomment.nationalpost.com ...
Louafi Larbi/Reuters
George Jonas did his best stuff with Tammy Wynette, IMHO.
Could Libya’s next rulers be worse than Gaddafi?
Quite easily and most likely with history as my guide.
Yes. They can and probably will.
They will be worse, it that is possible. and...they will be ushered into power with the aid and abetting of POTUS Barack Hussein Obama, lover of the Muslim Brotherhood!!!
Hmmm, let me list the good middle eastern leaders, putting Israel aside of course. Ah... um.... er...
They will be worse, if that is possible. and...they will be ushered into power with the aid and abetting of POTUS Barack Hussein Obama, lover of the Muslim Brotherhood!!!
Hell of a time to start wondering.
Duhhh!
Let’s see...
Pope, Catholic? Check!
Bear, woods? Check!
What was the question again?
Actually, it’s a given (to me anyhow) that they will be worse. The real question is how MUCH worse they will be.
With fanatical jihadi-leaning elements now either in power or waiting in the wings in Tunis and Cairo, a win in Tripoli would almost inevitably open the question of a new Federation of Arab Republics (although probably they wouldn’t call it that) that would be positioned as the basis of a new Caliphate.
Add in the situation in Turkey (also devolving Islamist) and Syria, where Assad is slowly losing ground, and it gets even worse.
Much worse. This arab spring cr*p is just a game of musical chairs so that a different group - an islamic fundie group - to take over.
But we will, of course, keep on giving foreign aid to Egypt etal.
Can’t keep our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan properly supplied but plenty of money for obungler co-religionists.
come on...
cat got your tongue?
I have the radio on as I’m Freeping...just played the old anthem “Abraham, Martin, and John..” and I’m humming along, reading this, and thinking to myself...”Saddam, Hosni, and Muammar”...could be a catchy little ditty...
99.9% uh yeah...
absolutely... iirc he was secular and the next one won't be
They are ALL getting ready for the Caliphate... mark my words.
You bet he will.
What, just now asking that question? Duh!
Geezer. Tin ear. What about the most talked about album she did with Conway Twitter "My Space" with the #1 smash "I can read your face like a book"????
Rulers? You can meter them by the amount of their system wide decimalation.
Daniel Hannan: Don't assume the worst about the new Libyan regime - August 23, 2011 - The Senussis, who ruled Libya between 1951 and 1969, are a rare example of an indigenous dynasty which emerged on the back of genuine popular support. That support, however, was stronger in Cyrenaica than in Tripolitania: the arguments that attended the adoption of the first Libyan constitution were largely between eastern and western delegates, with the former seeking to give the king greater power, and the latter wanting a powerful national assembly. In some senses, the fighting of recent months was simply a re-emergence of those ancient fault lines: opposition supporters, based in Cyrenaica, flew the old royal standard and carried pictures of King Idris. Gaddafi’s support was overwhelmingly in the west.Because the United Kingdom oversaw the birth of a sovereign Libya, opponents of the Senussis always sought to portray them as British puppets, and Gaddafi presented his coup as being part of a wider Nasserite struggle against the Western powers. The deranged colonel’s contention was hard to reconcile with the fact that Britain had defeated the colonial power and sponsored Libyan independence. None the less, it was true that the Senussis, having opposed us during the First World War, had become Anglophile by the 1940s, and marched alongside us against the Italians. When Gaddafi began his reign of terror, King Idris and most of his family fled to London, where the current Crown Prince lives.
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