Category: Egypt

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Egypt Foreign Policies News Politics Russia United States war

The World Gets Dangerous

You can’t say we weren’t warned that Vladimir Putin might try to flex some muscles in Ukraine. After all, the Olympics are over, there were no terrorist attacks, Russia won the most medals, and Viktor Yanukovych turned out to be better suited for the summer games, beating a hasty vamoose from Kiev all the way to Moscow. Perhaps we could have a Dictator’s Marathon in Rio come 2016. I’d watch “Baby Doc” Duvalier run from shouting crowds. And you would too. After all, you watched Curling, right?

Let’s move on.

The latest is that Russian security forces are now in the Crimea and are asking Ukrainian forces to defect. They’re also trying to neutralize and reverse the events of last week when crowds in Kiev forced the President from his post. Putin is painted as the bad guy here, but the West has a problem on its hand that is similar to what happened in Egypt last year. A democratically elected government has been overthrown in a decidedly non-democratic manner, but since the people who have taken over are seen as a better alternative, the western powers are accepting the change. This is dangerous.

Of course, Yanukovych made this problem worse by leaving. Had he stayed and honored the agreement he made with the opposition, then the system would not be under such strain. And I suppose he could be invited to come back as part of a Putin-sponsored deal that restores the legitimately elected government and keeps Yulia Tymoshenko out of jail. I don’t expect this, but I didn’t expect the Crimea to become a world headline and another part of the world that most Americans can’t find on a map.

President Obama and John Kerry will need to finesse this so that we don’t look weak, but that we also don’t get involved in a shooting war. I trust that they’ll hold off the Republicans who want us to refight the Cold War with hot weapons and show Vlad the Invader what a real country does with its taxpayer-bought arsenal.

Maybe we can use Governor Christie’s expertise and cause a traffic jam that bottles up the Russian forces until we can get the UN to negotiate an exit.

This one bears watching, and is a reminder that we need to be thankful that we have a level-headed team in the White House to see us through.

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Afghanistan Egypt Entertainment Movies News

Movies You Should See: Girl Rising

UPDATE: See Girl Rising this Sunday, June 16th on CNN at 9PM EST!!!

In an increasing effort to shine a light on what happens when girls in the developing world rise up and above obstacles in their lives, 10X10 films brings us Girl Rising by Academy Award nominated director Richard Robbins. Nine girls’ stories from around the world. Each girl paired with a writer from their own country to tell of the journey to where they are now. Narrative performances by Anne Hathaway, Cate Blanchette, Salma Hayek, Selena Gomez, Alicia Keys, Meryl Streep, Priyanka Chopra, Kerry Washington, Chloe Moretz, Liam Neeson, and Frida Pinto draw you in.

Wadley, a precocious third grader in Haiti, loves going to school. She takes pride in memorizing her history passages. One evening while doing her homework the earthquake hits. Wadley and her mother’s world is turned upside down and around. In the aftermath, Wadley walks a long way each day to get water for the family. One day she sees that the school has opened up again; Wadley runs home to tell her mother. Heartbroken when her mother tells her she can’t go to school because they don’t have any money, Wadley decides to go to school the next day. Her teacher recognizes her and tells her unless her mother has paid she has to leave; embarrassed Wadley walks home. The next day she vows to go back until they let her stay.

Azmera was 13 when her mother was about to agree to an arranged marriage to some strange visitors one day. The only daughter alive in her family, Azmera and her brother are all their mother has left after her husband dies early and she loses a child still young. Thankfully, just in the nick of time, Azmera’s brother walks in from tending the fields of Ethiopia and sees what’s about to happen. In a chivalrous gesture, he pleads with his mother and puts his foot down as the man of the house saying that Azmera will not marry one of the men.

Those were the easiest stories to take in. However each story, no matter the outcome, grips you in the heart and squeezes. Every girls’ story is compelling. Interlaced with statistics of what happens when countries decide to educate their girls or not, Girl Rising demands we take notice and action.

In their own way each girl gives us solid reasons to help their fight. Amina, the 11 year old forced into marriage in Afghanistan puts it quite eloquently and to the point, “I will read. I will study. I will learn. If you try to stop me, I’ll just try harder. If you stop me, there will be other girls who will rise up and take my place. I am change.”

If those girls can fight for themselves in some of the most dire circumstances, surely we can take time to speak up for them and others like them around the world.

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Egypt Mitt Romney Politics

President Obama – “Governor Romney Seems To Have a Tendency To Shoot First and Aim Later”

After a careful silence while his opponent faced allegations of politicizing national security, President Barack Obama took a his own swing at Mitt Romney on Wednesday

“There’s a broader lesson to be learned here: Governor Romney seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later,” Obama told CBS News of Romney’s claim that Obama was not forceful enough in his response to yesterday’s killing of four U.S. diplomats in Libya.

Romney’s statement, released last night before many of the facts from the attack in Benghazi were gathered, has drawn bipartisan criticism as lawmakers call for unity to respond to what is now being investigated as a terrorist attack.

Since an initial early morning statement from the campaign, Obama’s political operation had taken care not to be seen as capitalizing on the events for political gain — but once Romney tried just that, Obama took the gloves off.

“As president, one of the things I’ve learned is you can’t do that-it’s important for you to make sure that the statements that you make are backed up by the facts and that you’ve thought through the ramifications before you make them,” Obama continued.

Obama’s campaign spent much of the day silent on the issue, deferring to the White House to respond to a national security incident. Their silence had the added benefit of allowing Romney time to wallow in the mess of his own creation.

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democrats Egypt Mitt Romney Politics

Both Democrats And Republicans Criticize Romney’s Latest Dumb Move

Pundits, politicos and Republican Party stalwarts alike have panned a mid-morning press conference by Republican presidential candidate former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA). Romney’s campaign drew fire overnight for falsely attributing a quote by Egyptian embassy personnel under siege to the Obama administration, then attacking the presidency for “apologizing for our values,” thereby seizing upon the violence in Egypt and Libya to score political points against President Barack Obama.

Rather than use today’s press conference as an opportunity to clear the air and mourn the deaths of U.S. citizens who gave their lives in service to their country, however, the former governor doubled down on his attacks against the president, a maneuver that was criticized even on the right.

Former foreign policy adviser to Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX), Victoria Coates told BuzzFeed, “It’s deeply unfortunate when the circumstance of the statement becomes the story.”

Members of the press were struck by the move, as well. Time magazine’s Mark Halperin said on Twitter that Romney’s attacks were the most “craven + ill-advised move” of the 2012 campaign.

Wall Street Journal columnist and doyenne of DC politics Peggy Noonan opined to Fox News that the nominee isn’t “doing himself any favors” with his handling of the situation.

“When you step forward in the midst of a political environment and start giving statements on something dramatic and violent that has happened, you’re always leaving yourself open to accusations that you are trying to exploit things politically,” she said.

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Democracy Egypt Foreign Policies Syria United States

Where Democracy Lives

If 2011 will go down in history as a terrible year economically, it will also be known as a turning point year for participatory and representative democracy in many countries throughout the world. True people power, spurred on by technology, second-to-second communications, and defiance of imposing police/military power proved more resilient than even the craftiest dictators. The movements that succeeded in overthrowing one-party, one person or one-ideology governments were not always smooth, and in many cases there is far more work to be done in order for the revolutions to hold onto their gains, but the people who have changed governments are now living in an altered world.

Consider the promise of democracy (the United States still needs to work on some of these):

  • Where democracy lives, citizens do not fear the state.
  • Where democracy lives, the press is freer, but must be more subservient to the truth than ever before.
  • Where democracy lives, the military belongs to the people.
  • Where democracy lives, women, ethnic and religious minorities, and people of all sexual orientations have full civil rights.
  • Where democracy lives, economic and educational opportunities are available to all levels of society.
  • Where democracy lives, the political process is messier, more susceptible to special interests and harder to corral, but power rests with the people.
  • Where democracy lives, justice systems must restore or establish the rule of law, not the rule of the open palm.

As for the countries that are under the most serious political pressure from their citizens,

Democracy now lives in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya

It’s knocking on the door in Syria.

It’s at a turning point in Russia, Hungary, Iraq and Ukraine

This will not be easy, and it’s not clear if the citizens of these countries will eventually taste the fruits of new-found freedom, or if the benefits of democracy will touch their lives. But they are well on their way towards a more productive, politically freer future than they were 12 months ago. The United States has a responsibility to help nurture these democratic movements, even if we aren’t supportive of the groups that are elected under their new political realities.

My hope is that over the next 12 months, more people in the United States and the world over will become involved in their country’s political process from every band of the political spectrum. It’s essential that we have vibrant debate and a full airing of the issues that face us if we are to progress and solve our problems.

So in addition to losing weight, resolve to do one thing that will make the country and the world a better place for all of us. Register to vote. Join an organization. Contact your representative and establish a working relationship with them on an issue. Start a social media site to highlight a concern you have. Be part of the solution.

And join me daily on facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives

Happy New Year!

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Egypt occupy wall street Politics

President Obama And Hillary Clinton On The Rights Of Peaceful Protesters

The following video features President Obama and Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton, speaking about the uprising of the people and their rights to peacefully gather and protest. They speak about the wrongful ways leaders of various countries have tried to suppress the voice of the people.

Although the President and the Secretary of State were talking about the uprisings in Egypt, Libya and  other countries where dictators are being overthrown, the parallels between the people of these nations and the Occupy Wall Street protesters are many.

While Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton demanded that the people of Egypt and Libya be allowed to assemble and  march peacefully in protest without being beaten or put in jail for exercising their human rights, we see the New York Police department viciously trying to stop the Occupy Wall Street movement from exercising their rights to peacefully gather and protest.

Yes, the President and Secretary of State are right. Governments around the world must recognize the rights of their citizens to  protest peacefully without harassment from law officials. This is true for the people for Egypt, it is true for the people of Libya, and it is especially true for the people of these United States – the 99% peacefully marching in New York and all around this country demanding economic fairness.

Video

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CNN Egypt Glenn Beck United States

Fox News Network – The Latest Sponsor To Drop Glenn Beck

The announcement came yesterday and Americans breathed a collective sigh of relief. Glenn Beck, will no longer be allowed to propagate the airways with his lies and mis-information. Well, at least not on FOX. The network announced that Beck was leaving at the end of the year.

Of course, the news left many liberals and progressives speechless. Glenn Beck was on a nightly mission to prove that all that went wrong with the world was because of progressives, and he frequently – with the help of his trusty chalkboard – advised his faithful audience to take action and do whatever they can to stop the progressive machine. One of his suggestions? Beck was heard telling his followers to “shoot them in the head!” and  that Saving America, and the world for that matter, was in their hands, and he wanted to make sure they knew it.

Claiming to be a Christian who believes in the principles and teachings of God,  Beck advised his audiences to leave the church. Also recorded was his suggestion that someone kill Fareed Zakaria of CNN and his use of an unfortunate event in Egypt, where a female journalist was sexually assaulted, to prove his chalkboard was right about Egyptians.

That he was able to stay on a so-called “news network” for two years spewing these lies, hate and fear to the American people is not only a testament to who and what Glenn Beck is, it also speaks volume for the Fox Network itself. Only when the network began losing money from sponsors and advertisers, did they even begin to consider not renewing Beck’s contract. With over 300 sponsors deciding to pull the plug on Beck’s show, Fox finally decided to do the same.

But with a news organization that obviously prefers profits over content, it’s just a matter of time before the next version of Glenn Beck is premiered. Wait for it…!

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Benghazi Egypt Videos

Raw Video – Protester Shot Dead in Libya

With all the ongoing civil unrest, scenes like this are being played out all across the world. People are tired of being denied the basic human rights many take for granted.

Following the uprising in Egypt, Libya is just one of several nations rising up against their dictator-style government. In this video, we see just how far some will go to gain their freedom, and how far some will go to keep their citizens in fear.

Disclaimer: There is no way to independently verify that the contents of this video is from the protests in Libya because media are not allowed to broadcast the uprising, but the title of the youtube video is Libya – 17 Feb 2011, Demonstrator Shot And Killed, 17/02/2011

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Egypt Glenn Beck Sexual Assult Stupid

Just When You Think Beck Couldn’t Stoop Any Lower…

Beck is just complying with what is expected of the scum of the earth. I mean, how dirty would someone have to be to use the “sexual assault” of a female American journalist, to justify their stupid conspiracy theory? Well if that someone is Glenn Beck, there’s no limit to his scummish-ness!

In the video below, Glenn Beck use the unfortunate events surrounding the sexual assault of Lara Logan in Egypt, in a feeble attempt to prove he was right – that the people of Egypt don’t deserve democracy.

Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse, the Beckster shows you just how low he can go!

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Barack Obama Egypt White House

Obama Ordered Secret Report on Egypt Uprising Last August

Seems the Obama Administration had their hand on the pulse of the Egypt uprising since last August. According to reporting from The New York Times, President Obama ordered a secret report  detailing areas of unrest in the Arab world, and ways to assist the people of this region to peacefully absolve the  political conflict. The report, called The Presidential Study Directive, focused on Egypt and other places, including Yemen and Bahrain.

The Times report states;

In Yemen, too, officials said Mr. Obama worried that the administration’s intense focus on counterterrorism operations against Al Qaeda was ignoring a budding political crisis, as angry young people rebelled against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, an autocratic leader of the same vintage as Mr. Mubarak.

“Whether it was Yemen or other countries in the region, you saw a set of trends” — a big youth population, threadbare education systems, stagnant economies and new social network technologies like Facebook and Twitter — that was a “real prescription for trouble,” another official said.

The White House held weekly meetings with experts from the State Department, the C.I.A. and other agencies. The process was led by Dennis B. Ross, the president’s senior adviser on the Middle East; Samantha Power, a senior director at the National Security Council who handles human rights issues; and Gayle Smith, a senior director responsible for global development.

The administration kept the project secret, officials said, because it worried that if word leaked out, Arab allies would pressure the White House, something that happened in the days after protests convulsed Cairo.

Read the Times Report here.

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Egypt Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck Tells His Followers – Don’t Use Google!

Don’t look now, but Glenn Beck has a new conspiracy theory, one that he has verified (in his head) and has determined to be true. According to this nut-job, Google is a “government propaganda” machine responsible for the  uprising in Egypt and those in Iran in 2009.

But in order not put words in Beck’s mouth, let me pass the chalk over to the man worshiped by millions of followers in radio land and on Fox-We Make This Stuff Up-News!

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Barack Obama Bill O'Reilly Bill O'Reilly Egypt Super Bowl

Fox News Bill O’Reilly Makes An Ass of Himself, Again!

President Obama is the ultimate chess player. He already knows what FOX NEWS and their Republican-pushing hosts think about him, yet he grants them interviews. Why?

The only reason for giving interviews to those who consider you the enemy is to prove to all watching that you are above the foolishness. In this case, President Obama successfully achieved his goal — using this interview to show America and the world, that FOX NEWS and more specifically, Bill O’Reilly have an agenda, and nothing the President says or does will be approved by him and his  partisan, so-called news organization.

The game is on and the President clearly has checkmate.

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