Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Let's Play "Name That Arab Despotism"!



There is a large and powerful Arab state ruled by a Soviet-trained military dictator. The figure he has chosen as a successor, the head of the secret police, was also trained in the Soviet Union, and the apparatus of terror and repression he supervises was created with valuable input from the KGB. Thus it's not surprising to learn that he is one of the most notorious torturers in a region where that occupation is common. During one torture session he supervised, that thug actually offered to cut off the arm of a prisoner in order to please representatives of his regime’s chief foreign sponsor.

Despite the fact that this country has seen its gross domestic product grow consistently for the past thirty years, the percentage of its population in poverty has grown even faster.  The entrenched socialist oligarchy devours practically all of the wealth created in the country, and is also sustained by lavish foreign subsidies. 

The Dear Leader portrays himself as a humble old soldier, a self-abnegating servant of the country. It's entirely possible that he actually believes his own propaganda; this would explain why that simple son of toil has amassed a fortune estimated in the billions. Meanwhile, at least a million residents of the capital city are permanently homeless and can be found sleeping in cemeteries. 

The existing economic and political cartel in the country we're discussing is quite similar to the one in charge of post-Soviet Russia. Shortly before relinquishing its monopoly on political power, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union apportioned its membership among several "contending" parties. At the same time, the Party deeded to itself everything of value in the country in anticipation of "privatizing" the economy. In this way, the Nomenklatura protected its power and perquisites against the vagaries of electoral politics.
The controlled implosion of the Soviet Communist Party in 1991 was a neat trick -- but the ruling elite of the Arab state we're discussing actually did the same thing decades earlier. In 1974, its ruling Arab Socialist Union calved off two "contending" parties -- one on the "right" and another on the "left" -- while re-naming itself the National Democratic Party (NDP) and laying claim to the "moderate center." 

Until very recently, the NDP -- which remains ensconced as the ruling party -- was a member in good standing of the Socialist International, which was founded by Karl Marx.

Given the pedigree of this junta, we shouldn't be surprised to learn that it has a long and amicable relationship with the despotic dynasty ruling North Korea. Decades ago, as head of the air force, the future Arab dictator arranged for his pilots to receive training from North Korean advisers in preparation for a war against Israel. Pyongyang also supplied the country with Soviet-produced missiles and the know-how to produce its own. 

We're not discussing Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia, or Iran  (which isn't an Arab country, of course). This is portrait of the Egyptian government headed by Hosni Mubarak and his hand-picked successor Omar Suleiman. That Arab socialist regime, we are insistently told by the Obama administration and various retread Cold War conservatives, is a flawed but valuable ally of the United States. 

Some of those singing that refrain has been performing cadenzas of alarm over the prospect of Cairo falling into the clutches of a dreadful "Islamo-Communist" alliance bent on creating a global Caliphate. The operatic variations on that theme performed by Glenn Beck have been worthy of  a coloratura soprano




By this reading, the uprising in Cairo is not a tribute to the irrepressible human desire for freedom. Instead, the brave defiance offered by hundreds of thousands of Egyptians was orchestrated as part of an elaborate plot to undermine the "stability" provided by Mubarak's U.S.-subsidized torture state.

Difficult as it may be to believe, Glenn Beck's take on this issue qualifies only for a silver medal in the silliness sweepstakes. First place goes to this unfathomably foolish essay, with shares equally apportioned to the young man who wrote it and the purported adults on the editorial staff of the journal that published it.
Exporting repression: An American-made tear gas grenade in Cairo.
Elaborating on Beck's rococo conspiracy theory, the author insists that the uprising against Mubarak is the work of an "Islamo-Leninist" alliance that he describes as the modern successor to "the Soviet-backed Nasser."

Actually, Nasser's successor is the Soviet-trained Hosni Mubarak, who heads a party that grew directly out of Nasser's Arab Socialist Union. It should also be pointed out that the Muslim Brotherhood was a CIA-supported enemy of Nasser

"While Hosni Mubarak may not share American hopes and conceptions of what constitutes a democratic government," the author continues, "he has been an ally of the United States and Israel, and has attempted to institute as many free-market reforms as possible...." For this reason, "our government understands the necessity of supporting Mubarak, whom even Former Vice President Dick Cheney has identified as an ally."

Oh, you mean Mubarak and his torturers have earned the Darth Cheney Seal of Approval? I guess that settles it, then. 

For those who stubbornly remain unpersuaded, the writer deploys the heaviest artillery at his disposal:

It's a Communist plot! Egyptian Muslims and Christians unite against tyranny.
"Our support for Mubarak is a direct application of the Kirkpatrick Doctrine, named after Reagan advisor Jeanne Kirkpatrick, who differentiated authoritarian governments (such as Mubarak’s Egypt and Pinochet’s Chile) from totalitarian regimes, such as the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany, and stressed the need to support authoritarian governments as strategic partners against hostile regimes and movements, such as Islamism and Communism."

Referring to criticism of Glenn Beck by Weekly Standard publisher William Kristol, the author laments:  "It is a sad and shameful day when a self-identified `conservative' betrays the Kirkpatrick Doctrine and the long-term strategic interests of the United States in favor of what most likely amounts to a desperate attempt for publicity and attention from a political movement in which he is now obsolete."
 
Apparently we are to believe that the Kirkpatrick Doctrine was a divinely revealed codicil to the Decalogue, or at least a secret annex to the U.S. Constitution authorizing open-ended military and economic support for any despot who is baptized a "strategic partner" by our rulers.

Actually, that doctrine was actually spawned in the Trotskyite slums of academia in the late 1960s, before being articulated by Kirkpatrick in an essay that could be considered an Ur-text of neo-con imperialism. It is treated as holy writ by those who believe America has been anointed by History to propagate democracy at gunpoint throughout the globe. Those on the receiving end of the Empire's ministrations understandable consider it to be demonic rather than divine. 
The "Kirkpatrick Doctrine" as practiced in Cairo.
 The Kirkpatrick Doctrine was the direct mirror image of the Brezhnev Doctrine, under which Moscow claimed the supposed right to prop up and defend its own satrapies wherever they were threatened by "instability."

During the second Reagan term, Secretary of State George Schulz pronounced a corollary to the Kirkpatrick Doctrine under which Washington would actively promote anti-Soviet insurgencies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In other words, the U.S. would emulate another Soviet strategy by promoting "wars of national liberation."

Among the despots supported by Washington under the Kirkpatrick Doctrine was Saddam Hussein. Among the insurgents who received American help pursuant to the Schulz Corollary were the Afghan Mujahadeen -- the direct progenitors of the Afghan insurgents currently doing battle with American occupation troops. For the past decade, U.S. foreign policy has been an exercise in dealing with Kirkpatrick Doctrine-related blowback.

Defenders of the Kirkpatrick Doctrine will indignantly insist that I am guilty of "moral equivalence" by comparing it to the Brezhnev Doctrine. A good and sufficient reply is to point out that those doctrines directly intersect in Egypt, where -- according to the author quoted above, and many others of his ilk -- America has a moral duty and strategic imperative to support the socialist torture regime of Soviet-trained, North Korean-allied Hosni Mubarak and Omar Suleiman.

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Dum spiro, pugno!






22 comments:

  1. .
    A very good blog bit, MR. GRIGG!

    >>....."Difficult as it may be to believe, Glenn Beck's take on this issue qualifies only for a silver medal in the silliness sweepstakes."

    Perhaps I would disagree here, but only slightly. I could see awarding Co-MVP Gold Medals in the "Silliness Sweepstakes".

    And now, with Glenn Beck in mind, I ask, is it just me?... As I have previously written, and as I have said to a couple of my friends: "I can scarcely look at Glenn Beck's round but yet oddly squared head with that white fuzz on top, and not feel like I want to skewer it on a long twig and toast it in a campfire".

    Not surprisingly, on my blog, he's known as "Marshmallow Head".

    I dunno... maybe it's jus' me.
    :o)

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

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  2. Paul Krugman says the uprising is due to global warming. Maybe that qualifies for a Gold metal for silliness?

    http://www.blacklistednews.com/index.php?news_id=12635

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  3. http://www.experienceproject.com/stories/Read-This-On-The-Net/1400351

    Hypothetical Q & A between a father and his daughter on why we invaded Iraq done in a serious/crying-funny way that seems to parallel the title to this blog post, Let's Play "Name That Arab Despotism"!

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  4. SALADIN ~
    Ha! Thanks for that URL. I just read the article and - DING!-DING! - I believe you've identified the gold medalist!

    I guess Beck and the others will have to be satisfied sharing the silver medal in the 'Silliness Sweepstakes'!

    Man, that was "hot" stuffs! Thanks for the laugh.

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

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  5. I don't think I understand what your point is. You clearly have a well-founded grasp of historical and present facts and you weave them together in a logical and well-thought story. So far as it goes.

    Let me see if I can paraphrase and point out where I'm confused.

    You point out that Mubarak has been a corrupt, repressive thug. OK, yes.

    Who has long been despised by a large number of the Egyptian people. OK, yes.

    Who was happy to accept "aid" from both Soviet and American interests. OK, yes.

    Who is now, finally, potentially to be overthrown by a massed uprising of Egyptian people who have finally said "enough is enough". OK, yes.

    Which revolution Could Not Possibly be co-opted by violent, organized, islamofascist radicals who openly and loudly profess a desire to form a socialist islamic theocratic caliphate, kill all jews in the world, kill all polytheists, kill all Muslim apostates who disagree with them, and kill or subjugate Christians beneath a radical theocratic interpretation of sharia law.

    Err - what? Pray, Sir, let me draw your attention to a place which used to be called Persia; to the actions of the Taliban, Hezbollah, Hamas, and the al Qaeda. To the wildly popular Egyptian religious and social leaders who weekly espouse on television to huge crowds the doctrine of violent jihadist rhetoric.

    Let's also examine some democratic regimes throughout history which rose to power due to "the will of the people".

    Hitler.
    Stalin.
    Mao.
    Pol Pot.
    Milosevic.
    Wait for it...that's right ladies and gentlemen, none other than...Nasser/Sadat/Mubarak! Hurray for democratic uprisings!

    Obviously I could go on to name a number of other crazy murderous thugs who rose to power on the backs of a "democratic uprising", but it's a target rich environment and frankly kind of boring to continue.

    But Oh! No! Mr. Grigg - please believe me when I say that I normally have the profoundest respect for your writing - are you suggesting that nothing like this could possibly happen in Egypt? That would be crazy! Right?

    Let me propose an alternate interpretation of the facts.

    Mr. Grigg, as a Christian, you know that the True, perfect, heavenly Kingdom is God's, not man's. That all human governments are by nature irrevocably flawed. Is it so far-fetched to thus conclude that to overthrow a bad existing government in the unquestioned belief that flawed humans can replace it with something better is the height of hubris? Is it so difficult to accept that while ousting the existing regime may indeed be moral and necessary, it is profane to believe that the human creation which replaces it will necessarily be any better? Is it so crazy to prepare for the possibility that maybe, perhaps, those who preach violent murderous jihad and their large numbers of followers mean what they say, and might, possibly, by chance, succeed in their stated goals of seizing control in Egypt and instituting a violent militaristic theocratic fascist regime? Remembering of course that this has happened before in other parts of the world.

    Point out the "silly" bits. Please.

    Yours sincerely,
    ChevalierdeJohnstone

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  6. I could go on to name a number of other crazy murderous thugs who rose to power on the backs of a "democratic uprising", but it's a target rich environment and frankly kind of boring to continue.
    ... are you suggesting that nothing like this could possibly happen in Egypt? That would be crazy! Right?


    Thanks for your kind words, and your thoughtful comments.

    Several nearly two weeks ago I predicted that the uprising in Egypt -- which is badly overdue, and thoroughly justified -- would result in even deeper entrenchment of Egypt's military regime:

    http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html

    This appears to be exactly what's happening today:

    http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/02/10/egyptian-official-mubarak-step-transfer-authority-armed-forces/#ixzz1DZyjS2Sa

    Is it so far-fetched to thus conclude that to overthrow a bad existing government in the unquestioned belief that flawed humans can replace it with something better is the height of hubris?

    I wouldn't call it "far-fetched"; I think "fatalistic" is more accurate term. I side with Jefferson et. al. on that question -- just as I share their belief that the United States has no business propping up or undermining governments abroad. The hubris displayed by people who embark on global crusades of that variety is enough to have made Nimrod exclaim, "Hey, you guys are just a little full of yourselves, aren't you?"

    We shouldn't intervene on behalf of the rebels in Egypt. But the government ruling us has been intervening, for decades, to sustain the foul regime against which they're quite properly rebelling. That interference must end immediately.

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  7. Will,

    After reading the article you linked to on the website of The New American, all I can say is that I'm glad I resigned my membership in the JBS and allowed my subscription to the magazine expire several years ago.

    The JBS isn't the "save America" organization that it presents itself as...

    Best wishes.

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  8. It seems that most "reformed drunks"who all @ once find "god"@
    thier 12 step meetings are willing to kill or try to change any one or any gov whom the zionist jews don't like(bush the 2nd comes to mind/beck)beck might be more dangerest as some people might
    pay attention to this idiot vs bush who most sane people could see
    through.

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  9. MR. SPOCK,
    Got a question for you, on the last blog essay.
    Thanks,
    - Lemuel.

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  10. Chevalier de Johnstone,

    (Ah, ma cherie, tu est trop delicieuse. Je t'aime beaucoup. Viens tout d'suite que je peut t'embracer. Come wizz me to ze Kasbah.....)

    Child, you have got to be kidding.... Stalin was elected to power? Mao? Pol Pot? You forgot Napoleon!!

    No, honey, it is worse than you think. The Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus had carnal relations, and gave birth to the Easter Bunny, who is actually 375 feet tall and weighs 27,000 tons. The world is in dire peril - one swipe of the Easter Bunny's paw and he can sink a nuclear aircraft carrier!

    Not only that - Oh God!! The horror!! The pity!! - The Easter Bunny was actually a KGB spy, until the Soviet Union collapsed. Then he joined the Council on Foreign Relations, where he now co-ordinates the secret activities of the Hidden Hand, the Illuminati, the Bilderbergers, and the Caschisti, led by the dreaded Dr. Melbourne Fong and his ravishing daughter, the evil Delilah Thong!

    These are the real Communist villains, who stole all the gold in Fort Knox to fund the HAARP project, to control our minds and poison us with chemtrails!! They also deployed those Tesla death rays, which spewed the Russian plasmoid clouds that brought down the World Trade Center, with the assistance of Communist-indoctrinated robot pigeons with thermite bombs strapped to their little feet!! Then they sent psycho-programmed Islamo-fascist thugs to land from rubber boats on the Potomac to destroy the Pentagon with powerful Islamo-fascist voodoo spells!! And then used more Islamo-fascist voodoo spells to make themselves invisible!!!! Even to all the 795 security cameras watching the Pentagon 24/7 for Islamo-fascist Communist thugs!!!!

    But wait!! There's more - Barack Obama is in charge of it all!! And is really a reptilian alien lizard born on Planet X!! That's why he's that funny shade of brown!!

    And now they are trying to destroy America by bringing King Tut's mummy back to life with even MORE Islamo-fascist spells (why do you think they tried to rob the Egyptian Museum!??!!) and seizing power in Egypt!!!!

    God save us all!!!!!!!!

    - Lemuel Gulliver

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  11. Wow, Lemuel.

    Way to bash someone who's clearly on your side.

    I love you, but I think you might have a classic case of MPD, or DID, as it's now called. Sometimes you seem to grasp the whole situation on planet Earth, and other times you seem to be unaware and trusting as a babe with those who would deceive you. And other times, you seem so sarcastic against your allies that you leave me scratching my pretty little head in bewilderment.

    But I still love you. I'm just going to start referring to you as Tom, Dick and Harry so as to name each personality as they make comments. Today you are Harry.

    Chevalier, you brought up good points. I, too, was a bit confused by the post at first. Maybe if I had time to link to all the references, I could have discerned the point right away, but I usually don't have time. Please don't be put off by Lemuel, he's harmless, really. Thanks for your comment. Grigg's is really the best blog out there.

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  12. Anonymous,

    Dick speaking. (Figuratively, as it were, without an article to precede the name.)

    Humanity is divided into two tribes, the sheep and the wolves. The sheep are further divided into those who like to peacefully eat grass, and those who prefer to debate with a couple of wolves what should be had for dinner.

    Chevalier has been listening to too many wolves. When he says, "perhaps, those who preach violent murderous jihad and their large numbers of followers mean what they say," he does not realize that the "murderous jihadis" he is talking about sit atop Capitol Hill in Washington, and in the studios of Fox News, plus any U.S. media owned by a corporation, which is about 98% of them.

    It is all bullshit. My torrent of sarcasm was a parody of all the ridiculous crap that the wolves feed to the sheep like Chevalier, to keep them distracted while they are being rendered into mutton.

    Mr. Grigg's point, which I got immediately, was that left to themselves, the Egyptian people of all faiths are displaying the finest of Christian morality and social values. The "murderous jihadis" who are creating vicious mayhem and violence are the governments involved - those of Egypt, Israel, and the USA - plus their suck-titty servants in the Egyptian secret police, and their purchased media such as Glenn Beck and Fox News.

    (Not surprising. Rupert Murdoch's mother was an Australian Jewess who married a man of Irish descent named Murdoch, so anything his media organs barf up will naturally toe the Israeli Government party line. Glenn Beck, a Mormon, is saying just what he is being generously paid to say. It sells newspapers, keeps the listeners from thinking for themselves, and keeps American Jews sending immense sums of money to Mother Israel.)

    I said it before. I will say it again. The Muslim Brotherhood renounced violence 40 years ago, and has held about 20% of the seats in the Egyptian Parliament for decades now. They are NOT "murderous jihadis." Go look up "Muslim Brotherhood" on Wikipedia.

    If some vile twisted murderers call themselves members of the Muslim Brotherhood, that does not make them so. If Jared Lee Loughner calls himself a Republican, does that make the Republican Party a vicious gang of violent mass murderers out to assassinate children and judges? Aahhh - perhaps the dear readers begin to get the concept.

    But this "murderous jihadi" bullshit is the kind of drivel that gullible Americans soak up with their Miller Lite as they shout and wave their arms at the antics of a couple of gangs of overpaid, testosterone-crazed, steroid-fueled morons as they fight violently over a goddamned ball.

    This country has 310 million people, but if you took out all their brains and weighed them, (which might actually be a good idea,) you probably would not end up with more than a few hundred pounds of actual grey matter.

    Plus about half a million tons of solid bone.

    No wonder the power elite are so contemptuous of the Amoricon sheeple, and will happily send them off to be slaughtered in lands whose oil and minerals the elite covet. The Amoricon sheeple would appear to deserve that contempt. (And everything else the power elite are about to do to them, without even the benefit of some grease to ease the pain.)

    - Lemuel Gulliver.

    PS: Perhaps I am really a committee: One Democrat, one Republican, one Muslim, one Jew, one Christian, and a couple of murderous jihadis. Perhaps, OTOH, I am bipolar. Or maybe just plain crazy. I vote for the latter. Note to all: I would be happy to be interviewed by a psychiatrist looking to write a scholarly paper. My rates are $120 an hour.

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  13. I am very happy for the Egyptian people and for this moment, however brief, of spontaneous order in freedom. Their joy and pride is very well earned. In fact I can't think of a precedent for this revolution. It's really inspiring. Where is that neocon who claimed that the "Arab Street was George Bush's bitch"?

    Reminds me of Yeats' "Easter 1916" "A terrible new beauty is born."

    As a member of AA, I take exception to the the post above that claims George Bush and Glenn Beck as exemplars of our fellowship. AA was founded by two Vermont libertarians and both the steps and traditions embody the principles of Christian anarchy: spontaneous decentralized order in freedom under the care of God.

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  14. This country has 310 million people, but if you took out all their brains and weighed them, (which might actually be a good idea,) you probably would not end up with more than a few hundred pounds of actual grey matter.

    Only if someone cheated and weighed the scales down with a few pounds of rock or lead.

    No wonder the power elite are so contemptuous of the Amoricon sheeple, and will happily send them off to be slaughtered in lands whose oil and minerals the elite covet. The Amoricon sheeple would appear to deserve that contempt. (And everything else the power elite are about to do to them, without even the benefit of some grease to ease the pain.)


    Yep, exactly. Contempt, like respect, has to be earned, and if contempt were specie currency, the Amoricon sheeple would constitute the wealthiest civilization in human history.

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  15. I would say that the point Mr. Grigg is making here is that we are watching a dictator do everything in his power to at least expose massive CIA involvment in his reime as well as his deposing before he fades from the scene.
    Will wants us to look square in the face of the New World Order social engineers playing their multi-level chessgame. I believe Oligarchy was the word used.
    Yes, we have hungry protestors.
    Yes, we have the Muslim brotherhood advocating takeover.
    that's the point.

    Those who are truly in power want chaos to reign as that enables them to better manipulate entire countries.

    Have we learned nothing rom history?

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  16. Dear Dan,

    "Those who are truly in power want chaos to reign as that enables them to better manipulate entire countries. Have we learned nothing from history?"

    I think almost 100% of the readers of this blog HAVE. That is our problem. The other 309,999,500 people in America have NOT.

    Now, if Mr. Grigg wrote for the New York Times, (I told you all that I was crazy and would like to be interviewed by a competent psychiatrist,) instead of this blog and for Lew Rockwell's blog, a glimmer of daylight might begin to penetrate the Stygian gloom that exists between the ears of the vast majority of the Amoricon sheeple.

    Dan - Official notice on behalf of all readers: Welcome to the choir!

    BTW, You are 100% right about AA. Acknowledging one has a problem or a weakness is halfway to recovery. Simian George Bush and reptilian Glenn Beck are about as self-aware as the toilet brush that sits next to my john, and the shit-stained receptacle it sits in.

    (My apologies to those utensils for the odious comparison.)

    Well, all, it looks like Mubarak has left. (Along with his $40-$70 billion dollars, according to the Telegraph in London, which makes him the richest man in the world.) Gee wowie, children, $1.5 billion-plus a year is a tad generous, even for a presidential salary, wouldn't you think? Especially in a country with an annual per capita GDP of about $6,000? Now we know why he didn't want to leave, don't we? Every additional week in power represented another $30-$40 million. (Dear God, and here I was, complaining about my greedy boss....)

    Mr. Grigg, in your last blog you thought the Egyptian Army was going to slaughter the people, and that if we were in a similar situation in the USA that it would also happen here. I think you are probably right about the latter, but as I maintained then, you were wrong about the former. The armies of the Arab world reflect the values of their people, which are peaceful. (Same thing in Lebanon - the people love their Army, which stands above their sordid politics.) Our US Army reflects our American values, which are instinctively violent.

    Shitbag Suleiman's filthy secret police, trained by America and Israel, also reflect the values of our two countries.

    It is also worth noting that having a viciously repressive police force, such as the Shah's Savak in Iran, or Suleiman's Mukhabarat in Egypt, or the secret police now being constituted as the DHS and local LEOs in America, seems to always result in an eventual backlash and the overthrow of the government. It seems to take about 30 years of people suffering, for them to have had enough. Without those vicious police, the Shah and Mubarak might still be in power.

    I wonder if our ruling powers in this country, and their employers the corporations, banks, and AIPAC, will get to understand this before public rage and resentment makes it too late for them to step back from the quicksand of vicious oppression?

    Time will tell.

    - Lemuel Gulliver.

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  17. Dear Lemuel Gulliver,

    I understand your cynicism and the pain that you feel that forces you to lash out with anger at seeing the beautiful gifts that human beings are born with wasted in the culture of our western civilizations. Because I, myself, do not recognize the judeo-christian god or exercise any belief in the supernatural, I do hope (not pray) that you find peace and acceptance of this life that you find that you must endure and that you find acceptance of the lives that others have chosen. There are beautiful things and beautiful people in this world that are of great benefit to the emotional and intellectual needs of many, many people. Try focusing on them for a while. Maybe try bringing beauty to your world...and if you can, leave the assholes out of it.

    I've been where your are. I go there still; but, only to learn.

    Take care, Mr. Gulliver.

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  18. Anonymous,

    Thank you for the kind words.

    I am fine - I am very happy. My life is wonderful, and I wish for everyone else a wonderful life. I have a different view from you and most people, in that I not only believe in a Creator, but in reincarnation. (Did you know that at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, the 50 or so assembled bishops voted on whether the belief in reincanation should be part of Christian dogma? It lost by just 2 votes. Imagine how different our world would be if it had gone the other way.) So, I believe those who fail their exams when they die get to come back and repeat the grade until they get it right.

    This is why I cannot join any Christian church or espouse the doctrines any of them hold. Without the truth of the immortality of the soul and its reincarnation, nothing in this world makes any sense. Truth is truth, indivisible and entire. Once you introduce a lie, the whole fabric tears and all reason and logic flies out the window. Then we are told we must "have faith" in the illogical.

    However, I believe that the cosmic design is that eventually, we will all get to graduate from this school for the soul, even Hosni Mubarak and Omar Suleiman.

    That which created the Universe is an ocean of love, which is the animating spirit of all life. It created the Universe out of its own substance, and so for me, the whole Universe, every rock, planet, animal, tree, and person, and all the other planets with life, is nothing but a part of God. I worship God in His entire creation. I believe Jesus was only one of many sons of God, most of them unremarked and unremembered, who have come to show us humans the truth, but very few are ready to hear it. Those who are deaf will get to keep coming back until their ears are opened.

    As I look around me, I see God everywhere. That is why I am so happy. Sometimes, when people do things which makes it hard for others to see God around them, this makes me angry and unhappy. Torturers like Suleiman are such people. Look again at the photo Mr. Grigg posted above, "The Kirkpatrick Doctrine" and ask yourself if the victim in that photo is experiencing the beauty of God. Your answer will allow you to understand why I get angry.

    The soul that now inhabits the body of Omar Suleiman, I am afraid, has some very hard and bitter lessons to learn, but learn them he will, in due course. When he dies, he will see terribly clearly, when he stands in God's light, the consequences of his deeds in this life. His horror at what he has done will make him beg God for punishment. And his pleas will be heard. Perhaps, next time, he will be the person in another such photo. Perhaps, the person in this present photo is making amends for what he did in HIS last life. We do not know. But the vast suffering this world must endure because of its ignorance of God and estrangement from His love, this is what distresses me.

    Love cannot be denied for ever. Eventually it must prevail.

    So, like the song says, don't cry for me, Mr. Anonymous. Cry for the rest. As I do. Cry for the suffering God must endure through the ignorance of some of His children, who are so cruel to others of His children.

    - Lemuel Gulliver.

    PS: Because I believe God is in all His creatures, I have been a vegetarian for 38 years. Animals may eat each other; that is how they are made. People may eat animals or each other; that is their choice. We humans have the faculty of reason and conscious choice. I choose to respect God in all things. Yes, He is also in the vegetables, but they have less consciousness than chickens, cows, or fish. I choose to so live my life as to inflict the least possible additional suffering on God.

    - LG.

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  19. Becks' monotonous tirades about "Caliphates" simply drives me nuts. I used to have some smattering of respect for the dolt but after the latest bombastic uttering I can no longer. The incessant droning on and on brought flashbacks of WMD's and the "threat" of a 45 minute attack. Does anyone remember? Enough already! I was staying at a house where the occupants are content in being brainwashed daily by Fox News and its endless fear mongering. CNN is a given in that department. The mindless drivel pouring from the boob toob is enough to cause brain damage so I wisely allowed myself to be exposed only while making meals. Maybe this is why I no longer have cable television: it'll shave years as well as IQ points off your life. The gist I gather is that Uncle Scam thinks he owns the world, can tell people how or if they should live, and should you notice all the chicanery going one then bellows to you to "ignore that dictatorial man behind the curtain... or else!".

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  20. Question:

    Did the Egyptian people exchange Hosni's totalitarianism for one produced by the armed forces?

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  21. Bob, it's beginning to look that way -- which is just what I predicted would happen, dammit.

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  22. "Did the Egyptian people exchange Hosni's totalitarianism for one produced by the armed forces?"
    "Bob, it's beginning to look that way -- which is just what I predicted would happen, dammit."
    It isn't credible that Mubarik was the only army officer profiting from the kleptocracy. It isn't reasonable to expect those officers to give up their payola voluntarily, although I don't doubt that they will give up what they believe is just enough to pacify the disenchanted. Unfortunately, the demonstrators have probably used up most of their resources, and do not appear to be in any position to take on the rest of the army in the manner that they challenged Mubarak. So the likely result will be some form of compromise, with an elected government that will de facto operate only with the indulgence of the army. The army, for its part, may extort only a "business politician's" share, and otherwise stay in the background as long as the pawns don't act as if they really believe they have achieved self-determination. This is not terribly different from the model of government employed in Turkey for quite a long time. Unfortunately, it resembles freedom only by contrast with the most seriously brutal regimes. The way the unrest seems to be spreading to neighboring countries might be cause for limited optimism, however, as each revolt may turn out differently (possibly better) than the others.

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