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ALI ABUNIMAH: THE DANGER TO EGYPT’S REVOLUTION COMES FROM WASHINGTON

Posted by admin | Posted in The Capitol | Posted on 07-02-2011

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Ali AbunimahThe Electronic Intifada,

The greatest danger to the Egyptian revolution and the prospects for a free and independent Egypt emanates not from the “baltagiyya” — the mercenaries and thugs the regime sent to beat, stone, stab, shoot and kill protestors in Cairo, Alexandria and other cities last week — but from Washington.

Ever since the Egyptian uprising began on 25 January, the United States government and the Washington establishment that rationalizes its policies have been scared to death of “losing Egypt.” What they fear losing is a regime that has consistently ignored the rights and well-being of its people in order to plunder the country and enrich the few who control it, and that has done America’s bidding, especially supporting Israel in its oppression and wars against the Palestinians and other Arabs.

The Obama Administration quickly dissociated itself from its envoy to Egypt, Frank Wisner, after the latter candidly told the BBC on 5 February that he thought President Hosni Mubarak “must stay in office in order to steer” any transition to a post-Mubarak order (“US special envoy: ‘Mubarak must stay for now’,” 5 February 2011).

But one suspects that Wisner was inadvertently speaking in his master’s voice. US President Barack Obama and his national security establishment may be willing to give up Mubarak the person, but they are not willing to give up Mubarak’s regime. It is notable that the US has never supported the Egyptian protestors’ demand that Mubarak must go now. Nor has the United States suspended its $ 1.5 billion annual aid package to Egypt, much of which goes to the state security forces that are oppressing protestors and beating up and arresting journalists.

As The New York Times — always a reliable barometer of official thinking — reported, “The United States and leading European nations on Saturday threw their weight behind Egypt’s vice president, Omar Suleiman, backing his attempt to defuse a popular uprising without immediately removing President Hosni Mubarak from power.” Obama administration officials, the newspaper added, “said Mr. Suleiman had promised them an ‘orderly transition’ that would include constitutional reform and outreach to opposition groups” (“West Backs Gradual Egyptian Transition,” 5 February 2011).

Moreoever, the Times reported, the United States has already managed to persuade two of its major European clients — the United Kingdom and Germany — to back continuing the existing regime with only a change of figurehead.

Suleiman, long the powerful chief of Egypt’s intelligence services, has served — perhaps even more so than Mubarak — as the guarantor of Egypt’s regional role in maintaining the American- and Israeli-dominated order. As author Jane Mayer has documented, Suleiman played a key role in the US “rendition” program, working closely with the CIA which kidnapped “terror suspects” from around the world and delivered them into Suleiman’s hands for interrogation, and almost certainly torture (“Who is Omar Suleiman?,” The New Yorker, 29 January 2011).

High praise for Suleiman’s work has also come from top Israeli military brass. “I always believed in the abilities of the Egyptian Intelligence service [GIS],” Israeli General Amos Gilad told American, Palestinian Authority and Egyptian officials during a secret April 2007 meeting whose leaked minutes were recently released by Al Jazeera as part of the Palestine Papers. “It keeps order and security among 70 millions — 20 millions in one city [a reference to the population of Egypt, actually closer to 83 million, and to Cairo] — this is a great achievement, for which you deserve a medal. It is the best asset for the Middle East,” Gilad said.

The notion that anyone, let alone US officials, could believe that Suleiman would lead an “orderly transition” to democracy would be laughable if it were not so sinister. Much more likely, the strategy is to try to ride out the protests and wear out and split the opposition, consolidate the regime under Suleiman’s ruthless grip with the backing of the Egyptian army, and then enact cosmetic “reforms” to keep the Egyptian people politically divided and busy while business carries on as usual. Under any Suleiman “transition” political activists, journalists and anyone suspected of being part of the current uprising would be in grave danger.

From the American perspective, the strategy can be likened to what happened in the summer of 2008 when the house-of-cards international financial system started to collapse. Think of the Tunisian regime of deposed dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali as the investment bank Lehman Brothers. When a run on the bank began, the United States government refused to provide it with financial guarantees to bail it out, and it quickly went bankrupt.

But when the panic spread and even larger “too big to fail” financial firms including massive insurance company AIG began to see their positions suddenly deteriorate, the United States government stepped in to bail them out with hundreds of billions of dollars.

The Egyptian regime is the AIG of the region and what we are seeing now is an American attempt to bail it out. If Egypt goes under, the United States fears that the contagion would spread as Arab publics realize that the US-backed despots who rule them can be replaced, and that the toppling of these regimes whose only promise to their people has been “security” is not the end of the world but the start of renewal.

Of course, no analogy is exact. Whereas, allowing Lehman Brothers to collapse was a calculated decision, the United States did not see the revolution in Tunisia, or the uprising in Egypt coming. “Our assessment is that the Egyptian government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton infamously declared on 25 January, the day the anti-regime protests broke out (“US urges restraint in Egypt, says government stable,” Reuters, 25 January 2011).

Clinton’s cluelessness is reminiscent of her predecessor Condoleezza Rice’s famous words (“didn’t see it coming”) in relation to Hamas’ victory in Palestinian legislative council elections in 2006.

According to The New York Times, Obama himself is unhappy with US intelligence failures in the Arab world (“Obama Faults Spy Agencies’ Performance in Gauging Mideast Unrest, Officials Say,” 4 February 2011). For close watchers of the United States, this obliviousness is no mystery.

As Helena Cobban has observed, the Israel Lobby, “AIPAC and its attack dogs,” have conducted such a thorough “witch-hunt” over the past quarter century “against anyone with real Middle East expertise that the US government now contains no-one at the higher (or even mid-career) levels of policymaking who has any in-depth understanding of the region or of the aspirations of its people” (“Obama’s know-nothings discuss Egypt,” 28 January 2011).

But it is even worse than that. The US “policy” establishment seems only capable of viewing the region through Israeli eyes. This is why for so many officials and commentators the concerns of Israel to maintain a brutal hegemony trump the aspirations of 83 million Egyptians to determine their own future free from the shackles of the regime that has oppressed them for so long.

And different futures are possible. On the minds of many observers is the “Turkish model” of constitutional democracy, economic resurgence and foreign policy independence, all under the rule of a “moderate” Islamist party. Turkey, once closely in the orbit of the United States, started to break out with its refusal to allow the US to use the country’s bases for the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

In recent years, Turkey has developed a deliberate “360 degree” foreign policy doctrine which includes maintaining relations with Europe and the United States, while restoring close ties with all its neighbors among them Iran and Arab countries, and assuming a greater regional mediating role. Since 2009, Turkey’s once close alliance with Israel has deteriorated sharply, even though ties have not been cut. These shifts, along with its ubiquitous consumer and cultural products have given Turkey enormous regional influence and appeal.

Turkey has its own specific history and is no more perfect than any other country. But the bigger point is that subservience to the United States and Israel is not Egypt’s only option. The worst case scenario from the American viewpoint is to have three major regional powers, Iran, Turkey and Egypt, that are not under Washington’s control.

Of course Turkey is carving out its own path and Egyptians are struggling to go their own way which may be very different. There’s no reason either to believe that Egypt would become “another Iran” as ceaseless Israeli propaganda suggests. But given a free choice, Egypt is not likely serve the “interests” of the United States and Israel the way the Mubarak regime has.

One example is that Egypt might dispense with US aid and still come out ahead by simply selling its natural gas on international markets rather than to Israel at what is reported to be a deep discount. Another is that a truly independent Egypt would eschew serving as Israel’s proxy in enforcing the criminal siege of Gaza and stoking intra-Palestinian divisions.

By coming to the streets in their millions, by sacrifing the lives of some of their very finest, the Egyptian people have said that they and they alone want to decide their nation’s future. Mubarak as a person is already irrelevant. The confrontation is now between the Egyptian people’s desire for democracy and self-determination on the one hand, and, on the other, US insistence (along with its clients in Egypt and the region) on continuing the old regime. Let us offer whatever solidarity we can from wherever we are to help the Egyptian people to win.

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Ali Abunimah is co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse and is a contributor to The Goldstone Report: The Legacy of the Landmark Investigation of the Gaza Conflict (Nation Books).


Intifada Palestine

Lombardi Trophy Comes Home

Posted by admin | Posted in Sports | Posted on 07-02-2011

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Nick CollinsIn a fitting end to a season marked by adversity, the Green Bay Packers overcame game-ending injuries to key players and outlasted the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25 to win Super Bowl XLV and bring the Lombardi trophy home. It was an amazing game from the start. The Packers dominated the first half, scoring two times in […]




Total Packers

Deerfield Beach hospitality has limits when it comes to Hillsboro Beach renourishment project

Posted by admin | Posted in The Capitol | Posted on 04-02-2011

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Staff writer Larry Barszewski reports:

Deerfield Beach may be doing its part for the upcoming Hillsboro Beach beach renourishment project, but that doesn’t mean it wants to become the “launching pad” for operations that will primarily benefit Hillsboro Beach.

“I do not want the city of Deerfield Beach to be the construction site so a bunch of millionaires don’t have a problem in their back yard,” Deerfield Beach Commissioner Bill Ganz said.

The city is participating in the $ 6 million project because it will renourish part of the city’s beach south of the city’s pier. Officials realize the city will need to provide access for some of the work being done, particularly since the dredge will be operating offshore near the city’s pier.

But when Great Lakes Dock and Dredge, the company hired to do the work, came before the commission this week, it was seeking a broader permission to use the city’s Southeast Ninth Street and adjacent parking areas for beach access, saying it would be used 24 hours daily over the next two months.

That didn’t sit well with Deerfield Beach commissioners, who said the work could have a devastating impact on the beach economy during the height of the tourist season.




Broward Politics

5-star TE Jay Rome now in as UGA’s dream class comes into focus (UPDATED)

Posted by admin | Posted in Sports | Posted on 03-02-2011

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Georgia’s 2011 recruiting class is just about complete — at least for today.

The Bulldogs have receieved the signed letters-of-intent of five additional players over the last hour. They are OL Hunter Long of Eads, Tenn.; DB Chris Sanders of Tucker; TE Jay Rome of Valdosta; WR Justin Scott-Wesley of Mitchell County; and LB Ramik Wilson of Tampa.

That gives Georgia 24 signees so far. The Bulldogs are still waiting to hear on five-star running back Isaiah Crowell, who will announce at 1:30 p.m. in Columbus, and junior college nose guard John Jenkins, who won’t sign until Saturday in Meriden, Conn.

Rome is, of course, one of the crowned jewels of the 2011 class. He’s a five-star-rated recruit and No. 1-ranked at his position by two recruiting services. He committed to the Bulldogs on Jan. 20 after a vigorous recruiting battle with Alabama, Clemson and Tennessee. His teammate Malcolm Mitchell, a wide receiver, also signed with UGA on Wednesday.

Scott-Wesley, a fellow South …

AJC College Sports Recruiting

What if you hold a primary and nobody comes?

Posted by admin | Posted in The Capitol | Posted on 02-02-2011

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Martin and Raju report:

 

The betting among Republicans is that Thune remains in the Senate, and the senator himself acknowledges he might stay put.

It’s worth considering that for all the fun names floating, the actual field will be smaller — and could be a lot smaller.

 

In very rough order of the likelihood they’d run, I’d put: Romney, Pawlenty, Barbour, Gingrich, Huntsman, Palin, Huckabee, Daniels, and Thune. (Santorum, Cain, and Johnson all seem to be running too.) It’s not at all inconceivable that that list cuts off after Pawlenty, making him, Romney, and the three more symbolic candidates the whole field. Which might, in turn, prove irresistable to Huckabee or Palin. Or might just be less of a political carnival than anticipated.

UPDATE: I initially, inadvertently, left off Huntsman.





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Ben Smith’s Blog

What if you hold a primary and nobody comes?

Posted by admin | Posted in The Capitol | Posted on 02-02-2011

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Martin and Raju report:

 

The betting among Republicans is that Thune remains in the Senate, and the senator himself acknowledges he might stay put.

It’s worth considering that for all the fun names floating, the actual field will be smaller — and could be a lot smaller.

 

In very rough order of the likelihood they’d run, I’d put: Romney, Pawlenty, Barbour, Gingrich, Huntsman, Palin, Huckabee, Daniels, and Thune. (Santorum, Cain, and Johnson all seem to be running too.) It’s not at all inconceivable that that list cuts off after Pawlenty, making him, Romney, and the three more symbolic candidates the whole field. Which might, in turn, prove irresistable to Huckabee or Palin. Or might just be less of a political carnival than anticipated.

UPDATE: I initially, inadvertently, left off Huntsman.





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Ben Smith’s Blog

GOP oversight comes to Dodd-Frank

Posted by admin | Posted in The Capitol | Posted on 02-02-2011

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Bloomberg:

The House Financial Services Committee aims to “identify and remedy” any unintended consequences of the Dodd-Frank regulatory overhaul, with a focus on rules governing proprietary trading and derivatives, according to a draft of the panel’s strategic plan.

The 20-page document, circulated to committee members and staff for comment by Chairman Spencer Bachus of Alabama, says that the panel will focus this year on overseeing implementation of Dodd-Frank’s new rules for Wall Street. …

“The committee will assess the results of the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act to improve those parts of the act that work well while changing those parts that do not,” according to the proposal. The panel will “identify and remedy unintended consequences.”

I’m dubious that any major revisions to Dodd-Frank are feasible, what with the Democrats still controlling the Senate and Obama in the White House. Congressional pressure and aggressive use of the budget as a constraint, however, could blunt some of the worst regulatory excesses.




ProfessorBainbridge.com

Aaron Rodgers’ time comes – Boston Herald

Posted by admin | Posted in The Capitol | Posted on 02-02-2011

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CBC.ca
Aaron Rodgers' time comes
Boston Herald
ARLINGTON, Texas — For as much as Aaron Rodgers has accomplished on the field, his NFL career is still defined by waiting. And waiting. And waiting. That may change Sunday at Cowboys Stadium, but it's his legacy right now.
Steelers, Pack on even ground when it comes to short-yardage backsCBSSports.com
After biding his time, Green Bay's Rodgers is hitting his strideAustin American-Statesman
Packers fall short in Madden simulationMilwaukee Journal Sentinel
SportingNews.com –Seattle Times –Fort Worth Star Telegram
all 6,093 news articles »

Sports – Google News

Aaron Rodgers’ time comes – Boston Herald

Posted by admin | Posted in The Capitol | Posted on 02-02-2011

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CBC.ca
Aaron Rodgers' time comes
Boston Herald
ARLINGTON, Texas — For as much as Aaron Rodgers has accomplished on the field, his NFL career is still defined by waiting. And waiting. And waiting. That may change Sunday at Cowboys Stadium, but it's his legacy right now.
Steelers, Pack on even ground when it comes to short-yardage backsCBSSports.com
After biding his time, Green Bay's Rodgers is hitting his strideAustin American-Statesman
Packers fall short in Madden simulationMilwaukee Journal Sentinel
SportingNews.com –Fort Worth Star Telegram –Seattle Times
all 6,030 news articles »

Sports – Google News

Steelers, Pack on even ground when it comes to short-yardage backs – CBSSports.com

Posted by admin | Posted in The Capitol | Posted on 01-02-2011

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Reuters
Steelers, Pack on even ground when it comes to short-yardage backs
CBSSports.com
DALLAS — Thought I could help you today. Thought I'd break down one of the most important parts of Super Bowl XLV: short-yardage situations. Specifically, third-and-one. Sundays shift on third-and-one, you know.
NFL Dish: Packers president expects eventual reconciliation with FavreSportingNews.com
One Green Bay Packer blindsided by Media Day's crazinessFort Worth Star Telegram
Packers fall short in Madden simulationMilwaukee Journal Sentinel
Seattle Times –msnbc.com –NFL News
all 6,294 news articles »

Sports – Google News

Here comes the Muslim Brotherhood: Mubarak to step down

Posted by admin | Posted in The Capitol | Posted on 01-02-2011

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MubarakStarofDavid.jpgHere comes the Brotherhood, and war with Israel

It was inevitable, and now it is about to happen — after an Obama envoy told Mubarak to go. Of course, he has named a successor and the old regime will try to continue, but its days are numbered. “Egyptian President Mubarak Will Reportedly Step Down,” from Fox News, February 1:

CAIRO – President Hosni Mubarak is expected to say in a speech Tuesday night that he plans on stepping down at the next election scheduled in September, according to Reuters.

He does plan to stay in office until then to meet the demands of the protesters.

Al-Jazeera reports that the Egyptian Embassy in Tel Aviv is making preparations to welcome him into exile….

Jihad Watch

Here comes the Muslim Brotherhood: Mubarak to step down

Posted by admin | Posted in The Capitol | Posted on 01-02-2011

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MubarakStarofDavid.jpgHere comes the Brotherhood, and war with Israel

It was inevitable, and now it is about to happen — after an Obama envoy told Mubarak to go. Of course, he has named a successor and the old regime will try to continue, but its days are numbered. “Egyptian President Mubarak Will Reportedly Step Down,” from Fox News, February 1:

CAIRO – President Hosni Mubarak is expected to say in a speech Tuesday night that he plans on stepping down at the next election scheduled in September, according to Reuters.

He does plan to stay in office until then to meet the demands of the protesters.

Al-Jazeera reports that the Egyptian Embassy in Tel Aviv is making preparations to welcome him into exile….

Jihad Watch

Barbara Bush Comes Out For Gay Marriage

Posted by admin | Posted in The Capitol | Posted on 01-02-2011

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Barbara Bush (Dubya’s daughter, not his mother) has just appeared in an HRC video spot promoting marriage equality in New York.

In terms of Bush’s actually influence, this isn’t all that important — Bush is only a political figure because of who she’s related to; she’s expressed little interest in entering the public sphere on her own terms (even less than, say, Meghan McCain — another gay marriage supporter). But what it does demonstrate is that, even among Republicans, the youth are just gone on this issue. Support for marriage discrimination is nearly solely the province of older Americans. It’s barely even a partisan issue amongst the young. I’m dubious that the leaders of the “Christian right” can arrest the inevitable here — I’m wondering if even they are beginning to feel some fatalism on the subject.

In any event, it’s only a matter of time.


The Moderate Voice

No Surprise Here: Amnesty International Comes To Predetermined Conclusion That Turkel Came To Predetermined Conclusion

Posted by admin | Posted in The Capitol | Posted on 29-01-2011

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When you claim to be a human rights group and automatically have the public trust, one would expect such a group to at least go through the motions of trying to deserve that trust.

But that is not the way of Amnesty International.

In the past, Amnesty International has allied itself with people dedicated to Israel’s destruction and has gone so far as to defend its alliance with a supporter of Taliban terrorism by claiming that it is merely a case of “jihad in self-defense“.

Considering the depths that Amnesty International is willing to sink to, it’s latest stunt will come as no surprise.

Elder of Ziyon writes Amnesty International Crosses a Line on Flotilla Report; Malcolm Smart Should Step Down.

At issue is the fact that Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa director, admits to criticizing the Turkel Report without reading it:

Amnesty International has questioned the findings of an Israeli inquiry into last year’s deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla after it cleared the Israeli armed forces of wrongdoing.

The commission, led by retired Israeli Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel, published its findings yesterday. It concluded that the Israeli military had not breached international law when it forcibly intercepted and boarded the ships on 31 May 2010, killing nine activists.

“We have yet to study the full details of Judge Turkel’s 300 page report but it certainly appears like a ‘whitewash’, with the Israeli authorities exonerated of wrongdoing although their actions left nine people dead,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa director.

“Frankly, the credibility of Judge Turkel’s investigation has been in question since it was first set up. Unfortunately, it now seems clear that the doubts that we and others had about its independence have been proved correct.

“This outcome will serve only to reinforce the widespread view that the Israel authorities are now unwilling and incapable of delivering justice and accountability for abuses of international law and human rights violations committed by their forces.” [emphasis added]

Not only is Amnesty International sloppy enough to come to a conclusion without having the full facts, it comes out publicly condemning a report while admitting to not having read it. Anti-Israel advocacy groups do this-but Amnesty International is not supposed to be one of them. Smart can barely control his vitriol-not exactly a high point for a representative of an organization which people assume is conducting itself to a high moral standard.

Unless Amnesty International supports this kind of sloppiness and lack of objectivity in its work-Malcolm Smart must go.

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Daled Amos

Adam Schefter on D&C: Jeff Fisher’s departure comes as a surprise – WEEI.com

Posted by admin | Posted in The Capitol | Posted on 28-01-2011

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Reuters
Adam Schefter on D&C: Jeff Fisher's departure comes as a surprise
WEEI.com
Adam Schefter of ESPN made his weekly appearance on the Dennis & Callahan show Friday morning to talk about the collective bargaining agreement and the Titans' coaching situation, among other things. To hear the interview,
Fisher extended contracts for a dozen assistants including Cecil in DecemberProFootballTalk
Jeff Fisher, Titans Recently Discovered They Just Weren't on Same PageFanHouse
Jeff Fisher Leaving Titans May Be Over Son Joining Coaching StaffSB Nation
Las Cruces Sun-News –Woodlands Online, LLC –Yahoo! Sports
all 771 news articles »

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