Month: January 2011

In the heyday of the War Party’s triumphalism, when George W. Bush launched his war to “liberate” Iraq, the neocons were predicting a regional revolution in the Arab states that would overthrow anti-American governments from Iraq to Syria to Iran? Well, the revolution’s arrived, but it wasn’t sparked by US imperialism and it isn’t directed against the necons’ unfavorite regimes — it’s directed at pro-US governments in Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, and Yemen. And the neocons don’t like it one bit. Here’s the Weekly Standard on the events in Egypt:

“It is not always a good thing when people go to the streets; indeed the history of revolutionary action shows that people go to the streets to shed blood more often than they do to demand democratic reforms. Perhaps it is an appetite for activist politics that explains why so many Western observers are now captured by the moment. Otherwise, it would be hard to explain why it seems as if no one had learned from the failures of the Bush administration’s freedom agenda—namely the Palestinian Authority elections that empowered Hamas—or could remember its successes.”

It’s only a good thing when people  go into the streets if they’re sock puppets being manipulated by Washington. That’s the neocon version of  a “democratic revolution.”

Our narrow-minded and ineffably smug pundits have been wrong, wrong, wrong about the Egyptian upsurge. Yes, I know, you’re shocked — shocked! They said it couldn’t and wouldn’t be done, and this “conventional wisdom“ was echoed by Hillary Clinton and her clueless colleagues — and yet the Egyptian people are doing it. The ruling party’s headquarters is on fire, the protesting youth are looting it, the “national curfew” is being joyfully and determinedly defied, and the police have been cleared off the street’s of Egyptian cities. The army — whose loyalties are not known — is moving in, and they are being greeted by the protesters as friends and liberators. Well, we’ll see about that.

The army is headed to the national state-controlled television station — a key weapon in any ruling class attempt to tamp down popular discontent — and the Interior Ministry.

Here‘s our Vice President, clueless as ever:

““Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things. And he’s been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interest in the region, the Middle East peace efforts; the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing relationship with – with Israel. … I would not refer to him as a dictator.”

Murdering people in the streets, shutting down the internet, rigged elections, jailing  bloggers — oh no, that’s not a dictator.  Biden has alway been a ridiculous man — now he’s a ridiculously immoral man who’s endangering US interests in the region.

By the way: we  don’t see any coverage of Biden’s idiocy on the Huffington Post — or MSNBC, the amen corner of the Obama administration. Aren’t you surprised?

from LobeLog: News and Views Relevant to U.S.-Iran relations for January 28th, 2011:

The Atlantic: Jeffrey Goldberg lists his observations on the ongoing events in Egypt and mentions that friends of his, like FDD fellow Reuel Marc Gerecht, advocate that democratically elected Islamist governments might be part of a “long-term process of gradual modernization.” But Goldberg is “not so sure” and suggests that not all democratically elected governments are worth ending “fifty years of peace” which have “meant propping up dictators for fifty years.” “I support democratization, but the democratization we saw in Gaza (courtesy of, among others, Condi Rice) doesn’t seem particularly worth it,” he writes.” Goldberg then tries to deny the importance of “linkage”—despite its embrace by the military establishment and the Obama administration—and concludes, “these uprisings are offering proof that Israel isn’t the central Arab preoccupation. Wikileaks showed us that Iran is the obsession of Arab leaders, and these mass demonstrations are showing us that the faults of Arab leaders are the actual obsession of Arab people.” (Jim Lobe and I took a closer look at those cables and found a very different message.)

The National Interest: Ben-Gurion University professor Benny Morris writes, “The regimes that have crumbled or appear to be on the verge of crumbling, are those linked to the West, and they are regimes characterized by a relatively soft authoritarianism, and are commonly perceived as weak, if not downright flabby, well past their prime.” He contrasts the end of Ben Ali’s rule and the escalating situation in Egypt with the suppression of protests by the Iranian government in 2009. “All of this stands in stark contrast to the Iranian regime’s successful suppression of last year’s street rebellion, triggered by the fraudulent elections that left President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad in power,” he writes. Morris concludes, “What is clear is that the West, as usual, is faring poorly among the Muslims of the Middle East, where real savagery—sadly—wins respect, and irresolution, a kick in the pants.”

from LobeLog: News and Views Relevant to U.S.-Iran relations for January 26th, 2011:

National Review Online: Foundation for Defense of Democracies President Clifford May writes about the controversy surrounding a scheduled screening of the Clarion Fund’s film, “Iranium,” which was postponed after “suspicious letters” were received and the Iranian embassy complained. May points out that “it’s worth recalling that the Islamic Republic has a long history of attempting to enforce its will extraterritorially.” On Western engagement with Iran, May, who is interviewed in the film, observes, “diplomacy, outreach, engagement, and carefully crafted speeches showing respect and apologizing for “grievances” will have limited utility.” He concludes, “No sensible, rational person can watch this film, hear this evidence, and fail to come to the conclusion that the fanatics who rule Iran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them.”

Commentary: Alana Goodman blogs on Commentary’s Contentions blog that, according to the Times of London, Iranian Press TV has had its British bank account frozen. Goodman concludes her post, “The fake news station not only devotes itself to publishing constant anti-American and anti-Israel propaganda; it’s also issued news reports denying the Holocaust and claiming that the Mossad helped commit the 9/11 attacks. At the very least, the government should require the station to provide a content warning informing viewers that it’s funded entirely by the Iranian government.”