If you thought that the hard-earned fruit of all your 29 years of blood, sweat, and tears were to be stripped away, would you want to retire without a fight?
Heck, the poor guy won't even be able to afford a small country at the rate his money seems to be disappearing.
This counts as a genuine opinion piece, short as it is, so I've moved it to page 4. Ladies and gentlemen, Rantburg's own gorb!
Posted by: Water Modem ||
02/12/2011 2:30 Comments ||
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#2
No story. Just a stray thought I had. It probably accounts for at least 2/3 of the time he spent hanging on to his throne after his crackdown failed.
#4
Eventually, the world is going to need an island of "Freedonia". The way this is achieved is for a large group of people to take over a small country by immigration, then renounce its treaties and make it a new nation.
The most likely prospect are the Pitcairn Islands, population 48, which are a British colony. Since many of its residents are moving out, it could easily be peacefully taken over, then ask Britain for independence, which would probably be granted.
Once that was done, then the islands could be opened up as essentially a high class resort for ex-dictators, drug lords, embezzlers and other wealthy criminals avoiding extradition, billionaires as a tax haven, what have you.
Protected by a mercenary army paid for by its wealthy residents.
With a 200 mile exclusion zone for unauthorized ships and aircraft. This would also include Pitcairn's outlaying islands, Oeno, Henderson, and Ducie.
This would solve a lot of the world's problems, and be one in the eye to those seeking revenge or worldwide control.
...The political class and military officers have concluded that Mubarak is a liability, but perhaps more significantly they have concluded that the advice coming from Washington is insanity that must be resisted. They need look no further than yesterday's declaration by the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, that the Muslim Brotherhood is "largely secular" and has "eschewed violence." With the likes of Clapper making decisions in Washington, the responsible people in Cairo know that they are on their own.
...The Egyptian Army is a neo-Kemalist institution, well aware that its Turkish counterpart--once powerful and even constitutionally unassailable--has been neutered by democratically elected hard-line Islamists, to the thundering applause of an enfeebled and degenerate West. It will not allow the same thing in Cairo. There will be peace on the Nile, or else there will be blood, but there will be no "democracy" of the kind that serves the ends of those who want to use it as a tool of instituting Sharia.
..."Democracy" is not feasible outside of the framework of ideas that sustain it. These ideas, in the case of the West, are rooted back into the history of the polis of Greece, the Scriptures, the heresy of the Enlightenment, the notion of liberty, of individual responsibility resulting from the existence of individual free will, of collective creativity embodied in the rendering of classical symphonies and the launching of space missions. The money quote
When we see the first Egyptian space shuttle return safely to base, we'll know that the Army may well risk a genuinely free election.
#1
What a crock. if the Egyptian Army were going to do something about the MB, they would have done so during the Mubarak regime so they could blame it on him after they threw him out. But they threw him out before doing anything more than take pictures. They know which way the wind is blowing and what is happening to the Turkish military. Look for a Dinnerjacket victory tour to Cairo, Beirut and Istanbul in the summer of 12.
#2
the MB was always halfway-stamped-down, so that they could be used for appeal for aid from Uncle. Après moi le déluge is a expedient threat to stay in power. Hosni could've crushed them in their sleep, but they have always been more useful as a boogeyman. Now, don't let them get out of hand
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/12/2011 17:07 Comments ||
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#3
Hosni could've crushed them in their sleep, but they have always been more useful as a boogeyman. Now, don't let them get out of hand
That's never made much sense to me. That's like saying Turkey could have crushed the Islamists that are now re-appearing there. The difficulty that Muslim governments have in dealing with Islamists has to do with the fact that Islamists always outbreed their less prolific moderate counterparts, and Islamism continues to be an ideology that the coercive/persuasive powers of the state cannot fully displace, at least in Muslim countries. While Westernized elites in Muslim countries are doing things not too different from ordinary Westerners, the lower classes are breeding like rabbits. This is how Turkey turned from a religion-denying secular state to one where head scarves are becoming a common sight. Demographics is destiny.
#4
Hosni could've crushed them in their sleep, but they have always been more useful as a boogeyman.
Russians have been stamping out "Islamism" among their Muslim subjects for 150 years. The moment Russian empire (Sov. U.) went bust, these Muslims immediately went back to their Islamist habits---it a matter on Nature, not Nurture.
#1
Keep in mind that Washington State is a semi-slave State as far as teacher are concerned. You will join the union and you will pay fees and you will donate to the Democratic Party.
There is a process to avoid this - but I hear it's next to impossible to follow.
#2
This is in Washington, DC, not Washington State. Considering that the people of DC just effectively fired Superintendent Michelle Rhee for competence, it doesn't look good. Oh, and thank President Obama and Secretary Duncan for destroying the voucher program too.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
02/12/2011 8:16 Comments ||
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#4
WA State is the same; both USN Daughter and her Spousal Unit are teachers and are required to join the WEA. they both vehemently oppose the positions the union leadership takes but have no way to direct where their dues ( extortion/vig) goes.
#5
Why reinstate teachers fired for bad performance?
Your first clue this is a typical loaded WaPo Op/Ed is the headline is presented as a question. The second clue is the diversionary insinuation that poor teacher performance is the issue - it's not. The real issue is how Union language is written into public-sector labor contracts. In this case, the arbitrator had no choice but to follow the "due process" language. The key point is that probationary employees enjoy some of the same protections as their tenured collegues. And it's pretty clear-cut when the contract states that all termination requires "a negative recommendation from a school principal". So maybe a more pertinent question would be; Does the language present school principals with a conflict of interest with their Unions in these situations. Perhaps, the real question is; Why are these contracts written and agreed upon in secret, with no public recourse, when tax payer dollars are involved?
Now that would be a headline.
There are links to this web page at several other sites, but commentarymagazine.com seems to have redacted the article with no explanation. Hmmmm, wonder what happened?
#2
I would never ever vote for Mitt for lots of reasons. If you can't get me to vote for him you will never get a Dem to vote for him.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
02/12/2011 13:46 Comments ||
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#3
I voted for Mitt in the '08 Illinois primary -- it was either him, Huckleberry or the Cranky Old Man, which at the time seemed to be an easy choice.
But it doesn't mean I'll vote for Mitt in '12.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/12/2011 14:06 Comments ||
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#4
Mitt's a rino. So is McCain. I liked Mitt better then McCain (that's not saying much) and I voted for McCain over Bambi. I'd easily vote for Mitt over Bambi. Right now I'd hope Bachman or Christie would get the nod - not sure if they'd win but I'd vote for them. Everyone seems worried w/2012, don't be. The Tea Party needs to filter in candidates that will make the party strong & constitutionally responsible for the next 20-30 yrs. If the avg voter picks bambi over Mitt or any other right leaning business guy than sadly our country deserves what it gets.
In the midst of the political turmoil engulfing Egypt and much of the Arab world, last month's revelation that Pakistan has doubled the size of its nuclear arsenal over the past four years has been largely ignored.
Nuclear proliferation analysts from the Federation of American Scientists and the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) assess that since 2006, Pakistan has increased the size of its nuclear arsenal from 30-60 atomic bombs to approximately 110. That makes Pakistan the world's fifth largest nuclear power ahead of Britain and France.
As for delivery systems, according to The Washington Post, Pakistan has developed nuclear-capable land- and air-launched cruise missiles. Its Shaheen II missile, with a range of 2,400 kilometers, is about to go into operational deployment.
On Wednesday, Pakistan test-fired its new Hatf- VII nuclear-capable cruise missile with a 600-kilometer range.
The Obama administration has been silent on Pakistan's nuclear proliferation activities. As ISIS President David Albright said to the Washington Post, "The administration is always trying to keep people from talking about this knowledgeably. They're always trying to downplay the numbers [of Pakistan's nuclear warheads] and insisting that 'it's smaller than you think.'"
At a certain level it doesn't matter. Whether the Paks have 20 or 200 warheads, they have enough to deter the Indians from coming after them, and that's the key issue for them. At a certain point in time the U.S. had over 10,000 warheads. How many did we need to deter the USSR? We weren't sure but we decided to have plenty just in case. I suspect that the Paks think of nuclear deterrence in the same way -- more is better.
#2
So this came from Wikileaks? Or is it too scary for them? Or do they just leak stuff to advance their causes?
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/12/2011 15:15 Comments ||
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#3
How are Pakistani maintenance skills? In other words, how many haven't rusted through in key places, rendering them unusable? Apparently their centrifuges weren't all that well built, according to that New York Times story back in January that revealed almost all about the Stuxnet virus.
"But the United States and its allies ran into the same problem the Iranians have grappled with: the P-1* is a balky, badly designed machine. When the Tennessee laboratory shipped some of its P-1's to England, in hopes of working with the British on a program of general P-1 testing, they stumbled, according to nuclear experts.
" 'They failed hopelessly,' one recalled, saying that the machines proved too crude and temperamental to spin properly."
* The P-1 is the design based on the plans Dr. A. Q. Khan stole from the Dutch back in the 1970s, which he then sold on to Libya, Iran and North Korea. The particular P-1s in the NYT story are the ones Col. Khadaffi turned over to the U.S. as part of his entire nuclear development program following the American response to 9/11.
It has always been the well-thought out plan of every US administration to support autocrats and military dictators, as it is difficult to deal with the cabinet and members of the parliaments to advance its interests.
Oh yes. Because, as we all know, parliamentary democracy is the natural order of things, and the only thing keeping most countries from enjoying the rule of law is a well-thought out plan shared by all of our presidents.
#9
Pakistans rulers should remember Henry Kissingers words that America is dangerous for its friends and foes alike.
Kissinger was only half right. America is only dangerous to its friends. Pakistan, along with most every country, is learning this lesson fast.
#10
Pakistan is not our friend. To Pakistan we are a money hose, to us Pakistan is a potential enemy to be seduced from acting openly against us... and has always been. From before they were actually independent, their position was that if we didn't bribe them, they wouldn't be able to avoid siding with the other side -- first the Soviet Union, then the Islamists.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
It has always been the well-thought out plan of every US administration to support autocrats and military dictators, as it is difficult to deal with the cabinet and members of the parliaments to advance its interests.
