[Ma'an] For years the Arab world has been searching for the perfect Arab democratic model. Progressive young Arabs want a Western-style democratic model, but older democrats argue that we have to discover our own model, not copy and paste models from this or that country.
Islam, of course, confused this search. Islamists appeared to want an Islamic model that no one could explain or point to an existing example. Iran was not seen as a successful model and neither was Afghanistan. Turkey was touted by some as a model, although the country is totally secular even if its current leader has an Islamic approach.
Egypt is poised in the coming months and years to provide all of us with a unique example. Egypt's revolution that brought down decades-long Mubarak regime was made possible by non-ideological young Egyptians who wanted to participate in the political process.
For a while, especially after the parliamentary elections, the Ikhwan (Moslem Brüderbund) seemed to have hijacked the revolution from the young people who had brought down the regime. Being the main opposition group for years and having had to organize underground gave the Brotherhood an advantage over the others, especially since the Tahrir Square revolutionaries were unable to turn their street power into parliamentary seats.
The presidential campaign has been a breath of fresh air for the democratic future of Egypt. While the 13 candidates represent a healthy plurality of ideas and programs, the discussions and debates that have focused on the future of Egypt have been amazing.
While discussions and public scrutiny of candidates has been inspirational, the Arab world's first-ever televised debate produced an unprecedented public involvement in Egypt's future.
The television debate featuring the two leading candidates at the time went on for a whopping four hours and featured a robust and unprecedented political discussion that was followed by millions.
As one would expect, the debate -- even though it had many deficiencies -- caused dramatic changes in polling results, proving that people do care about a sincere discussion of political differences between candidates.
Economic and foreign policy issues, along with citizen rights have dominated the general discussion up to election day in Egypt. Statements made by candidates are regularly challenged and they have been forced to explain issues and how they would handle a particular problem that might arise under their leadership.
Hardline Islamic presidential candidates have not performed as well despite the impressive gains made in the parliamentary elections, which weakens the argument that if given a chance Egyptians and other Arabs would overwhelmingly elect radical Islamists.
The presidential election has forced candidates to fine tune their position regarding local and international issues with local politics and the economy position grabbing the lion's share of the public's interest.
Of course democracy is not only about elections. Separation of powers, the independence of the judiciary and freedom of expression are all necessary elements for a comprehensive approach to democracy whatever the governing model that people eventually choose.
Post-Mubarak Egypt has witnessed vibrant freedom of expression and media. Egyptians are demonstrating and protesting about all issues, sometimes to their own short-term detriment.
Newspapers have been able to operate without any interference and privately-run satellite television stations have become the leading source of information for an Egyptian public yearning for change. Ironically no solution has been found for the state-run radio and television with its 40,000 plus employees and no regulatory framework established for independent or community radio.
Egypt's presidential elections are being watched very closely by friend and foe alike. The emerging democratic model that Egyptians will produce will most likely become a model for an Arab world longing for an end to autocratic rule that has left Arabs lagging behind the rest of the world.
So long as the new model includes genuine power-sharing systems and a bottom-up approach to solving problems, the future will most certainly be much prettier than the past. Any attempts at reversing the gains made by the people of Egypt will not be tolerated by Egyptians who have started to taste freedom and democracy.
The genie of democracy is out and it will not be forced back into the bottle any time soon.
Daoud Kuttab is a journalist and former professor of journalism at Princeton University.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/26/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
But government by consent of the governed is SO un-Islamic.
#2
Searching for the perfect democratic Arab model
FIFY. There is no perfect. Particularly one operated by humans with all their frailties. The best you can work towards is something better than others.
#2
The usual nonsense about fossil fuel subsidies.
The three largest US fossil fuel subsidies were:
Foreign tax credit ($15.3 billion)
Credit for production of non-conventional fuels ($14.1 billion)
Oil and Gas exploration and development expensing ($7.1 billion)
1 and 3 are standard deductions available to all businesses. 2 looks like a biofuel subsidy.
#3
Many of these energy companies have Direct Purchase Plan (DDP) investment venues which can be accessed for a little as an initial $250. outlay. These firms are NOT the enemy, but rather represent our opportunity. Of course if you do not believe in capitalism, desire the free stuff, and simply wish to bitch and moan, then class warfare is certainly for you.
The economists are either incapable of computing Pakistain's economy with terror as the curve input or they have joined the politicians in hoping for the impossible. All they know is that Pakistain's economy is in dire straits with the following symptoms: faltering growth, record-low investment and historically high inflation. Presiding over this wasteland is debt of three kinds: external, internal and circular.
The internal debt is touching Rs 12.83 trillion at the end of December 2011 - over 65 per cent of GDP. It was only Rs 6.5 trillion in 2008, which means the PPP government has notched it up by twice as much, an index of its abysmal economic governance of four years. (It would be dishonest not to mention that the opposition and the allies alike refused to implement IMF-guided policies that would have rescued the economy somewhat.)
The same can be said about external debt which stands at over $60 billion with interest payment liabilities that Pakistain can hardly service, eroding further the spendable section of the revenues. Pakistain Army and the rapidly accumulating public support behind its honour-based edicts have hamstrung the economy, scaring away foreign investors while attracting only the quick-fix speculative funds in the stock market. Honour has satisfied the warrior while undermining the economy.
Forcing the US and its NATO partners through insults and threats to cough up money for the cure of Pakistan's terminal internal sickness is not going to work for very long
When you don't have the money and have to buy things you need you develop deficit. This gap between income and spending forces the government to attack the State Bank and cripple its stabilising functions by forcing it to print money to make the payments with. Imports need foreign exchange and that comes from exports and remittances from Pakistain's 7 million strong expatriate community plus the IMF. But here too the payable is double the amount of dollars that come in. But the PPP inherited an economy that General Musharraf had scuppered before committing his political blunders and leaving the country.
His gift to Pakistain was the disease of circular debt that the PPP could not cure, haunted by the crises emanating from domestic and Pakistain-inspired regional terrorism. This 300 billion rupees mountain stood athwart all efforts to remove the energy deficit the general had left behind in the shape of deferred payments and subsidies. Add to that the third world reflex of gouging money from the carcass of the economy and you have the terminal crisis that stares the PPP in the face months before the next election. The PPP is all set to pass on the legacy of Musharraf to whoever comes next - through the device of printing more money.
The political parties are 'same play', trying to kill each other with verbal abuse, a kind of background noise to the terrorism inflicted on the victim population by Al Qaeda and its slaves the Taliban and an entire Madrassa network eying the country as potential caliphate because the people don't vote for them under normal democracy. There is however a secret consensus in Pakistain that envelops the entire humanity living in Pakistain: denial of terrorism based on the misinterpretation of the following phenomena:
1) Bajaur-Damadola attack of 2006 which humbled the Army under Musharraf with popular blacklash;
2) Lal Masjid attack of 2007 which developed tacit pro-Taliban-Al Qaeda national consensus triggering an internal transformation of thinking in the Army;
3) Afiya Siddiqi affair which united the nation against the Army as an ally of rascally America;
4) the Haqqani network which the entire population ignores for mysterious reasons while attacking mythical entities like Black Water;
5) the Supreme Court which is responsible - together with terrorism - of scaring away foreign investments;
6) Raymond Davis incident which transformed the people of Pakistain into a phalanx against the national economy;
7) the late Osama bin Laden's ... who can now be reached at RFD Boneyard... death which further aroused the anti-economy sense of Army-led national honour;
8) All political parties that will get to handle the national economy in 2013 developed a hidden consensus in favour of isolationism expressed through the parliament.
No matter who comes to power after the PPP, the economy is doomed because of the shocking sameness in the stance of the homo pakistanicus against the entire world. The PPP is still partly unreconstructed but the PMLN will not be able to suppress the 'aghyar' rhetoric unleashed by the Sharif brothers on a country where the economy is gradually shutting down. The dark horse Tehrik Insaf will have the hardest time with the economy if it comes to power. It will try to correct the economy while basking in the charisma of isolationist pride and waiting for Al Qaeda and Taliban to transform themselves back into normal human beings after the exit of the Americans from the region.
The problem for Pakistain is posed like this: the usual wisdom is that if you have to run a normal economy you have to put an end to terrorism which actually saps the writ of the state by killing the will of the executive to practise normal governance. If you invert this wisdom you can say: create post-terrorism conditions without ending terrorism. The truth is that terrorism will not go away like that. Pakistain will have to confront and it will need global support for it. But can you tame terrorism emanating from an Afghan policy targeting India?
Forcing the US and its NATO partners through insults and threats to cough up money for the cure of Pakistain's terminal internal sickness is not going to work for very long. The proud groundwork of foreign policy laid by parliament as if Pakistain were a superpower will be quickly demolished. It will arouse rage in the capitals being asked to send dollars to persuade Pakistain to stop threatening the world. The inverted wisdom of creating post-terrorism conditions without ending terrorism will be exploded soon after NATO is gone and the supply route is not needed. The countries who leave Afghanistan will not love Pakistain for the gesture of the route. The economy will suffer in consequence.
Which economist will tell the Army that if you don't do something about Hafiz Muhammad Saeed ...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain... and his hostile maunderings to cringing TV anchors, the economy will not start flourishing and providing jobs to Pakistain's youth bulge? Pakistain's economy will hardly coexist for long with the likes of Hakimullah Mehsud and Al Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... who are waiting to step up bank-looting and kidnapping of the captains of Pakistain's industry once the latter start returning to Pakistain from markets in Bangladesh and Malaysia, thinking a change of government was all Pakistain needed.
The economy is not with the Army. Nor is it with Al Qaeda and its minions in the Madrassa network and jihadi leaders like Hafiz Muhammad Saeed. It would have responded to the political parties but they are shunning it for being non-honourable and opportunist. It will abandon them as they square off to fight among themselves with their backs to the global economy where ultimately the solution is to be found.
[Dawn] THE factors that cause frequent shutdowns and violence in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... are part of the nebulous and apparently endless war for dominance between different political parties and groups. The damage done and the losses incurred, however, are all too tangible. This week saw yet another round of violence; numerous people were killed and vehicles torched. Tuesday's bloodshed was followed by a strike on Wednesday during which yet more people were killed and arson attacks carried out. As the smoke cleared and the city started to resume some semblance of normality, traders presented the estimate that the losses incurred over the two days when wholesale and most other markets remained shut, and supplies from the port and from upcountry were disrupted, stood in the region of Rs5bn.
This may be the situation in Bloody Karachi currently, but it is replicated with regularity across the country whenever strikes and demonstrations turn violent. Vehicles are burnt, businesses attacked and private property is looted, with the law-enforcement mechanism on the whole standing by helpless. Behind each vehicle, commodity or business destroyed or damaged is a citizen, suffering through no fault of his own. To whom should such victims turn? In the absence of a strong insurance network, he must pick up the pieces and do as best as he can. After particularly serious rounds of violence, state functionaries sometimes announce piecemeal 'compensation' that may or may not be enough to cover the cost of repair and might not even materialise. What does this gain for the state, or for the cause of those orchestrating the posturing that leads to violence? Nothing but the further alienation of the people. As a polity, we need to learn that our right to protest ends where someone else's property begins. As for the law-enforcers, they need reminding that their basic job is keeping the peace.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/26/2012 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] DR Shakil Afridi has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for assisting CIA in its search for the late Osama bin Laden ... who is no more... in Pakistain. His sentence is likely to renew the debate on what constitutes patriotism and treason in this (joint) war against militancy. Much of the discourse is bound to focus on the hatching of a conspiracy of which Dr Afridi's fake vaccination scheme was a part. While the proponents of this view would have some justification to question a unilateral US operation on Pak soil of which Pakistain was not informed, other aspects of the debate should be considered before Dr Afridi's sentence is endorsed. First, was the forum that heard the doctor's case competent enough? The PPP-led government has time and again expressed a wish to do away with the Frontier Crimes Regulation. The law has survived and perhaps for some legal minds treason can be tried under it. What about geographical jurisdiction? Although Dr Afridi was posted in Khyber, the location of his 'treasonous' act in Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... is a fair distance from the tribal areas where the FCR is usually applied. The accused was denied a lawyer as a group of elders in Bara deliberated on his fate. Why was he not tried in a regular court guided by Pakistain's penal law -- or would that have thrown up some unsavoury facts?
Second, the US had a multimillion-dollar bounty on Bin Laden. The temptation to help US authorities track down the world's most wanted terrorist would have been too great, especially in the absence of a clear warning from the Pak state to its nationals of the consequences of helping America locate dangerous snuffies in return for huge rewards. In fact, American targets have been busted here before. This could not have been possible without local intelligence and logistical contacts -- none of whom have been tried.
Third, the unilateral operation naturally led to anger on Pakistain's part -- but was the target of its wrath worth it? The truth is that Pakistain's illusory sovereignty would have been better protected with better vigilance, and -- something that the US should also note -- an effort by both Pakistain and the US to undertake aggressive joint operations against suspected terrorists. Unfortunately, the absence of a clear-cut definition of Pakistain-US ties in the war against militancy has hindered not only a sound counterterrorism measure but also one that would have helped bridge differences. In all this, Dr Afridi's actual crime has been ignored: the fake vaccination campaign, abetted by the CIA, went against all ethics of the medical profession, and may intensify the already existing misconceptions among some families regarding vaccination for their children.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/26/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
the absence of a clear-cut definition of Pakistain-US ties
You mean like who is on who's side?
I still think we should spring the good doctor, just for the PR and shock value. Hey, the SEALs live for this sort of thing.
And maybe we could get Snake Plissken to star in "Escape From Pakistain". Although he is not returning my calls since I pitched (the admittedly ill-advised) "Escape from Gaza"
The United States is reportedly developing a plan to vet members of the Free Syrian Army before Arab nations transfer arms to them. It hopes to avoid arming muhahideen who turn against America should they succeed in bringing down the Assad regime. The US does not want another al-Qaida on its hands. The race to arm Syria is heating up as Saudi arms shipments are said to be getting through now. Russia reportedly also has an arms shipment en route to Syria. The UN is asking both sides not to send arms to Syria, but in vain. A new U.N. report blamed both sides for human rights violations, but explains that the Syrian army is still killing more people than the opposition. To underline this, Syrian activists said government troops killed at least 50 people in the town of Houla in Homs province on Friday.
As Syrians begin to suffer from the lack of food, oil and gas products, they are questioning the wisdom of sanctions, which are a blunt weapon imposed to bring about regime-change and not improve human rights or relieve suffering. A new book on the Iraq sanctions demonstrates how destructive they were to the most vulnerable Iraqis. L.C. Brown, my adviser at Princeton, writes in Foreign Affairs that most studies estimate that at least 500,000 children under age five who died during the sanctions period would not have died under the Iraqi regime prior to sanctions. Joy Gordon, the author of the new book, also punctures holes in the argument that the Iraqi suffering was due to the abusive manipulation of the sanctions by the Saddam Hussein regime.This is not to mention that they decrease the likelihood of Syria making a democratic transition in the future.
#1
It hopes to avoid arming muhahideen who turn against America should they succeed in bringing down the Assad regime.
BWAHAHAHA! Unintentional irony on the part of the writer.
Until recently, Barack Obama's re-election was regarded as inevitable -- in the same way that summer follows spring, or a monsoon follows a hosepipe ban. The president's poll lead over Mitt Romney was strong, while the Republican's character was assassinated by a primary fight that permanently spoiled the reputation of his party. To court the GOP's conservative base, Romney was forced to adopt positions on abortion, contraception, health care and welfare that are thought to be unpopular among moderate swing voters. Obama, by contrast, is the man who killed bin Laden and toppled Gaddafi. A choice between Obama the moderate statesman and Romney the craven conservative is surely no contest at all.
But in the last two weeks, things have changed. Obama's re-election is no longer guaranteed; some pollsters think it is unlikely. Day by day, the odds are improving that Mitt Romney will be the next President of the United States.
What changed? For a start, voters are getting gloomier about the economy. Joblessness remains high and debt is out of control. According to one poll released this week, only 33 per cent of Americans expect the economy to improve in the coming months and only 43 per cent approve of the way that the president has handled it. Voters think Obama has made the debt situation and health care worse. The man who conducted the poll -- Democrat Peter Hart -- concluded that "Obama's chances for re-election... are no better than 50-50."
#1
If people perceive a bleaker future than they should, then all that Obama needs to do is to correct their misperception and it will look like he has improved the economy. Perception is reality, and timing is everything.
#2
Quite honestly, for those loving freedom and the Republic, the prospect of Barack Obama having any re-election chances at all is indeed disconcerning. The presidencies of Roosevelt....whom appeared to desire holding the office forever, that of Carter, and now of Obama would lead one to suspect we as a nation are subject to roughly 30 year lapses of memory. I am praying we will survive this one.
#3
B' that's an induced memory loss feed by the NEA and MSM. Why do you think they killed real history in schools in order to indoctrinate introduce 'studies'? /rhet question
#6
the prospect of Barack Obama having any re-election chances at all is indeed disconcerning.
I agree. However,any country stupid enough to elect Zero once is stupid enough to re-elect him. That was/is/will be truly disconcerting.
#8
However,any country stupid enough to elect Zero once is stupid enough to re-elect him.
Not stupidity. Naivety. After 8 years of terrorist war and a souring economy some voters jumped at a fresh start, optimism and the chance to vote to make history with a black president.
Now however, that naivety has been scoured away with more war, a depression, massive debt and a haughty elitist attitude. Anyone who votes for him now is a true believer or just fucking stupid. Most independents have soured on Mr. Hopenchange and are leaning toward Mr. Paidthefuckingbills
#9
Even if Mitt had a double-digit lead in the polls, the below still applies:
Don't forget that we almost always have to go to the UK newspapers to see stories like this one. The American MSM - print, broadcast, cable and online - has abandoned any pretense of objectivity and is essentially the agitprop arm of the Obama campaign. Evan Thomas's boast that the MSM can deliver 15 extra percentage points to the Dems isn't at all off the mark, since a distressingly high percentage of ordinary Americans still get all their political news from MSM outlets...it's mainly obsessives like us who are always wandering far afield for our info fix :-)
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
05/26/2012 13:18 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Anyone who votes for him now is a true believer or just fucking stupid. Yup. And what percentage of the electorate doesn't fall in those categories?
#11
Im happy to compromise and consider Carter/Obama as a single gestalt President who served two discontinuous terms. That way we dont need to debate which was the worst President ever, they can share the title.
I have better things to write about. I really do. Every day I write about just how awful things are in Mexico and the Drug War: the bloodletting, the shootings and the terror.
But this isn't about Mexico, though it is about terror. It is about an ideology couched safely by our abjectly ignorant press as social justice, the only justice of which is the left's blinded view of justice: vengeance.
The astroturf Occupy Wall Street movement is about social justice, but it is really about vengeance. It is about the sense of vengeance of their paymasters, but expressed in terms like social justice. They got kiddies from college, heads full of mush and inexperience, and they got them to buy into it. Like good little parrots they repeat the lines about Social Justice perfectly.
I have said on many times that liberalism and socialism, both brands practiced by our leftist political opponents, cannot exist, indeed cannot even be expressed in a free society. It requires self deception on the part of the speaker as well as the listener. It requires a listener who is willing to accept the contradictions inherent in leftist ideology, and it requires a willing press, either willfuly ignorant, or just plan dumb.
Capitalism can thrive in any political environment, but socialism/liberalism can only thrive in an oppressive environment. You can't even talk about how unfair things are in a society whose very basis of interaction and exchange is free markets, idealogical and material as well, unless you yourself create a kind of personal oppression, a self-deception, maybe even using a problem your paymasters themselves have created.
With the help of a wilfully ignorant (or just plain dumb) cadre of writers and journalists, if you use the phrase social justice, just about any idea that subsequently comes out of your mouth is taken down in writing like it is the Holy Writ.
It is how activists such as Brett Kimberlin managed to gain hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants from charitable institutions over the years for his execrable ideas. He's got the old windsong down pat, and he plays charities like the cheap harp they allow themselves to be.
So, it seems the entire basis of Kimberlin's existence for the past 20 years has been ignorance. He expresses ignorant ideas, charitable institutions play dumb to him and his past, and the press gives him a pass on his past by ignoring it. Ignorance is how he got his means of living. I am pretty certain that the multiple foundations, once they are caught in the realization that they have funded a social terror scheme, will immediately move to have their name removed from association.
Or maybe they'll just play dumb.
Kimberlin's social justice mantra has worked to mask a dark past. I have not closely followed the reporting concerning Kimberlin, but I have included in this article a link to the website of Robert Stacy McCain who has laid out much of the problem represented by Kimberlin and his great American Terror Campaign.
The reaction, is it said, to those who have dared to repeat claims that exist in open record, is to harass critics. You should go to McCain's site and focus on Patterico, AKA Patrick Frey, and the heartbreaking... sh*t, to call it what it is Mr Frey and his bride have been subjected to. It is heartbreaking that such a thing has been allowed to happen.
But now just after a year of this treatment, four more individuals have found themselves at the end of a high tech terror campaign at the hands of individuals who have zero sense of propriety and basic decency. But just like everything else the left lays its hands on, others pay their freight. Charities pay for their stone dead ideas and their opponents pay their price for the mere act of laying those ideas bare for all to see.
A free society doesn't allow behavior that wrecks lives and that destroys the gentle threads that bind society, each individual to another.
Our society is supposed to be premised on the vigorous, free exchange of ideas. But the basic premise of liberalism that destroys what is not theirs, and then complains that the result isn't their doing, is on display.
But the mandarins at the top of our government and legal institutions which permit this behavior, and their allies which refuse to report on it, are as derelict as the ideas expoused by Kimberlin and his enablers.
There is literally so much more to say about this. I cannot sufficiently express how bad the situation has been and will probably get. It reminds me of the rumors I heard about how the Obama campaign operated during the 2008 primaries, using veiled threats and intimidation to gain an advantage.
Just a rumor, though.
And maybe this is just a taste of what is coming down the pike by this November: Rumor, innuendo and the Great American Terror.
#1
The latest baloon rising from the media is that the "Occupy Movement" has been..."highjacked" by anarchists. Something akin to the 9:30 arriving B&O from Louisville being "highjacked" by the tracks.
#2
-- This situation has been in the works for over 20 years, and worsening year by year.
-- Doris Lessing's 1983 novel "The Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire" was a fun read that outlines this whole situation. Paraphrased/edited from Wikipedia: The novel is a social satire written in the tradition of Jonathan Swift and George Orwell, and focuses on the debasement of language in rhetoric. In Lessing's fictional universe nothing but propaganda keeps a threatened empire afloat. When the language used becomes too distorted, some members of society develop a species of insanity.
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.
Zawahiri
[Dawn] THE factors that cause frequent shutdowns and violence in 
[Dawn] DR Shakil Afridi has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for assisting CIA in its search for 
