Yesterday (FAIR Blog, 1/27/11) the Washington Post tried to argue that U.S. policy under the Obama administration has shifted to one of open support for pro-democracy movements in Egypt and Tunisia. There was little, if any, evidence to support this idea.
Today (1/28/11) the New York Times steps in with a report based largely on WikiLeaks cables that paints a rather unflattering portrait of Obama policy towards Egypt. As the Times put it, the cables
show in detail how diplomats repeatedly raised concerns with Egyptian officials about jailed dissidents and bloggers, and kept tabs on reports of torture by the police.
But they also reveal that relations with Mr. Mubarak warmed up because President Obama played down the public “name and shame” approach of the Bush administration. A cable prepared for a visit by Gen. David H. Petraeus in 2009 said the United States, while blunt in private, now avoided “the public confrontations that had become routine over the past several years.”
The Times story unfortunately buries some of the most damning details:
American diplomats also cast a wide net to gather information on police brutality, the cables show. Through contacts with human rights lawyers, the embassy follows numerous cases, and raised some with the Interior Ministry. Among the most harrowing, according to a cable, was the treatment of several members of a Hezbollah cell detained by the police in late 2008.
Lawyers representing the men said they were subjected to electric shocks and sleep deprivation, which reduced them to a “zombie state.” They said the torture was more severe than what they normally witnessed.
To the extent that Mr. Mubarak has been willing to tolerate reforms, the cable said, it has been in areas not related to public security or stability. For example, he has given his wife latitude to campaign for women’s rights and against practices like female genital mutilation and child labor, which are sanctioned by some conservative Islamic groups.
So a key U.S. ally is run by a torturing, election-rigging authoritarian who the U.S. mostly refrains from criticizing in public. “Cables Show Delicate U.S. Dealings With Egypt’s Leaders” would seem to be a rather gentle way of putting it. Scanning coverage of the protests in Egypt overall, it seems like long-standing U.S. support (including billions in military aid) receives scant attention.
But U.S. policymakers are being asked the tough questions, right? Not exactly. Here’s Jim Lehrer at the PBS NewsHour (1/27/11) in an exclusive sit-down with Joe Biden:
LEHRER: The word to describe the leadership of Mubarak and Egypt and also in Tunisia before was dictator. Should Mubarak be seen as a dictator?
BIDEN: Look, Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things and he’s been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interests in the region: Middle East peace efforts, the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing the relationship with Israel. And I think that it would be–I would not refer to him as a dictator.
Lehrer has long viewed his job as not pushing his powerful guests too hard. “My part of journalism is to present what various people say,” as he once put it . “I’m not in the judgment part of journalism.” That’s a good thing for Biden.
When did the New York Times become like this? Are Fox News and the internet responsible, or was the Times always a bad news source?
I used to like the Times, but after Judith Miller and the Iraq war, the sycophantic boosting of Obama and now the shoddy reporting on WikiLeaks, I can’t stand the paper. I don’t trust it. Has it always been this bad?
I for sure don’t know what’s going on at the Times, it used to be a different place. In spite of old shared values (some 50-60 years ago) American newsgathering has been different from the European (worldview) perception, but, as a European, it seems the U.S. Government isn’t the U.S. Government from. let’s say 40 years ago ?!
US foreign policy is seen by the rest of the world as hypocritical and rightfully so. We say one thing (supporting human rights and democratic principles) and then look the other way when the perpetrators are our “friends” (e.g., Egypt, Israel). As the saying goes in the alcoholism treatment field, “Denial is not just a river in Egypt”. When questioned about our billions of military support for tyrants like Netanyahu and Mubarak congressional leaders just keep repeating their mantras…Israel is a “democracy”, their support is critical to the “stability of the region”, national security and so on ad nauseum.
If we as a nation really want to be taken seriously we need to stand up for and stop the monetary support for these brutal regimes. $3 billion in US taxpayer dollars goes to Israel every year and about half that much to Egypt. Money talks…I bet the human rights issues in Egypt and human rights violations in Israel (and the settlement building in the annexed “occupied territories”) might be addressed if our leaders had the gonads to utter three little words “no more money”. Yeah, right—dream on!
I don’t know, Bert Caris. I don’t think the Times is all that different than it was 40 or so years ago, but certainly our Government is a little less circumspect about the way it does things nowadays. The fact is, we’re interested only in immense, ill-gotten profits here now, and all other considerations–the rule of law, democracy, principles of fair play and considered judgement by trained professionals–are secondary. We’ve put craven money-grubbers and third-rate intellectual poseurs in charge of offices that they expressly want to corrupt or destroy, and then wonder why things always go south on us right away (check out the history of our involvement in Iraq–I’m thinking here of Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s “Imperial Life In The Emerald City”).
The New York Times is simply doing what it’s always done, just more openly–supporting, largely, the U. S. government’s view of things. World events always upend the apple cart though, especially for vendors of hypocrisy–our government is so corrupted, so bought off by malefactors of great wealth, that events overtake manufactured reality and shallow pretentiousness rather easily. The democratic uprising in Egypt was inevitable. Anyone paying attention could see that Mubarak’s authoritarian rule was doomed. It’s just business as usual (also known, cynically, “realpolitik”), and as usual the US looks foolish, hypocritical, and ignorant. The worse is yet to come, of course.
P.S.: Didn’t our freedom-loving President, just last year, refer to Mubarak as “my goood friend?” Or was that the imbecile who preceded him?
This reminds me of past (hopefully) policy of the U.S. in Latin America; basically our country’s basic interests (strategic and monetary) usually trump our ideals. That conflict damages our credibility around the world and needs to bother us more than it presently does.
“Ever Notice that the more they give people back their freedom over there, the more they take it away over here?”–Jello Biafra.
If I did not know better(and i do)i would think everyone here is climbing on board the RON PAUL bandwagon.He has a very straight forward constitutional framework in his foreign policy ideas.He does not play to corporate America,the military industrial complex or the truckloads of money.He seems honorable.I disagree with some things he believes, but he would be one man outside the fray for sure.Next would be Ralph Nadar.After that the tea party.Than far down the road the Republicans and the Dems.They live and breath the swamp that is Washington.Because that swamp is fed by power.Power comes ahead of core values.Obama had a few coming in.I believe they were as wrong as can be.Now he wants re-election.Period.He will do and say whatever he needs to toward that end.Im glad at least that many on these blogs understand that now.Im under no illusions you will ever vote right.But it is a step to throw down another phony.People lampoon Sarah Palin.Maybe she deserves it maybe not.But damn I would love to see her in there just for the straight talk we would get.Ok I dont really want her in there.But I do want straight talk.
The polyarchal, top down democracy of the U.S. uses the rhetoric of popular democracy as a tool to campaign at home and to subvert foreign governments where this subversion suits their needs.
The tool is put down, as any tool is, when it is no longer useful. The rhetoric of democracy is replaced by the practice of torture when it better suits the needs of the polyarchy.
What’s not being said in our corporate media is that th USA is also a dictatorship, just more subtle about it for now anyway. Our government spies on us records phone calls, collects our emails, intimidates us at airports, wants to know what we read, what we buy who are friends are, and where they are around the world, has thousands of innocent people on no fly lists, can seize us and anything we carry when we return from international flights. Can label anyone in the country a terrorist and “make them disappear”. It inflitrates legal organizations if they don’t side with the government on foreign or domestic issues with FBI agents (one example a peace organization in IL that had a FBI mole placed in its membership and later members were arrested, computers and homes were searched for no legal reason). We still torture, (in undisclosed locations now) We hold our citizens without charge (Private Manning) and the list goes on. The question is, What will be the final Straw for Americans? We are far better armed than the Egyptians. Will the US army fire on it’s own people when we finaly have had enough, or will “Private Merceneries” be doing that job. We support dictators around the world and help keep them in power and have done so for ages. Egypt is just 1 or 2 brutal steps down the road in the treatment of it’s citzens than the US government is. How much more abuse and denial of our civil liberties will Americans allow before we riot in the streets….with our uzis
Not yet it isn’t, just creeping ever closer. Just one or two more calamities and it well. As Naomi Wolf wrote many a dictatorship came gradually. Even under Stalin, Hitler and Mao it didn’t come all at once. What was impossible 20 years ago is common place now or just beginning to be used. What was tested in our external empire’s wars find their use right here.
Paula
As long as we have elections that last every few years we will not have a dictatorship.As long as we honor the constitution we will not.But the erosion of our values can make our leaders act like one… in their stints in office
Michael, our elections are compromised. We get one choice the ‘Republicrats. One party that claims to be 2, but both are in lock step with what corporate, military and other powerful interests want and dead set against what the people want or need. We have had our retirement accounts, stolen homes taken away, and now our jobs. All of this was done illegally, corporations ignoring laws and getting away with it. No corporate interest has been seriously proscuted in this country, not one major CEO has gone to jail, not one large corporation has been broken by prosecution for any of the crimes they have comitted. Pfizer just paid the largest corporate fine ever, in the billions for its’ crimes. and that didn’t put a dent in it’s profits. (I wonder where all that money went, surely not to compensate the people it’s law breaking injured or killed) The Supreme Court has basically said that corporations are equal to real people with it’s Citizens United ruling, so the take down of what’s left of our civil liberties will be even easier for them. The US IS a corporate military dictatorship. with a soft touch that is getting rougher as time passes and the people LET the crimes against the constitution continue. How the US Government can call for democracy in any dictator regime with a straight face amazes me!
Michael & Paula:
Get a room!!
Paula(Im ignoring Dennis)Remember that for all the things you point to there is a counterpoint that you mentioned but I feel you don’t take heart from your own words. You said the “supreme court has basically said”……..That indicates that the courts may be wrong(in your eyes)but they still retain a say in the matter. What they said is corporations are not some alien entity,as thought of by the left. They ARE the people. Most businesses are designated corporation for tax purposes and safety from legal actions. Everything you own, buy, see,touch and feel- probably has a corporation behind it. When life is good the legal designate is invisible. When life turns sour it is a good scapegoat.If I incorporate and stay small, do you think me a better person than if my widget company takes off and I become wealthy?Do you think I am included in a secret skull and bones society and told the secrets of the world take over by enjoined corporations?We will call it chaos,like in the old GET SMART series.This conspiracy theory against “THE CORPORATIONS”is a lot of nonsense.Here is the real poop. Corporations never pay taxes. They simply pass it on to the consumer. Thats why high taxes on corporations(we have now the highest in the world)fills the pool at one end and drains it at the bottom end. Your anger should be directed at a government that infuses class warfare without an ounce of sense in basic economics.Want to make corporations pay their fair share?Start a flat tax.
As far as the two party system……It works on many levels.It is also more limber than it seems.The real blood of change is things like the Tea party or Ron paul/Ralph Nadar.They move the taffy that is government.Pulling it this way and that and effecting change.Talk radio./Sarah palin/Stewart….all things that are changing the status quo before your eyes.So when you say same old same old….I say yes but I see change.I see an ice burg melting.And even Obama madness had a role in that.Today his healthcare plan was deemed unconstitutional.It will go to the supreme court but I believe there it will be shot dead.Maybe we had to go through Bush and Obama to learn we need something else.Last elections made me hopeful.
Military dictatorship ????Military here has no possibility of moving in that direction.The so called military industrial complex out sources so much that in wartime we could be shut down by China halting sales of certain meaningless things even in a war …WITH CHINA!Our military is still ….and will remain a clean arm of the presidents policy.They are like a robot that moves this way and that, at his charge.I cant blame them.
I think we need to clean up our act.I think(now don’t go crazy on me here)if you had someone like Sarah Palin as president you would have a straight talker/no bullshit/honest person in office.I am not endorsing her.I am saying she would be a thousand miles better than the Obama regime.So can we do better,and will it make things better?Damn straight.I think we are almost there when I can say…Just watch and see.If it is not obvious— I am a tea party member.Dennis got mad because you said that the constitution matters in effect.Not a time honored sentiment on these blogs.
Could you please back up your assertion that the United States has the highest tax rates in the world, corporate or otherwise? And as far as Sarah Palin giving “straight talk,” so does every random schizophrenic on the street.
Denmark. Not America.
Anna(My mothers name)Our tax rate is 36% give or take a shake.Soon to go up.That makes it at the top of the list.By any measure it is not competitive in any way.
You called Sarah a schizophrenic?I know a thing, or two,or three ,on the medical front and that is a new one.I know the lefts method is to take anyone on the right and paint them as stupid or racist or hawkish. Whatever fits the best template at the time to attack them personally.But schizophrenic???I forget is Dr Ron Paul stupid this year in the lefts talking points?Beautiful show Sarah is doing on Alaska.Amazing dynamic gutsy woman.Loving family.Pretty normal in their problems.Saw her husband won the iron man contest 3 years running in Alaska.saw her climb an ice mountain.Fish for halibut in the Bering strait.Take bush planes into dangerous crevices without blinking.Hunt for deer among massive brown bears.Ive hunted Alaska.She is no buff piece.I forget what did Obama score in bowling????35 as i recall.My niece did better at 5 years old.Obamas IQ is supposedly 116.Sarah is 137.Both are educated.Obama did so so …or so so up till he somehow got into a fine ivy league school and did well.Sarah did well in schools without as much prestige certainly.She had a stellar career in all she undertook.Obama was a complete washout until being elected president(and dont get me started on that mess)And as we speak her numbers are comparable to his in opinion polls.And she hasnt even started running yet for anything.Im figuring she will give Obama the woopin of his life in pretty much anything he wants to have a go at with her.That is an honest assessment.Will she have my support?Probably not.She may be more qualified than Obama going in.I still need more
“her numbers are comparable to his in opinion polls.”
http://www.pollingreport.com/obama_fav.htm
CBS News/New York Times Poll. Jan. 15-19, 2011. N=1,036 adults nationwide. Margin of error ± 3.
“Is your opinion of Barack Obama favorable, not favorable, undecided, or haven’t you heard enough about Barack Obama yet to have an opinion?”
Favorable: 40
Unfavorable: 34
http://www.pollingreport.com/p.htm
“Is your opinion of Sarah Palin favorable, not favorable, undecided, or haven’t you heard enough about Sarah Palin yet to have an opinion?”
Favorable: 19
Unfavorable: 57
Her numbers are “comparable” in the sense that you can compare them and see that Obama is twice as popular. That’s not the way “comparable” is usually used, though.
Jim you took the bait. Yesterdays gallop poll said 7 in 10 Americans believe the government should now be considering moving toward the tea party positions.88% of republicans are ready and willing to move that way.And who is one of the top Tea party names?Even a number of dems are ready.In a dry policy issue by issue study recently 52% agree with Palins stance on policy with 34% agreeing with Obama.I have no doubt that the full court press the libs have on Palin has had a negative effect.But that is the politics of personality and perception.The last thing we on the right or you on the left need.We must vote policy.Forget the smile on the man or woman running.
Sarah has high negatives (due to constant empty headed mud slinging by the left with no basis in fact)My favorite is that many libs still quote the Tina faye line that “she can see Russia”…..and attribute it to Sarah! Comically Most still feel her superior to Biden who is considered a baffoon..Superior to Obama?I would say 100 of the right says yes with 100% of the left saying no.Those non aligned types who voted in the majority for Obama would now( polls show) swing hard against him.Obama recently tied GUMBY in a presidential race poll.The poll you sighted was found to be overwhelmingly Democrat in its test group.As high as 80 plus percent.Is it not amazing that she had any favorable points at all?What is my point?hard right friend of mine told me ten years ago or so that the young man who i was keenly watching who i referred to as a con man from Chicago with the gift of gab was a duffas.’An empty suit with silly socialist views and corruption under his finger nails.An affirmative action ivy league puff piece who had never succeeded with any money placed in his grasp in his nanny state delirium. Nothing but a community activist who prays on peoples fears”(His quote word for word,as i still have his letter)
I thought differently.I thought Obama was…SERIOUS about his views.I always took him seriously.I wrote during his first speech at the DNC the kind of damage he could do if ever put in a position of real power.Sadly i hit it out of the ballpark with that publication.Even without for- seeing the coming collapse.You see the collapse was his excuse.What he did he always meant to do.Sarah likewise is serious in her views.If she becomes serious in a run you will find it is counterproductive and foolish to think you can make her go away by simply using the old roll of the eyes and personal attack method.It may be enough within your choir…..But in the real world you are going to have to grab this tiger by the tail.Respect it ,and beat it fair and square.She may be in your crosshairs….But your in hers it seems!
You know what, Anna? You’re wasting your time. You know what I’m talking about, right? The Wall cedes nothing, knows nothing, hears nothing, has nothing. Laughter’s the best thing to consider here, and you’ll have plenty of opportunites for it if you sit back and soak up the sheer inanity of some of the replies proffered. Thanks, Jim N.–you’re a saint, and you’re doing God’s work.
Tim, a socialist liberal who believes in God. Well, good for you. I’m glad you haven’t totally joined the leftist fray. If I can bring comic relief, well then, jolly good show. You’re going to need it in the coming months. I just heard the supreme court may be hearing the case against Obama care in the final months of the election cycle. At least, that’s the way it’s sussing out. Word is Obama’s election committee is in full panic mode, as well they should be. Oh well.
So here’s a joke from your favorite jokester to relieve the tension in your day. “Groundhog Day and Obama’s State of the Union Address were on the same day. One event involved a meaningless ritual in which we look to a creature of little intelligence for prognostication while one other involves a groundhog.” Have a great morning, great day, sleep tight, and don’t let the bedbugs bite. (They’re making a comeback you know, just like we constitutionalists.)
Lil Mikey Yesterdays gallop poll said 7 in 10 Americans believe the government should now be considering moving toward the tea party positions.
Wrong
A new Gallup Poll out this morning finds that 71% of Americans, even many who do not think highly of the “tea party,” say it’s important that Republicans should take the its positions into account.
In a dry policy issue by issue study recently 52% agree with Palins stance on policy with 34% agreeing with Obama
I have my doubt about this ….the Rasmussen poll is behind a firewall, and no one who wrote about it ever listed even one sample question
From Scott’s website : Fifty-two percent (52%) of Likely U.S. Voters say their own views are closer to Sarah Palin’s than they are to President Obama’s, (40%) according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
“Obamas IQ is supposedly 116. Sarah is 137.”
There is no credible evidence that either of these numbers are real.
The 116 number comes from a local kansas city blogger working off of an unsourced guesstimate found here: http://www.kids-iq-tests.com/d-prez.html
No one credible has ever quoted sarah’s iq…
—————
1/19/2011
A new national poll indicates that 56 percent of all Americans have an unfavorable view of Sarah Palin, an all-time high for the former Alaska governor, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Wednesday morning.
Just want to point out that her disapproval numbers minus republicans is over 60%
Li’l Mikeys claim that “The poll you sighted was found to be overwhelmingly Democrat in its test group.As high as 80 plus percent,” is, of course made up out of thin air.
That “letter” from his “friend” is almost certainly a fiction, too.
Who would refer to a man who graduated with a Juris Doctor magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991, and then served as a professor at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve yearsâ┚¬”Âas a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and as a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004â┚¬”Âteaching constitutional law as “An affirmative action ivy league puff piece?”
“Those non aligned types who voted in the majority for Obama would now( polls show) swing hard against him.”
Actually, that’s not exactly right either. Obama’s approval numbers among independents is currently 46%, [he got 52% of their vote in 08]. In July the indie approve numbers were 38, so the “swing” is back in the Presdent’s direction.
The difference between a million and a billion and a trillion:
Using seconds as a count, it takes about 12 days to count to a million.
Using the same seconds as the count, it takes 36 years to count to a billion.
Using seconds once again as the count, it takes about 36,680 years to count to a trillion.
If 310 million people gave $5 it would be about $1.55 billion and to count your money one dolar at a time would take about 54 years.
Ah the relativity of being rich as a millionaire or a billionaire.
In reference to previous post, I was a bit liberal with the extent of seconds representing a billion and a trillion. In fact a billion is about 31.2 years of seconds and a trillion is about 31,200 years. Even so a billion is much larger than a million and a trillion is even much larger than that.
If 200 million tax payers contributed just 1000 dollars a year, it would amount to $2.74 a day. And if applied to the deficit it would amount to $200 billion.
The top 5% has 40 trillion dollars in wealth, if they contributed just 5% of their income($129,032 each per year, or $354 per day) and applied it to the deficit it would amount to $2 trillion dollars leaving $38 trillion dollars in wealth left to the top 5%(15.5 million tax payers) to live on. If the 15.5 million tax payers that accounts for the top 5%, and each one had a share of the $38 trillion spread evenly over the 15.5 million tax payers, that would be $2.45 million dollars, or $6,730 dollars a day, or $47,114 dollars per week, or $188,456 per month for each tax payer in the top 5%.
I think we have lost the notion of proportion, the average tax payer makes $50,000 per year, after taxes it becomes $37,500 , or $102 per day. Compared to a member of the top 5% in which their income is $6,730 per day.
A millionaire who pays $350,000 for their share of taxes still has $650,000 left over, or $1,784 dollars per day to live on, or $12,488 per week, or $49,952 per month, while the average tax payer lives on $102 per day, or $714 per week, or $2,856 per month.
A billionaire who pays $350,000,000 in taxes still has $650,000,000 left over to live on, or $1.784 million dollars per day, or $12.491 million dollars per week. The difference between a millionaire and a billionaire is $12,488 per week for the millionaire compared to $12.49 million per week for the billionaire. But then there is the lowly average tax payer who makes $714 per week, or $2,856 dollars per month.
The tax cuts to the top 2 % amounts to a give away to the millionaires in the amount of about $46,000 dollars per year, or $3,536 per month. For the billionaires, it is a give away of $46,000,000 dollars per year, or $505,147 dollars per month, and who couldn’t live on that much.
The US government is allowing millionaires to get more per month than the average tax payer makes(compare $2,856 dollars per month to $3,536 dollars per month in tax breaks, and further for billionaires it is $49,964 dollars per month).
http://arindamchaudhuri.blogspot.com/2011/06/dictatorship-of-sycophants.html
The modern day Jalianwala Bagh at Ramlila Grounds shows the demonic attitude of the government, the weak spine of the opposition and the hypocrisy of the media towards Bharat!
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