Spengler: Chinese weather on Tahrir Square (Must Read)

Asia Times ^ | 2/10/2011 | David "Spengler" Goldman

[mojito]

From the inimitable Spengler. Read the whole thing.

[ColdOne]

The New York Times on February 8 quotes Mohamed ElBaradei, the figurehead opposition leader, complaining that the Arab world is "a collection of failed states who add nothing to humanity or science" because "people were taught not to think or to act, and were consistently given an inferior education. That will change with democracy." It's too late. A country that still practices female genital mutilation cannot undertake a grand leap into modernity (by way of comparison, China began to abolish foot-binding in 1911 and eradicated it entirely shortly after 1949).

[FatherofFive]

Free Markets, Individual liberty, a government without corruption.

The only solution. Liberty and Islam are not compatible. There is no hope for Egypt as long as they remain Islamic.

[dalebert]

well I think Obama just offered them lots of dollars.

[WashingtonSource]

starvation bump

[Domangart]

They get their food and money from the government. Who will pay them and feed them with no bucks flowing in. The wolf is at the door.

[SueRae]

Beenmy concern since day 1. Once the jubilation dies down, where are they going to get food for these people? Tourism is shut down. Not stable at all.

[RobRoy]

>>Free Markets, Individual liberty, a government without corruption.<<

Yeah, we could use a little of that over here in the US.

[YHAOS]

It’s those damned chickens again.

[La Lydia]

Outrageously good post.

Egypt's rulers had a good run as an American client. They have not yet absorbed the enormity of Washington's abandonment of a reasonably faithful and consistent ally. Accustomed as they are to hypocrisy in all public discourse, the rulers did not quite grasp President Barack Obama's obsession ... America's president really is prepared to gamble core American interests on the sketchy proposition that Egypt can turn into a Muslim democracy.

[expatpat]

A country that still practices female genital mutilation cannot undertake a grand leap

Who says? This is small stuff. The US gets along fine with very high levels of male genital mutilation.

[kbennkc]

I think the new repugnicans might even have enough guts to stop the aid when the Muslim Brotherhood takes over. I wouldn't bet on it though. They may get convinced we will go into a depression if we don't spend with both hands, they are still repugnicans.

[Third Person]

Egypt is going to have quite the hangover.

[Cicero]

Well. Remarkable. As you say, read the whole thing.

[marron]

Spengler is excellent and as he so often does, knocks it out of the park.

This is one of the reasons why I get my news and analysis here. The alphabet networks have nothing to offer but adolescent navel-gazing. If you want to know what is going on you go to the web. FR should be first stop.

If Fox ever hires Spengler, maybe to take the slot right after Beck, maybe they could finally retire the dufus BOR and it will be a win-win all the way around.

[DallasDeb]

I heard on John Bachelor last night that 35% of Egypt’s workforce works for the government. It’s economy cannot sustain itself with that much of the worforce getting paid by the government. It takes decades for someone with a technical degree to get a job anywhere in Egypt because there is no industry. They hate us because we have supported the Mubarak government for 30+ years.

[FatherofFive]

Yeah, we could use a little of that over here in the US.

Right. It works every time it's tried.

Good thing conservatives have all the guns.

[SeeSharp]

They have not yet absorbed the enormity of Washington's abandonment of a reasonably faithful and consistent ally.

Howzat? I don't see any Americans in the streets shouting "Death to Egypt".

[Chattering Class of 58]

Read all the articles there

[netmilsmom]

>>The US gets along fine with very high levels of male genital mutilation.<<

Um, there are medical reasons to circumcise.

# Uncircumcised men are about twice as likely to be infected with human papillomavirus (HPV) and pass it along to sexual partners, resulting in higher cervical cancer rates in regions where the majority of men are uncircumcised [source: Infectious Diseases Society of America]. It also appears that circumcision helps protect against infection from chlamydia and syphilis [source: JAMA].
# Recent studies have shown that circumcision can dramatically reduce the rate of HIV infection. According to these studies, a circumcised man is 60 percent less likely to contract HIV than an uncircumcised man [source: Timbert]. (This holds true only in the case of female-to-male transmission — circumcision hasn’t been seen to influence the rate of male-to-male HIV transmission [source: JAMA].)
Per Web-MD

I suspect you would have a hard time coming up with any medical reason to rationalize a clitorectomy.