Posted on 06/01/2012 12:30:32 AM PDT by Olog-hai
The rush to back change for change’s sake in the troubled region of North Africa has proven somewhat naïve. …
The accommodation of the Islamist-orientated An-Nahda (The Renaïssance) movement in Tunisia’s new coalition government has been achieved without jeopardizing the foundations of the country’s secular constitution. Even so, only last weekend hundreds of Islamist rioters went on the rampage, attacking bars and shops that sell alcohol, a turn of events that is unlikely to boost Tunisia’s attractiveness to Western holidaymakers.
Elsewhere, the omens are even less encouraging. Eight months after Colonel Gaddafi’s brutal murder, Libya remains in thrall to the warring bands of militias—some of them al-Qaeda acolytes—who are determined to hold on to their independent fiefdoms rather than embrace the cause of democratic reform Libyans were promised if they supported the dictator’s overthrow.
In neighboring Egypt, meanwhile, where the defiant protests in Tahrir Square last year fostered the belief that wholesale democratic reform was about to sweep the Arab world, the choice for 50 million voters is between the military and the Islamists, two groups not renowned for their commitment to democracy.
This depressing pattern is repeated throughout the region. The political instability in Yemen following President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s retirement has resulted in a dramatic upgrade in al-Qaeda’s terrorist capabilities, while attempts by Bahrain’s ruling family to reconcile their differences with Shia Muslim dissenters have been undermined by the pernicious involvement of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, whose long‑term ambition is to achieve the overthrow of the country’s Sunni Muslim monarchy.
So much, then, for the “Arab Spring”, which, as I have consistently argued, is an intellectually flawed concept dreamt up by those who conveniently overlook the forces at play in Arab countries. …
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I am always amazed when people bemoan violence in post revolutionary societies, blaming it on a lack of democracy.
Violent mob rule ~IS~ democracy, in its purest form.
That is why the great political scientists, beginning with Plato, regarded democracy as anathema to a truly just and civil society.
Names, like words, mean things. Names both describe and empower. It is no accident that the Democrat Party in America seeks to reduce the Republic to rubble using mobs empowered by ignorance as their wrecking ball.
What you see in the “Arab Spring” is precisely what they have planned for US, once they have stripped the populace of their wealth, national pride and faith in God.
Democracy is the empowerment of those least equipped, either by learning or temperament to wield it.
Sometimes you come across a nugget of truth so profound, you have to sit and contmeplate it--like this one.
Well stated.
Democrats are the enemies of freedom, and always have been.
Why - Thank You!
If the arabic countries naively believe democracy means freedom, they are sorely naive in the first place. However they are not going to get freedom until they renounce the dictates of their islamiofascist imams. And that’s just the way it is.
You are dead on.
This is Obama’s plan.
There, fixed it!
“The Arab Spring was no prelude to democracy”
It might have been if democracies had given full support from the very beginning instead of sitting by and watching.
The muslim brotherhood watched the pro-democracy movement grow & and then joined in and took over.
That’s when the movement was lost - and the world just watched, as it’s watching in Syria.
What naive dipshits actually believed that? Good grief these people are just stupid...
“Libya remains in thrall to the warring bands of militias—some of them al-Qaeda acolytes— “
This, of course, is bullsh*t from the 30 IQ morons in the British press. This is like claiming that America is in chaos and about to be overrun because the Earth Liberation Front burned an SUV in a car lot.
Osama al-Juwali, Libya’s interim defense minister and the most respected militia leader in Libya, has sent out the Libyan army, made of various militia groups and the regular army, to kick Al Queda’s ass when they squeak too loud.
The so-called Muslim militias in Tripoli are composed of roving gangs of 16-year-old punks looking for free stuff, just like our big city Amish here in America. The residents of Tripoli hate their guts, and al-Juwali has deployed troops into Tripoli to spank their butts several times.
Congratulations, you figured out that most people in the Middle East follow the Islamic religion. Impressive.
Brilliant, ain’t it? Meanwhile, your prior post seemed to sharply define the distinction between “Islamist” and “Muslim”. If you like, I can go one step further and categorically state that al-Juwaili is the equivalent of al-Qaeda.
“I can go one step further and categorically state that al-Juwaili is the equivalent of al-Qaeda.”
Take your best shot. How you equate al-Juwaili as Al-Queda should be amusing.
Show everyone here how al-Juwaili helped Al-Queda in Libya and especially in Tripoli during the overthrow of Kaddhafi’s regime. Tell us how al-Juwaili let Qaddhafi’s Al-Queda ministers, mercenaries, toadies and bureaucrats slip through and escape to Nigeria.
I can’t wait to see you reference crap from your left sources in Reuters and al-Jazeera.
One of the groups represented in the anti-Gaddafi coalition is the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, or LIFG. Leaders of the LIFG fought alongside Osama bin Laden against the Soviets during the War in Afghanistan in the1980s. The LIFG’s association with al-Qaeda is the reason why the group is found on the U.S. State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.For the record, al-Reuters and al-Jazeera are remarkably silent on Osama al Juwaili and his boss Abdurrahim El-Keib, as is Wikipedia.
How ironic, then, that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would travel to Libya, as she did this past October, to announce a U.S. foreign aid package to the country. When she arrived, she was greeted by “revolutionaries” in Tripoli, the capital of Libya, where the head of the LIFG and ex-Guantanamo Bay inmate, Abdul Hakim Belhadj, is presently the commander of the Tripoli Military Council, and another Islamist, Osama al-Juwaili, is the head of the Libyan Defense Ministry. Essentially, the entire military apparatus for Libya is, today, controlled by Islamists. …
I don’t have time for this crap.
I asked you to prove your statement: “I can go one step further and categorically state that al-Juwaili is the equivalent of al-Qaeda.”
You trot out Joe Blow as a source. That’s not proof; it’s libel.
I asked you to prove your contention that al-Juwaili is al-Queda.
You’re silent and change the subject.
Do some reading:
http://www.elfagr.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=82867
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aftermath_of_the_Libyan_civil_war
No. The “Arab Spring” is beginning of everything Al Qaeda hoped achieve when it attacked the US: the rebirth of a Caliphate. It didn’t go the way they planned but it is happening nevertheless.
Of course there are issues of Islamic sectarianism; The Sunnis hate the Shiites and the Wahabbis hate everybody, etc., but, as long they external enemies to attack and loot, this can be ignored.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.