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Obama's Middle East Policy Is in Ruins (Germans GET IT)
der spiegel ^ | 9/14/2012 | ds

Posted on 09/14/2012 7:14:23 AM PDT by barryobi

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

"The murder of an ambassador in Libya and the attacks on US diplomatic missions in other Arab countries is sure to strengthen the skepticism that more than a few Americans feel toward Muslims and the political changes brought by the Arab revolutions. The deeply held American belief that all you have to do is liberate people from serfdom and dictatorship, and then democracy and a market economy will develop more or less on their own, burned to ash in the trial by fire of Iraq. A fact that academics and historically informed diplomats have always known can now be observed throughout the Arab world: Deeply ingrained cultural attitudes do not change simply because one political regime replaces another. In the long process of building a democratic society, it is not possible to simply skip stages."

TBerliner Zeitung writes

"The attacks on US embassies and consulates in the Arab world can not be justified in any way. If it turns out that al-Qaida is behind the attacks, as some US officials suspect, then they are acts of terrorism committed under the guise of religion. If they turn out to be uncoordinated actions by angry believers, then they are an expression of a frightening ignorance. A crazy individual US citizen has uploaded a movie onto the Internet which denigrates the Prophet Muhammad. The US government can not be held responsible for that. But that clearly does not help US President Barack Obama very much. He has to bear the political consequences of the recent events"

"Four years ago, Obama pledged to seek reconciliation with the Muslim world. Now, it is doubtful whether he has succeeded. The US and its European allies now have to ask themselves how much support they still enjoy in the countries of the Arab Spring."

(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cairo; carterisobama; emptychair; libya; obama; obamaiscarter; obamaisclinton
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To: GOPJ

“two weeks after he’s in office”: You are much too generous. They will attack him before he gets to the office to avenge the loss of their Obama.


41 posted on 09/14/2012 8:15:11 AM PDT by LLBeet
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To: DannyTN
Our nation building should have been about changing the culture and religion of these countries. Otherwise we are just rebuilding the enemy of western civilization.

Truer words have not been written.

But, I ask you... who do you say is the "Our" in your statement? If you mean the government or "people of the United States"...I fear it is not possible...as "our" own unprincipled culture and weak religion is not the answer.

42 posted on 09/14/2012 8:29:11 AM PDT by KMJames
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To: GOPJ

My point was to correct a post erroneously trying to correct the story by claiming that it was only the Dems and MSM who had that false conceit.

Of course Obama is a horror, but W set us on a path of deceiving ourselves about our Islamic enemies.


43 posted on 09/14/2012 8:34:52 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: 9YearLurker

Freedom, liberty, rights and democracy are all creatures of a English Christian heritage..... all antithetical to islam due to the word Christian.

Islam is anti Christian = Anti Christ

Where this is going to is Islam is wrestling for mankinds soul. If they win, there will be hell on earth.

f/n evil cavemen. AND obama is one of them. Actually, he is a Ghazi, operating from our White House.


44 posted on 09/14/2012 8:45:56 AM PDT by himno hero (hadnuff)
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To: GOPJ

There was a link to another recent thread where Bush was praising the Arab Spring


45 posted on 09/14/2012 8:47:38 AM PDT by uncbob
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To: 9YearLurker
Obama was elected on the idea of 'hope and change' NOT 'we're Bush lite' and 'we're too stupid to think for ourselves...'

If that's the case, then he and Hillary need to come forward and tell the American people that they're too lame to come up with their own policy - and they're just following old ideas of Bush's.

That would be so funny.

Anyhow offering lame excuses for Obama and Hillary looks so MainStreamMediash... is that what you want to project?

46 posted on 09/14/2012 8:49:12 AM PDT by GOPJ (first they came for those clinging to their guns and religion, and I did not speak out....)
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To: LLBeet
“two weeks after he’s in office”: You are much too generous. They will attack him before he gets to the office to avenge the loss of their Obama.

LLBeet, you're right on this one - and I'm wrong. Thanks.

47 posted on 09/14/2012 8:52:59 AM PDT by GOPJ (first they came for those clinging to their guns and religion, and I did not speak out....)
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To: SE Mom
Deeply ingrained cultural attitudes do not change simply because one political regime replaces another.

So true. I happened to be reading David Pryce-Jones' Closed Circle just before W launched the Iraq war. He (DPJ) clearly describes the disfunctional nature of the Islamic social structure at the ground level. I wish W had read it before sending us down the nation-building rabbit hole over there.

48 posted on 09/14/2012 8:55:46 AM PDT by Paine in the Neck (Socialism consumes everything)
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To: KMJames
"But, I ask you... who do you say is the "Our" in your statement? If you mean the government or "people of the United States"...I fear it is not possible...as "our" own unprincipled culture and weak religion is not the answer."

Well, I've guess you hit the root of the problem. The reason we aren't doing or even recognizing what needed to be done is because our own culture has degenerated to the point that we no longer have the conviction of what's right. Thus we can't Muslim countries out of they abyss because we're too busy heading into the abyss ourselves.

49 posted on 09/14/2012 8:58:02 AM PDT by DannyTN
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To: GOPJ

I’m not offering any excuses for Barry or Hill—but I don’t think blatant lying on these boards does anyone any favors.


50 posted on 09/14/2012 8:58:56 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: Aria
Bush has been out of office a long time - in the last four years new information has come to light.

Do you think for a moment that Romeny will be able to blame ANYTHING on Obama after he's been in office four years? I would hope not - really, Obama's not as lame as you think > - he's not so totally in awe of Bush that he only does what he thinks Bush would have done FOUR YEARS AGO.

Do you remember the difference between 5th grade and 8th grade in school? Well, that's how long it's been. Obama's responsible for this mess. And so is Hillary.

Appeasement doesn't work in the school lunchroom with the bully or in life with radical Muslims. We've been weaken by Obama policy - this is just the start of chickens coming home to roost..

51 posted on 09/14/2012 9:00:51 AM PDT by GOPJ (first they came for those clinging to their guns and religion, and I did not speak out....)
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To: Toespi
"Many Americans would get it, if their news wasn’t being filtered. The real and greatest threat to this nation is, without a doubt, media. "

Or until some rich conservatives step up to the plate and buy out one of the major networks or somehow get us an alternative. The internet has helped, but it's not reaching everybody.

52 posted on 09/14/2012 9:02:09 AM PDT by DannyTN
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To: barryobi

“In ruins” my butt! According to plan is more accurate.


53 posted on 09/14/2012 9:02:55 AM PDT by The Toll
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To: 9YearLurker

What’s the lie?


54 posted on 09/14/2012 9:03:35 AM PDT by GOPJ (first they came for those clinging to their guns and religion, and I did not speak out....)
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To: barryobi

“In ruins” my butt! According to plan is more accurate.


55 posted on 09/14/2012 9:04:47 AM PDT by The Toll
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To: GOPJ

To: barryobi

“The deeply held American belief that all you have to do is liberate people from serfdom and dictatorship, and then democracy and a market economy will develop more or less on their own, burned to ash in the trial by fire of Iraq.”

Correction: The deeply held Democrat and MSM belief that all you have to do is liberate people from serfdom and dictatorship, and then democracy and a market economy will develop more or less on their own, burned to ash ...

8 posted on Fri Sep 14 2012 10:24:38 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time) by GOPJ (first they came for those clinging to their guns and religion, and I did not speak out....)

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56 posted on 09/14/2012 9:06:10 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: GOPJ

By saying ‘correction’ and then bolding your statement that it was the MSM and Dems who had that delusion, you were positing that our side hasn’t.

To the contrary, we just had 8 years of that fairy tale while the GOP’s W was president.


57 posted on 09/14/2012 9:16:46 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: DannyTN
...our own culture has degenerated to the point that we no longer have the conviction of what's right...

People cannot long continue rejecting the sound practices of Godly morals in their relationships (personal, community, business, government, foreign affairs...etc.) and hope to end up with anything virtuous - it will simply all go to hell. How hard is that to see?

58 posted on 09/14/2012 9:20:29 AM PDT by KMJames
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To: 9YearLurker
I believed once - a long time ago - that people in the middle east wanted freedom. But for years now I've realized it isn't true. Muslims don't want freedom - they want the 'stuff' that a free society can produce - but they want it under Islamic law. And that's not possible unless they're lucky enough to live under a money tree or be born on top of a pool of oil. Some cultural ideas produce wealth - some produce violence.

Islam is so intertwined with governing that religion and state can't be separated without outside force. There will never be a true ‘rule of law’ type democracy in an islamic country.

Our ideas are incompatible with Sharia.

Most freepers understand that - and have expressed it over the years. And we learned that by watching the world - we don't have access to the same level of intelligence reports that Obama and Hillary have. Obama should have based US policy on knowing how Sharia works - he had a Pakistani room-mate in college after all... And he has all the intelligence agencies of the United States working to give him reliable information. I don't think he sent them all away so he could follow Bush's lead... silly stuff there.

Sharia is so controlling it tells men how to push back their hair. What fingers to use. Really.

When Hillary expressed surprise that these people would pay us back for liberating them with violence, it told me she had no clue how everyday people in the ME feel... United States policy should be based on reality not wishful thinking. The reality is what you're seeing on your TV screen - and it's going to get worse as they perceive us as 'weak'.

Tell me, did you think apologizing was a good idea? Or did you think it would inflame Muslims? My guess is you knew 9YearLurker. You knew it was a bad idea just like the rest of us. Now ask yourself, why didn't Obama and Hillary know. How can you explain that?

59 posted on 09/14/2012 9:36:36 AM PDT by GOPJ (first they came for those clinging to their guns and religion, and I did not speak out....)
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To: GOPJ; 9YearLurker
"Of course Obama is a horror, but W set us on a path of deceiving ourselves about our Islamic enemies."

I agree with 9YearLurker.

Bush failed when he declared Islam as a religion of peace. Bush was one of the main instigators of the policy that "if we just bring them democracy everything will be better". Britain installed dictators for a reason.

Obama has basically followed Bush's lead in trying to spread democracy. An explosion of democracy was basically what Bush projected when he introduced democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan.

It's kind of hard to blame Obama for supporting groups that are claiming to fight for democracy. But the question is a democracy of what. Of Jew hating militant Islamists?

The one thing I would fault Britain for, is that they probably could have done more when they had control to change the culture of these countries.

60 posted on 09/14/2012 9:37:15 AM PDT by DannyTN
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