Corinthian Posted June 26, 2012 Posted June 26, 2012 Interesting article: http://www.tabletmag...ars-arab-spring Interesting, yes. But I'm a bit wary of the "stolen classified documents" schtick and could be a marketing ploy for people to buy the book. ("OMG! SECRET DOCUMENTS SAYS IT'S ALL A VAST SOVIET COMMIE GODLESS CONSPIRACY!!!!1!!!!!!!!" = $$$ book sales) Article mentions Vladimir Kuzichkin as the KGB's "master spy" in Iran. I've read his "autobiographical account" book (IIRC, "Vladimir Kuzichkin" is a pseudonym) about his time in the KGB in Iran. ISTR that he wasn't a "master spy" but more like a mid-level KGB official. I remember doing a google search of his name, and there were very few results that had any more interesting information from third-party sources, which leaves me a bit doubtful on the credibility of Kuzichkin's account.
Mistral Posted June 26, 2012 Posted June 26, 2012 The way things are going in the area, in a couple of years we could start seeing a recurrence of the Arab raids towards Cyprus and Malta Oh wait there is Israel so they will not bother us;)
Rod Posted June 26, 2012 Posted June 26, 2012 Well you could make a great Tom Clancy book on a joint Israel/Greek/Cyprus alliance to control new massive oil and gas deposits against raids by a new radical Islamic axis led by an Islamist Turkey and Egypt. The way things are going in the area, in a couple of years we could start seeing a recurrence of the Arab raids towards Cyprus and Malta Oh wait there is Israel so they will not bother us;)
baboon6 Posted June 26, 2012 Posted June 26, 2012 Interesting article: http://www.tabletmag...ars-arab-spring Interesting, yes. But I'm a bit wary of the "stolen classified documents" schtick and could be a marketing ploy for people to buy the book. ("OMG! SECRET DOCUMENTS SAYS IT'S ALL A VAST SOVIET COMMIE GODLESS CONSPIRACY!!!!1!!!!!!!!" = $$$ book sales) Article mentions Vladimir Kuzichkin as the KGB's "master spy" in Iran. I've read his "autobiographical account" book (IIRC, "Vladimir Kuzichkin" is a pseudonym) about his time in the KGB in Iran. ISTR that he wasn't a "master spy" but more like a mid-level KGB official. I remember doing a google search of his name, and there were very few results that had any more interesting information from third-party sources, which leaves me a bit doubtful on the credibility of Kuzichkin's account. Yeah I'm a bit sceptical too. But I think there might be an element of truth to it.
Corinthian Posted June 27, 2012 Posted June 27, 2012 The way things are going in the area, in a couple of years we could start seeing a recurrence of the Arab raids towards Cyprus and Malta Oh wait there is Israel so they will not bother us;) Let them try. They'll have to face Sardaukur in Malta. Well you could make a great Tom Clancy book on a joint Israel/Greek/Cyprus alliance to control new massive oil and gas deposits against raids by a new radical Islamic axis led by an Islamist Turkey and Egypt. Or could be the main plot for a new TN Clansturbation work! BansheeOne, calling BansheeOne, come in, over.
urbanoid Posted June 29, 2012 Posted June 29, 2012 Yet another 'Hooray for the Arab Spring' article: 'Please God, make it stop!' British female journalist, 21, describes horrific sexual assault in Egypt's Tahrir Square after election resultNatasha Smith attacked by a 'group of animals' who stripped her nakedOnly escaped after she was handed a burka and men's clothes'I was tossed around like fresh meat among starving lions'By Daily Mail ReporterPUBLISHED: 12:40 GMT, 27 June 2012 | UPDATED: 10:56 GMT, 28 June 2012 A British journalist was brutally sexually assaulted in Cairo's Tahrir Square as thousands of Egyptians gathered to celebrate the nation's presidential election results.Natasha Smith, 21, has detailed how she was violently attacked by a 'group of animals' who stripped her naked, scratched and clenched her breasts and 'forced their fingers inside her'.She only escaped by donning men's clothes and a burka and being whisked away to safety by two other men. Assaulted: Natasha Smith has written about her horrific ordeal in Tahrir Square on her blog Brutal: Smith was attacked as thousands celebrated the victory of the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate as the new presidentWriting on herblog, she said: 'All I could see was leering faces, more and more faces sneering and jeering as I was tossed around like fresh meat among starving lions.'The incident occured on Sunday when Egyptians flooded the area celebrating the announcement Mohammed Morsi would be the nation's first democratically elected leader.Smith, who will graduate with an MA in International Journalism from University College Falmouth in August, was in Tahrir to film the crowd for a documentary on women's rights. But the initial 'atmosphere of jubilation, excitement, and happiness', quickly turned against her.She said: 'Just as I realised I had reached the end of the bridge, I noticed the crowd became thicker, and decided immediately to turn around to avoid Tahrir Square.'My friends and I tried to leave. I tried to put my camera back in my rucksack. But in a split second, everything changed. 'Men had been groping me for a while, but suddenly, something shifted. I found myself being dragged from my male friend, groped all over, with increasing force and aggression.'I screamed. I could see what was happening and I saw that I was powerless to stop it. I couldn't believe I had got into this situation.'The former Weymouth College and University of Nottingham student said she was then stripped naked and assaulted.Attacked: CBS reporter Lara Logan moments before she was assaulted in February 2011 She wrote: 'I began to think, 'maybe this is just it. Maybe this is how I go, how I die. I’ve had a good life. Whether I live or die, this will all be over soon.'A friend eventually reached her and managed to guide her to a medical tent. Local women helped protect her as she put on the burka and clothes.She said: 'The men outside remained thirsty for blood; their prey had been cruelly snatched from their grasp.'They peered in, so I had to duck down and hide. They attempted to attack the tent, and those inside began making a barricade out of chairs. They wanted my blood.'She then escaped by posing as a stranger's wife and walking out hand-in-hand with the man.She added: 'The women told me the attack was motivated by rumours spread by trouble-making thugs that I was a foreign spy.'But if that was the cause, it was only really used as a pretext, an excuse, to molest and violate a blonde young Western girl.'Smith is not the first western woman to be assaulted while working in Egypt. CBS News' Lara Logan was attacked during the 2011 revolution. She said 'men in the crowd had raped me with their hands'.Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy was also assaulted by Egyptian security forces in November.And Smith has vowed that the abuse would not stop her from exposing the wider issue of sexual assault in the country. Broken and battered: Mona Tahawy was brutally assaulted last yearShe said: 'I will overcome this and come back stronger and wiser. My documentary will be fuelled by my passion to help make people aware of just how serious this issue is.'It's not just a passing news story that briefly gets people’s attention then is forgotten. This is a consistent trend and it has to stop.'Arab women, western women – there are so many sufferers.'
Mike Steele Posted June 30, 2012 Posted June 30, 2012 This will happen in Aug when Congress is not in session or right after Nov (when he loses) http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/304490/egyptian-president-elects-vow-work-blind-sheikhs-release-andrew-c-mccarthy?toggle=y#comment-bar On Egyptian President-elect’s Vow to Work for Blind Sheikh’s Release By Andrew C. McCarthyJune 30, 2012 6:20 A.M.Comments3 The New York Times has a report this morning about the pledge by Egypt’s newly elected president, Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, to work for the release from U.S. prison and repatriation to Egypt of Omar Abdel Rahman, better known to Americans as “the Blind Sheikh.” The report can be read here. Because I was the lead prosecutor at the Blind Sheikh’s 1995 terrorism trial, the Times asked me for information about the case and to make a statement about Mr. Morsi’s vow to seek Abdel Rahman’s release. Here is some background information — much of which I provided to the Times yesterday, have provided to the Times in various interviews over the years, and have written about extensively, particularly at National Review and in my book about the case, Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad.Abdel Rahman is serving a life sentence for terrorism convictions arising out of his formation of a terrorist cell that operated in the New York metropolitan area from the late Eighties through spring 1993. That cell bombed the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993. It was, in addition, responsible for the murder of JDL-founder Meir Kahane in 1990, plots to kill then–Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, and a plot to conduct simultaneous bombings of New York City landmarks — primarily, the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels and the United Nations complex, with additional targets, such as the FBI’s lower Manhattan headquarters, the George Washington Bridge, and U.S. armories, also contemplated. Abdel Rahman, moreover, urged his followers to bomb American military installations, citing as the example most worth emulating: Hezbollah’s 1983 bombing of the U.S. barracks in Lebanon, in which 241members of our armed forces were killed, 220 Marines, 18 Navy, and 3 Army.[/url]Abdel Rahman rooted his terrorist commands in Islamic scripture and jurisprudence, subjects on which he is an internationally renowned authority. That, indeed, is the sole source of his influence — which is profound — over the global jihadist movement; his blindness and various other ailments render him unable to perform physical acts that would be of any use to a terrorist organization. Blind since childhood, Abdel Rahman is a prodigy who memorized the Koran in his early youth. He eventually graduated from from al-Azhar University in Cairo, the seat of Sunni Islamic learning, with a doctorate in Islamic jurisprudence. Following the trial at which he and several of his fellow jihadists were convicted, Abdel Rahman issued a fatwa calling on Muslims to kill Americans, civilian and military, wherever they could be found, and to conduct terrorist attacks against our military assets, embassies, and civilian infrastructure. Following the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden publicly credited this fatwa as the sharia justification required under jihadist protocols to carry out the operation.The Blind Sheikh has, for decades, been the emir, or leader, of Gama’at al-Islamia, the Islamic Group, the Egyptian terrorist organization that carried out the 1981 murder of President Anwar Sadat after Sadat made peace with Israel. Abdel Rahman brags about having issued the fatwa for that murder, although he was acquitted at his trial. (Abdel Rahman used a nullification defense, arguing that because Sadat failed to rule by sharia, devout Muslims had a duty to remove him.)In 1997, following the Blind Sheikh’s U.S. terrorism convictions, the Islamic Group carried out a brutal massacre in Luxor, Egypt, in which 62 tourists and police were killed. The jihadists left behind leaflets promising there would be more such attacks if the Blind Sheikh were not released — and there have, indeed, been several others, though none as atrocious. In 1998, the Islamic Group signed on to the declaration of war against the United States issued by Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. The Islamic Group is formally designated as a foreign terrorist organization under federal law, meaning it is a felony to provide it with material support. In 2005, the Justice Department convicted the Blind Sheikh’s attorney, Lynne Stewart, of material support for passing instructions from her client to the Islamic Group.Nevertheless, as detailed here a few days back, the Obama administration issued a visa to Hani Nour Eldin, a member of the Islamic Group, and then hosted him for talks in Washington. Eldin accompanied a contingent of other members of Egypt’s new Islamist government — which is led by the Muslim Brotherhood and in which the Islamic Group is a coalition partner. Topping Eldin’s agenda, reportedly, was to petition the administration to release the Blind Sheikh. The Obama administration has since stonewalled when pressed by members of Congress and the media to explain why and how it came to issue a visa and play host to a member of a designated terrorist organization given that providing assistance to such organizations is a serious federal crime.In the interview yesterday, I provided the Times with a number of these details. I was also asked to give a statement, though I was not promised that my statement would appear in the paper’s report. It did not appear in the report, but here is what I told the reporter:The Obama administration recently issued a visa to, and hosted in Washington, a member of the Blind Sheikh’s Islamic Group. This was done despite the IG’s formal designation as a foreign terrorist organization to which it is a federal crime to provide material support, and despite the fact that the IG signed al-Qaeda’s 1998 declaration of war against the United States. With President Obama sending these signals, it is no surprise that Egypt’s new Islamist president-elect would seek to capitalize on them.
X-Files Posted July 11, 2012 Posted July 11, 2012 According to several reports in the Arabic media, prominent Muslim clerics have begun to call for the demolition of Egypt’s Great Pyramids—or, in the words of Saudi Sheikh Ali bin Said al-Rabi’i, those “symbols of paganism,” which Egypt’s Salafi party has long planned to cover with wax. Most recently, Bahrain’s “Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs” and President of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, called on Egypt’s new president, Muhammad Morsi, to “destroy the Pyramids and accomplish what Amr bin al-As could not.” http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/07/11/calls-to-destroy-egypts-great-pyramids-begin/
X-Files Posted July 11, 2012 Posted July 11, 2012 Quick, have Tim apprehended. He weighs more than a duck.
Jeff Posted August 12, 2012 Posted August 12, 2012 Hooray for the Arab Spring! Egypt's Morsi fires defence minister TantawiPowerful head of armed forces and chief of army staff dismissed and top commanders retired in shock announcement.Last Modified: 12 Aug 2012 16:24 The Egyptian president has ordered the powerful head of the army and defence minister, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, into retirement and cancelled constitutional amendments issued by the military restricting presidential powers. Mohamed Morsi announced through a spokesman on Sunday the dismissal of Tantawi and his appointment as a presidential adviser. According to state television, Abdul-Fatah al-Sessi would replace Tantawi as defence minister and the general commander of the army. Morsi also sent into retirement the chief of army staff, Sami Anan, and appointed him as a presidential adviser. Lieutenant-General Sidki Sayed Ahmed was named as Anan's replacement. Morsi further appointed a senior judge, Mahmoud Mekki, as vice-president. All decisions are effective immediately. The latest moves are seen as escalating the power struggle between Morsi, who took office on June 30, and the military. Tantawi was the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which ruled the country after Hosni Mubarak was toppled as president in February 2011. He was defence minister for nearly two decades under Mubarak. Brotherhood-military tensions Morsi, from the Muslim Brotherhood, and his Islamist allies did not hide their displeasure with the amendments issued by the military in mid-June curtailing the president's role and granting the army massive powers, including legislative control. Earlier this week, Morsi sacked the head of the intelligence service.Besides Tantawi and Anan, Morsi also ordered the retirement of the commanders of the navy, air defence and air force. The retired navy commander, Lieutenant-General Mohan Mameesh, was named as chairman of the Suez Canal, the strategic waterway linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean and a major source of revenues for the country. Al Jazeera's correspondent, Sherine Tadros, reporting from Cairo, said the president's spokesperson made the surprising announcement on state television. "There will be a lot of questions asked, especially if Morsi is able to do this," she said. "In the coming hours, we will find out how this decision came about. All of this has happened very fast, and it was unexpected." http://www.aljazeera...5511142445.html
thekirk Posted August 12, 2012 Posted August 12, 2012 Hooray for the Arab Spring! Egypt's Morsi fires defence minister TantawiPowerful head of armed forces and chief of army staff dismissed and top commanders retired in shock announcement.Last Modified: 12 Aug 2012 16:24 The Egyptian president has ordered the powerful head of the army and defence minister, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, into retirement and cancelled constitutional amendments issued by the military restricting presidential powers. Mohamed Morsi announced through a spokesman on Sunday the dismissal of Tantawi and his appointment as a presidential adviser. According to state television, Abdul-Fatah al-Sessi would replace Tantawi as defence minister and the general commander of the army. Morsi also sent into retirement the chief of army staff, Sami Anan, and appointed him as a presidential adviser. Lieutenant-General Sidki Sayed Ahmed was named as Anan's replacement. Morsi further appointed a senior judge, Mahmoud Mekki, as vice-president. All decisions are effective immediately. The latest moves are seen as escalating the power struggle between Morsi, who took office on June 30, and the military. Tantawi was the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which ruled the country after Hosni Mubarak was toppled as president in February 2011. He was defence minister for nearly two decades under Mubarak. Brotherhood-military tensions Morsi, from the Muslim Brotherhood, and his Islamist allies did not hide their displeasure with the amendments issued by the military in mid-June curtailing the president's role and granting the army massive powers, including legislative control. Earlier this week, Morsi sacked the head of the intelligence service.Besides Tantawi and Anan, Morsi also ordered the retirement of the commanders of the navy, air defence and air force. The retired navy commander, Lieutenant-General Mohan Mameesh, was named as chairman of the Suez Canal, the strategic waterway linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean and a major source of revenues for the country. Al Jazeera's correspondent, Sherine Tadros, reporting from Cairo, said the president's spokesperson made the surprising announcement on state television. "There will be a lot of questions asked, especially if Morsi is able to do this," she said. "In the coming hours, we will find out how this decision came about. All of this has happened very fast, and it was unexpected." http://www.aljazeera...5511142445.html Well, he can tell them whatever he likes. Now, let's see him enforce it. I suspect we're about to see what happens when the military confronts the Muslim Brotherhood. It ain't going to go like Turkey did with Erdogan...
Jeff Posted August 12, 2012 Posted August 12, 2012 Well, he can tell them whatever he likes. Now, let's see him enforce it. I suspect we're about to see what happens when the military confronts the Muslim Brotherhood. It ain't going to go like Turkey did with Erdogan...And Egypt isn't Kemal Ataturk's Turkey either (neither is Turkey anymore). I'm not sure who to bet on but there's a real chance that the Egyptian generals are going to end up like Hitler in his bunker, moving divisions that no longer exist around a map while hordes of Russian soldiers in the form of Islamist mobs storm the city. Hooray for the Arab Spring!
rmgill Posted August 12, 2012 Posted August 12, 2012 Quick, have Tim apprehended. He weighs more than a duck. With or without the M5?
BansheeOne Posted August 13, 2012 Posted August 13, 2012 I'm not too worried about the personalia; apparently both sides cut a deal over that, and the new guys are from the same mold as the old. Some commenters are suggesting the generals are quite happy to leave Mursi and his folks all the blame for politics and the economy while they keep control over the armed forces. Reverting the Military Council's changes to the constitution is more interesting, as it's not clear whether either side had the authority to fumble with it. I foresee another dance with the supreme court after they stole out of the last over the legality of parliament.
Jeff Posted September 11, 2012 Posted September 11, 2012 All together now...Hooray for the Arab Spring! Oh yeah, happy 9/11 anniversary from our Egyptian friends. Cairo protesters scale U.S. Embassy wall, remove flagSep 11, 2012USA Today Egyptian demonstrators climbed the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo today and pulled down the American flag to protest a film they say is insulting to the prophet Mohammad. Update at 2:07 p.m. ET: CNN reports that U.S. security guards fired a volley of warning shots as the crowd gathered outside the embassy walls. CNN adds that the embassy had been expecting a demonstration and cleared all diplomatic personnel earlier from the facility. Original post: The Associated Press reports that embassy officials say there was no staff inside at the time. Reuters reports that protesters tried to raise a black flag carrying the slogan: "There is no god but Allah and Mohammad is his messenger." The news agency says about 2,000 protesters have gathered outside the embassy and about 20 have scaled the walls. The AP says the protesters were largely ultra-conservative Islamists. Iran's FARS news agency says the film is the work of a group of "extremist" members of the Egyptian Coptic Church in the United States. Al Ahram online says the film is reportedly being produced by U.S.-based Coptic-Christian Egyptians, including Esmat Zaklama and Morees Sadek, with the support of the Terry Jones Church in the United States. Jones is the evangelical pastor who stirred controversy last year by threatening to burn a Quran in public. CNN says the film in question is a Dutch production. The AP says clips of the film available on YouTube show the prophet having sex and question his role as the messenger of Godâ??s words. After the protest, the U.S. Embassy issued this statement on its website: The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims â?? as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of other The Grand Mufti of Egypt Sheikh Ali Gomaa strongly condemned the movie, AllAfrica.com reports. "Freedom of speech does not warrant desecrating sanctities," Gomaa said in a statement Sunday. http://content.usato.../1#.UE-AdkbCz8A
BP Posted September 11, 2012 Posted September 11, 2012 Nothing that a few billion more borrowed dollars in foreign aid can't fix. A mere social fillip.
DKTanker Posted September 11, 2012 Posted September 11, 2012 http://content.usato.../1#.UE-AdkbCz8A The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims â?? as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Well isn't that peachy. No US administration over the last 40 years or so has had a problem with "misguided" individuals that strive to hurt the religous feeling of Christians and Jews. Will The One apologize for his party having slighted the three major monotheitic religions of the USA during its convention last week? Had William Blatty written a book and William Friedrick directed a movie of the book, and both described the masturbation by a young adolescent with a figurine of Mohammed does anybody think they would be able to walk the earth free from the threat of being murdered? Yet they did indeed do exactly that, but with a Crucifix figurine...and get this, they're still to this day walking about just as free from worry as you please. BTW, Piss Christ anybody?
thekirk Posted September 11, 2012 Posted September 11, 2012 Don't worry about this, or it's implications. The mass media will ignore it, so it can't be at all important, can it?
BP Posted September 11, 2012 Posted September 11, 2012 http://content.usato.../1#.UE-AdkbCz8A The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims â?? as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Well isn't that peachy. No US administration over the last 40 years or so has had a problem with "misguided" individuals that strive to hurt the religous feeling of Christians and Jews. Will The One apologize for his party having slighted the three major monotheitic religions of the USA during its convention last week? Had William Blatty written a book and William Friedrick directed a movie of the book, and both described the masturbation by a young adolescent with a figurine of Mohammed does anybody think they would be able to walk the earth free from the threat of being murdered? Yet they did indeed do exactly that, but with a Crucifix figurine...and get this, they're still to this day walking about just as free from worry as you please. BTW, Piss Christ anybody? Something tells me you don't understand/respect diversity.
Simon Tan Posted September 11, 2012 Posted September 11, 2012 This is the foreign policy winning of Obama Biden. Hussain!
Simon Tan Posted September 12, 2012 Posted September 12, 2012 Hmm......reminds me of another embassy.....
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