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News & ArtsSaturday, September 15, 2012
Politics / News The Saturday Morning News
Posted by Riya Bhattacharjee on Sat, Sep 15, 2012 at 9:00 AM
Video rage spreads to 20 countries: Anti-American protests that started in the birthplace of the Arab Spring has now spread beyond the Middle East. In Afghanistan, protesters burned an effigy of President Obama.
“We have, throughout the Arab world, a young, unemployed, alienated and radicalized group of people, mainly men, who have found a vehicle to express themselves,” - Rob Malley, a program director for the International Crisis Group.
Man linked to video taken in for questioning: Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, may have violated probation "stemming from the making" of the Innocence of Musilms video, which has led to widespread protests in the Muslim world. Police are not investigating the video itself.
"Why is the Muslim world so easily offended?": The WaPo investigates.
The Eraser: Obama takes away Romney's edge on the economy. A NYT/CBS poll finds Americans are optimistic that White House policies are working.
Poll also finds that Obama would beat Romney in a fistfight: As well as large-scale alien invasions.
Paul Ryan's debate practice buddy: Ted Olson.
The Chinese protest the Japanese: Over a bunch of uninhabited islands.
Kate topless photos: "One of the world's most photographed people disrobes in public view, of course we're interested."
Taliban claims it targeted Prince Harry: During attack on British base in Afghanistan.
Ex-cop from Seattle convicted in 1957 killing: Jack McCullough, 72, was found guilty Friday of a 55-year-old kidnapping and murder of a 7-year-old Illinois girl.
Also, your Facebook is false.
1
“We have, throughout the Arab world, a young, unemployed, alienated and radicalized group of people, mainly men, who have found a vehicle to express themselves,”
Replace "Arab world" with "USA" and you've got the Occupy movement.....
Replace "Arab world" with "USA" and you've got the Occupy movement.....
2
Or you could replace "young, unemployed" with "old, retired" and you've got the Tea Party movement.
.....
.....
3
That Wash Post editorial is something to take with a few grains of salt. The author is with the Hoover Institute, first of all, and he calls Bernard Lewis--the "clash of civilizations" huckster (that is, one of those Pam Geller types)--a "great historian."
4
Your headline on the last item isn't quite right. The cop was lived in Seattle and worked in Thurston County. That would make him an ex-deputy, not an ex-Seattle cop.
5
A guess, hasn't the "boxing candidates" meme been used in a lot of modern day elections? Maybe it's Robert Bly's reptilian brain people who Marketers are trying to seduce into readership.
6
i learned exactly nothing that i didn't already know about muslim oversensitivity. they are easily offended because they are gullible naifs with too much time on their hands & believe an absurd myth because it's easier than thinking.
and @1, you know exactly shit.
and @1, you know exactly shit.
8
New YouTube video showing some of the acts of Religious Rage fueled by a foreigner's statement they consider blasphemous:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc7rBVUIH…
9
Maybe the muslims are offended by the drone missiles that are landing in various parts of their world, causing large-scale "collateral damage," or could it be the decades of American support for ruthless dictators that have kept them down for so long?
13
@9
Nope!
It's got to be their culture or religion or something like that.
They cannot be mad at us for things we've done and people we've supported in the past.
Take Egypt for example.
So what if we were supporting the corrupt ruling autocratic elite for years?
So what if the people we were supporting were overthrown by the masses and a fledgling democracy instated?
So what if those democratic masses see images of children killed by our drone strikes on TV every week?
So what if they have to deal with the immigrants from our liberation of Iraq and Afghanistan?
If they were "modern" then they would not be upset at any of that.
After all, we're "modern" and we aren't upset by any of that.
Right?
Nope!
It's got to be their culture or religion or something like that.
They cannot be mad at us for things we've done and people we've supported in the past.
Take Egypt for example.
So what if we were supporting the corrupt ruling autocratic elite for years?
So what if the people we were supporting were overthrown by the masses and a fledgling democracy instated?
So what if those democratic masses see images of children killed by our drone strikes on TV every week?
So what if they have to deal with the immigrants from our liberation of Iraq and Afghanistan?
If they were "modern" then they would not be upset at any of that.
After all, we're "modern" and we aren't upset by any of that.
Right?
14
International Crisis Group ? ? ?!!!
Geez, next you'll be quoting the Federalist Society or the Foundation in Defense of Democracies (all three ultra-neocon, BTW).
OBEY WALL STREET
We have charitably provided you riff-raff with two choices for the 2012 presidential election:
the neocon Mitt Romney, private banker moron, and the 100% neocon administration of President Obama.
Be thankful!
There are tremendous differences between the two candidates. The incumbent supports the complete privatization of America, and Romney supports the complete privatization of America.
Both candidates are anti-union and support the offshoring of America.
You can't go wrong electing either candidate!
Obey Authority, and be thankful to Wall Street, your rightful masters in all things.
Any talk of third party candidates will not be tolerated.
OBEY WALL STREET ! ! !
(Anyone observed reading a book on the following forbidden list will be severely dealth with.)
Battling Wall Street: The Kennedy presidency, by Donald Gibson
Thy Will Be Done, by Gerard Colby with Charlotte Dennett
Brothers: the Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, by David Talbot
JFK and the Unspeakable, by James Douglass
Family of Secrets, by Russ Baker
A Terrible Mistake, by H.P. Albarelli
Who Shot Bobby?, by Shane O'Sullivan
Wall Street Capitalism: The Theory of the Bondholding Class, by E. Ray Canterbery
Treasure Islands, by Nicholas Shaxson
Extreme Money, by Satyajit Das
More...
Geez, next you'll be quoting the Federalist Society or the Foundation in Defense of Democracies (all three ultra-neocon, BTW).
OBEY WALL STREET
We have charitably provided you riff-raff with two choices for the 2012 presidential election:
the neocon Mitt Romney, private banker moron, and the 100% neocon administration of President Obama.
Be thankful!
There are tremendous differences between the two candidates. The incumbent supports the complete privatization of America, and Romney supports the complete privatization of America.
Both candidates are anti-union and support the offshoring of America.
You can't go wrong electing either candidate!
Obey Authority, and be thankful to Wall Street, your rightful masters in all things.
Any talk of third party candidates will not be tolerated.
OBEY WALL STREET ! ! !
(Anyone observed reading a book on the following forbidden list will be severely dealth with.)
Battling Wall Street: The Kennedy presidency, by Donald Gibson
Thy Will Be Done, by Gerard Colby with Charlotte Dennett
Brothers: the Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, by David Talbot
JFK and the Unspeakable, by James Douglass
Family of Secrets, by Russ Baker
A Terrible Mistake, by H.P. Albarelli
Who Shot Bobby?, by Shane O'Sullivan
Wall Street Capitalism: The Theory of the Bondholding Class, by E. Ray Canterbery
Treasure Islands, by Nicholas Shaxson
Extreme Money, by Satyajit Das
15
@6, go back and read how Kermit Roosevelt and his team, paying local Iranians, overthrew their democratically elected government in the early 1950s.
It was very similar to what's occurring today, only this time around it's the Saudis who are financing all this bullcrap as they fight against any pro-democracy movements in their neighborhood, plus foster higher prices in oil, eventually leading to wars between North African countries and Europe (as outlined in various papers and news articles from Saudi Arabia over the past 7 years).
It was very similar to what's occurring today, only this time around it's the Saudis who are financing all this bullcrap as they fight against any pro-democracy movements in their neighborhood, plus foster higher prices in oil, eventually leading to wars between North African countries and Europe (as outlined in various papers and news articles from Saudi Arabia over the past 7 years).
16
Rain Wilson.
Yeah, I make joke responses like that to Internet platitudes all the time on Twitter.
However, unlike an media mammoth such as Wilson, I don't have the megaphone or a "TV Show".
Yeah, I make joke responses like that to Internet platitudes all the time on Twitter.
However, unlike an media mammoth such as Wilson, I don't have the megaphone or a "TV Show".
17
The Arab world has been screwed for quite sometime. The brutality they've faced over the last 500 years probably is ingrained into their culture to some degree. Just as America's history has created a narrative of distrust towards non-white Christians.
I feel for the youth in the Arab world. It has to be super frustrating to know that a very small percentage of their population has insane amounts of wealth while the rest are in dire poverty. In a region filled with the modern world's most valuable resource. Oil from the middle east has given rise to the modern industrial world and these guys were left with nothing.
As Americans blame radical Muslims (who they've never met) the street of the Arab world also has their bogey man. It's a lot easier to rail against something abstract than to face the real issue at hand. The Arab Spring seems like they were starting to go down that path, instead of chanting 'death to America' they were finally focuses on who really was making their lives miserable. Their own elites.
I have hope for the Arab world, but it's gonna be a bloody slog with a lot of missteps. It's not Islam though, it's their history. If it was the religion, why aren't Muslims in the states or Indonesia rioting? The cycle of abuse has to be broken, though I doubt outside forces will be able to do it for them. I wish more interfaith videos could go viral. To bad happiness and understanding are boring compared to anger.
I feel for the youth in the Arab world. It has to be super frustrating to know that a very small percentage of their population has insane amounts of wealth while the rest are in dire poverty. In a region filled with the modern world's most valuable resource. Oil from the middle east has given rise to the modern industrial world and these guys were left with nothing.
As Americans blame radical Muslims (who they've never met) the street of the Arab world also has their bogey man. It's a lot easier to rail against something abstract than to face the real issue at hand. The Arab Spring seems like they were starting to go down that path, instead of chanting 'death to America' they were finally focuses on who really was making their lives miserable. Their own elites.
I have hope for the Arab world, but it's gonna be a bloody slog with a lot of missteps. It's not Islam though, it's their history. If it was the religion, why aren't Muslims in the states or Indonesia rioting? The cycle of abuse has to be broken, though I doubt outside forces will be able to do it for them. I wish more interfaith videos could go viral. To bad happiness and understanding are boring compared to anger.
18
@17, it IS Islam, and it is the fact that they live in Islamic states. The US is not an Islamic state, so Muslims can have freedom to express themselves and still hold an ideology that conflicts with freedom of expression.
19
"Replace "Arab world" with "USA" and you've got the Occupy movement....."
Except Occupy can barely muster a dozen crusties, juggalos an anarchists to any given event these days.
Except Occupy can barely muster a dozen crusties, juggalos an anarchists to any given event these days.
20
@18 so Muslims in the US aren't following the teaching of Islam? Don't tell that to my Muslim friends, they'd be pretty offended. I think we have different understandings of what Islam means.
21
@19 I generally find your posts annoying and illinformed but the anti-American protesters over there aren't exactly the cream of the crop either.
22
@13 So what if our relationship with the Egyptian military influenced them to choose the protestors over Mubarak when the order came to crack down?
So what if a similar relationship between Iran and Syria has not played out as well for the Syrians?
So what if a similar relationship between Iran and Syria has not played out as well for the Syrians?
23
Muslims aren't the only people easily offended.
Watch FOX "news" sometime. They're offended by everyone and everything.
It seems like everyone nowadays is easily offended.
Watch FOX "news" sometime. They're offended by everyone and everything.
It seems like everyone nowadays is easily offended.
24
Those in the Muslim world that are easily offended are that way because they enjoy it. They cultivate the role of the offended party. It gives them endless fodder for pontificating, punting, and acting like spoiled brats. It's the only way they know how to gain sympathy. And they'll let it ferment for years, much to the misery of the world around them.
They are not unlike the annoying relatives and friends we have in our own lives.
They are not unlike the annoying relatives and friends we have in our own lives.
26
This is what happens when secular regimes are overthrown creating a power vacuum that is filled by radical Islamist. "Our friends" the Saudis have been stirring the pot of radical Islam for years. Arab spring gives way to Wahhabi summer.
Unfortunately neither Obama, nor Bush nor Romney have much of a grasp on foreign policy. Sadly Bush was probably the best of the bunch and he is a fucken idiot, but he did seem to think that a storm of the "Islamo fascist' variety was coming.
I have a feeling that this is shaping up to be WW 3 and it is not going to be like any war we have seen in the past.
Also this is interesting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THlaMUq6M…
Turns out we backed elements of Al Qaeda to overthrow Gaddafi. Gaddafi was extremely anti islamis radicalism.
Unfortunately neither Obama, nor Bush nor Romney have much of a grasp on foreign policy. Sadly Bush was probably the best of the bunch and he is a fucken idiot, but he did seem to think that a storm of the "Islamo fascist' variety was coming.
I have a feeling that this is shaping up to be WW 3 and it is not going to be like any war we have seen in the past.
Also this is interesting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THlaMUq6M…
Turns out we backed elements of Al Qaeda to overthrow Gaddafi. Gaddafi was extremely anti islamis radicalism.
27
The world will never tolerate a religion whose followers believe than any criticism or disrespect is punishable by death. If you are a devout Muslim, I can respect that. But you cannot tell me that I cannot make critical comments about your religion or its prophets without risking a beheading. The world does not tolerate that kind of dogma indefinitely.
And by the way, if you are trying to win me over to your side, don't threaten my life if I have questions or raise concerns...even if you consider it blasphemous.
Could someone explain to me all the anti-American activity when that stupid You Tube video was made by an Egyptian?
And by the way, if you are trying to win me over to your side, don't threaten my life if I have questions or raise concerns...even if you consider it blasphemous.
Could someone explain to me all the anti-American activity when that stupid You Tube video was made by an Egyptian?
29
@29 I think it's important to remember that we generally only hear from a very vocal minority of Muslims. Just like the radical Christians of our country don't represent the vast majority who are just trying to get by. Sadly employment in the Arab would creates a lot of pissed off bored people looking for some sense of empowerment. It's dumb, destructive and sad.
The reason why they're attacking American related things in Egypt is due to the fact that these idiots were told the movie was an American production. They're being lied to. Though, it'd be worse if they went for the much weaker target and source of this movie: The Copts.
The reason why they're attacking American related things in Egypt is due to the fact that these idiots were told the movie was an American production. They're being lied to. Though, it'd be worse if they went for the much weaker target and source of this movie: The Copts.
30
@24 Spoiled? How are the worlds poorest, least educated, most historically disenfranchised people "spoiled?" What an preposterous comment. And a classic case of psychological projection.
You are spoiled. Even your sad pathetic life of trolling is a hand-me down set of priviledge you don't deserve, gifted to you by your betters-- who actually worked for what they got.
Look there, SeattleBluesy old fellow, even you have to notice how you transparently project you own petty fears and insecurities.
You're new sock puppet name is clearly a projection of your repressed homosexuality. I know you thought it was some way to get the goat of these liberals. But "Gay Dude for Romney", really? How unaware can you be?
The compulsive trolling a liberal board. The fake house in Italy. The log cabin repulican sock puppet pretense. It's like you're following some bizzare but predictable Freudian script. Don't ever wonder if there's more to life?
You are spoiled. Even your sad pathetic life of trolling is a hand-me down set of priviledge you don't deserve, gifted to you by your betters-- who actually worked for what they got.
Look there, SeattleBluesy old fellow, even you have to notice how you transparently project you own petty fears and insecurities.
You're new sock puppet name is clearly a projection of your repressed homosexuality. I know you thought it was some way to get the goat of these liberals. But "Gay Dude for Romney", really? How unaware can you be?
The compulsive trolling a liberal board. The fake house in Italy. The log cabin repulican sock puppet pretense. It's like you're following some bizzare but predictable Freudian script. Don't ever wonder if there's more to life?
31
Richard Engel's reporting from Cairo has been interesting. The other night he pointed out that the chaotic-looking protests/riots at Tahrir Square were really taking place in just a small corner of the area and that in most places things were pretty calm and normal. He even pointed out that traffic around the square was flowing fine.
Then on Friday, when the protests grew in intensity, he reported right there from the ground, with protesters all about who were aware of him but left him alone. Then he interviewed some of the protesters. One thing that's not being accepted is that the USG has nothing to do with the film. The assumption seems to be that if something is allowed, it's government sanctioned.
Then on Friday, when the protests grew in intensity, he reported right there from the ground, with protesters all about who were aware of him but left him alone. Then he interviewed some of the protesters. One thing that's not being accepted is that the USG has nothing to do with the film. The assumption seems to be that if something is allowed, it's government sanctioned.
32
@31
I think because they live in societies that are traditionally controlled by dictators it causes them to think that all things must be government sanctioned.
I think because they live in societies that are traditionally controlled by dictators it causes them to think that all things must be government sanctioned.
33
@30 Seattleblues must be a pretty creative fella cuz the two write very differently from another. I think a lot of these trolls come from places like FreeRepublic and in their weird closeted way get their rocks off.
@31 thanks for clarifying that.
@32 that is a major problem facing that region. But look at the squabbles of post-Revolution America. It takes a lot time to get where people feel they own their own state.
@31 thanks for clarifying that.
@32 that is a major problem facing that region. But look at the squabbles of post-Revolution America. It takes a lot time to get where people feel they own their own state.
34
Why are Muslims so easily offended?
1) History. For a while, the Caliphate was more intellectually enlightened than then-Medieval Europe. It was also powerful, wealthy, and convinced that this was so because of Divine Mandate. The Caliphate is long gone, and modern Muslims wish it would come back so they could once again be the dominant world power. Since secular attempts at Pan-Arabism failed, many believe that the key to restoring Arab and Muslim dominance is religion. Insult that religion, and they take it to mean that you think they will never re-attain their former strength.
2) The colonial period was both humiliating and crippling for the Muslim world. The US is seen as little more than a British variant, and since the British and the French occupied most of these lands, interventions led by the US, Britain and France are perceived as a return to this painful experience.
3) Israel treats it's Arab population much in the same way that the Boers treated the Bantu and Xhosa. That such a tiny country with such a small population could get away with this is perceived to only be possible because of intervention by the US and Britain. Attacks on the UK and the US are therefore seen as a means of kicking out the stool from beneath Israel's feet.
4) Not that long ago, Muslims had reason to believe they were superior to to other peoples. The Ottoman Empire stretched over huge expanses and lasted a long time. There, non-Muslims were second class citizens if they were Jewish or Christian, and non-citizens if they were anything else. That only ended in 1917. Many blame the fall of the Ottomans on their drift away from religious fundamentals. The plethora of petty dictators that popped up in their absence were sponsored by the West during the Cold War, and then cynically dropped as soon as the Cold War ended. When these lands attempted to break away from Western influence, Western governments assassinated their leaders (e.g., Mossadegh), funded proxy wars against them (e.g., the Iran-Iraq Conflict, the South Sudanese War for Independence), propped up corrupt dictators (e.g., Suharto, the Shah, Saddam Hussein, the House of Sa'ud) or bombed them to bits (e.g., Libya). All of this has been deeply embarrassing to a people whose holy book claims that Arabs are superior to other persons, and that the second best thing to being an Arab is to be a Muslim.
More...
1) History. For a while, the Caliphate was more intellectually enlightened than then-Medieval Europe. It was also powerful, wealthy, and convinced that this was so because of Divine Mandate. The Caliphate is long gone, and modern Muslims wish it would come back so they could once again be the dominant world power. Since secular attempts at Pan-Arabism failed, many believe that the key to restoring Arab and Muslim dominance is religion. Insult that religion, and they take it to mean that you think they will never re-attain their former strength.
2) The colonial period was both humiliating and crippling for the Muslim world. The US is seen as little more than a British variant, and since the British and the French occupied most of these lands, interventions led by the US, Britain and France are perceived as a return to this painful experience.
3) Israel treats it's Arab population much in the same way that the Boers treated the Bantu and Xhosa. That such a tiny country with such a small population could get away with this is perceived to only be possible because of intervention by the US and Britain. Attacks on the UK and the US are therefore seen as a means of kicking out the stool from beneath Israel's feet.
4) Not that long ago, Muslims had reason to believe they were superior to to other peoples. The Ottoman Empire stretched over huge expanses and lasted a long time. There, non-Muslims were second class citizens if they were Jewish or Christian, and non-citizens if they were anything else. That only ended in 1917. Many blame the fall of the Ottomans on their drift away from religious fundamentals. The plethora of petty dictators that popped up in their absence were sponsored by the West during the Cold War, and then cynically dropped as soon as the Cold War ended. When these lands attempted to break away from Western influence, Western governments assassinated their leaders (e.g., Mossadegh), funded proxy wars against them (e.g., the Iran-Iraq Conflict, the South Sudanese War for Independence), propped up corrupt dictators (e.g., Suharto, the Shah, Saddam Hussein, the House of Sa'ud) or bombed them to bits (e.g., Libya). All of this has been deeply embarrassing to a people whose holy book claims that Arabs are superior to other persons, and that the second best thing to being an Arab is to be a Muslim.
35
@32, you're right. Besides the dictatorship control issue, there's the one-sanctioned-religion issue, so countries that have a multiplicity of beliefs and secular law (which is most Western countries) don't make sense to them.
37
@24 Wait, are you talking about the Arab Muslim leaders or the Republican party?
@36 Get a Facebook.
@36 Get a Facebook.
38
One only needs to look at Ararat and his years of as Palestinian leader, all the decades he wasted to bring hope that never came, because he didn't want land and autonomy for his people. No quite the contrary, he was quite content to use his Palestinian people as currency in the leverage of obscure maneuvers, the outcome most uncertain, tragic, and of the utmost betrayal.
39
@38
"No quite the contrary, he was quite content to use his Palestinian people as currency in the leverage of obscure maneuvers, the outcome most uncertain, tragic, and of the utmost betrayal."
Was that your attempt at free verse?
It makes no sense.
What are you talking about?
"No quite the contrary, he was quite content to use his Palestinian people as currency in the leverage of obscure maneuvers, the outcome most uncertain, tragic, and of the utmost betrayal."
Was that your attempt at free verse?
It makes no sense.
What are you talking about?
40
@33
No. They are 80% likely the same poster. They share only one post overlap and from then on GDfR pop's-up in exactly the same posting pattern as SB did. His style is very, very close. Excepting that he doesn't get directly homophobic. And given his new "gay" sock-puppet that makes a little sense. But the facile arguments are identical.
Coincidentally, SB stopped posting exactly when I totally busted him on the temporal impossibility of his crazy insistence that he "owns a house in Italy" — suddenly out fo the blue GDfR shows up with no posting history on the same day, taking up the same line.
No. They are 80% likely the same poster. They share only one post overlap and from then on GDfR pop's-up in exactly the same posting pattern as SB did. His style is very, very close. Excepting that he doesn't get directly homophobic. And given his new "gay" sock-puppet that makes a little sense. But the facile arguments are identical.
Coincidentally, SB stopped posting exactly when I totally busted him on the temporal impossibility of his crazy insistence that he "owns a house in Italy" — suddenly out fo the blue GDfR shows up with no posting history on the same day, taking up the same line.
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