History Repeating

CFR’s Leslie Gelb on Egypt: Hold Your Nose and Back the Junta!

"Long-time foreign policy insider Leslie Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, believes democracy is when the guys he likes win. Free elections that produce 'enemies' of the US or Israel are by definition not democratic and the winners should be overthrown by the US and its allies. Gelb is back this weekend, penning a piece as Egypt drowns in blood in the aftermath of the military massacre of supporters of the deposed president Morsi. He warns us against getting bogged down in 'moral posturing about democracy in Egypt' and urges that we 'hold our nose and back Egypt’s military.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCFR’s Leslie Gelb on Egypt: Hold Your Nose and Back the Junta!

Eric Margolis: Storm On The Nile

"So far, army and security police have scored brilliant battlefield victories against unarmed men, women and children, killing and wounding thousands who were demanding a return to democratic government. The latest Cairo protests by supporters of the elected Morsi government have been scattered by gunfire and huge armored bulldozers resembling the giant vehicles used by Israel to smash Palestinian barricades and protesters. All Egyptians opposing the Sisi dictatorship are now officially, 'terrorists.' Egypt’s generals and hard right Mubarakist supporters have ditched any pretense of civilian government and now rely on the bayonet and tank. The men with the guns make the rules." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEric Margolis: Storm On The Nile

Egypt’s Tragedy: Military Dictatorship Takes Shape on Nile

"It is as though the February 2011 overthrow never happened. Egypt is caught once again in a conflict that has raged for more than 60 years and has dominated the country since those eight bullets were fired on Nasser on Oct. 26, 1954, in a failed, and perhaps staged, coup attempt. At the time, Nasser banned the Brotherhood and imprisoned its leaders. In the ensuing decades, fear of the Islamists was used to justify the military's authoritarian control and the brutal tactics of the security services. In the end, however, the military created precisely what it had claimed it was preventing: even more radical Islamists." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEgypt’s Tragedy: Military Dictatorship Takes Shape on Nile

The Fascinating Interventionist Mindset

"It never considers the possibility of simply ending foreign aid entirely to Egypt and, for that matter, every other country. It’s as if the interventionist mindset is compelled to think only in terms of intervention on one side or the other. The thought of not intervening in any way doesn’t even enter the mental processes of the interventionists. Why not just leave Chile alone? Why not just leave Egypt alone? Why not just cancel foreign aid entirely, not only to brutal dictatorships but also to every other regime, especially during a time that federal expenditures continue to far exceed federal income? That’s a fascinating question. Unfortunately, it’s one that never enters the interventionist mindset." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Fascinating Interventionist Mindset

For some blacks, gun control raises echoes of segregated past

"As far back as the 1860s, gun control has been used to keep arms out of the hands of black people. After the Civil War, a group of discriminatory laws known as the Black Codes limited the civil liberties—like the right to bear arms—of newly freed slaves. Rules in nine states that give local law-enforcement officials discretionary authority to deny people gun permits even if they meet all criteria for ownership – the same power Alabama’s police department exercised when Martin Luther King Jr. applied to carry a concealed weapon. Despite threats to his life from the Ku Klux Klan, the police denied the civil rights leader permission to own a gun." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFor some blacks, gun control raises echoes of segregated past

Murray Rothbard: And Now Afghanistan [1980]

"Afghanistan has no resources, has no treaties with the U.S., no historic ties, there are none of the flimsy but popular excuses that we have used for over a century to throw our weight around across the earth. But here we go, intervening anyway, loudly proclaiming that Russia’s actions in Afghanistan are 'unacceptable', and for which we are ready to scrap SALT, detente, and the feeble past attempts of the Carter administration to shuck off the Cold War. The conservatives, the Pentagon, the Social Democrats, the neo-conservatives, the Coalition for a Democratic Majority [..] have been yearning to smash detente, and to accelerate an already swollen arms budget and heat up the Cold War." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMurray Rothbard: And Now Afghanistan [1980]

Kerry: U.S. has firm evidence sarin gas was used in Syria attack

"'Each day that goes by,' Kerry said, 'this case is getting stronger. I mean, today I'm at liberty to tell you that we now have samples back from first responders in East Damascus - those samples of hair and blood have been tested, and they have reported positive for signatures of sarin. So, we are now getting a stronger case each day. The credibility of the United States is on the line here and I believe that Congress will do the right thing.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKerry: U.S. has firm evidence sarin gas was used in Syria attack

Glenn Greenwald: Obama, Congress and Syria

"The Congressional vote which Obama said he would seek appears, in his mind, to have no binding force at all. There is no reason to believe that a Congressional rejection of the war's authorization would constrain Obama in any way, other than perhaps politically. To the contrary, there is substantial evidence for the proposition that the White House sees the vote as purely advisory, i.e., meaningless. Recall how - in one of most overlooked bad acts of the Obama administration - the House of Representatives actually voted, overwhelmingly, against authorizing the US war in Libya, and yet Obama simply ignored the vote and proceeded to prosecute the war anyway." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: Obama, Congress and Syria

Germany’s Hitler-Era Homeschool Laws Still In (Brute) Force

"The Wunderlichs simply felt that they could teach their children better. They opposed the idea of being forced to send them to the government-monopoly schools whose power is based on a law imposed during the WWII era. The Wunderlichs are Christian, and preferred that their children receive an education incorporating Christian themes, and devoid of some elements force-fed to German kids in the public schools. That doesn’t sit well with the German regime, however, which is, by its own admittance, in the business of preventing 'dissent,' including the emergence of 'separate philosophical convictions.' In other words, the ban on homeschooling is about control." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGermany’s Hitler-Era Homeschool Laws Still In (Brute) Force

Blair likens Saddam to Hitler [2003]

"Comparing Saddam Hussein to Adolf Hitler, British Prime Minister Tony Blair says he would be pushing for Iraq's disarmament 'irrespective of the position of America.' Many have accused Blair of behaving like U.S. President George W. Bush's lapdog. But Blair rejected suggestions that he had been dragged into confrontation with Iraq by Bush, insisting that he had raised concerns about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction at his first meeting with the U.S. president, before the September 11 terror attacks. Britain, Spain and the United States are co-sponsoring a new U.N. resolution that could trigger war against Iraq. France, Russia, China are pushing to give U.N. weapons inspections more time." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBlair likens Saddam to Hitler [2003]