Showing posts with label Tunisia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tunisia. Show all posts

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Syria And Iran Before Palestine

President Bashar al-Assad of SyriaImage via WikipediaI am all for a Palestinian state, I always have been. The Palestinians have been living through what is practically apartheid. That is my philosophical and ideological stand.

But the practicality and logistics of this thing is that we have to end the dictatorships in Syria and Iran like we did in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya before we can see the Israel-Palestine peace take its logical next steps.

Syria Is Being Left To The Dogs

Gaddafi is out, now it is Assad's turn. He should be given an ultimatum, and then rain bombs on him too.

Don't Let Benghazi Fall
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Sunday, May 01, 2011

Is Russia Too Big For A Democracy Movement?

TRIPOLI. With leader of the Libyan Revolution ...Image via WikipediaThere are those who say Tunisia is one thing, Egypt is big, but Egypt is one thing, Gaddafi is a dictator, but he is one thing, but Russia is too big, Putin is too powerful. You can't be talking in terms of a democracy movement for Russia.

I would argue otherwise.

Precisely because Russia is so big, it deserves to have a bigger and better democracy movement than we have seen so far in the Arab world. It might happen in Russia before it happens in China.

Military action is out of question. It is not realistic to think you can bomb Russia. I never wanted to bomb Libya in the first place. But what I do prescribe for Russia is massive, massive street action. A people have to pay that price if they want liberty, if they want free speech, if they want democracy. Massive street
King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. (2002 photo)Image via Wikipediaaction is like everyone decided to go to school, the school of political consciousness.

A democracy that comes from massive street action will necessarily have a better, smoother transition period that follows the success of a revolution.

Saudi Arabia and Iran before Russia, and Russia before China. I think that is what we might be looking at.

Putin Is No Different
A Rwanda Was Prevented
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Saturday, March 19, 2011

Ultimately It Is About Iran, Because That Is Where It All Started

Key Petroleum Sector facilities (2004) Iran (W...Image via WikipediaSyria's Turn

Tunisia was a warm up act. Egypt was a warm up act. Libya is a warm up act. Yemen, and Bahrain will be warm up acts. Saudi Arabia will be a warm up act, as Syria and Jordan. Morocco, Qatar, United Arab Emirates. They all will be warm up acts.

And then Iran will wake up all over again. All this is in preparation for Iran. Because that is where it all started. The people of Iran woke up in 2009. And we are reaping the rewards today in all these other countries.

But the final push has to be made in Iran itself. The mullahs are unpleasant people. They need to go.

Iran Re-Revolution: Victory In 2011
Protest Rally At The UN
Selling 5% Of Nobel For 50K
September 23 Iran Democracy Protests NYC
Shout Allah O Akbar From The Rooftops Every Night 10-10:30 PM
To: The Ayatollah
Claiming A Netroots/Grassroots Leadership Role With Iran Democracy Movement
Democracy Success In Iran Could Be A 1989 Repeat
Hillary's Latest On Iran
States Will Interact With Each Other
Iran Protest: 9/23
Twitter For Fundraising
Coat of arms of the Islamic Republic of Iran. ...Image via WikipediaThe Ayatollah: Guilty Of Blasphemy
Competing With Hillary Now
Prominent Iranian Americans
Iran Democracy Activist, Tech Blogger, New Yorker
Iran: A Brief Survey Through Time Magazine
Iran, Democracy, Facebook
Total Transparency With My Iran Work
Facebook And Iran
Iran Democracy Organizations
Iran Feelers To The CIA And The California Society For Democracy In Iran
Iran, Iran, Iran
Iran On My Mind
Iran: Am I Running Late? Maybe Not
Please Fund My Work For Iran Democracy: Email
Shifting To A Major Iran Focus
Iran, Obama 2010, Reshma 2010
Iran
United Arab Emirates F-16 Block 60 taking off ...Image via WikipediaIran: The World Has Wasted A Year
Iran: An Opportunity
Iran: Yes, We Can
How We Have Failed Iran
Dumb White People (DWPs) And Iran
The Fraud In Iran
Iran: This Is What I Am Talking About
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Friday, March 18, 2011

Yemen, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia

King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. (2002 photo)Image via WikipediaThe road map for Libya also has to be the road map for Yemen, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. It is not for the United States to urge people into the streets, but when they do come out to peacefully protest no regime anywhere should feel it is okay for them to unleash animal brutality upon those peaceful protesters.

Just because Yemen is a small country, just because Bahrain is a small country does not mean we can afford to ignore them. We encircle Saudi Arabia by doing right in Yemen and Bahrain. Freezing the global assets of repressive elites and imposing travel bans on them is where you start. Then you issue interpol warrants authorized by the International Criminal Court. Then you threaten surgical aerial strikes.

The message has to be clear. You do not get to unleash animal brutality upon a peacefully protesting people. You can refuse to accept their demands. You can negotiate with them. But you do not get to unleash animal brutality. Not in this day and age. Not in this century.

This is all about building momentum. Tunisia was about Egypt. Egypt was about Libya. Libya is about Saudi Arabia. Yemen and Bahrain are about Saudi Arabia. And the entire Arab world is about China and Russia. If we do it right in the Arab world, China could be shaking in summer.
A thick band of dust snaking across the Red Se...Image via Wikipedia
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Thursday, March 03, 2011

Democracy With Lowest Possible Losses Of Human Lives

Muammar al-Gaddafi  Mouammar Kadhafi  _DDC6339Image by Abode of Chaos via FlickrThat is the goal. We want democracy. Everywhere. Because that is what people everywhere want. It comes from deep inside. Liberation is the lofty goal.

But there are mechanics involved. There are logistics involved. There are tactics involved.

Democracy can not come through US military invasions. That is the wrong kind. Democracy has to come because a people decided enough was enough, and took to the streets in large numbers.

Getting a people to come out into the streets is the hardest part of a democracy movement. But once that happens to let that go to waste is nothing less than criminal. Once a people come take to the streets, the entire world has to then pitch in.

I am okay with the idea of a constitutional monarchy, if that means a low loss of lives, and a peaceful, smooth transition. I am okay with that. I am not okay with that as a matter of principle. But I am okay with that as a matter of tactics.

When an autocratic regime sees seas of people out in the streets, its first reaction is to send the police out, send the army out. You throw tear gas at them. You shoot at them. You baton charge them. You round them up. You imprison them. You interrogate, you torture. And all that is wrong enough. But Gaddafi has gone way past that. He has gone after his own people like an invading army, fighter jets and all, and he has continued to reign like an occupying force. There a peacefully protesting people are no longer a match. You could not have expected those in the concentration camps to have fasted their way to life and freedom. Hitler needed a military response and he got one. The response to a Gaddafi is not a peacefully protesting people. It would be inhuman to expect that.

An exile for Gaddafi is an option. It would not be just. But it can be a sound tactical move to make. To bring the violence to an end, to bring an autocratic regime to an end. But that is not an option that can be suggested from outside. I said days ago this guy will commit suicide. He will not go into exile. It is a mindset thing.

The question for the rest of us is will we let this guy kill a few thousand people before he commits suicide? Or will we step in before he kills those people.

We have to step in.

Democracy is on the march worldwide. China itself is in sight. But the momentum could be broken in Libya. If this guy gets his way, the momentum might get broken. The momentum can not be allowed to be broken. This is not about Libya any more, if it ever was.

A victory for democracy in Libya has repurcussions for the entire region, and the world at large.

Any military action has to be sanctioned either by the UN or NATO. And it should not be about sending troops in. The rebel forces have plenty of boots on the ground. Decisive surgical strikes to decapitate the regime and disable the forces still loyal to Gaddafi might be enough to tilt the victory away from the mad man. Enforcing a no fly zone could help.

But the victory has to be swift, and all credit has to be given to the Libyan people. And we have to help them with the subsequent transition.

And then we have to focus on the next Libya, the next Egypt, the next Tunisia, for dictators and kings need to fall everywhere.

Washington Post: Obama signals willingness to intervene militarily in Libya if crisis worsens: "The region will be watching carefully to make sure we're on the right side of history," Obama said ...... As with Egypt and Tunisia, he said, U.S. interests were best served if the United States was not seen as engineering or imposing a particular outcome. ...... Having raised the possibility of imposing a no-fly zone over Libya and after moving warships into the Mediterranean, the United States and its allies appeared Thursday to step back from military intervention, even as opposition forces in Libya continued to call for assistance from foreign air power. ...... After their unexpected victory Wednesday over well-armed Gaddafi forces in the oil port of Brega, rebel fighters regrouped to bury their dead and to lay plans to carry the fight toward Tripoli, Libya's embattled capital. ..... Brega was hit Thursday by at least three powerful airstrikes, while rebels clashed with Gaddafi loyalists in the nearby Mediterranean town of Bishra. In Tripoli, there were signs of a government crackdown in an attempt to head off planned street protests after Friday prayers. ....... Activists in Benghazi, the eastern city that serves as the rebel capital, were calling for a million people to protest ....... the United States, Britain, France, Canada and others have indicated they would participate ...... The Obama administration and its European allies have indicated they would not act without authorization from the U.N. Security Council. ...... Arab and African governments have expressed serious reservations about granting the authority to use force, as has Russia. China's U.N. envoy, Li Baodong, told reporters Wednesday that Beijing wants the dispute to be resolved through dialogue. ...... "A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya." ...... On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch reported a missile strike, apparently aimed at rebels in a main square in Brega ...... In Rome, the World Food Program said that a ship carrying more than 1,000 metric tons of wheat flour to Benghazi had returned to port in Malta without unloading, after reports of aerial bombardments near the Libyan city.

Miami Herald: International court opens war-crimes probe of Gadhafi: a worrisome pattern of arrests and disappearances of suspected opponents of the regime, and there were reports that Egyptian and Tunisian migrants in Libya were being attacked by Gadhafi loyalists angry that the popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt had inspired anti-Gadhafi protests there...... With Gadhafi's forces unable to recover key rebellious cities and towns, and with the ragtag rebel force of civilians and military defectors too weak and disorganized to advance on Gadhafi's Tripoli stronghold, the two-week conflict appeared to be devolving into a violent impasse...... Governments across the Middle East, meanwhile, braced for what were expected to be massive pro-reform protests after mosques empty on Friday, the Muslim day of prayer

Gaddafi Is No Simon Bolivar
No Fly Zone Or Surgical Strikes
If Gaddafi Is Not President, It Should Be Easier For Him To Leave
Sound Military Options
Nicaragua, Ortega On The Radar
Make Surgical Strikes, Take The Guy Out
Kick Ortega Out
The Fuck With Mugabe
The Chinese Communist Party Can Keep The Power If They Agree To Pluralism, Federalism
This Is Also About Women's Rights
The Saudi King Is No Exception, He Has To Go Too
Democracy: An Israeli Plot?
China: 2 PM, Sunday
Bomb Gaddafi's Tent
Khameini, Gaddafi, Caecescu
Et Tu, China?
When They Open Fire
Iran: Brute Force Does Have An Answer
Iran, Bahrain and Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia
Arab Democracy: What The US Needs To Do: Stay Deeply Engaged
Arab Dictators Are Shaking
Egypt: A Revolution, Not A Reform Movement
How Many People Could Mubarak Kill?
Arab Dictators Will Fall Like A House Of Cards
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Sunday, February 20, 2011

The Saudi King Is No Exception, He Has To Go Too

King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. (2002 photo)Image via WikipediaGaddafi is about to fall. Then it is going to be the turn of the king of Saudi Arabi. The monarchy in Saudi Arabia has to come to a total end. Monarchies everywhere need to be ended. This is the time to do it.

This is not the time for reform, this is revolution time. Revolution means big, fundamental change. 

What is going on in the Arab world has never before happened in the Arab world. The scope of it all is breathtaking. Nothing like this has happened in Arab history in two thousand years. This is a millennial shift. This is tectonic. 

Let no one be mistaken. This tide will only subside after every single autocracy in the region has been toppled. The Arab street has spoken. That is the clear verdict. 
Democracy: An Israeli Plot?
China: 2 PM, Sunday
Bomb Gaddafi's Tent
Khameini, Gaddafi, Caecescu
Et Tu, China?
When They Open Fire
Iran: Brute Force Does Have An Answer
Iran, Bahrain and Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia
Arab Democracy: What The US Needs To Do: Stay Deeply Engaged
Arab Dictators Are Shaking
Egypt: A Revolution, Not A Reform Movement
How Many People Could Mubarak Kill?
Arab Dictators Will Fall Like A House Of Cards
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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Iran: Brute Force Does Have An Answer

King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. (2002 photo)Image via WikipediaIt is only a matter of weeks now before the mullahs vacate the scene in Iran. These dumbfucks need to go. They never needed to be there in the first place. The democracy activists in Iran have suffered like nowhere else in the Arab world. They deserve to succeed more than the activists in Tunisia and Egypt.

Here's the message: there is an answer to brute force. A nonviolent movement for democracy can succeed in the face of brute force. But you have to exhibit superb organization.

An interim president has to be announced. Mossavi works. And a plan has to be hatched to get a million people out into the streets at once, in every city in the country. In Egypt taking over one square worked. In Iran that will not work. You will have to do what we did in Nepal in 2006. You are going to have to take over every single street in every single city. You have to come out in force all at once. You have to be prepared to see a few hundred of you shot down in the streets. But you can not vacate the scene. You have to get even more energized when that happens. You have to give them a week max. And then you have to march on to the presidential palace to mete out a Caecescu end to Khomeini and Ahmedijed - how do you spell that motherfucker's name?
Ruhollah KhomeiniImage via Wikipedia
Within a week of taking power the interim president is going to have to issue orders to execute all those who issued orders for the killing of peaceful protesters out in the streets. That still fits the definition of non violence. The antidote to Hitler was not a Gandhi fast.

When the generals in Burma killed hundreds and burned those bodies Hitler style, America needed to bomb that town where all the generals live. That would still have fit the definition of non violence.

Iran is like Burma. Khameini is Hitler. He has no place in the 21st century. Cast him off into the Gulf.

Now is the time to strike. Now is the time to get it done. No country in the region deserves it more than Iran. Iran goes then Saudi Arabia goes, then Libya goes, then goes Jordan, Syria.

Drive every single autocrat out. Absolutely every single one of them.
Mussolini (left) and Hitler sent their armies ...Image via Wikipedia
The tactics in Iran are going to have to be different than the tactics in Tunisia and Egypt. Khameini deserves a Caecescu death.
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