No Live Ammo For Marines At Cairo Embassy

U.S. Marines defending the American embassy in Egypt were not permitted by the State Department to carry live ammunition, limiting their ability to respond to attacks like those this week on the U.S. consulate in Cairo.

Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson “did not permit U.S. Marine guards to carry live ammunition,” according to multiple reports on U.S. Marine Corps blogs spotted by Nightwatch. “She neutralized any U.S. military capability that was dedicated to preserve her life and protect the US Embassy.” Adam Kredo - The Washington Free Beacon - Click To Read More...

One would think on 9/11 thought would be given to it's special circumstances and a few bullets would be parceled out. This is a very sad commentary on the Obama legacy. - DSMW

Egypt’s Descent

Consider, for example, the “good” news from Afghanistan. A 19-year-old woman sentenced to twelve years in jail for the heinous crime of being brutally raped by a cousin was graciously released by President Karzai on condition that she marry her rapist. A few weeks ago, you may recall, I mentioned that the last Christian church in the nation had been razed to the ground last year, as the State Department noted in its report on “international” religious freedom. But Afghanistan is not “international” at all. It is an American client state whose repugnant leader is kept alive only by the protection of Western arms. Say what you like about Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood but at least their barbarous theocratic tyranny doesn’t require vast numbers of NATO troops to build it. - Mark Steyn - NRO - Click To Read More... You can never, never, get enough Steyn. - DSMW

For Egypt It's A Chicken In Every Pot

As the IMF smiles and looks on, Egypt decides to take the International Monetary Fund's $3 Billion dollar loan.The news of the loan comes just days after the finance minister announced the country's first post-revolution budget proposal, raising taxes on corporations and investors and increasing government spending. There is also talk of working in a 26% spending increase on subsidies on essential commodities. Somehow, this all comes as no surprise.

The socialist model of doing things allows Egypt to take from the rich business people, the only ones who create employment and make things happen, and give to the poor with impunity. The IMF praises the budget proposal and stands in the wings to help Egypt with a small 1.5% interest loan to be paid back over 5 years. If the IMF did not have such a poor record of dragging down every country it lends to, it's terms sound like it possibly might work for the U.S. Housing market.

The conditions of the IMF loan are designed for improving the living standards of the poor of Egypt and the IMF feels uneasy about levying harsh loan requirements on the struggling country, only wanting to improve the living conditions of all Egyptians. Egypt found it needed the Bank's help after it propped up its currency during the Mubarak uprising and subsequently found itself short. 

What Should Netanyahu Say?

Next Tuesday, four days after he meets with President Obama, Prime Minister Netanyahu will address Congress. With Israel now confronting a triple-security threat that leaves the country more vulnerable than at any time since the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, it is imperative for the Israeli leader to stand firm.

Netanyahu's planned "peace initiative" has been undermined by recent events.  With its peace treaty with Egypt fraying since Mubarak's forced departure, Gaza will surely become a Hamas arsenal.  Reconciliation between Hamas, sworn to Israel's destruction, and the Palestinian Authority, too weak to resist, will trap Israel between Palestinian pincers in Gaza and the West Bank.  Looming in September is United Nations recognition of Palestinian statehood, another step in that organization's persistent delegitimization of Israel. Jerold S. Auerbac - American Thinker

Osama Bin Laden, Weak Horse

American power held steady in the Islamic world. We did not cede that vast region to the jihadists and their enablers. We were not brilliant in every campaign. We did not fully know our enemies and their cunning. We were not always at home in the tricks of the dictators and the hustlers in that vast arc of trouble in the Greater Middle East, but we held the line when it truly mattered. Fouad Ajami in the Wall Street Journal referring to the freedoms the U.S. brought to Iraq.

History and technology have overwhelmed the world of the Jihadist. In places like Egypt, Libya and Syria, young people have identified the enemy in the poverty and economic failure around them and it is not the "Far Enemy" but lives instead in the personal loss of freedom a Facebook page can bring. Perhaps, as Ajami says, "it is a risky thing to say, but Arabs appear to have wearied of violence."

The Christians Are The Real Victms Of The Middle East

One month before the invasion of Iraq, Riah Abu el-Assal, a Palestinian and the Anglican bishop of Jerusalem, warned Tony Blair, "You will be responsible for emptying Iraq, the homeland of Abraham, of Christians."

The bishop proved a prophet. "After almost 2,000 years,"  "Iraqi Christians now openly contemplate extinction. Some of their prelates even counsel flight."

Across the middle east Christians, the minorities, in places like Egypt and Syria are facing an uncertain future. They have become the untended consequence of the Arab spring.

Throughout the world the Western nations, and the U.S. in particular, are insisting on democracy as being the most desirable system for government.  But the effect of democracy in many countries is "winner take all" since there is only one President elected.  If you are a tribe or a religion or any other group competing for power you cannot afford to lose.  It can cost you your livelihood or your life.  It is our understanding that the Sultans of the MIddle East often "consult" with leaders of other tribes, perhaps fostering a more tolerant attitude than a democracy with one President who in less politically developed nations may have absolute power.  It is something we and the United States government need to think through, rather than reflexively support the latest uprising.

In Syria, Christians make up 10 percent of the population and are closely allied with the Assad family. In Egypt, with the fall of the Mubarak regime, Islamist attacks on Coptic Christians have begun. With the possibility of Shariah Law and the election of the Muslim Brotherhood, their fate will be sealed.

What will happen to Arab Christians when a long-repressed Muslim Majority comes into power? This is something President Obama should contemplate. The United States is a Christian nation. His thoughts should start there.

Capitalism Is Egypt's New Enemy

While businessmen are rounded up and tried in Egyptian courts, others are being investigated and their assets frozen. The military are holding interventions with labor activists and private companies to put in place a 15% pay increase for private sector employees. Labor organizations are told  "We are on your side," by the military, while businessmen are given no choice but to meet 100 percent of employee's demands ." Being rich is a crime now," says telecommunications magnate and Cairo's wealthiest man, Naguib Sawiris.

Young revolutionaries and the Muslim Brotherhood are joined in their desire to see market reforms rolled back and business held accountable for perceived corruption. Now in Egypt, there is a witch hunt against the country's business community and the free market.

Mubarak, before his departure, was able to stabilize Egypt's economy, but the poor remained. Sensitive to rising prices their revolution took ground. Like all revolutions, things change in predictable ways.

"The free markets will continue," says Maj. Gen. Ahmad Wahdan, former Chief of Operations for the army. "But we must serve social justice."

Islamist Group Is Rising Force in a New Egypt

CAIRO — In post-revolutionary Egypt, where hope and confusion collide in the daily struggle to build a new nation, religion has emerged as a powerful political force, following an uprising that was based on secular ideals. The Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group once banned by the state, is at the forefront, transformed into a tacit partner with the military government that many fear will thwart fundamental changes.

It is also clear that the young, educated secular activists who initially propelled the nonideological revolution are no longer the driving political force — at least not at the moment. Michael Slackman - New York Times

Egypt's PM Resigns After Failed TV Debate

Last week, then-Prme Minister Ahmed Sharfiq was invited by the Egyptian OTV channel to be a panel guest along with the channel's owner and Egypt's richest man. It was the first ever debated format in Egypt's TV history. In a move worthy of reality TV, Mr. Shafiq became angry and undone when clashing with the guest panel over a host of questions, one of which was the future of Tahair Square and the people killed there. Things became especially heated when Shafiq was pressed about the investigations of the murdered demonstrators and the fact that no military officers have been singled out and put on trial. Mr. Shafiq, not experienced in having to explain himself, was at the end of his rope and blurted out;

"Don't put on that patriotism act. I'm more of a patriot than you are. I fought in the war and I killed and got killed, and I did everything."

Unable to defend his rationale for being prime minister, he resigned a day later under pressure from the country's military leadership. His successor Essam Sharaf, an engineer educated at Purdue University in the U. S., explained to the crowd in Tahair Square the next day; "I get my legitimacy from you the people." The military has set March 19th for a national referendum on constitutional changes and term limits.

Egypt Must Fight For A Constitution

Aliah is our objective; The Prophet is our leader; the Quran is our law; Jihad is our way; dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope. Motto of the Muslim brotherhood

Those of us who are old enough to remember Iran and the Shah recall a country with western ideals. Never mind the undercurrent of oppression. What most Americans saw was freedom taking root. The Iranians were free to come and go at will, there were colleges for men and women and Iran was free to enjoy the fruits of capitalism.

The Shah and his lovely wife were photogenic. Their children went to American schools. They strolled through wonderful gardens and bought art for their homes. Within a flash this was gone. Women and girls were banned from schools and the marketplace and Iran was taken to a non-secular nightmare of oppression it could not have imagined. Iranian men and women were still murdered and the world stopped for Iran.

Egypt could learn some hard lessons from Iran's history. Movies, music, nightclubs and things as simple as a bookstall could vanish overnight. The free flow of twitter and the internet could disappear. Un-Islamic content would seek to balance its world with the harsh realities of Islam and the Brotherhood.

Egypt  desperately needs a constitution with checks and balances to safe guard its past and for its future. The Egyptians need an economy. It should eliminate it's one party system to protect its human rights and fight hard against the imposition of Shariah Law. - DSMW