Saturday, July 6, 2013

Thomas Friedman, "Can Egypt Pull Together?": No

Yes, would-be Middle East expert Thomas Friedman is detached from reality.

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Can Egypt Pull Together?" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/07/opinion/sunday/friedman-can-egypt-pull-together.html), Friedman would have us believe that it is now the role of the US to end the crisis in Egypt and bring about a national unity government. Friedman writes:

"Rather than punishing Egyptians for desperately trying to change course before they go over a cliff, America should use its aid and influence with the army to get the most out of this crisis. That starts by insisting that the Brotherhood leaders be released from jail and that the party and its media be free to contest the next parliamentary elections and have a voice in the constitution-writing process. Anyone who tries to govern Egypt alone will fail: Mubarak, the army, the Muslim Brothers, the liberals. Egypt is in a terrible deep hole, and the only way it can get out is with a national unity government that can make hard decisions and do the required heavy lifting."

Friedman never mentions how enraged many Egyptians are with President Obama and US Ambassador Patterson for getting too intimate with Morsi (see: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/world/middleeast/ambassador-becomes-focus-of-egyptians-mistrust-of-us.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0). Seen by many Egyptians as having ignored the abuses of the Muslim Brotherhood, the US is not positioned to serve as a marriage counselor.

Yet another Obama foreign policy fiasco.

Moreover, Egypt is a walking corpse. It's economy is shattered, and the US today cannot afford the billions of dollars required to keep it afloat.

But heck, Tom Terrific always is ready with a solution from afar. Who would have ever thought of a national unity government? Maybe that together with super-high-speed Internet to connect Egypt's fellahin?

What a man!

6 comments:

  1. I don't know how you can read this bozo.
    And, of course, we have a bigger problem - an ideological and ignorant White house and "friends."
    It's worth remembering that demagoguery is easy - one doesn't have to know anything to babble in the style "hope, unity, change" or "spring of democracy is coming." It is much, much, much more difficult to KNOW and act in accordance with one's knowledge.
    Many people knew that Obama is an empty suit. Yes, he is and it was easy for him to get elected because most people were totally brainwashed into believing that modern Gods the managers can rule the world without ... yes, knowing. The convenient theory probably cooked in the eugenics Harvard says that they can hire competent people. No, they can't. They can't for a simple reason that they DON'T know what is competence, can't evaluate it correctly and they don't care about competence. They need sycophants and ideologues and they get ones.
    The last person this country and the world need now, for example, is ideological and demagogic Samantha Powers.
    I don't have TV, but I watch now some old shows in DVD. A couple of weeks ago, I started to watch "The West Wing." And ... I am fuming.
    I just watched an episode where an illiterate African American personal assistant brings to the illiterate President an early 17th century map of "Palestine" as a gift: "You see, there is Palestine on the map." A Jewish adviser has a problem phrased as "Some people can have a problem - there is no Israel there" (no mentioning of the etymology of the word - doesn't know? doesn't dare?). The illiterate President loves, loves, loves the map and wants it to enlarge and hang in the most visible spot: "I have an old map of our country, there aren't many American states there but I love it." This is Hollywoody reality and propaganda. The President Martin Sheen (his assistant) and, of course, his real son don't know that there is a difference between history of Israel and Jewish people and history of the USA and American people. Someone forgot to inform the circus bozos that the word "Palestine" was imposed by invaders on the JEWISH people (no Arabs in sight) to erase their history and memory.
    Again, this is Hollywody history, reality and, of course, propaganda which probably contributed the present disaster.
    Sadly, we have such real circus bozos now in the White House. Scary.

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  2. Friedman does not realize that Saudi Arabia just did a leveraged buyout of Egypt in order to de-fang the MB as a political party??

    As for "The West Wing"? Martin Sheen played President Josiah Bartlet, former governor of New Hampshire (motto: "Live Free or Die"); managed to get the Nobel Prize in economics; and was depicted as a direct descendant of the real Josiah Bartlett who signed the US Declaration of Independence after John Hancock.

    "The West Wing" got me through the Bush43 years, and, ironically, has never appeared on American cable during the Obama years. Still time...

    Bitching about Charlie's gift to Pres. Bartlet of a 17th century map is out of context.

    Try watching dvds of "Monarchs of the Glen" instead. Pure Scotland, no politics, lots of fun. Got me through 2010.

    K2K

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  3. Ha,
    "Bitching about Charlie's gift to Pres. Bartlet of a 17th century map is out of context."
    No, it isn't - there is all the context we need (or rather don't need).
    Oh yes, I know that illiterate President Bartlett is a Nobel laureate, however, I am not American born and I know that there is a difference between being a specialist and being educate. Bartlet is illiterate, descendant or not.

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    1. BTW, we can use a real person as an illustration. Paul Robin Krugman is a Nobel laureate. He is also an illiterate barbarian by my standards. Only a barbarian can promote Peter Beinart bozo(I am curbing my temptation to joke about Paul and Peter - the usual decoration of baroque churches), brag about the joy of listening to "Kill the Jews, kill the Jews" in English Norwich (yes, that Norwich!!!!!) and celebrate Islam as a religion of peace.
      I stopped paying attention to him a long time ago and I don't know if he followed my advice to enjoy the music "Kill the Jews, kill the Jews) in some Auschwitz (were his grandparents perished) church.
      Yes, there is a difference between being a specialist and being an educated (and more importantly ethical with a solid center) person. Remember that the present day economists are just geeks babbling about models and charts.

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    2. fwiw, I used to look forward to Paul Krugman's NYT columns until 2008 when he went off the deep end into politics.
      I used to forecast the economy for the box industry. Self-taught, a former art student, so I DO agree with you about 'present day economists'.

      I do not remember that scene from TWW well enough to note the context.

      hey - the past year I have been into the cable tv show "Justified". I call it Appalachian Shakespeare, set in Harlan County, Kentucky, where everyone has a gun. Will never get any award -too politically incorrect/violent.

      TWW was the same: great writing.

      maybe you should try listening to Benny Goodman playing Mozart, who had a friend who invented the clarinet.

      Beats reading the NYT!

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  4. "Try watching dvds of "Monarchs of the Glen" instead. Pure Scotland, no politics, lots of fun."
    Well... I am not sure it will be fun for me. I was in Scotland ... once ... in 1995. On a tour of some Midlands, the local guide, a fan of Mel Gibson, was an ardent nationalist who ignored three poor English souls, cuddling in the back of the van and spent the day ranting about the English and Scottish aristocratic traitors. I tend to be suspicious of extreme nationalists. As we can see now, in this case my suspicion was justified.
    Last year, I said good bye to a longtime friend, an American born Presbyterian, when I concluded that I couldn't have any hope for this increasingly mad dog antisemite.
    And finally, I do observe the absurdity of Scottish Church, parliamentarians or academic.
    Everything is political.

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