When it comes to religion, I am not a believer nor am I a student of theology. I am but a mere observer, much more inclined to fact than faith. I don’t have a high regard for any religion but there are things about most that I appreciate. Buddhism, for
Continue readingTag: Egypt
Views from the Beltline: From Cuba to Myanmar, the military as enemy of democracy
Heavily dependent on tourism, the Cuban economy has been hit hard by the pandemic’s restrictions on travel. The loss of Canadian tourists is a particularly heavy blow as in recent years we have been by far the most common visitors to the country’s sunny shores. And, as pointed out in
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Suez Canal Unblocked
Incredibly illustrative video to understand better the issue with #EVERGIVEN in the #suez pic.twitter.com/1iyPCh5tFk — Fábio Carvalho (@fabioac) March 28, 2021 This is the best thing you will see this week!! #EVERGIVEN pic.twitter.com/1FXNyH0BeM — Francis Leach (@SaintFrankly) March 25, 2021 369 vessels queuing and waiting to pass through the Suez
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: How the Leader of the Free World Became the Leader of the Global Right Wing.
AmeriKa’s president, Donald Trump, will not be the leader of the free world. He will, however, be the leader of the global right wing. Across Europe, the radical right is embracing the next US leader as one of their own. Donald Trump validates their ugly bigotry, racism and xenophobia. He
Continue readingAlberta Politics: News Satire: U.S. will not tolerate foreigners acting like Americans, officials say
ILLUSTRATIONS: A map showing some of the countries in which the United States has interfered in the political process (grabbed from Geology.com). Below: U.S. CIA Director John O. Brennan, Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican candid…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Could Syria Become the 21st Century Sarajevo?
There were plenty of proxy wars during the Cold War only back then the principals had enough sense to avoid direct clashes. That was then, this is Syria where today we find the rival superpowers circling each other inside the same phone booth. You could search the world over and
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Meanwhile, Today In ISIS News….
These guys are really getting around. They’re in Syria and Iraq. They’re in Libya and environs. They’re becoming established in Afghanistan. Now they’re engaging Egypt and Israel. Yes, that’s right, Israel. This ISIS outfit is on the move. The Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, reports that the Israeli Defence Force is preparing
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Retrial of Al Jazeera Journalists Must Pave Way to Their Unconditional Freedom
Egypt’s retrial of Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy and two other jailed Al Jazeera journalists acknowledges major flaws in their original convictions, says Amnesty International. The post Retrial of Al Jazeera Journalists Must Pave Way to Their Unconditional Freedom appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Washington’s Quagmire Mentality
When it comes to Iraq, or the rest of the Middle East for that matter, America is operating on a number of assumptions rooted in fantasy. These false assumptions ensure that America will keep getting itself trapped in quagmire. Andrew Bacevich, former US Army commander turned academic, knows a good
Continue readingLeft Over: The US Declares Permanent War in Arab Winter
How ISIS and Syria drove a stake through the Arab Spring The rise of ISIS is a setback for reform in a region that is crying out for it By Nahlah Ayed, CBC News Posted: Oct 03, 2014 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Oct 03, 2014 5:00 AM ET The fact
Continue readingThe Islamic State—should we be helping to clean up the Americans’ mess?
In early 2003, there were no Islamic extremists in Iraq, or at least none that dared raise their heads above ground. Then the Americans and their “coalition of the willing” invaded. Today, Islamic extremists so vile even al-Qaeda disowns them have taken control of a huge swath of the country
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Egypt’s Government – The One We Like – Mass Murderers?
A Human Rights Watch investigation into the deaths of more than 800-protesters by Egyptian security forces at last August’s Rabaa massacre finds the slaughter was both planned and politically motivated. “The 195-page investigation based on interviews with 122 survivors and witnesses has found Egypt’s police and army ‘systematically and deliberately killed
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Once And For All
Richard Hughes-Political Blogger Like so many of you I am reading and observing the Palestinian onslaught from afar. The positions seem to be so absolute, so tightly held that it is a challenge to grasp the sense of it sometimes. This Uri Avnery piece was sent to me recently and
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Mohamed Fahmy and the Shameful Silence of Stephen Harper
It's a trial that has caused outrage all over the world. The sentencing of three Al Jazeera journalists, including a Canadian citizen Mohamed Fahmy, to long prison terms in Egypt.For the crime of committing journalism.But even though world leaders have been lining up to condemn that travesty of justice.Even though journalists all
Continue readingEgypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and déjà vu
That Egyptian general Abdel Fattah el-Sisi intends to return the country to military rule becomes increasingly clear. Leader of the July 2013 coup against then President Mohamed Morsi, Sisi is running in the May 26-27 presidential election which he is expected to win in a landslide. He is highly popular
Continue readingLeDaro: The Egyptian situation
I don’t know where it is headed to. More death and destruction. From Arab Spring to Arab tragedy and it is getting worse. Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Arab Spring: uprisings, protests… not much to do with revolution
A recent Tariq Ali article in Guernica – What is a Revolution – challenges misconceptions about the popular uprisings in the Middle East that some pundits characterise as the Arab Spring or more dramatically as “revolutions.” A key point in Ali’s article is that popular uprisings, however large, do not
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Reaping the Whirlwind in Egypt
If democracy is to have any chance of surviving in Egypt it’s up to the E.U. and the U.S. to move against the generals. The Egyptian army’s counter-coup is now a fait accompli. Expectations that toppling the democratically-elected Morsi government would pave the way for a secular, non-elected, democratic (???)
Continue readingThe U.S. war against democracy in the Middle East
The CIA’s recent public admission that it masterminded the 1953 military coup against Iran’s democratically elected government reminded me once again of the fickle U.S. support for democracy in the Middle East. American involvement was well-known—books have been written about it—but the publishing of previously classified documents by the U.S.
Continue reading