Another One Bites The Dust

Image via WikipediaWall Street Journal: Yemen's Saleh Accepts Deal to Step Down: Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has accepted a political deal brokered by neighboring Arab countries that would have him step down from power after 30 days in exchange for immunity for himself and his close relatives, according to a presidential aide. The apparent softening of the longtime ruler's recalcitrant stance that he would remain in power until the end of his term in 2013 comes after a burst of arm-twisting and backroom diplomacy by Yemen's close allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

(via Pantless Progressive)



Saudis Going Into Bahrain Like Saddam Going Into Kuwait
To Zimbabwe Through Ivory Coast
A Rwanda Was Prevented

Related articles

• Yemen's Saleh Accepts Deal to Step Down (online.wsj.com)
• Yemen's Saleh Accepts Deal to Step Down - Wall Street Journal (news.google.com)
• Yemeni President Says Opposition Dragging Country to Civil War (businessweek.com)
• Yemeni president agrees to step down in 30 days (boston.com)
• That's #3: Yemen President Saleh Agrees To Step Down (businessinsider.com)
• Yemeni president agrees to step down in 30 days (foxnews.com)
• Yemen's Saleh to Resign in Exchange for Immunity, Official Says (businessweek.com)
• Yemen's Embattled President to Step Down (foxnews.com)
• Yemen’s president agrees to step down (theglobeandmail.com)

Saudis Going Into Bahrain Like Saddam Going Into Kuwait

Image via WikipediaJust because the autocratic regime in Bahrain extended an invitation does not mean the move was legitimate. This Arab wave of democracy does not end with the nefarious regime in Iran ending up with much more regional power. This wave will sweep away the Iranian mullahs from power. That has to be the outcome we have to work towards.

The Saudi king has to go. The mullahs in Iran have to go.

Gaddafi tried to tell the world it was the Al Qaeda playing tricks on him in Benghazi. Should we have believed him? There were people who said if you kick out Mubarak, the Muslim Brotherhood, a party of Islamists, will take over that important country?

And now there are people who are thinking in terms of a scenario where the Saudi king is still in power a few months from now, and the mullahs are still in power in Iran several months from now.

The whole idea is to sweep them from power. The whole idea is to start afresh. This is not a Shia Sunni fight like the Saudi royals are pressing hard for the world to believe. If the Saudi king tells you he is the person standing between you and Bin Laden, do not believe him. He is the person standing between the people of Saudi Arabia and their democratic aspirations. To that add the people of Bahrain as well.

Wall Street Journal: The New Cold War: For three months, the Arab world has been awash in protests and demonstrations. ...... a dramatic spike in tensions between two geopolitical titans, Iran and Saudi Arabia. ...... On March 14, the Saudis rolled tanks and troops across a causeway into the island kingdom of Bahrain. The ruling family there, long a close Saudi ally, appealed for assistance in dealing with increasingly large protests. ...... shows how easily the old Middle East, marked by sectarian divides and ingrained rivalries, can re-emerge and stop change in its tracks. ...... There has long been bad blood between the Saudis and Iran. Saudi Arabia is a Sunni Muslim kingdom of ethnic Arabs, Iran a Shiite Islamic republic populated by ethnic Persians..... Iran holds in its sway Syria and the militant Arab groups Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories; in the Saudi sphere are the Sunni Muslim-led Gulf monarchies, Egypt, Morocco and the other main Palestinian faction, Fatah. The Saudi camp is pro-Western and leans toward tolerating the state of Israel. The Iranian grouping thrives on its reputation in the region as a scrappy "resistance" camp, defiantly opposed to the West and Israel..... As far away as Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, the Saudis have watched warily as Iranian clerics have expanded their activities—and they have responded with large-scale religious programs of their own there. ...... Spurred on by televised images and YouTube videos from Tunisia, protests broke out across much of the rest of the Arab world. Within weeks, millions were on the streets in Egypt and Hosni Mubarak was gone, shown the door in part by his longtime backer, the U.S. government. The Obama administration was captivated by this spontaneous outbreak of democratic demands and at first welcomed it with few reservations...... In Riyadh, Saudi officials watched with alarm. They became furious when the Obama administration betrayed, to Saudi thinking, a longtime ally in Mr. Mubarak and urged him to step down in the face of the street demonstrations. ..... The Saudis were further agitated when the protests crept closer to their own borders...... As for the U.S., the Saudis saw calls for reform as another in a string of disappointments and outright betrayals..... The Saudis believe that solving the issue of Palestinian statehood will deny Iran a key pillar in its regional expansionist strategy—and thus bring a win for the forces of Sunni moderation that Riyadh wants to lead. ....... the ramping up of regional tensions has another source: fear of democracy itself. ..... Long before protests ousted rulers in the Arab world, Iran battled massive street protests of its own for more than two years. It managed to control them, and their calls for more representative government or outright regime change, with massive, often deadly, force. Yet even as the government spun the Arab protests as Iranian inspired, Iran's Green Revolution opposition movement managed to use them to boost their own fortunes, staging several of their best-attended rallies in more than a year..... Saudi Arabia has largely avoided protests during the Arab Spring ..... "The problem is a political one, but sectarianism is a winning card for them" ...... Iran and Saudi Arabia are, uncharacteristically and to some observers alarmingly, tossing direct threats at each other across the Gulf. ...... the understanding that the kingdom works to stabilize global oil prices while the White House protects the ruling family's dynasty. Washington has pulled back from blanket support for democracy efforts in the region. ....... While Saudi troops guard critical oil and security facilities in their neighbor's land, the Bahraini government has launched a sweeping and often brutal crackdown on demonstrators. ....... forced out the editor of the country's only independent newspaper. More than 400 demonstrators have been arrested without charges, many in violent night raids on Shiite villages ..... In Yemen, the Saudis, also working under a Gulf Cooperation Council umbrella, have taken control of the political negotiations to transfer power out of the hands of President Ali Abdullah Saleh

This is not a Shia Sunni fight. This is a fight between autocracy and democracy. This is a fight between the Arab peoples and their autocratic rulers. Just like the autocrats in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain see common cause, the peoples of Saudi Arabi and Bahrain have to see common cause. They have to rise together.

America has no love affair with the House of Saud. America's love affair is with democracy. It always has been, always will be. But it is for the people of Saudi Arabia to rise, it is for the people of Iran to rise all over again. I remember 2009.

Related articles

• "Saudi Arabia vs. Iran" and related posts (pomed.org)
• Gulf troops to stay till Iran threat gone: Bahrain - msnbc.com (news.google.com)
• Bahrain escapes censure by West as crackdown on protesters intensifies (independent.co.uk)
• Arab uprisings scramble regional power structure of Saudi Arabia, Iran (theglobeandmail.com)
• The New Cold War (online.wsj.com)
• Bahrain to Keep Saudi Troops Because of Iran Threat (abcnews.go.com)
• Ahmadinejad calls for Middle East unity (nationalpost.com)

DL21C: Enemy Organization

DL21C is guilty of a crime. It is guilty as an organization.

DL21C's best option is to dismantle itself. Or I am going to wipe that organization off the face of this city. It is just that I am in no hurry to do it. That is the fun part of it for me. That I am in no hurry to do it.

The Obama volunteers in New York City get to pick between me and DL21C. If they pick DL21C, I will understand. I am just one person. DL21C is an entire organization.

The democratic primary of 2008 ends for me after I have personally wiped out DL21C from the face of this city. I don't need any help.

If any DL21C person ends up with any kind of a leadership position with Obama 2012, I am boycotting all Obama 2012 events in Manhattan.

So help me God.

Larry Shinn

Larry Shinn is easily, easily, easily the most disgusting human being I have ever had to meet in person.

Travel does not cure prejudice. This motherfucker is proof. He will tell you he has been to India.

You don't participate in racist demonization and get away with it.

This motherfucking priest is not going to have a legacy. When he dies he is going to die knowing he toiled his entire life for nothing.

He does not deserve a legacy. He is not going to have one.

That is his punishment. He is paying.

Obama On The Deficit

I Fixed The Budget, You Can Too

Ai Weiwei

To Zimbabwe Through Ivory Coast

Image via Wikipedia

New York Times: U.N. and France Strike Leader’s Forces in Ivory Coast: The United Nations and France went on the offensive Monday against Ivory Coast’s strongman, Laurent Gbagbo, striking his forces in a significant ratcheting-up of the months-long campaign to force him to cede power. ..... France, which has over 1,500 troops stationed in the former colony, announced that it would carry out attacks on Mr. Gbagbo’s military hardware at the request of the United Nations, joining an operation “aimed at neutralizing heavy weapons that are used against the civilian population and United Nations personnel in Abidjan,” a statement from the French presidency said..... Mig-24 helicopters had been deployed against Gbagbo military bases to “render harmless” the mortar-launchers “that are firing” on the United Nations headquarters in Abidjan and on “the civilian population.” ..... Mr. Gbagbo has refused to step down after losing an election last November to Alassane Ouattara, who was recognized as the winner by international organizations. .... Gbagbo, a former university historian who has transformed himself into a hardline autocrat over the course of a long political career.

This was never just about Tunisia. Egypt was a huge victory, but it was never just about Egypt. This thing could really grow. I want Mugabe out. I am thinking China. I am thinking Russia.

The techies of the world have to aim for the Chinese firewall. There has got to be a way in. They have managed to block sites. But they can't take the internet down. So break in. Just do it.

This is about Syria, and Iran. This is about Jordan.

But the Arab world is not enough. This democracy wave has to also engulf Africa.

The Fuck With Mugabe

Libya was a major turning point. The world sent a clear message that when people peacefully protest they will be protected.
Image via Wikipedia
A Rwanda Was Prevented

When the Russian president reprimanded Putin that is when I knew this wave will also crash against the Russian shores. But Russia is a big country, and we will have to build plenty of momentum elsewhere. Elsewhere is the Arab world and Africa.

Reports signal growing rift between Russia’s governing duo
Russian President Criticizes Putin's Libya Remarks
Medvedev criticizes Putin over Libya remarks
Medvedev Criticizes Putin For Calling Libya Action Crusade

Related articles

• Oil vs. cocoa: Why Ivory Coast isn't like Libya (cnn.com)
• Battle for Abidjan (theworld.org)
• Humanitarian Crisis In Ivory Coast: Time For Military Intervention? (nicedeb.wordpress.com)
• Ivory Coast troubles overshadowed by Libya's crisis (theworld.org)
• Would those opposing intervention in Libya also do so for Ivory Coast? (liberalconspiracy.org)
• "French troops take control of Abidjan Airport in Ivory Coast" and related posts (journeyetc.com)
• Ivory Coast's Gbagbo must go - and so should other African leaders who overstay | Ian Birrell (guardian.co.uk)
• Un Backs a President Who Massacres Its People in Africa (tripolitrip.wordpress.com)
• 1,000 slaughtered in Ivory Coast, 11 killed in Libya - but we bomb Libya. (compuadept.net)
• Army chief for Ivory Coast strongman leaves refuge (ctv.ca)