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

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. 

Related articles

• Saudi Arabia detains founders of new activist party (reuters.com)
• You: News Analysis: As Unrest Encircles Saudi Arabia, a Sense of Insecurity Bubbles Up (nytimes.com)
• Tunisia asks Saudi Arabia if former president is dead (ctv.ca)
• Tunisia asks Saudi Arabia if exiled ex-president is dead (theglobeandmail.com)
• Gulf shares drop on Mideast unrest (sfgate.com)
• Tunisia to Saudi Arabia: Is Ben Ali dead? (thestar.com)
• Tunisia asks Saudi Arabia: Is Ben Ali dead? (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Bahrain Uprising: High Stakes for the U.S. (thedailybeast.com)
• Can the U.S. save the Jordanian throne? (sfgate.com)
• Middle East Protests Strain Gulf Stocks (huffingtonpost.com)
• Saudi Royals Wary Of Bahrain Unrest (blogs.forbes.com)
• As Mideast Seethes, Saudis Stand Alone (newser.com)
• Saudi Arabia Risks Shiite Unrest in Wake of Bahrain Turmoil (businessweek.com)
• "Unrest Encircles Saudis, Stoking Sense of Unease" and related posts (voxverax.blogspot.com)
• Saudi prince calls for reform amid regional unrest (sfgate.com)
• Saudi prince calls for reform amid regional unrest (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Tunisia doesn't know if Ben Ali is dead. A little help, Saudis? (shortformblog.com)
• Saudi Arabia vs Nigeria's Citizen Ahman (vanguardngr.com)

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

Democracy: An Israeli Plot?

Image via Wikipedia

In a Saturday report, the official Libyan news agency said authorities have arrested "dozens of foreign elements trained to strike at Libya's stability and security." It said an investigation already was under way. It also said authorities were not ruling out that those elements were connected to what it called an Israeli plot to destabilize countries in North Africa, including Libya, as well as Lebanon and Iran.

That the regime in Libya should blame Israel for the unrest in the streets of Libya goes on to show how Arab dictators have been using the image of Israel to fool their own peoples. You blame all your problems and all the problems of your people on Israel.

That is why democracy is necessary. I have long held the belief that there can be no true peace in the Middle East until all autocracies in the region have been turned into democracies. When a country becomes a democracy, the democratically elected leader has to answer to the people. The people don't blame Israel for the massive unemployment, they instead vote out the leader. Next.

Anti-semitism does have a cure, it seems like. The cure is total democracy.

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

Related articles

• Khameini, Gaddafi, Caecescu (democracyforum.blogspot.com)
• Libya protests: More than 100 killed as army fires on unarmed demonstrators (guardian.co.uk)
• Gaddafi: What now for Libya's dictator, and where does Britain stand? (independent.co.uk)
• Alarm mounts over Libya crackdown (independent.co.uk)
• Libya Unrest: Protesters Want Gaddafi Out (theroot.com)
• Libya protests: 'Mercenaries' keep order as up to 200 die in violence (dailymail.co.uk)
• Libya Warns Against Use of Facebook (yro.slashdot.org)
• "Gaddafi orders army to shoot unarmed Libyan protesters" and related posts (yalibnan.com)
• Libyan protesters risk 'suicide' by army hands (guardian.co.uk)
• Scores killed in Libya protests - Aljazeera.net (news.google.com)
• Libyan forces fire on mourners at funeral again (ajc.com)
• Libya, Yemen crack down; Bahrain pulls back tanks (sfgate.com)
• Libyans vow to protest despite violence from government (cnn.com)
• Middle East unrest as it happened - BBC News (news.google.com)
• Glued to events in Libya, Yemen and Bahrain (boingboing.net)
• Crackdown in Libya claims 84 lives (hindu.com)

China: 2 PM, Sunday

Image via Wikipedia

“People in cities that fail to organize assembly successfully this time, please go ahead with similar assemblies at 2:00pm of every Sunday afternoon,” said the invitation to protest posted on the overseas Chinese website www.boxun.com, “Persistence means success!”

This is a smart strategy. China will be the very last prize. After every single autocratic regime in the Arab world has been toppled - and that could easily take weeks, possibly a few months - after every autocratic regime in Africa has been brought down, by then the people in China will have warmed up.

Once the people pour out into the streets, there is nothing anybody can do. China could have an interesting outcome. This is what I suggest. Let the people come out into the streets. Don't organize a massacre. Agree to a major constitutional reform such that it becomes legal to organize political parties. Offer federalism.

The revolution in China could see the Communist Party of China keeping power but making way for multi-party democracy and a full fledged respect for human rights. Google gets to go back to China.

Personally I am even more interested in Burma than China. The animals ruling Burma need to be executed by an international tribunal.

Wake up, Burma, wake up.

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

Related articles

• Khameini, Gaddafi, Caecescu (democracyforum.blogspot.com)
• China Facing A "Jasmine Revolution" (outsidethebeltway.com)
• China cracks down amid calls for 'Jasmine Revolution' (ctv.ca)
• China cracks down on call for 'Jasmine Revolution' (foxnews.com)
• China blocks web calls for "Jasmine Revolution" (cbsnews.com)
• China snuffs out democracy protests - Telegraph.co.uk (news.google.com)
• Bloodbath feared as Gaddafi digs in (theage.com.au)
• China preventing Egypt syndrome (rt.com)
• Back to Yangoon, and its gorgeous people - Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar (travelpod.com)
• Gaddafi: I love revolts - when they occur somewhere else (hotair.com)

Bomb Gaddafi's Tent

Image via WikipediaArmchair revolutionaries like myself have to be extra, extra respectful of the people who brave the streets. We have to suggest strategies that minimize human casualties without compromising the broad goal of democracy and human rights.

And so I am proposing America order surgical military strikes, Ronal Reagan style, to bomb Gaddafi's tent in the desert. If he is not in the tent, order surginal military strikes on his presidential palace. If he is not there, bomb the office of Libya's intelligence agency.

This guy actually ordered a missile strike upon peacefully demonstrating people. This guy has ordered machine gun fire and sniper shots at peacefully demonstrating people. This is not a human being.

This guy has left no room for an exit strategy. He is not going to voluntarily leave. He could not vacate the seat of power and stay in the country. He has nowhere to go outside the country. He will either succeed and hang on, not an acceptable outcome, or he will commit suicide, Hitler style, but before that he will have ordered the killings of hundreds upon hundreds of Libyans. Those lives have value. You prevent those deaths by snuffing out Gaddafi. Take him out.

Taking out Gaddafi by an American surgical military strike is the most nonviolent act that could take place at this phase of Libya's democracy movement.

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

Related articles

• Flamboyant Gaddafi feels ripples of change (msnbc.msn.com)
• Flamboyant Gaddafi feels ripples of change (reuters.com)
• Gaddafi: What now for Libya's dictator, and where does Britain stand? (independent.co.uk)
• Gaddafi's Final Days? (horsesass.org)
• Khameini, Gaddafi, Caecescu (democracyforum.blogspot.com)
• Libya protests: More than 100 killed as army fires on unarmed demonstrators (guardian.co.uk)
• Libya Bloodshed Grows, Showing Gaddafi's Firm Hand (time.com)
• Factbox - Key facts about Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi (reuters.com)

Khameini, Gaddafi, Caecescu

Image via WikipediaAn autocratic regime does not have to meet the demands of a peacefully demonstrating people, but when that regime unleashes heinous brutality upon those peaceful demonstrators, it has crossed a line, and such a dictator deserves a Caecescu death. That still fits the definition of non-violence.

Khameini in Iran crossed that line. There was no limit to the kind of brutality he was willing to unleash. Gaddafi has gone down that same path. They kill demonstrators. They open sniper fire on mourners. They fire army colonels who refuse to carry out the vicious, inhuman orders.

A line has been crossed in Libya. The dictator in Libya has crossed the line. And it is for the masses to rise up like a tsunami. It is time to take over Tripoli.

The masses have what it takes to bring victory on behalf of their peoples. This tide will not stop. This wave will keep on keeping on. The Arab world is finally rising like it never has in its entire history. This is a first.

How many people could Gaddafi kill? 300? 500?

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

Related articles

• Gaddafi's Final Days? (horsesass.org)
• Britain's alliance with Libya turns sour as Gaddafi cracks down (guardian.co.uk)
• Blood Flows as Libya's Gaddafi Cracks Down on Protest (time.com)
• Gaddafi fights for his future as up to 200 die in Benghazi (independent.co.uk)
• Libya's Gaddafi faces challenge to four decades of rule - Reuters Africa (news.google.com)
• Libya protests: Colonel Muammar Gaddafi turns helicopter gunships on own people (telegraph.co.uk)
• Gaddafi fights for his future as up to 200 die in Benghazi - Independent (news.google.com)
• Libya Protests: Muammar Gaddafi Murders 70 (mypetjawa.mu.nu)
• Gaddafi acts on increasing unrest (bbc.co.uk)
• "Gaddafi orders army to shoot unarmed Libyan protesters" and related posts (yalibnan.com)
• Ahmadinejad & Gaddafi - Chickens Staying Home To "Roast?" (gadabout-blogalot.com)
• Libya: Protests Against Gaddafi Start Ahead of Schedule (globalvoicesonline.org)
• U.S. should heed Canada's message to Iran (fullcomment.nationalpost.com)
• 5 reviews of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (rateitall.com)
• Iran offered peaceful nuclear technology in return for surrendering enriched uranium stockpile (telegraph.co.uk)
• "Anti-Gaddafi Protesters Seize Libyan City" and related posts (dotconnectoruk.blogspot.com)

Et Tu, China?

Image via Wikipedia

Washington Post: China cracks down on call for 'Jasmine Revolution': Chinese authorities cracked down on activists as a call circulated for people to gather in more than a dozen cities Sunday for a "Jasmine Revolution." ..... Activists seemed not to know what to make of the call to protest, even as they passed it on. They said they were unaware of any known group being involved in the request for citizens to gather in 13 cities and shout "We want food, we want work, we want housing, we want fairness." ...... in the footsteps of recent protests in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria and Libya. ..... Authorities appeared to be treating the protest call seriously. ..... Tensions were already high in recent days after a video secretly made under house arrest by one of China's most well-known activist lawyers, Chen Guangcheng, was made public. .... The call for a "Jasmine Revolution" came as President Hu Jintao gave a speech to top leaders Saturday, asking them to "solve prominent problems which might harm the harmony and stability of the society." ..... The ruling Communist Party is dogged by the threat of social unrest over rising food and housing prices and other issues. .... The call to protest was first posted on the U.S.-based Chinese-language website Boxun.com. ...... "This is the most serious denial of service attack we have received," it said in a statement. "We believe the attack is related to the Jasmine Revolution proposed on Feb. 20 in China."

When the people rise, empires fall. China is but one country.



The Arab world, Africa, China: all are fair game.



China needs political plurality, China needs federalism, China needs freedom of speech, China needs religious freedom. China needs democracy and human rights as much as any other country.

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

Related articles

• China cracks down amid calls for 'Jasmine Revolution' (ctv.ca)
• China blocks web calls for "Jasmine Revolution" (cbsnews.com)
• China cracks down on call for 'Jasmine Revolution' (thenewstribune.com)
• China cracks down on call for 'Jasmine Revolution' (msnbc.msn.com)
• China cracks down on call for 'Jasmine Revolution' (sfgate.com)
• China cracks down on call for 'Jasmine Revolution' (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• 'Rage, Rap and Revolution: Inside the Arab Youth Quake' (huffingtonpost.com)
• Rage, Rap and Revolution: Inside the Arab Youth Quake (time.com)
• A successful Jasmine revolution, but what next for Tunisia? (newstatesman.com)
• Could China become the next Egypt? (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

When They Open Fire

Image via Wikipedia2011 is 1989, and this year belongs to the Arab world and to Africa. People are rising. People will rise. They will take over the streets. This is a momentum game. If you let the momentum die you have to wait years, perhaps you have to wait for another generation. That would be too wasteful. The time is now. The time is today. The time is this year.

The streets are on fire. Stoke the fire.

Peaceful demonstrators have a right to demonstrate. Regimes that open fire on such demonstrators have to be countered by peoples and governments all over the world. The US government has to step in with everything at its disposal, upto and including use of surgical military strikes.

A regime does not have to accept the demands of peacefully demonstrating people, but no regime has a right to unleash brutality upon peacefully demonstrating peoples. There are reports demonstrators are being shot at, from the ground, from helicopters in the sky.
Image via Wikipedia
That can not be tolerated. America has to step in. It has to warn such governments. It has to use all levers of government power to make sure such brutality is not tolerated.

America was born with a mission. That mission was a total spread of democracy. 2011 is a special year. It is like 1989 all over again. And America has a role to play. People have a right to peacefully demonstrate. That right has to be protected.

A monarcy, any monarchy, is a feudal institution. Every single monarchy in the region has to go. Unelected leaders don't belong in the seats of power. If you were not elected, simply leave.

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

Related articles

• Middle East protests: Thousands defy army crackdown to gather for funerals of Bahrain demonstrators (dailymail.co.uk)
• Protesters in Djibouti rally to replace president (sfgate.com)
• Protesters in Djibouti rally to replace president (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Demands for change sweep across Middle East (sfgate.com)
• Protesters in Djibouti Rally Against President (online.wsj.com)
• Bahraini troops fire on peaceful protesters in chaotic scene (thenewstribune.com)
• Protesters in Djibouti rally to replace president (foxnews.com)
• Summary of anti-government protests in Arab world (sfgate.com)
• Middle East: Hundreds Take to Streets in Yemen in Protest (nytimes.com)
• Libya awaits 'day of rage' rallies after rare clashes (msnbc.msn.com)
• Recap of developments in Middle East, North Africa (theprovince.com)
• 'Deaths' as Libya protests spread (bbc.co.uk)
• 'Deaths' as Libya protests spread - BBC News (news.google.com)
• Riot police attack Bahrain protesters (salon.com)
• Yemeni president tries to avert revolution as protests escalate - Christian Science Monitor (news.google.com)
• Grenade kills two Yemen protesters, toll hits 10 - AFP (news.google.com)
• Bahrain will pay heavy price for crackdown (cnn.com)
• 12 killed in Libya protests - Hindustan Times (news.google.com)
• Unrest sweeps across Arab world (rt.com)
• Live blog: Tunisian police disperse attack on brothels (worldblog.msnbc.msn.com)
• Arab youth, don't lose momentum now | Abdel Razzaq Takriti (guardian.co.uk)
• Unrest in the Arab World and Iran (2010-11) - New York Times (news.google.com)
• Jordanian Protests Turn Violent (waronterrornews.typepad.com)