What with the Trumpian relocation of the US embassy and all the hoo-ha about those brave IDF snipers gunning down unarmed Palestinians, I figure its time to root around in the archives and find us a winning plan.
We got it!
Ya, it's been three years since the think tank here at Falling Downs came up with this insight, but one thing all great plans have in common is they stand up to the test of time.
Annexing Libya makes even more sense for Egypt today than when we originally released that policy paper. Nevermind Egypt; it makes even more sense to the rest of the world!
Think about it.
Those 2.5 million Gazans get a place to call home.
Another four million West Bankers will surely follow in short order!
Voila, the Holy Land will be totally vacated by the miscreants, and will be totally a blank slate for the Chosen People!
Isn't that what all this Middle East conflict is about? Clearing out the unchosen and moving in the Chosen?
Of course it is...
By God, I think we got us a home run here...
Just send the Nobel Peace Prize to Think Tank @ Falling Downs, c/o General Delivery, Kemble Post Office, N0H 1S0.
Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Ahmed Mansour case a test of German sovereignty
Everybody knows that the ascent of Generalissimo al-Sisi to the big chair in Egypt could never have happened without the connivance of the Nations of Virtue, and especially the US.
For all the clap-trap about "democracy" that spews non-stop out of Washington, it was clear that the election of Morsi was one of those aberrations of democracy that could not be countenanced by the West.
Democracy is great so long as the right people are elected.
Electing the Muslim Brotherhood was not what we expected.
Democracy in Egypt has been effectively rejected.
And der Fuhrer Herr al-Sisi is by the West protected...
We shall see now how far Frau Merkel will push against the wishes of Washington. Honouring an Egyptian arrest warrant in Germany dishonours German sovereignty and independence, especially when that warrant comes from an illegitimate regime steeped in everything antithetical to the supposed virtues of the Nations of Virtue.
Freedom of expression.
Democracy.
The rule of law.
Good luck tomorrow, Mr. Mansour... much hangs in the balance.
For all the clap-trap about "democracy" that spews non-stop out of Washington, it was clear that the election of Morsi was one of those aberrations of democracy that could not be countenanced by the West.
Democracy is great so long as the right people are elected.
Electing the Muslim Brotherhood was not what we expected.
Democracy in Egypt has been effectively rejected.
And der Fuhrer Herr al-Sisi is by the West protected...
We shall see now how far Frau Merkel will push against the wishes of Washington. Honouring an Egyptian arrest warrant in Germany dishonours German sovereignty and independence, especially when that warrant comes from an illegitimate regime steeped in everything antithetical to the supposed virtues of the Nations of Virtue.
Freedom of expression.
Democracy.
The rule of law.
Good luck tomorrow, Mr. Mansour... much hangs in the balance.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Mohamed Fahmy doesn't get it
Mohamed Fahmy still seems to be under the impression that the Canadian government should be working feverishly behind the scenes to get him out of Egypt. He is, after all, a Canadian citizen.
Obviously, they haven't been, or he'd be free by now. Problem is, the vindictive racists in Harper's Ottawa don't see him as a Canadian at all. They see him as an Egyptian, and not a "good" Egyptian like Generalissimo al-Sisi, but a highly suspect Egyptian who most likely harbours thoughts sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood and, God forbid, Palestinians.
While he may technically be a Canadian, he's not really one; he's just one of those "Canadians of convenience" who keeps a Canadian passport in his back pocket as an insurance policy of sorts. The Middle East is full of those kind of Canadians, and frankly, the Harperites are sick of them.
Unlike the many folks who successfully hold dual Canada-Israel citizenship, Arab Canadian loyalties must always be suspect. It's yet another manifestation of what, over the last ten years, has become the dominant characteristic of the face Canada shows to the world; our hypocrisy.
Omar Khadr is another sterling example of that face. A lot of worthy-sounding do-gooder initiatives get serious traction in Canada, because most Canadians fancy themselves as kind and compassionate people. The campaign to free and rehabilitate child soldiers was one of these initiatives, at least so long as the problem of child soldiers was confined to primitive nations teeming with barbaric brown people. Then a 15 year old Afghan-Canadian kid gets caught in a fire-fight with US troops in Afghanistan, and all that compassion flies out the window faster than you can say "just kidding," and the Harper gang have spent untold millions blocking every legal move aimed at freeing and rehabilitating our own child soldier.
Again, it's because while he may have been technically a Canadian, he wasn't considered a "real" Canadian, because his daddy was a "terrorist" and his mommy wears a Niqab, and the dirty little shit personally threw a hand-grenade that killed a US soldier in Afghanistan, and any Afghan defending Afghanistan from the tender mercies of the US/NATO liberation is not worthy of inclusion in a modern civilized society like Canada.
Now this most virtuous of the Nations of Virtue has committed to spending half a billion dollars bombing Syria, a mission with only the fuzziest of rationales, no explicit goals, and no exit strategy. What we're seeing is Harper using foreign policy and the Canadian Forces to paint himself as some ersatz Warrior King in time for the coming election.
Let's hope enough voters see through the hypocrisy.
Obviously, they haven't been, or he'd be free by now. Problem is, the vindictive racists in Harper's Ottawa don't see him as a Canadian at all. They see him as an Egyptian, and not a "good" Egyptian like Generalissimo al-Sisi, but a highly suspect Egyptian who most likely harbours thoughts sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood and, God forbid, Palestinians.
While he may technically be a Canadian, he's not really one; he's just one of those "Canadians of convenience" who keeps a Canadian passport in his back pocket as an insurance policy of sorts. The Middle East is full of those kind of Canadians, and frankly, the Harperites are sick of them.
Unlike the many folks who successfully hold dual Canada-Israel citizenship, Arab Canadian loyalties must always be suspect. It's yet another manifestation of what, over the last ten years, has become the dominant characteristic of the face Canada shows to the world; our hypocrisy.
Omar Khadr is another sterling example of that face. A lot of worthy-sounding do-gooder initiatives get serious traction in Canada, because most Canadians fancy themselves as kind and compassionate people. The campaign to free and rehabilitate child soldiers was one of these initiatives, at least so long as the problem of child soldiers was confined to primitive nations teeming with barbaric brown people. Then a 15 year old Afghan-Canadian kid gets caught in a fire-fight with US troops in Afghanistan, and all that compassion flies out the window faster than you can say "just kidding," and the Harper gang have spent untold millions blocking every legal move aimed at freeing and rehabilitating our own child soldier.
Again, it's because while he may have been technically a Canadian, he wasn't considered a "real" Canadian, because his daddy was a "terrorist" and his mommy wears a Niqab, and the dirty little shit personally threw a hand-grenade that killed a US soldier in Afghanistan, and any Afghan defending Afghanistan from the tender mercies of the US/NATO liberation is not worthy of inclusion in a modern civilized society like Canada.
Now this most virtuous of the Nations of Virtue has committed to spending half a billion dollars bombing Syria, a mission with only the fuzziest of rationales, no explicit goals, and no exit strategy. What we're seeing is Harper using foreign policy and the Canadian Forces to paint himself as some ersatz Warrior King in time for the coming election.
Let's hope enough voters see through the hypocrisy.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Fahmy family lashes out at Canadian govt
Mohamed Fahmy's family in Canada has had some rude things to say about the Harper government's utter disinterest in the case.
Can't say I blame them.
Have to admit the think tank here at Falling Downs believed Baird was going to make Fahmy's release his swan song. Apparently five millions wasn't enough to seal the deal. After all, what's five million from Canada when Mad-Dog-Putin shows up a week later and puts a multi-billion nuclear energy program on the table?
Canada under the Harper gang has never missed an opportunity to poke Putin in the eye. Had we been but a tad more diplomatic in our "diplomacy," it's not hard to imagine Putin lobbying for the release of our Canadian journalist. (Interesting to read the comments for the NP article and see how many Canadians don't consider Fahmy a "Canadian.") The non-stop anti-Putin vitriol out of Ottawa for the last decade could give al-Sisi a motive to keep Fahmy just to suck up to Putin.
Ironically, at the time al-Sisi was deposing the democratically elected Morsi, he was getting nothing but accolades from Canadian media and the Harper gang. The praise was virtually universal.
And there he is today, holding hands with Putin.
Obviously we've had some shortcomings in the world 'o diplomacy...
As for the Fahmys, I understand their confusion. The Canada they thought they moved to when they arrived here twenty-five years ago isn't the Canada they live in today.
Sorry about your luck, folks, but you'll get more sympathy from the Egyptian embassy than from the government of Canada.
Can't say I blame them.
Have to admit the think tank here at Falling Downs believed Baird was going to make Fahmy's release his swan song. Apparently five millions wasn't enough to seal the deal. After all, what's five million from Canada when Mad-Dog-Putin shows up a week later and puts a multi-billion nuclear energy program on the table?
Canada under the Harper gang has never missed an opportunity to poke Putin in the eye. Had we been but a tad more diplomatic in our "diplomacy," it's not hard to imagine Putin lobbying for the release of our Canadian journalist. (Interesting to read the comments for the NP article and see how many Canadians don't consider Fahmy a "Canadian.") The non-stop anti-Putin vitriol out of Ottawa for the last decade could give al-Sisi a motive to keep Fahmy just to suck up to Putin.
Ironically, at the time al-Sisi was deposing the democratically elected Morsi, he was getting nothing but accolades from Canadian media and the Harper gang. The praise was virtually universal.
And there he is today, holding hands with Putin.
Obviously we've had some shortcomings in the world 'o diplomacy...
As for the Fahmys, I understand their confusion. The Canada they thought they moved to when they arrived here twenty-five years ago isn't the Canada they live in today.
Sorry about your luck, folks, but you'll get more sympathy from the Egyptian embassy than from the government of Canada.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Canada FM Baird smears critics with "anti-semitism" slur
Ferry de Kerckhove had a long and distinguished career in Canada's Foreign Service, culminating in Egypt where he served as Canada's ambassador from 2009-2011. As such we might have some cause to assume he knows what he is talking about when he questions Canada's non-chalant handling of the Mohamed Fahmy file. Specifically, he had the temerity to suggest that Ottawa's lethargy may be related to the fact that our very best friends in Israel are quite enamoured of the al-Sisi regime, and neither Harper nor Baird are willing to go against the Likud party line.
To which the Foreign Minister replied with this appalling non-sequitur; "There are some people in this world who want to blame every single problem on Israel, the Jews... it's deeply offensive and ridiculous."
Fans of Israeli PM Netanyahu will recognize this strategy as coming straight out of the Likud playbook. When rational debate fails you, seize the moral high ground by calling your critics names. Not a particularly sophisticated strategy, but it works.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Occupy Cairo: Arab spring all over again
The protesters are being bludgeoned in Tahrir Square again. By the Egyptian army.
The think tank here at Falling Downs never thought it was mere coincidence that General Anan, at the time the number two guy in the Egyptian military, happened to be in Washington when the original Tahrir protests begat Arab Spring, which went on to inspire a thousand Occupations in the west.
Occupy Wall Street.
Occupy Portland.
Occupy Toronto. And so on.
The Occupiers have for the most part faded back into their nine to five realities. But not in Tahrir Square.
In Egypt, everything has changed and nothing has changed. General Anan is now the number one guy. Egypt is ostensibly a democracy, albeit a democracy taking its first baby steps. How is that working out for "the people"?
The people are back in Tahrir Square. In January and February there was a wide-spread belief that the army was on the side of the people. Now the people realize that Mubarak was just the figure-head for a military regime, and that the same military that was in charge under Sadat and Mubarak is in charge today.
Sami Anan has to cope with some day to day realities that Hillary Clinton and David Cameron and the rest of his cheerleaders don't. Were Egypt to be truly democratic, they might not be our friends anymore. A majority of Egyptian voters could very well turn their backs on the peace treaty with Israel. A majority of Egyptian voters could very well say good-bye to American aid, and hello to China.
The Egyptian military gets over a billion dollars a year from the US. We expect something in return.
And no matter what Hillary says, it isn't democracy.
The think tank here at Falling Downs never thought it was mere coincidence that General Anan, at the time the number two guy in the Egyptian military, happened to be in Washington when the original Tahrir protests begat Arab Spring, which went on to inspire a thousand Occupations in the west.
Occupy Wall Street.
Occupy Portland.
Occupy Toronto. And so on.
The Occupiers have for the most part faded back into their nine to five realities. But not in Tahrir Square.
In Egypt, everything has changed and nothing has changed. General Anan is now the number one guy. Egypt is ostensibly a democracy, albeit a democracy taking its first baby steps. How is that working out for "the people"?
The people are back in Tahrir Square. In January and February there was a wide-spread belief that the army was on the side of the people. Now the people realize that Mubarak was just the figure-head for a military regime, and that the same military that was in charge under Sadat and Mubarak is in charge today.
Sami Anan has to cope with some day to day realities that Hillary Clinton and David Cameron and the rest of his cheerleaders don't. Were Egypt to be truly democratic, they might not be our friends anymore. A majority of Egyptian voters could very well turn their backs on the peace treaty with Israel. A majority of Egyptian voters could very well say good-bye to American aid, and hello to China.
The Egyptian military gets over a billion dollars a year from the US. We expect something in return.
And no matter what Hillary says, it isn't democracy.
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