Mubarak is not a dictator

[plekhanov]

Now I'd long thought I knew what a dictator was pretty much as that most relibale of source wikipedia puts it:

 

"In modern usage, the term "dictator" is generally used to describe a leader who holds and/or abuses an extraordinary amount of personal power, especially the power to make laws without effective restraint by a legislative assembly[citation needed]. Dictatorships are often characterized by some of the following traits: suspension of elections and of civil liberties; proclamation of a state of emergency; rule by decree; repression of political opponents without abiding by rule of law procedures; these include single-party state, and cult of personality."

 

Consequently I thought that President Mubarak was a dictator.

 

But apparently it turns out that a dictator is someone who isn't an ally of the USA and who doesn't do what the US says as regards Israel. This must the the case as the deputy "leader of the Free World" (VP of the USA) said so:

 

"JIM LEHRER: The word -- the word to describe the leadership of Mubarak and Egypt and also in Tunisia before was dictator. Should Mubarak be seen as a dictator?

 

JOE BIDEN: Look, Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things and he's been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interests in the region: Middle East peace efforts, the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing the relationship with Israel.

 

And I think that it would be -- I would not refer to him as a dictator."

 

Bet all you people who thought dictators ruled without elections, the rule of law, human rights... are feeling pretty silly now aren't you?

[VideoPro]

The people of Egypt disagree with your anaysis.

 

Dude has held power since 1981 by cheating in elections (or simply not having them). He was or is trying to set up a dynasty - the son should take over when Mubu croaks -shades of North Korea right there.

 

I hope that the good people of Egypt go all out and bring everything crashing to the ground. Mubarak can go live in a New York hotel with his CIA bodyguards for all I care.

 

Revolution time!

 

Go Egypt go. Throw the scum out. Let's get some real freedom and democracy all up in this thing.

[HeadingNorth]

The people of Egypt disagree with your anaysis.

 

So does Plekhanov. Is the education of this country really so appallingly bad that people can't even understand a simple post like this one?

[taxman]

The US has always supported dictators when it has suited them. My enemies enemy is my friend syndrome.

[Lucifer]

Could this be another pyramid scam, Backscratch Obama trying to divert his problems to somewhere else.

[matsalleh]

Doesn't most of the wiki quote apply to Tony Blair?

[Rupert_Baehr]

The US has always supported dictators when it has suited them. My enemies enemy is my friend syndrome.

 

Do you think they might've learnt to do that from Perfidious Albion?

 

Egypt is not a wealthy country.

 

Tourism expanded by more than 13% during the last quarter of last year and the industry is considered to be a major force behind economic growth.

 

Well that used to be the case, anyway. Some people may be thinking of going elsewhere.

[Bounce]

Now I'd long thought I knew what a dictator was pretty much as that most relibale of source wikipedia puts it:

 

"In modern usage, the term "dictator" is generally used to describe a leader who holds and/or abuses an extraordinary amount of personal power, especially the power to make laws without effective restraint by a legislative assembly[citation needed]. Dictatorships are often characterized by some of the following traits: suspension of elections and of civil liberties; proclamation of a state of emergency; rule by decree; repression of political opponents without abiding by rule of law procedures; these include single-party state, and cult of personality."

 

Consequently I thought that President Mubarak was a dictator.

 

But apparently it turns out that a dictator is someone who isn't an ally of the USA and who doesn't do what the US says as regards Israel. This must the the case as the deputy "leader of the Free World" (VP of the USA) said so:

 

"JIM LEHRER: The word -- the word to describe the leadership of Mubarak and Egypt and also in Tunisia before was dictator. Should Mubarak be seen as a dictator?

 

JOE BIDEN: Look, Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things and he's been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interests in the region: Middle East peace efforts, the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing the relationship with Israel.

 

And I think that it would be -- I would not refer to him as a dictator."

 

Bet all you people who thought dictators ruled without elections, the rule of law, human rights... are feeling pretty silly now aren't you?

 

Only thing is he hasn't normalised relations with Israel he's supported Israel's disregard for human rights international law and the UN. The same UN America uses as an excuse to wage wars but when it comes to Israel it supports Israeli violation of UN resolutions. Mubaraks behaviour has only added to the resentment and anger of the Egyptian people and the Arabs in general. Nothing has been normalised between the Arabs and Israelis as a result. An Egyptian leader should be acting in the interests of Egyptians and Mubarak has acted in the interests of himself while oppressing his own people. About time this happened.

[LordChaverly]

 

JOE BIDEN: Look, Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things and he's been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interests in the region: Middle East peace efforts, the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing the relationship with Israel.

 

And I think that it would be -- I would not refer to him as a dictator.[/i]"

 

Bet all you people who thought dictators ruled without elections, the rule of law, human rights... are feeling pretty silly now aren't you?

 

Biden is useful in helping us to understand the realities of current US foreign policy, because he lacks the verbal dexterity to engage in the kind of sophistry which usually masks comments by US officials about US relations with Israel.

 

The truth is that the pro-Israel mindset is so embedded in US political discourse that no politician could engage in even mild rebukes of Israel without potentially very serious consequences for his or her career (the same can be said of broadcasters and, to a very large degree, of academics as well). I have great fondness for the US, but the distortion of its foreign policy, and indeed of its fundamental values, through its slavish support for Israel is not a healthy situation, either for it or for the rest of the world.

[Harleyman]

Biden is useful in helping us to understand the realities of current US foreign policy, because he lacks the verbal dexterity to engage in the kind of sophistry which usually masks comments by US officials about US relations with Israel.

 

The truth is that the pro-Israel mindset is so embedded in US political discourse that no politician could engage in even mild rebukes of Israel without potentially very serious consequences for his or her career (the same can be said of broadcasters and, to a very large degree, of academics as well). I have great fondness for the US, but the distortion of its foreign policy, and indeed of its fundamental values, through its slavish support for Israel is not a healthy situation, either for it or for the rest of the world.

 

 

Unfortunately the US has inherited some of the mess and ineptude of the British colonial rulers. Palestine was under British mandate yet they were unable to administer control over Jewish refugees from Europe which resulted in a war between the Palestians and Jews resulting in the Palestinians being driven out from their holdings.

 

Kashmir..... Always a hotspot for any war between India and Pakistan. When the British partitioned off Pakistan from India they left control of Kashir to India despite the fact that the great majority of Kashmirans are Muslim.

 

Somalia, an abortion cobbled together from a former Italian colony and a British possession. Two different peoples condemned to exist together in disunity and hatred.

 

Afghanistan. Parts of which were always beyond the control of the British army created as a separate country instead of being included as part of Pakistan.

 

The Sudan. Another result of shortsightedness and bad decisons

 

As for Egypt Eden's high handed gun boat diplomacy almost led to to a war of major proportions with the possible intervention of the Soviet Union. Decades of Arab bitterness toward the west for a few decades afterwards

 

Then of course the cobbling together of a mish mash of central European peoples into a country called Yugoslavia by Lloyd George and French leader Foch. Doomed from the start and the US had to get involved in the messy and bloody conflicts in that part of the world in the 1990s

 

It's not an unreasonable conclusion that Britain's past policies did much to damage the world and leave us with the problems that exist today