Chomsky: "democracy is dangerous and intolerable" and stability "means obedience to US domination"

as usual, professor chomsky 'splains it ever so much better than most...

There is a reason why there is so much concern about the democracy uprising in the Arab world than in, say, the sub-Saharan Africa. This is where the major energy resources of the world are. There is quite a good reason why the US and its allies will pull out the stops to prevent any really functioning democracy from developing in the Arab world.

[...]

The leaders of the EU and of the US happen to agree with the ruling clerics in Iran that democracy is dangerous and intolerable.

[...]

You have to remember that stability is a cold code word. Stability doesn't mean stability; it means obedience to US domination.

[...]

Support them as long as possible. When it is no longer feasible, maybe it is the army's turn to turn against them or send them out to pasture, forget about them, issue a ringing declaration about how we are on the side of the people and how we have always loved democracy and then try to restore as much of the traditional regime as possible.

[...]

[E]lite elements are in the West, in Egypt, the old regime, and Iran and elsewhere are not ready for democracy. People are ready for democracy everywhere. That is the problem elite face.

yes, our super-rich elites cannot be happy with current developments...

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I swear to God, the U.S. and the E.U. are fucking clueless about Egypt

but, in the process of being clueless, nevertheless reveal their true dark intentions...

West Backs Gradual Egyptian Transition

The United States and leading European nations on Saturday threw their weight behind Egypt’s vice president, Omar Suleiman, backing his attempt to defuse a popular uprising without immediately removing President Hosni Mubarak from power.

American officials said Mr. Suleiman had promised them an “orderly transition” that would include constitutional reform and outreach to opposition groups.

c'mon... let's get really real here... super-rich elites are behind their political and governmental puppets in most of the world but never more so than in the eu and the u.s. and have zero interest in seeing the status quo change... so, how to respond to egypt...? back an incremental, phased "transition" approach headed by mubarak's intelligence chief, the very one who was the lead in arranging extraordinary renditions with the cia and who, reportedly, enjoys an occasional hands-on torture session himself (see: The Torture Career of Egypt's New Vice President: Omar Suleiman and the Rendition to Torture Program)... supporting a transition government under suleiman is going to lead to true democracy in egypt how...?

and then we have dick - darth vader - cheney...

Cheney calls Mubarak a good friend, US ally

Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Saturday called Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak a good friend and U.S. ally, and he urged the Obama administration to move cautiously as turmoil continued to shake that nation's government.

[...]

"There is a reason why a lot of diplomacy is conducted in secret. There are good reasons for there to be confidentiality in some of those communications. And I think President Mubarak needs to be treated as he deserved over the years, because he has been a good friend," Cheney said at an event commemorating the centennial of President Ronald Reagan's birth.

that's right dick-wad... just reconfirm what we all know... the u.s. has absolutely no reservations about propping up the vilest regimes in the world as long as they toe the u.s. line... and if there's any doubt about the "propping up" part, it was reported the other day that slimeball mubarak has as much as 70 BILLION DOLLARS squirreled away in u.s., uk and swiss banks... now, just where exactly did all that money come from, huh...?

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Pathetic irony

read this and weep...

A 20-year-old Romanian looking for work hid in the wheel well of a jet in Vienna and survived a 90-minute flight to London, police said Wednesday.

The man told British authorities that he crawled "under the wire" of the Vienna airport's perimeter fence and climbed into the undercarriage of a private Boeing 747 parked near a construction site for a new terminal, Schwechat police chief Leo Lauber said.

Lauber said the jet belonged to a high-ranking sheik from the United Arab Emirates and took off from the Austrian capital Sunday night without any passengers on board.

[...]

Britain has restrictions on the number of Romanians working in the U.K., even though both nations are in the European Union.

think about it... a poor romanian, a guy who's just looking for a job, a romanian the uk won't let in even though both countries are eu nations, stows away in a 747, fercryinoutloud, an unimaginably expensive flying machine, owned by a obscenely rich uae sheik, that then flies to the uk WITHOUT passengers... how sad is that...? at least he survived...

it reminds me when i was working at dulles airport in d.c., an arab sheik's unmarked A-340 would regularly show up at the private aviation terminal... i knew when it was getting ready to leave when i would see all sorts of the sheik's recent purchases being loaded into the cargo bay...

there's evidently no limit to the humiliations the super-rich elites can inflict on the masses...

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The EU, Germany and Bulgaria show how diplomacy is done

from spiegel...


The accused -- five Bulgarian nurses
and a Palestinian doctor -- appear
in the dock of a Tripoli court.

The legal drama over five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor -- earlier condemned to death in Libya for supposedly infecting hundreds of children with AIDS -- could be nearing its end. After months of tough negotiations, a diplomatic offensive by the German government and the EU has led to a breakthrough.

[...]

Not only has a crisis task force in Bulgaria been working for the nurses' freedom, but so too have high-ranking negotiators from the European Union and Germany. And the deal that could soon lead to the release of the Bulgarians is a textbook example of effective European diplomacy.

something bush should read and learn from, but of course he won't, or, more likely, can't...

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Say g'nite, Wolfie

c'mon, george... step up to the microphone and express your confidence...

[T]he European Parliament today expressed its opinion on the Wolfowitz scandal. As part of a resolution on transatlantic relations, the following text was adopted by roll call vote with 332 votes in favour and 251 against:

"Calls on the EU Presidency and US government to signal to the President of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, that his withdrawal from the post would be a welcome step towards preventing the Bank's anti-corruption policy from being undermined..."

(thanks to think progress...)

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A helpful summary of current wingnut thinking

honestly, i don't know how this crap keeps ending up in my inbox, but, nonetheless, i'm finding it to be instructive reading... it's from move america forward... no link... you'll have to go dig it out on your own...

The past few days have been very instructive in realizing the stakes in the war on terrorism. Sometimes people in this country try to tell us that there really isn't a war going on - it's just lies by our Commander in Chief, or an intrusive American foreign policy butting our noses where it doesn't belong.

However, we know better. We know for example that the Iranians were able to take 15 British sailors hostage and then the Iranians taunted the world not to put too much pressure on them, or else we could all guess the consequences. The Iranians meanwhile terrorized the British hostages, making them believe they were going to be executed and telling them that if they would only lie and say they were in Iranian waters, they could go home.

In response the British government told the American Navy to stand down in our naval exercises in the region (that were pre-planned and in response to Iran's development of nuclear weapons). A top Iranian terror operative was released in Iraq in a move that the British government insists was not a quid-pro-quo but which many analysts view as exactly that.

The UN did not punish Iran. The European Union did nothing to show Iran that they would face consequences for their actions.

And in this country, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi along with pro-Palestinian Congressman Darrell Issa (a Republican who has been accused of supporting Yasser Arafat and terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah) were in Syria, appeasing the state sponsor of Islamic terrorism.

This has not been a good week for the free nations of the West. Radical, pro-Islamic terrorist factions managed to win on a variety of fronts by showing strength and intimidating the British government and the likes of Nancy Pelosi to bow down to them in submission.

Ronald Reagan once fought against the Communist appeasers in the U.S. by saying that true "peace" could only be found through strength - PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH.

it's fascinating to me how, in a few short paragraphs, literally EVERYONE - Iran, Islam, Britain, Syria, Hezbollah, Palestine, the U.N., the EU, Nancy Pelosi, and Republican Darrell Issa - is characterized as either the enemy or as an enemy appeaser... what a marvelous worldview...

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