American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture
Al Jazeera is carrying a livefeed which you can watch here (h/t Ben at Ace’s).
Stratfor has ongoing updates on The Egypt Unrest. The latest is Mubarak calls in the army
Pressure from the military likely influenced Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s decision to ask the army to take control of security alongside Egyptian police.
And,
Frst Tunisia, then Egypt, then Yemen, now the protests have reached Jordan
Michelle Obama’s Mirror’s Blog reports,
By all accounts this was the best Eggroll ever. Unprecedented, actually. For one reason, this is the first year we sent the kiddies home with wooden eggs in place of candy filled plastic eggs from China.
The White House couldn’t give the kids candy, so trees had to die. Mexican trees, that is.
Foreign Ownership of U.S. Debt Continues to Grow. Take a look at the graph (click for larger):
Women go topless in protest, then get angry when men ogle
For old-school GOP, a hard lesson on fiscal issues
The message for the GOP establishment is clear — be careful what you wish for. For too long, it turned up its nose at the grassroots activism of social conservatives and said they should focus on fiscal issues that unite the party. Now, the grassroots activism of fiscal conservatives is driving the debate in races across the country. This popular movement for limited government and fiscal responsibility might well sweep the Democrats out of power in November — but it might also sweep some establishment Republicans out with them.
Time for the full truth about TARP
And if you weren’t depressed enough already, How America might get a VAT of its own. Why – in addition to having yet more taxes to separate you from your hard-earned money – is this depressing? Because, as a friend and I were discussing yesterday,
wait until the folks at the IRS get their hands on the regulations for the application of the new tax
Irwin Seltzer explains the world of Small Bras and the Value-Added Tax
Taxing consumption sounds easy. Wait until government starts to carve out the political exceptions.
WORLD:
Jordanian King (Son of Black September) Abdullah Piles on Israel, while Phyllis checks out what Biden had to say.
Colombians Detained For Spying On Venezuela’s Electricity Grid, via Vlad
The London Times headline: King Abdullah of Jordan’s ultimatum: peace now or it’s war next year
America is putting the final touches to a hugely ambitious peace plan for the Middle East, aimed at ending more than 60 years of conflict between Israel and the Arabs, according to Jordan’s King Abdullah, who is helping to bring the parties together.
The Obama Administration is pushing for a comprehensive peace agreement that would include settling Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians and its territorial disputes with Syria and Lebanon, King Abdullah II told The Times. Failure to reach agreement at this critical juncture would draw the world into a new Middle East war next year. “If we delay our peace negotiations, then there is going to be another conflict between Arabs or Muslims and Israel in the next 12-18 months,” the King said.
Long-time readers of this blog may recall Abdullah was essentially saying the same thing at Princeton U in February 2008, when he specifically asked for a homeland for the Palestinians. Back in February 2008 he was saying
“2008 is a critical year for the solution of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict,”
and that
“we need the USA completely involved to ensure a final agreement by end of 2008.”
I guess he moved up his schedule.
One thing about his request for a Palestinian homeland: As Israel Matzav points out,
I want to make sure you understand the total lack of logic here. Jordan may be the last party with an interest in a ‘Palestinian state’ because the royal family fears that it would lead their own 70% ‘Palestinian’ population to revolt. The ‘Palestinians’ ultimate ambition is to take over the entire original ‘Palestine mandate,’ which includes both Israel and Jordan. Is Abdullah saying this for show?
And the Iranians care not a whit whether or not there is a ‘Palestinian’ state. They want to destroy Israel regardless.
In the meantime, this “process” is following the usual schedule, pressuring Israel to make even more concessions.
This is the same mulberry bush the Arabs have been dancing around for several decades now. Land for peace–Israel gives up land and the Arabs promise, but do not deliver, peace. And they retain the right to hold out for Jerusalem and the “right of return,” which is to say, the end of Israel. One of King Abdullah’s observations is all too true: Netanyahu does indeed have a lot on his shoulders as he heads for Washington.
More at Yid with lid.
Dan Riehl has the video:
The Beeb’s Middle East correspondent says,
It [the interview] will confuse some in the Middle East even further – in particular, perhaps, persuading Iran’s most senior leaders that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not perhaps the best man to counter the Obama appeal.
No More Miser Nice Blog points out that
George W. Bush gave interviews to Al-Arabiya in May 2004, January 2005, October 2005, October 2007, January 2008, and May 2008 — six interviews, which, as far as I can tell, is six more than Bush gave as president to MSNBC.
Bush was also interviewed on Al-Hurra in May 2004 (the media blitz at that moment was Abu Ghraib damage control) and January 2008.
All that said, it’ll be interesting to see what Obama means by
“…If America is ready to initiate a new partnership [with the Muslim world] based on mutual respect and mutual interest, then I think that we can make significant progress.”
Right now George J. Mitchell, his special envoy for Middle East peace,
on the road until Feb. 3, according to the State Department. He will travel to Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, France and England. He also hopes to go to Istanbul, the site of talks between Israel and Syria.
If, as prior Middle East “peace” missions have attempted, Mitchell is intent in negotiating peace by having Israel make more and more concessions, we all know how that’s going to turn out.
Update
Meanwhile, Al-Hopiyah, Al Changiyah!
King Abdullah II, the reigning monarch of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan just concluded a fifteen-minute speech at Princeton University, at the invitation of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. The speech started a few minutes after twelve noon and had been announced as,
King Abdullah will address the future of Arab-American relations in the context of the Middle East’s current challenges, particularly how to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which Jordan views as the most significant issue facing the region.
The main theme was, “Time is running out”, a phrase he repeated several times during this brief speech.
King Abdullah stated that 2008 is a critical year for the solution of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, and that “we need the USA completely involved to ensure a final agreement by end of 2008.”
He wants America’s strong authority to act switfly, as the only time there has been peace in the Middle East has been when America took a strong leadership role: “If we fail to resolve the core problem of the region it’ll become significantly harder for the countries of the region to work with America, and [those countries] will move further away from common principles of mutual respect and partnership.”
He specifically asked for a homeland for the Palestinians, and believes that it’ll bring security and new acceptance for Israel in region, and create a new partnership berween USA and the Arab/Muslin people.
He did take three questions:
Q. Why now?
KA: Because for the 1st time moderates have gained some ground in ME, and there is a process in place now. If that process falls apart, radicals may gain ground.
Q: Will there be greater Joradnian involvement?
KA: Whatever Israel and Jordan talk, they won’t be able to solve status issues by themselves: that’s when international community and the US will need to help with the obstacles.
There will be panArab involvement – the future of Israel is bigger than a 2 state solution. We’re offering complete acceptance of Israel in the whole region up to and including Indonesia, that third of the world that still has no acceptance of Israel.
Q. How do you envision this Palestinian solution with Hamas in control?
Most Israelis & Pales want it. The future of the region are the 70% of the people who are under age 35 & want a future. The difficulty is the politicians who mess it up. It’s going to be the Israeli & Palestinian people saying we want peace.
Reported by Fausta Wertz directly from Princeton NJ. Copyright 2008
UPDATE, Saturday March 1
King of Jordan: U.S. must step up in Middle East
