#Counter-revolution in Arabia

 
Looks like we are nearly there.  1848 in Europe? (look it up).  A wave of insurrections not connected except for a general desire for greater opportunity, Is this it?  Clinton as Metternich?  That would seem strange.  What price loyalty? 

Saudi troops in Bahrein, Salih resolute in Sanaa.  Qathafi advancing in Libya.

This sounds to me as though the "dog whistles' have sounded in Washington.  Stability over all!!  Whose whistles are these?

- Oil companies

- Israel

- The Arab despots.

- State Department gutlessness.

- US Armed forces unwillingness to do more (read  moral illiteracy)-

- US Civilian unwillingness to do more (read "I've been bull shitted too often")

You are on your own in Arabia.  pl

Comments

[Jose]

Sir, well state, but if I may add chaos allows us to blame Iran and increase our influence.

IMHO, we are going to be on the wrong side of history on this one, but we are lead by a Fool and a Shillaber.

[TamBram]

Col.,
Insightful analysis--I agree on all points. There are yet even more factors that point towards counter-revolution (although they are minor)--consider the Chinese--they have no interest in upsetting the status quo in MENA.

The Arabs have indeed become such a weak civilization that they are the mere playthings of others. . . .

[WP]

Will anyone in Washington take any action if Benghazi becomes Hama II.?

[walrus]

Col. Lang is right 1848 again.

The Narcissist in Chief is stuck in "cannot compute" mode in regard to the Middle East. There is no opportunity for him to become a hero, there is just uncertainty and unpleasantness. He wouldn't want to be seen associating with rebels anyway, He plays the big end of town; Kings, Presidents, world leaders. He does not identify and empathise with the struggles of "Little People". The touching vignettes in his speeches: "You see Dorothy over there in her crutches, well, thanks to this bill I'm signing, now she can afford a wheelchair", are camouflage for a complete lack of care or consideration.

The signals have been given. The Obama Administration is morally bankrupt because its leader is. There is at least one precedent for not re-electing one of these creatures. We booted Prime Minister Kevin Rudd about Eighteen months after his lansdslide election win when it became apparent that his private persona was poisonous to his colleagues and nothing lie his manicured public self. Co incidently, Rudd also had a traumatic child hood memories of being uprooted.

By the way, why do you think Obama has a pathological hatred of Whistle blowers and leakers as evidenced by his treatment of Assange, Manning and others? Because the nightmare of narcissists, given that their affliction is caused by low self esteem at their core. is to be found out, and exposed as the naked, scared, quivering child that they are in their inner self. Obama takes it personally.

[Marcus]

I am not going to defend this President. I just wish there were more Presidential critics 8 years ago, similar to the Colonel.

If more people spoke out about the foolish "spreadin' freedom" policy via occupation, 8 years ago, we would have more resources, and might have more willingness by all parties to aid the grass-roots rebellions going on now.

Morale is a valuable commodity and the last Administration used it up.

[Medicine Man]

I'm coming to enjoy walrus' psych-analysis of President Obama. I don't buy it, mind you, but do enjoy it. Obama deserves the scorn.

Obama was elected on a platform of "Change" and has proved again-and-again to be a champion of the status quo no matter how dolorous. The people who elected him interpreted "Change" as a return to the salad days, an American revival; they will be rewarded with an accelerated decline. Obama will be regarded as the president who presided over it, contra his rhetoric, a charge that sadly carries little real penalty.

Next to these likelihoods, dime store analysis of Obama's personality seems futile.

[arbogast]

In the words of Descartes, oui et non.

It will turn out that "we" are on our own more than Arabia.

Our benevolent exporters of finished goods in the East have met their Waterloo, and our benevolent exporters of oil in the Middle East have met their's.

A perfect storm.

All that's missing is a heavily armed, uneducated population ready to bring a madman to power.

Not.

[William R. Cumming]

It was always instructive to me that "change" was never defined in 2008.

Well the Maghreb will be changed and defined by MQ's victory.

Japan in its POST-WWII history will be changed and defined by Mother Nature, hazazards of modern technology from the events of March 2011.Ah those IDES of March. Little did Brutus know except that change was afoot.

[jonst]

The most relevant (not the only relevant one of course)question is if, and when, an 1848 moment might come to the US. And, if so, from which side of the Right Wing? (I mean we know for SURE it ain't coming from anything even remotely resembling a left wing, to the very limited there is such a thing as a "left wing" anymore)

So, do we get the Corporate Wing of the Right? Or do we get the so called 'populist' wing of the Right? That is the main question I have right now because I am convinced what is happening in the US, or, what is not happening in the US, can go on much longer. A few years...sure. Beyond that? All bets are off.

The pie is shirking. America has not lived like that in a long time. Last time? 1929-1941. And change came.

[Yusuf Al-Misry]

GB

[confusedponderer]

Recommendend reading for those interested in learning something about das Wesen of 1848 would be Deutschland, ein Wintermärchen by Heinrich Heine.

Here's the respective Wiki entry.

[steve]

WRC--Change in 2008 was defined in the electoral imagination as "not-Bush". Period.

As Bush had hit rock bottom in many ways, that "change" was considered something positive.

It's unfortunate that Obama lacked the will, the force of character, and probably the desire, to pull it off.

And the republicans are in such disarray with unappealing candidates that it's highly likely that we will have Obama 2.

Obama, what a waste of opportunity.

[securecare]

Tight spot.

Puppets to the left of us, puppets to the right of us and we're struck in the middle with fools.

[Nancy K]

I voted for Obama and will vote for him again as I feel any Republican that will run is far worse. As for change, there has been very little. I fear that any Republican would have us in another extended war, as if the two were are in wasn't enough. Yes they hate Iran and Libya and would love to send our troops and our money there, but someone that love of democracy doesn't extend to the Saudi's. Republican and Democrats for that matter don't seem to mind that over half of that population is in total subjection and have no rights as human beings.
Col Lang, I agree with your statement that we, US citizens, feel have been bull shitted too long and we arey very tired of it.
I feel bad that the rebels in Libya are being destroyed it is horrible. but I could not support another Iraq and Afganistan scenerio.

[Patrick Lang]

NancyK

This would have been very easy. pl

[Tyler]

Does a country have karma?

We had a chance to wear the mantle that France chose to don all those years ago, and we squandered it.

I don't know what to to think about my country right now. I wish I felt like the flag I fought for represented something tangible, but I think now only the hopes and dreams of what was remain. Our leadership has let down those who came before us.

Maybe in some future, the Stars and Stripes and all of our legacies will inspire some civilization to make the world better. I hope they know that they know we were not always what we became.

[The beaver]

I may be on the wrong thread but I wanted to refer to an article:
-----------------------
I believe that this article reflects the State Department gutlessness

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2011/03/21/110321taco_talk_remnick#ixzz1Gfvujn7o

For decades, AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League, and other such right-leaning groups have played an outsized role in American politics, pressuring members of Congress and Presidents with their capacity to raise money and swing elections. But Democratic Presidents in particular should recognize that these groups are hardly representative and should be met head on. Obama won seventy-eight per cent of the Jewish vote; he is more likely to lose some of that vote if he reverses his position on, say, abortion than if he tries to organize international opinion on the Israeli-Arab conflict. However, some senior members of the Administration have internalized the political restraints that they believe they are under, and cannot think beyond them. Some, like Dennis Ross, who has served five Presidents, can think only in incremental terms.

[Matthew]

I was watching Morning Joe and Andrew Card said that we could not have "a Shiite government" in Bahrain.

So who is really afraid of democracy? The US, Iran, or both?

[Patrick Lang]

Matthew

This has nothing to do with GD democracy.
such a government would be aligned with Iran, an adversay of the US, and would be a subversive threat to SA. pl

[walrus]

State Department gutlessness? I know for a fact that there were gutsy people in the State Department in the 1990's who were dead against appeasing Israel "for as long as my ass is pointing at the ground" as they put it.

I wonder if there are still any like that today? My guess would be that they have been systematically eliminated.

[Patrick Lang]

walrus

Yes, eliminated. pl