October 9, 2015

"As Arab Spring demonstrations overthrow governments across the Middle East, a group of children in Daraa, southern Syria, are arrested and allegedly tortured for scrawling graffiti on a school reading 'the people want to topple the regime.'"

The first frame — "It all starts with graffiti" — from "Syria's war: Everything you need to know about how we got here."

MEANWHILE: "A coalition of labor unions, businesses, lawyers and human rights activists won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday “for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011....”
Among the disappointments of what has become known as the Arab Spring — collapsed states in Libya, Syria and Yemen; the return of rule by a military strongman in Egypt; and the rise of the Islamic State in the sectarian caldron of Syria and Iraq — the relative success of Tunisia’s transition to democracy has been a wisp of hope.

35 comments:

The Bergall said...

A lot more complicated than one thinks....

BarrySanders20 said...

Don't worry. Obama is a genius and is just playing multi-dimensional chess, like Spock.

He has a plan to make it all better.

Fret not.

Achilles said...

Obama will find a way to turn Tunisia into a shithole. Doing nothing will accomplish that goal in time.

But they want the world to be a shithole. It will be tough for them to blame it on us. But we can count on them for trying.

Writ Small said...

What does Tunisia not have that the other countries do?

Hint: It's a three letter word.

mikee said...

Cat? Dog? Bat? I'm pretty sure Tunisia has most of the three letter words I'm thinking of, so please don't keep me waiting.

As for Tunisia, one Muslim shot up a hotel and brought the tourist economy of the country to zero for quite some time. Any concerted effort there at destabilization will work just fine.

Drago said...

Writ Small: "What does Tunisia not have that the other countries do?

Hint: It's a three letter word"

My God! No pie?!!

gerry said...

[I]He has a plan to make it all better.[/I]

The erasure marks in Syria where Obama had painted the red line are still visible from space.

Drago said...

mikee: "As for Tunisia, one Muslim shot up a hotel and brought the tourist economy of the country to zero for quite some time. Any concerted effort there at destabilization will work just fine"

So very true. Those tourists won't be coming back for a long time. The 60+ tourists murdered by some of garage mahals islamic heroes have conclusively demonstrated that there is no safe haven anywhere in the "heroic" islamic controlled Middle East.

Not to worry, I'm sure these guys in Tunis were just the Sophomore team and were only looking for a way to make it to the JV team.

Dan Hossley said...

Does anyone believe the "Arab Spring" was an independent spontaneous movement that cropped up in multiple countries at approximately the same time?

Did you ever wonder what happened to the $2.5B the State Department can't account for?

In April 2011, the NYT's reported that US government sponsored NGO's (note the oxymoron) promotiong "pro-democracy movements" were partially responsible for the revolts.

Kinda like what happened in Ukraine, when US backed "pro-democracy" groups overthrew the elected government of Ukraine.

William said...

Is it possible that at least some of the problems in Middle East are due to the populations of the Middle East? Or are all problems in the Middle East due to the blunders of (depending on your politics) Bush, Obama or Netanyahu? Was it all the fault of Sykes-Picot?

rehajm said...

Last time we made a trip to NYC I wanted to see Arab Spring but the wife managed to get tickets to Hamilton!

Paco Wové said...

"It's a three letter word."

Utterly at a loss as to what you are ever-so-darkly hinting at. Ants? Boas? Bogs? Bras? Cups? Ears? Eggs? ...do I need to work my way through the rest of the dictionary?

Paddy O said...

"It's a three letter word."

cia?

Fabi said...

"...three letter word."

Beer?

rehajm said...

"...three letter word."

It's a bit of a trick question but I got it: banana!

Big Mike said...

"Wisp of hope," wasn't that the basis for Obsma's Peace Prize? Not a good precedent.

Achilles said...

Writ Small said...
"What does Tunisia not have that the other countries do?

Hint: It's a three letter word."

What does your head not have that most other heads have?

Hint: It's a 5 letter word.

You have to be a complete douche to have that paradigm.

Nichevo said...

I assume he means oil.

Dan, other than the reverse Midas touch that makes everything they touch wither and die, do you have a beef with trying to keep Ukraine out of the Soviet, er, Russian orbit? That would be the one non-asinine move they made.

n.n said...

A wisp of hope. Desperate.

Drago said...

Writ Small: "What does Tunisia not have that the other countries do?"

Joe Biden: "Jobs"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBHPvfAt5ow

But remember, Biden, like all dems, is a genius.

Achilles said...

Nichevo said...
"I assume he means oil.

Dan, other than the reverse Midas touch that makes everything they touch wither and die, do you have a beef with trying to keep Ukraine out of the Soviet, er, Russian orbit? That would be the one non-asinine move they made."

At least they tried! Still failed miserably but at least they tried.

Achilles said...

Drago said...
Writ Small: "What does Tunisia not have that the other countries do?"

Joe Biden: "Jobs"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBHPvfAt5ow

"But remember, Biden, like all dems, is a genius."

Excellent post combining multiple streams.

Just wait until they get to the reason why his last campaign collapsed. Can't wait for Hillary to accuse him of copying her speeches.

David said...

They would be better off not awarding the Peace Prize than to barrel scrape. But then they could not have all the speeches and parties.

William said...

Mubarak and the Shah were dictatorships supported by the USA. Compared to the other dictators in that region they left power with comparatively little bloodshed. The left complains of our malign influence but the stubborn fact Is that our dictators are far less gory than the other dictators. The west deserves a Nobel Prize for sponsoring a government in Tunisia that didn't engage in genocide to retain power.

Michael K said...

Soon Obama will read about ISIS and the disasters in the middle east in the newspaper and take action.

I would estimate that he will do it right after he solves the debt problem.

Fernandinande said...

Foreign travel advice Tunisia

"The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advise against all travel to:
- the Chaambi Mountain National Park area
- ...other places...
The FCO advise against all but essential travel to the rest of Tunisia."


Outbreak of microagressions...

cubanbob said...

William said...
Mubarak and the Shah were dictatorships supported by the USA. Compared to the other dictators in that region they left power with comparatively little bloodshed. The left complains of our malign influence but the stubborn fact Is that our dictators are far less gory than the other dictators. The west deserves a Nobel Prize for sponsoring a government in Tunisia that didn't engage in genocide to retain power.

10/9/15, 2:31 PM"

Another minor detail is that both were kicked out in part by the lack of US support which happened to occur when Democrats were in charge.

Mark said...

Tunisia, home of ancient Carthage, is where Perpetua and Felicity were martyred after they obstinately persisted in proclaiming they were Christian.

Dan Hossley said...

Achilles...apparently it has been American foreign policy to depose virtually every regime in the Middle East and North Africa through the use of US backed "pro-democracy" movements. In Egypt, it resulted in the Muslim Brotherhood taking over, trashing their constitution and turning it into a virtual dictatorship of the mullahs...In Syria, well, we know how that is turning out. In Yemen, Libya, etc. it resulted in the creation of non governed territories. Sort of the Wild West for terrorists.

hmmm.... is this really a good idea? I don't seem to remember a debate in the Senate about toppling regimes we don't like.

Michael K said...

"both were kicked out in part by the lack of US support which happened to occur when Democrats were in charge."

Bingo ! again. Democrats are dangerous to good government, ever since Wilson.

Michael K said...

Before Wilson was Buchanan, a model for Obama and Hilary !

Unknown said...

Dem?

Achilles said...

Dan Hossley said...
"Achilles...apparently it has been American foreign policy to depose virtually every regime in the Middle East and North Africa through the use of US backed "pro-democracy" movements. In Egypt, it resulted in the Muslim Brotherhood taking over, trashing their constitution and turning it into a virtual dictatorship of the mullahs...In Syria, well, we know how that is turning out. In Yemen, Libya, etc. it resulted in the creation of non governed territories. Sort of the Wild West for terrorists.

hmmm.... is this really a good idea? I don't seem to remember a debate in the Senate about toppling regimes we don't like."

What progressives don't understand is the United States is the best country in the world.

Let that sink in. The Best. Country. in. the. World.

It is the best place to live. When there are disasters we do more than any other country to help. Actually help. Not having conferences and fundraisers and filling up the 5 star hotels like the UN and Europe. And when it comes to making the world a better place almost every decent place to live in the world that enjoys a modicum of freedom was conquered by the US Army. The few exceptions were British colonies by and large.

When we were in Iraq the bad guys were running or dead. People were voting. It was safer than Chicago. Was it Japan? No. But we were a few decades away. The Japanese were just as suicidally stubborn as the Muslims are now. Countries in the region were moving that direction. Remember there was a mostly peaceful revolution in Iran in 2009. If Bush was still president the Mullahs would have fallen.

The alternative to the US being involved and actively pushing for good is ISIS. North Korea. The Mullahs in Iran. If you want to make the argument we shouldn't be involved fine but take some responsibility for the result. When the US doesn't fight the result is sex slavery and genocide. That is on the people who pulled us out.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

A participation medal.

n.n said...

To be fair, Democrats have good ideas of how to preserve a green and stable environment where they live, for themselves, and incidentally unplanned others.