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"Elections are for chumps; get your AK-47"
Obamas Greatest Failureby Peter Beinart Aug 14, 2013 7:10 PM EDT
After last months military coup in Egypt, sober foreign-policy types warned against cutting off U.S. aid. After all, the coup seemed to enjoy substantial public support. President Mohamed Morsi had become increasingly authoritarian. Cutting off aid might destroy what little leverage America had over Egypts new military regime.
Barack Obama
So Obama spoke saccharine words about democracy and inclusion but never called the coup a coup, since under U.S. law that would have required cutting off aid. General Abdel Sisis government made it increasingly clear it had no intention of allowing real democratic electionsincluding Morsis Muslim Brotherhoodever again. Secretary of State John Kerry, in a terrible gaffe, praised the military for restoring democracy. And then, today, all hell broke loose as the military slaughtered Brotherhood supporters by the hundreds and instituted military law.
Theres a reasonable argument that nothing Obama did would have mattered. The Persian Gulf states, which adored the coup, quickly offered Egypt far more money than the U.S. could have withheld. And its not as if the administration remained passive. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns worked hard to bring the Brotherhood and the military together. The White House even sent two of its domestic tormenters, John McCain and Lindsey Graham, to Cairo to try to hatch a deal.
But in hindsight its clear (funny how that works) that the people who wanted blunter action were right: Obamas only real chance of preventing the military from trying to smash its Islamist foes would have been to cut off military aid.
READ MORE: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/14/obama-s-greatest-failure.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet
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I don't personally care for Beinart's writing too much, he often has this smug, entitled approach to the issues of the middle east. Every now and then I think he might be on the verge of "getting it," and this is one such instance.
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"Elections are for chumps; get your AK-47" (Original Post)
Scootaloo
Aug 2013
OP
leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)1. if we got off oil could we just leave the area to it's self?
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)2. probably not. The military industrial complex would never allow peace to
take over. Their half trillion dollar a year money gusher would become a trickle.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)3. I think if we got off oil we would have to leave the area alone.
The US miitary needs all that oil, and we need the military to "protect" the oil, so it's Catch-22. Of course if we downsize or just dispense with most of the military that whole thing becomes much easier, and with our nuclear arsenal and oceans on both sides and friends North and South, that is quite feasible too. The main thing we need the gargantuan military for is this fatuous idea we are going to dominate the world forever or something infantile like that. They wannabe the new Rome, like that was a good thing.