Comments on: Trump’s Egyptian policy bears fruit

By: Big Maq

Big Maq — Sun, 23 Apr 2017 18:22:33 +0000

“I believe that he’s correct to support al-Sisi in general, who is probably as good as it’s going to get in that region and is head and shoulders above so many others.” – Neo

Agree.

We hardly have the resources to “force” the rest of the world to follow our ideals, even if we thought that was a good idea.

We are left with working with the countries and their leaders as they exist.

We can and do exert significant influence to serve our interests, and working with al-Sisi is one such example.

We can deal with them without having to endorse all that they stand for, and perhaps can use our resources to influence them towards our ideals, without banging them over the head for their human rights deficiencies.

Far better than to isolate everyone we disagree with, as we (perhaps rightly) have KJU in North Korea, and leave them all to themselves to “work it out”.

We have too much at stake to adopt isolationism.

Glad trump “changed his mind” on that.

By: Frog

Frog — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 14:44:35 +0000

It has been two years since Neo wrote, “heavy-handed tactics are required to deal with the Brotherhood in Egypt…”

Are those necessary, heavy-handed tactics to be limited to Egypt?
I am convinced similar heavy hands should be applied to Islam throughout the West. We must ban CAIR, Saudi (and others) funding of Islam in the US, and gradually move to declaring Islam a non-religion, or at worst a religion that is incompatible with the Constitution. Otherwise Islam will hoist us on our own petards.

csimon621: I have commented here in the past that a mere 1% commission to Barack for the $160
billion Iran deal would make him a billionaire. I believe Barack deems himself more worthy of wealth than the Clintons, and in one stroke likely surpassed them. Heh.
Kerry, a patent money-grubber, got less but hey! $500 mill is OK too.

By: Geoffrey Britain

Geoffrey Britain — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 02:18:08 +0000

csimon621,

It never occured to me… but it should have. Of course any kickback will be handled in such a way that nothing can be done about it. Perhaps a $5 Million dollar fee per speech? With all expenses paid and accomodations suitable for the most important man… ever.

By: csimon621

csimon621 — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 00:53:34 +0000

Th utter irony of Obama’s actions and words seems to be lost. Perhaps hypocrisy is more apt? Obama maintained that all foreign diplomacy problems could and should be resolved by talking nicely to other leaders (especially if he was one doing talking).
Then he barred Al Sisi from White House after coup – never mind the enormous unrest after Egyptian election because at least half of Egyptians didn’t want Muslim Brotherhood taking over their country (w/ good reason in my opinion but that’s hardly relevant) Needless to say he had not much reaction when member of Muslim Brotherhood was elected.
Now I’m not an advocate of coups– military or otherwise (tho’ full disclosure: I was none to happy with the idea of Muslim Brotherhood running a Middle Eastern country as large as Egypt and with such close proximity to Israel).
But after characterizing Al-Sisi as an evil despot and persona non grata to US, Obama & John Kerry spent most of his second term doing everything but handsprings & summersaults to get an accord with the Iranians — those honeys of state leaders. Secret meetings, secret agreements, and God Forbid Americans should learn any details, especially his forking over $2.5 billion literally in cash until it was done deal.
(By the way, anyone else ever wonder if a little chunk of that $2.5 billion is waiting somewhere in Swiss bank a/c for Obama? Or maybe a huge overpayment for a speech he’ll surely be invited to deliver?

By: Brian Swisher

Brian Swisher — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 23:22:30 +0000

I’ll just say that it’s refreshing that the Trump administration brought home someone who’s worth bringing home.

By: parker

parker — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 21:39:40 +0000

GB@3:28,

Yes, SISI is as ‘good’ as it gets right now. And like you, I am skeptical islam can ever be reformed and learn to play well with others. Individual muslims can and do play well with others, but for islam as an institution to change in any meaningful way looks as close to impossible as it as it gets.

By: Geoffrey Britain

Geoffrey Britain — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 19:28:22 +0000

I agree that Sisi is the best we can expect but let’s not lose sight of the fact that if sincere, he’s in denial as to Islam’s inherent nature.

Also, why has Sisi conducted harsh crackdowns on aid groups? That would seem to be counter-productive. Unless these aid groups are an Egyptian version of the groups that aid the Palestinians, in which case they are covertly aiding the Muslim Brotherhood…

In the same vein if slightly off topic, why is ISIS attacking the French now? How is helping to elect Le Pen, the only candidate willing to actually fight them… to their advantage?

Or, are they actually that stupid?

“It calls into question a very fundamental doctrine of Islam as enunciated by the mullahs over many hundreds of years.” Paul in Boston

The Imams and Mullahs are NOT inventing that ‘interpretation’. Both the Qur’an and Muhammad’s sayings strongly emphasize that very fundamental doctrine of Islam. And, not to quibble but that would be 1400 years. Sisi is straying very close to blasphemy.

Give the Islamic world another 800 years and it won’t be enough. The English speaking world had a Greek/Roman/Judeo/Christian background from which the enlightenment could be birthed. None of that exists for the Islamic world and Islam’s tenets are antithetical to any such enlightenment emerging.

Liz,

Ignoring Erdogan’s founding of a Sunni version of Iran’s theocracy in order to enlist his aid in “holding Assad accountable” and fighting ISIS is IMO problematic at best. Tacit support for a dictator, as distasteful as that is, is one thing but Erdogan’s ambitions are far more troublesome than just another ‘strong man’. Erdogan disagrees with ISIS as to tactics but shares the same goals.

By: Liz

Liz — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 17:32:07 +0000

The press and others have criticized Trump for calling Erdogan after their election. But, that was a diplomatic decision and the read out of the call mentions other topics in the call.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/04/17/readout-president-donald-j-trumps-call-president-recep-tayyip-erdogan

Trump will be meeting with Erdogan at the WH May 16th as well as Abbas of Palestine on May 3rd. It’s good that Trump is meeting these leaders – better now in a tentative “friendship” than on the battle field.

An aside on the Russian issue – Obama laughed at Romney concerning Russia. Clinton gave them a reset button. Then there was that open mike comment of being more flexible after the elections. So, the impression was that Russia was good, the Cold War was over, and let’s work with them. So why wouldn’t businesses try to get something going in Russia.

Now, the Ds want to declare that any contact with a Russian is proof that you are a treasonous spy.

By: n.n

n.n — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 17:24:47 +0000

Gaddafi was another moderate, national Muslim leader who had long ago reformed as a neighbor and servant of his people.

By: Paul in Boston

Paul in Boston — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 15:50:53 +0000

Al-Sisi is a very brave man for saying in his 1/1/15 speech “Is it possible that 1.6 billion people (Muslims worldwide) should want to kill the rest of the world’s population–that is, 7 billion people–so that they themselves may live?” he asked. “Impossible.”. It calls into question a very fundamental doctrine of Islam as enunciated by the mullahs over many hndreds of years.

The Muslim Brotherhood, for all intents and purposes, was the Arab wing of the Nazi party in the 1930s and 40s. Their great leader, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem was wanted as a war criminal but managed to escape to Egypt after WWII. He was unanimously elected head of the MB on his return. They haven’t changed a bit since then.

Egypt, which has been governed by Pharaohs, kings, and dictators for the last 5000 years is not going to become a Western style democracy anytime soon because the culture needed to support one just doesn’t exist. Maybe 100 years from now. Ditto for the rest of the Islamic world. It’s taken the English speaking people 800 years of cultural development to achive its current level of democratic government, so don’t hold your breath.