“Arab League leader says nations shouldn't fear revolts
By Leila Fadel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
“CAIRO - As Arab League ambassadors convened for an emergency meeting Monday, the organization's secretary general said he had told the group that "we should not be afraid or concerned'' about revolts now sweeping the region. “
It was in some ways a surprising message from the leader of a 22-nation group that embodies the existing order. The Arab League meeting at the organization's headquarters was the first since the toppling of leaders in Tunisia and Egypt, two important member states.
But the leader, Amr Moussa, a former Egyptian foreign minister, is making plain that he no longer sees his role as being to defend the status quo.
"I conveyed the message that the winds of change are sweeping our societies," Moussa said in an interview Monday. He urged a "feeling of optimism that this is the future,'' and said that in day's session the Arab League ambassadors had "saluted'' and "greeted" the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia.
Moussa is steping down from his position as early as next month. He said in the interview that there was a "good possibility'' that he would seek to become Egypt's next president, once constitutional changes are put in place to allow for open elections.
"Let us see how a private citizen like me can use the constitution and move on to be a candidate or to be an active private citizen,'' he said. A "new Egypt needs new people,'' he said, "but with a touch of experienced people.''
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/14/AR2011021406948.html
Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Egypt's military launched a plan to swiftly enact constitutional reforms, an important step to get the embattled Arab nation back in working order, political and military figures said Tuesday.
The military has formed "an apolitical and independent constitutional committee" to propose constitutional reforms within 10 days, according to Wael Ghonim, the activist who spearheaded the toppling of former President Hosni Mubarak's regime.
After that plan is forged, a referendum would be held on the measures within two months, Ghonim said in a statement on the social media website Facebook.
http://us.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/02/15/egypt.revolution/index.html?hpt=T2
More clashes in Bahrain and Yemen; calls in Iran to punish opposition leaders
TEHRAN - Iranian hard-liners called Tuesday for the arrest or execution of opposition leaders involved in Monday's street protests, as gatherings of Egypt-inspired demonstrators in Bahrain and Yemen again resulted in bloodshed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/14/AR2011021405301.html?hpid=artslot
And that’s not all, folks!
Chip Bok, predicts continued upheaval as cell phones and social networking put people into the streets in demand of some sort of reform all though the Middle East.
Cassi Creek:
Where do the Arab states & Iran go now?
Egypt is under martial law until such time as a new government can be elected and a new Constitution drafted and approved. In pursuit of continued power, the Arab League’s Secretary General tells his colleagues in the League, “"we should not be afraid or concerned'' about revolts now sweeping the region. “
He’s not worried. In the time-honored tradition of Arab politicians and potentates he held on to the old system until he could see its imminent demise, then publically positioned himself to join the new gang that is most likely to become the gang in power. He wants to ‘use the new constitution in order to retain old power or gain new power and position as a private citizen. Smells like corruption from here. That new Constitution is supposed to protect Egypt from people like him.
The Egyptian army has maintained a modicum of calm for now. As the people begin to realize that revolution is more than 18 days of demonstrations, as they learn that every facet of power is up for grabs, as they come to understand that nothing they knew about their country will ever be the same again; the military will be more hard-pressed to maintain civil calm and economic productivity. It’s not Egypt’s government that is at stake, it is Egypt that is to be changed from inside out. How calmly, how explosively, and/or sanely that takes place will determine what becomes of Egypt. The military leaders know this. Most of the citizens will come to know it. How badly they are bruised and scarred will describe what form of government they win or lose.
The other governments in the region are all at risk. The various leaders have all prepared to bail out and some will. The rest of the Arab states will pick up the street hysteria over demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt despite efforts to block outside news feeds from the people. Cell phones are too widely entrenched to be intercepted and removed from the populace. These devices are going to prove more dangerous to Arab rulers than guns are.
Yemen and Iran are most likely to become bloody and violent as the religious fanatics now in power prove that they are willing to defend Islam to the last drops of everyone else’s blood before bailing out, leaving the 2nd tier officials to become martyrs for the cause while the old men in dresses and the civil sycophants who pump the propaganda mills make good their escape to some other hotbed of fundamentalism where living in the 7th century is still considered a good thing unless you happen to be female.
We have no reason and no right to interfere in the fall of Arab states from current tribal-fundamentalist dictatorships into the gaping maw of the 21st century. We have yet to successfully complete our own revolution and it is being attacked by our own Taliban-like power-seekers. We’ve promised aid to Israel if they are attacked and we need to make it clear that we will honor that promise despite the preferences of the current administration or the fundamentalist opposition.
The most common bit of fear-mongering from our GOPer/teavangelists is that if we don’t interfere Sharia law will sweep the Arab states. They already have one or more forms of Sharia in place in many nations. Sharia may well be its own worst enemy. The very people screaming most loudly about worldwide conspiracies to institute Sharia are their selves all too eager to sell out our Constitutional privileges and rights to evangelical Christians who also want to convert everyone to their narrow, fundamentalist faith.
Iran may finally complete the efforts they began in 1979. I’m going to watch for a mass exodus of mullahs and ayatollahs as the people realize that they are already bleeding and have little likelihood of change without more bloodshed. Hang on, it is going to be a bumpy ride!
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