Friday, December 30, 2011

More evidence that Egypt will be Somoza, and not Qutb?


DC is STILL assuming democracy=Jefferson, and not that mob vote=Quran.
If this admin believes that EVENTUALLY, say in 25-50 years this will result in Egypt=France, let them say so and describe their expectations and plans to help this along. Otherwise, we have no business doing ANYTHING there, because no outcome CONCEIVABLE can benefit the USA, including a military dictatorship resembling something out of Central America in the 50’s with Islamist alarm substituting for communist alarm.

Egypt raids foreign organizations’ offices in crackdown

Three U.S. groups are among those raided. Activists say the army is using the ruse of foreign intervention to stoke nationalism and deflect criticism of abuses.

Egyptian security forces on Thursday raided the offices of 17 nongovernmental organizations, including three U.S.-based agencies, as part of a crackdown on foreign assistance that has drawn criticism from the West and threatened human rights groups and pro-democracy movements.

The move appeared to be part of a strategy to intimidate international organizations. The ruling military council has repeatedly blamed “foreign hands” for exploiting Egypt’spolitical and economic turmoil. But activists said the army was using the ruse of foreign intervention to stoke nationalism and deflect criticism of abuses.
FT:

Egypt police raid civil rights groups


Egyptian police stormed the offices of at least six western and local democracy and human rights groups that have called for greater transparency and accountability, seizing computers and files and confining some staff inside premises.
Interior ministry forces and judiciary officials under the command of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) conducted simultaneous raids yesterday on the National Democratic Institute, International Republican Institute and Freedom House – both American-based non-profit groups – and numerous Egyptian civil society groups that expose torture, corruption and abuses of power.
“The military police accompanied with one member of the general prosecutor’s office suddenly attacked our office,” said Helmy Rawy, head of the Budgetary and Human Rights Observatory, an organisation that critically assesses Egypt’s military expenditures.
“They took all the documents and all the computers. It’s a new campaign against freedom from the Scaf, against civil society in Egypt. They don’t want anyone to raise their voice for freedom.”
WSJ:

Egyptian Raids on U.S. Groups Draw Ire

CAIRO—Egyptian security forces seized computers, printers and documents from offices of at least 17 nongovernmental organizations Thursday, including three American groups, further straining the fraying ties between Egypt’s interim military leadership and its allies in Washington.
The U.S. said it was “deeply concerned” about the raids. It raised the specter of clamping down on funding to Egypt’s powerful military, one of Washington’s closest military allies in the Middle East.Special-forces units of the Egyptian military, accompanied by state prosecutors and uniformed and plainclothes police officers, searched the offices of human-rights and pro-democracy groups in Cairo and other Egyptian cities. Among the offices raided were those of Washington-based Freedom House, National Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute. Security officers seized papers and hardware, forbidding the NGOs’ employees from leaving or making phone calls.

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