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Saturday, 9 Dec 2006
Israel is the reason why there is no democracy in Egypt. So says the Al Jazeerah news chief, Ahmed el Sheikh in this interview:
Who is responsible for the situation?
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most important reasons
why these crises and problems continue to simmer. The day when Israel
was founded created the basis for our problems. The West should finally
come to understand this. Everything would be much calmer if the
Palestinians were given their rights.Do you mean to say that if Israel did
not exist, there would suddenly be democracy in Egypt, that the schools
in Morocco would be better, that the public clinics in Jordan would
function better?I think so.
Can you please explain to me what the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has to do with these problems?
The Palestinian cause is central for Arab thinking.
In the end, is it a matter of feelings of self-esteem?
Exactly. It's because we always lose to Israel. It gnaws at the people
in the Middle East that such a small country as Israel, with only about
7 million inhabitants, can defeat the Arab nation with its 350 million.
That hurts our collective ego. The Palestinian problem is in the genes
of every Arab. The West's problem is that it does not understand this.
Get it? We don't have democracy or advancment because we have low self-esteem and our egos are hurt because of Israel. It's all the Jooz's fault, not our own. I mean, how can we advance or succeed when our egos are hurt? That's the insight of the man who controlls the news in the region top news-source: We are immature cry-babies! Oh, and the west should treat us as such! Get that, West?
Fuckin A!
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December 9th, 2006 at 7:08 pm
SM-
Take a look:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1164881846888&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
December 9th, 2006 at 7:32 pm
I voted. You’re winning.
And frankly, you deserve it.
Always your friend,
Brian
December 9th, 2006 at 8:11 pm
I want to say something profound but I’m too stunned to even say anything mundane.
This is a big deal because I thought the Middle East had stooped so low that I’m no longer able to be stunned by it. Al Jazeera proves me wrong.
December 9th, 2006 at 8:35 pm
a question to the SM and et al: I read your blog everyday with the human interest that comes from knowing were I live (in the USA) and experiencing freedom. I am jewish, pro Israel and feel a deep sorrow for the Palestinian people.
Can somebody in this blog answer the following , which puzzles me to no end:
The USA gives Egypt aid in the amount of 2billion dollars per year. What for?
and, In a country where there is such press control, why does the Egyptian gov. mantain a “cold peace” with Israel and lets the press and religious authorities spawn so much hatred against Jewish people and Israel?
December 9th, 2006 at 10:03 pm
Sam: ” Exactly. It’s because we always lose to Israel. It gnaws at the people
in the Middle East that such a small country as Israel, with only about
7 million inhabitants, can defeat the Arab nation with its 350 million.
That hurts our collective ego. The Palestinian problem is in the genes
of every Arab. The West’s problem is that it does not understand this.” This is one of the finest Hannukah presents that I could every recieve. THANKS!
December 9th, 2006 at 11:00 pm
give me a break. poor egos. get over it. if israel and the jews disappeared tomorrow arabs would still be fighting with each other. talk about it being in your genes. sometimes i think fighting is in the arab genes.
December 9th, 2006 at 11:05 pm
That sounds oddly like Bernard Lewis’ rhetoric.
You know, the kind Edward Said called Orientalist.
Personally, I don’t like it when people turn social problems into psychological ones, as if groups and societies behave like individuals. They do not. In fact, even fundamental notions like Will and Unity of Apperception become incoherent in group dynamics. Psychology is helpful in understanding sociology, but is not reducible to it.
December 9th, 2006 at 11:37 pm
TM-
Hey…did you guys here the one about the suicide bomber that goes to heaven?
Well he gets there an immediately is set upon by famous Americans like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and they just start kicking his ass, one after another.
So the guy yell out to God, “hey, what happened to the 70 virgins?”
God calls down, “dummy, I said Virginians”.
December 10th, 2006 at 12:49 am
So much for personal accountability.
December 10th, 2006 at 1:16 am
The only thing that’s holding the ME together is Israel. Wait for it. If Israel were to suddenly go away then the sectarian violence that would be unleashed would be breathtaking, no-one else to hate except the other guys . Strangely I think that a reasonable ammount of nationalism would be good for the ME because it would lessen the hold of the mullahs and reduce the sectarian conflicts but they can’t let that happen of course. It’s one of the reasons that I don’t think that removing Saddam Insane was a particularly good idea. Religious hatred is too far imbedded in the psyche of most for there to ever be peace in the ME unless it’s imposed. Democracy ? Oh dream on, cannot and will not happen, not while the theocrats are still alive.
December 10th, 2006 at 2:23 am
What for? and, In a country where there is such press control, why does the Egyptian gov. maintain a “cold peace” with Israel
Perhaps I’m cynical, but I think you’ve answered your own question ;->
December 10th, 2006 at 2:34 am
Scooter,
And the only thing holding Israel together is the Arabs. Were there peace and security, Israeli society would blow apart at the seams.
December 10th, 2006 at 3:01 am
Brooklyn Jon-
That is somewhat overstated
December 10th, 2006 at 3:21 am
Shula- I’m not positive but I think that part of the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt was that the US would continue to give aid to Egypt. I think it was part of the Camp David Peace accords when Sadat was still el jefe of Egypt. So if the US stopped giving aid to Egypt then the treaties would be broken and it would be politically easier for Egypt to attack Israel or at least change their diplomatic position with them. This is not outside the realm of possibilities considering that Israel is not that popular in Egypt.
December 10th, 2006 at 3:23 am
It gnaws at the people in the Middle East that such a small country as Israel, with only about 7 million inhabitants, can defeat the Arab nation with its 350 million.
That should have given them a clue about which god is real, eh? I mean, if allah is real, how can he let all those noble muslim countries lose to one tiny jewish state? Err….never mind. They will never get it until the great earthquake that will be unleashed when they try to destroy israel again. Blame the jews and kill the jews is the mantra of the muslim world.
December 10th, 2006 at 3:28 am
Anonymous #15-
There is no reason to bring God into this. Everyone with more than a few brain cells knows that it is the scientologists that have it right, although Madonna is in a close second with her Kabala, voodoo, thing-a-majig.
December 10th, 2006 at 4:28 am
I don’t mean to be a dick, but it seems to me that a large part if the problem is “Arab Thinking”. We are superior to the jews/west etc… yet we live in shit countries that everyone laughs at. The best we can do is a dictator because pointless sectarian conflicts break out without the idiot big man even though we are superior. The jews are monkeys but we are stuck in the third world, it must be their fault.
December 10th, 2006 at 4:56 am
It’s okay mike you are a dick and we know it. Keep going.
December 10th, 2006 at 5:00 am
In looking through your blog, I was just struck by the similarity of this approach (blaming Arab “self-esteem” problems on Israelis/Jews) to that of the advocates for race-based enrollment, scholarships, etc.
It all comes down, in my opinion, to whining and wanting special treatment instead of accepting that different people are given different (you should excuse the expression) crosses to bear in life.
December 10th, 2006 at 6:02 am
[...] The SandMonkey has the scoop. It was taken from an interview with Al Jazeerah news chief, Ahmed el Sheikh: “Who is responsible for the situation? [...]
December 10th, 2006 at 7:33 am
Just a random point of observation. Aren’t women generally dumb? Do all of you find that when you talk to them about world events they miss the key? That they focus on something more related to hair or eye product rather than international politcs. I have found that my general opinion of women has gone down over the years. Related opinions are welcome. P.S. I might be a mysoginist.
December 10th, 2006 at 7:37 am
I misspelled the earlier word. Misogynist, that is how I hope that word is spelled. Either way I hate women.
December 10th, 2006 at 7:42 am
mark, women speak before they think. It’s a 1 and 2 situation, for sure.
December 10th, 2006 at 7:43 am
is it actually kosher to keep voting? doesn’t feel right, and khalas, you are gonna win anyways.
December 10th, 2006 at 7:53 am
Howie #13,
I don’t think so. Prior to the the current round of fighting between the Israelis and the Palestinians, people on both sides of the secular/religious divide were seriously debating the long-term viability of the state. There is a tremendous amount of hostility among the seculars towards the religious, a tremendous amount of hostility among the religious Zionists towards the religious anti-Zionists and the seculars. And the Mea Shearim crowd pretty much hate everybody.
Long term, there are some major structural problems relating to the power fringe parties can wield in a parliamentary democracy, and to the favors doled out to the religious community. There are also tremendous tensions between the old guard and the new immigrants, Sephardic and Ashkenazi, capitalist and socialist. All of which is on the back burner, because when HA’s and Hamas’s missles fly, they render all the other arguments temporarily moot.
December 10th, 2006 at 7:55 am
khalas! that sounds like the name of a jew! what the Heck! I wish people would drink as much as me so that all this news sounds as important to me as it would to everyone else… Uh, I’m drunk, but I can tell everything from the posts I read. Oh Wagner just came on, Ride of the Valkyries! Go Wagner you Anti-Semite, Go!
December 10th, 2006 at 7:57 am
Mike,
That was very, very funny.
Mark,
You’re right! Women are dumb!
Men, on the other hand, always make sweeping generalizations.
Come to think of it, I suspect my nine year-old daughter knows how to spell misogynist.
December 10th, 2006 at 8:13 am
Whatever, i Know when I am right. BrooklynJon is an obvious anti-semite, holding spelling against me. Everyone should find Johnny Cash! No one can beat that dark rider. Fo’Shizzle Dizzle!
December 10th, 2006 at 9:53 am
The US pays Egypt $2 billion as part of a peace treaty/compensation agreement between Israel and Egypt. To end part of a dispute over control of oil fields, the US agreed to give Egypt money.
December 10th, 2006 at 12:58 pm
#21 Mark..obviously not married, we all learn from our mistakes. saying things like that, having children, getting married…you are so dead !
December 10th, 2006 at 1:53 pm
If I attacked and bombed everything that chisels away at my self esteem, my whole world would be in ruins.
Voting (and spreading the word),
effyourself
December 10th, 2006 at 5:03 pm
SM-
Go back to my joke at #8. Bet you assumed the guy was Arab or Muslim? Not that is never mentioned in the joke.
We have to press our minds about our assumptions about people based on things like nationality, religion race etc. Though it is certianly one tool for assessing somebody…we are more than our accidents of birth.
December 10th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
[...] Holy Mohammed, Jesus, Marry & Joseph, I’m in absolute shock!!! What kind of idiotic retard says this kind of crap??! Him apparently. I swear to the Lord, this man represents all that is wrong with our region and its people. Gee and his network does business with Israel at the same time. I mean seriously how retarded can this guy be? Sandmonkey puts it nicely. Get it? We don’t have democracy or advancment because we have low self-esteem and our egos are hurt because of Israel. It’s all the Jooz’s fault, not our own. I mean, how can we advance or succeed when our egos are hurt? That’s the insight of the man who controlls the news in the region top news-source: We are immature cry-babies! Oh, and the west should treat us as such! Get that, West? [...]
December 10th, 2006 at 6:49 pm
it’s pathetic
December 11th, 2006 at 2:35 am
“The Palestinian problem is in the genes of every Arab. The West’s problem is that it does not understand this.”
The problem is that some Arabs would like the West to think this, and the problem is also that some in the West believe it.
If the Arabs wanted they could take in all the refugees right now. Today. Then they could use the resources they currently squander on undermining or killing each other to prepare for an assault on Israel that had a chance of success.
They will not do this of course. Something to do with their genes apparently. Must be good not to be totally responsible for anything.
December 11th, 2006 at 2:43 am
copied and pasted from “The people are retarded”
Because it works in this case just as well.! : )
And next read “The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion” because it’s all true, and then read “Mien Kampf” because it will enlighten you on the “REAL” workings of the world. There’s never a simple answer for anything in the world. The “REAL” answer is always a cabal of evil blood thirsty rabbi’s who have your women in their sites and your children’s blood on their shopping list. Stop them now before they get to you too! I tell you all the worlds problem’s are the fault of the JOOOOO’s. No democracy in the middle east, Jews planned that along time ago. High oil prices, Jews fault. Global warming, Jews at work. Princess Di’s death, it was the Jews. George Bush, a Jew. Kim Jong, Jewish minion. Goldie Hawn, a Jew. The list goes on and on. When will the madness end!!!!!!!!
Written by S.I.T.S. (Sarcasm In Todays Society)
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December 11th, 2006 at 4:40 am
mark,
you say women are dumb. guess what. when a man’s penis gets hard, his brain gets soft.
December 11th, 2006 at 4:13 pm
Posting #8, Hey Howie that’s a good one. But I think this is a little closer to the virgins those jihady explosive murderers are going to find at the pearly gates right before they are cast down to hell.
Hey…did you guys here the one about the suicide bomber that goes to heaven?
http://www.msgr.ca/msgr-5/nuns.jpg