Well, no, they seemingly talk like a better democracy, but they certainly have a long walk to go to a better democracy:

quote:

Officials of President Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party, or NDP, led hundreds of young men who attacked anti-government demonstrators. Journalists and witnesses at the scene of several incidents, including this correspondent, saw riot police create corridors for stick-wielding men to freely charge the demonstrators. Women were particular targets, with at least five pulled from the mass of mostly male demonstrators on the steps of the Journalists' Syndicate in central Cairo and subjected to slaps, punches, kicks and groping. The blouses of at least two were ripped. Some women escaped out a side exit, but a group of young men set upon Rabaab Mahdy, a political science professor at Cairo University, who had led some of the anti-Mubarak chants and who stayed behind at the entrance to the building's garage. The men pressed Mahdy against the shields of riot police, who refused to either move or help her. The assailants slapped and punched her until she slumped to the pavement. Some of her attackers appeared as young as 20. "They put their hands in every conceivable place. I was basically sexually abused," she said later in an interview. Mahdy escaped when plainclothes officers intervened and pushed her through the police cordon. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...5052500404.html

Of course all happened right when Laura's foot left the doorway. Especially nice touch going after the women whom were protesting for a pro-democratic Egypt.

Call me a bit skeptical on Mubarak:

quote:

A Cheer for Mr. Mubarak Thursday, May 26, 2005; Page A26 LAURA BUSH'S tour of the Middle East was cast as a way to earn badly needed goodwill for the United States in a region that her husband seeks to transform. Mrs. Bush duly promoted women's education in Jordan and the peace process in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Yet when the first lady arrived in Egypt she chose to lavish her own goodwill not on that country's struggling pro-democracy movement but on 77-year-old strongman Hosni Mubarak. Mr. Mubarak plans to extend his 24-year tenure in office through a September election from which most of his opposition is excluded. Hundreds of political activists have been arrested in recent weeks for trying to peacefully protest that plan, and even legal opposition candidates have been forcibly prevented from campaigning. The Bush administration says that it is committed to supporting such dissidents. But Mrs. Bush sided squarely with Mr. Mubarak, who frequently condemned the U.S. democracy initiative in the Middle East before abruptly announcing elections on his own terms. "President Mubarak has taken a very bold step," Mrs. Bush repeated on numerous occasions. Echoing the dictator's most common refrain, she added, "You know that each step is a small step, that you can't be quick." When reporters told her the Egyptian opposition was dismayed by this endorsement, she went further: "To act like you can just go from here to there overnight is naive . . . we know that's not easy and we know that it's, in many cases, not even possible." Really? We wonder if the Iraqis who turned out to vote Jan. 30, or their newly elected leaders, would support that view.

Laura's a tool. Further reading:

quote:

Mrs. Bush's intervention occurred at a critical moment, because Mr. Mubarak had called for yesterday's referendum to approve the constitutional amendment that will govern presidential elections. By its terms, independent candidates have to obtain signatures from 250 members of parliament and local councils, almost all of whom are members of Mr. Mubarak's own party. Only candidates from parties previously approved by the government, most of them moribund, tame or tiny, will be allowed to challenge the sitting president. The most credible of these, liberal democrat Ayman Nour, was forced to suspend public campaigning after a busload of his supporters was attacked by a pro-government mob. Mr. Nour also faces trial next month on trumped-up forgery charges.

Ah yes, yea Egyptian "democracy"!

quote:

Many Arab autocrats have staged bogus elections in the past, which is why the critical question about Egypt this year is whether Mr. Mubarak's vote will turn out, in practice, to be recognizably democratic or merely another farce. So far the answer is obvious, which is why the opposition called for a boycott of the referendum, why the pro-democracy movement tried to stage peaceful protests on Tuesday and yesterday -- and why these efforts at free assembly were violently broken up by Mr. Mubarak's police. Only a forceful intervention from the White House could induce Egypt's dictator to hold an election that is close to free and fair. Instead he -- and the Egyptian people -- have heard from Laura Bush that his mockery of democracy is worthy of applause. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...5052501836.html

Anyone clapping yet?

___________________
Whence September dusk grows crisper still,
with leaves all crimson conquered,
I yearn to shout,
and dance about,
and stick pickles in my honker...

Man, what the hell do you have against the Bangles? Bitches were hot! Talk about the epitome of 80's hair for ladies. I mean, c'mon, Less than Zero anyone???

quote:

Originally posted by MisterOpus1

i do remember hearing about "elections" taking place in the middle east before. Iraq had an "election" before the war. I think some of this is being spun in an attempt to make it appear that the whole region is in the midst of revolution as a direct consequence of what has been done to Iraq.

quote:

Originally posted by josh4 i do remember hearing about "elections" taking place in the middle east before. Iraq had an "election" before the war. I think some of this is being spun in an attempt to make it appear that the whole region is in the midst of revolution as a direct consequence of what has been done to Iraq.

I tend to agree, and it's fairly obvious seeing the spin here. However that doesn't mean I feel that Egypt and other countries are at least trying, or most likely will head towards a democracy some day in the future. And of course I certainly hope that day comes sooner than later. But we do need to examine exactly what is occurring in this dictator-run countries, and give both credit and criticism where they are due respectively.

___________________
Whence September dusk grows crisper still,
with leaves all crimson conquered,
I yearn to shout,
and dance about,
and stick pickles in my honker...

They just voted to approve the referendum that paves the way for multi-candidate elections - notice how it is multi-candidate and not multi-party...

Jesus, in reading the following article from the LATimes, I honestly laughed a bit from the complete, utter fucking ridiculousness of this whole "democracy" thing, Egyptian style:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationw...-home-headlines

These passages are, Christ how should I say this - scary as hell, but I must admit I got a slight chuckle at just how fucked up this was:

quote:

In the street, men used signboards displaying a smiling Mubarak to batter protesters about the head. A few stores down, the president's supporters had been kicking a gray-haired woman as she lay pinned against a wall. Asked about the beatings, Allam said that the ruling party was firmly against violence and would investigate any abuses.

What? They beat them over the heads with a smiling Mubarak signboard? Okay, I'm sorry - but that's just fucking morbidly funny, and so fucking mean too. But damn, I'm still laughing at that.

Guys, they fucking beat them over the head with pictures of their fucking smiling leader! Holy shit that's funny, and horrible too! Damn, where's Jon Stewart when I need him? I can't fucking believe that.

But it gets better. You see that last line, about Allam saying they'd investigate any abuses and being against violence? Read what the guy said next:

quote:

"I'm sure some people are nervous in the hot weather," he said.

What? What the hell did he just say? Oh my fucking God. Sometimes you're just speechless when reading stuff like this.

But the article isn't finished. This is fucking hilarious too:

quote:

In the shaded courtyard of a downtown school that served as a voting center, the path to the ballot box was plastered with photographs of Mubarak. A pair of men sat on a bench, finishing off a boxed lunch. Poll workers pointed to the pair. "Here are some voters," they said. Asked why he'd turned out to vote, 39-year-old Mohammed Abdel Wahab Ahmed said, "I came here to reelect the president." The man standing next to him gave him a hard nudge. "You're here for the constitutional amendment," he said. "Yes, I'm here for the constitutional amendment," Ahmed agreed.

Right. Here to re-elect, errr vote on a constitutional Amendment, I mean, sir. What the fuck did he nudge him with - an AK47?

Oh, and you gotta love those pro-Mubarek, uhh, I mean pro-democracy supporters. I mean, nothing like a little pressure to vote or anything, not that they had a fucking clue on what they were voting on:

quote:

Despite the ruling party's claims that the pro-government demonstrators were Mubarak enthusiasts, some of the men in the crowd seemed bewildered as to why they'd been brought downtown. "They told us to come here and gave us Mubarak posters and pictures," said 18-year-old Mahmoud Khaled, who said he worked at a gas station owned by one of the ruling party's legislators. "I don't know where they'll take us to vote later. If I don't vote, I'll lose my job…. I don't like what I'm seeing here, but there is not much I can do." The legislator, Mohammed Deeb, paced nearby, chanting pro-Mubarak slogans into a bullhorn. As reporters approached, Deeb shook his head, and his assistants shoved them aside.

I honestly haven't read something this fucked up and wierd since Abu Ghraib. Yep, there's some great pro-democracy out in Egypt today! Woohoo!

___________________
Whence September dusk grows crisper still,
with leaves all crimson conquered,
I yearn to shout,
and dance about,
and stick pickles in my honker...

^^ Haha, oh man...

Yeah, saw footage of this on the news last night. There were reports of very low turnouts (as in only a few percent of elligible voters) in many parts of the country and many of the people they showed / interviewed seemed genuinely confused about what they were actually voting for (as the above article states, most thought they were voting to re-elect Mubarak).

Also, has anyone actually seen the proposed reforms? This "democracy" theoretically allows opposition parties to contest elections against the NDP (Mubarak's party) but only if the NDP authorizes them to. Did you get that? Under this new system, if passed, Mubarak alone gets to decide who challenges him for power. Does that sound like democracy to you, or are we just superficially covering up yet another western-sponsored dictatorship?

Still, if the resolution passes, we'll no doubt be hearing the Bush-admin use it as evidence of how the Iraq invasion has helped spread democracy through the Middle-East...

___________________
http://eschatonnow.blogspot.com/

America is safer.

Freedom is on the march.

___________________
http://eschatonnow.blogspot.com/

I had to post a diary on this one:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/5/27/103359/454

I just couldn't help it. I really hope I'm not the only one with such a dark sense of humor on this. It's damn horrible what occurred.

But Jesus - being beaten over the head by an image of your worst enemy? C'mon, who would have thought of such great material?

___________________
Whence September dusk grows crisper still,
with leaves all crimson conquered,
I yearn to shout,
and dance about,
and stick pickles in my honker...

quote:

Originally posted by Renegade Freedom is on the march.

denial is not a river in Egypt

hey look, some people voted

quote:

El-Adly, in a statement to journalists said that 82.86% of voters were in favour of the amendment and that 17.14% were against. The Minister said that the total number of voters called upon to cast their votes was just over 32 million and the number of those who cast their votes was over 17 million.