Havent you heard? I'm the king of NY! (news thread)

[Antero]

the faceback guy

Faceback!

[Dick]

I have often been given 'kudos' for my cleverness.

[Antero]

I would click "kudos" if we were on Faceback.

[kyle]

I would click "kudos" if we were on Faceback.

I don't think that's a thing is it?

[FreddyKnuckles]

So how is it noble to publish all these wires that are just embarrassing.  It's not like with war docs where it serves some purpose to the public at large.

[dieblucasdie]

I don't know that I'd use the word "noble," but there's any absolute wealth of material pertinent to the public interest in those cables.  Of course the cable news networks just focused on the salacious/embarrassing stuff, but, just off the top of my head, there was previously unknown information about China's interests/plans in Korea, details on Pakistan's pro-West/pro-militant double-game, a TON of (rather horrifying) US/Iran stuff, and on and on.

[dieblucasdie]

Also, I do believe the silly photo above is referring the BoA stuff, not the diplomatic cables.

[Good Intentions]

I don't know that I'd use the word "noble," but there's any absolute wealth of material pertinent to the public interest in those cables. 

For instance, right now there's some people in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and elsewhere in the Middle East who are voicing, amongst other things, their opinion of the US support for their dictatorial regimes made clear in the diplomatic cables.

[Greg Nog]

Damn.  So... Egypt.

[hannah]

Pretty sure Whit's responsible for that one.

[Good Intentions]

It's important to note that Egypt has very frequent protests, and they're normally single-issued -- the last major protests (in the 70s) were about the abolition of food subsidies (which was reversed). It's not like it's unusual that people turn out on the street. But, of course, this is larger and more far-reaching than usual, and the astonishing thing is that the protesters are calling for the removal of Mubarak. That is entirely unprecedented, given the history of brutal police crackdowns on that sort of thing.

[elpollodiablo]

Can someone explain the current general politics of the Muslim Brotherhood to me? I know they're nominally nonviolent now, but is this perception of their moderatism just due to their being the opposition party to a notoriously authoritarian regime for so long? They're still straight Sharia-advocating fundies, yes?

[Good Intentions]

I always suspected that the perception of their being violent was largely due to their being the opposition party to a notoriously authoritarian regime for so long. They have had links to violent acts, but there's also the fact that the Egyptian government has gone to a great deal of trouble to smear them as terrorists, including linking them to an attempted assassination of the president (which many believe the president, Nassar, staged himself) and extracting confessions of their violent intent through torture.

[DCDave]

Can someone explain the current general politics of the Muslim Brotherhood to me? I know they're nominally nonviolent now, but is this perception of their moderatism just due to their being the opposition party to a notoriously authoritarian regime for so long? They're still straight Sharia-advocating fundies, yes?

Shari'a law in Egypt isn't the ultra-orthodox Shari'a law of Wahabbiism.

It's more like, Egyptian Sunnis:Taliban :: Orthodox Jew:Hasids ??

Dick to thread.

[auto-da-fey]

Pretty sure Whit's responsible for that one.

I keep waiting anxiously for a report that this was all sparked by a sighting of decadent Americans committing lewd acts on a 27th-floor balcony.

but really, we're both astonished at how oblivious we were to the build-up, which we were there for and completely missed. at first we thought our hosts were sugarcoating things for us, but looking back, we drove by a large police action of some sort and our tour-guide (boyfriend of M's friend who works for an NGO) was clearly also mystified (or faking it well?). we were even staying on Zamalek island, but . . . all we saw were the insides of hookah bars and international coffee houses. I guess it was a quintessentially American experience: blithe, oblivious, and sheltered in a bubble.
M's become obsessed with the interactive maps, because you can follow the course we walked through the city, except now the buildings are on fire and the public squares are completely militarized.

[FreddyKnuckles]

The Muslim Brotherhood is not on the US list of terrorist orgs, right?

[Good Intentions]

One thing the Muslim Bortherhood certainly is is anti-west. They started off to kick out colonial interests, which they did rather successfully, and through mass organisation rather than violent uprising.

They call for the Arab world to be run on Islamist grounds, though they also have a constitution spelling out what that would entail, and it's not outrageously socially conservative. More like, say, Algeria or Lebanon than Saudi Arabia (some other chapters of the Brotherhood are more conservative, like the Kuwaiti one which opposes suffrage for women). Like Dave says, there's a lot of varieties of shari'a, just like there are many interpretations of Christian or Talmudic law. Islam is a little hard to compare with those religions though, because Islam is from top to bottom supposed to be a total guide for a state and an individual, and pays a lot of attention to how governments and institutions should be set up (and not just in the Qu'ran of course, but in the millenia of Islamic interpretation and practice since). There isn't a shred of that in Christianity -- the closest the New Testament gets to politics is 'give unto Caesar what is Caesar's' -- and not much in Judaism.

[Good Intentions]

The MB aren't listed as a terrorist organisation, though one of the groups in the US linked to it has been accused (rightly or wrongly) of providing funds to Hamas.

It's not clear that the MB are the biggest mover in the current protests. All the reports I've been reading have been sure to mention them, since they're a known quantity I suppose, but they also make clear that the MB was slow to react to the initial unrests and aren't the largest or most vocal part of it either. Of course, a well-organised and established institution like that might play a larger role when things quiet down for a bit.

[kyle]

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/01/whats-happening-egypt-explained

This has been my best all encompassing resource. I just spent the day diving into what's going on. Looks incredibly serious, and I really am wondering what the military is going to do.

[Good Intentions]

Muslim Brotherhood throws their support behind ElBarabei as voice of the opposition.

A very interesting quote:

“We’re supporting ElBaradei leading the path to change,” said Mohammed el-Beltagui, a Brotherhood leader and former member of Parliament. “The Brotherhood realizes the sensitivities, especially in the West, toward the Islamists. And we are keen not to be at the forefront at this time.”

[coldforge]

This shit is fucking awesome. Fingers crossed against the potential bloody crackdown.

[kyle]

This shit is fucking awesome. Fingers crossed against the potential bloody crackdown.

A bloody crackdown funded by the U.S.! Woo hoo! Made in America!

[kyle]

Oh god.

Pro-government forces have trapped a bunch of protesters in the main square and are currently throwing molotov cocktails into the crowd.

Fuck.

[jm]

Yeah, it's fucking pandemonium over there right now.  I haven't been watching the news networks, but from what I've been reading (an amalgam of news sites and on-the-ground Twitters) it's shaping up to be Tehran '09 all over again.

[YojimboMonkey]

Fort Wayne, IN considers reneging on naming new government building based on results of an online poll. 

Come on, Fort Wayne.  It's not the internet's fault you have a former mayor named Harry Baals.