'I started the Arab Spring. Now death is everywhere, and extremism blooming'

[g5000]

In the countries where regime change did happen, recognizable patterns emerged. Where elections occurred, in Tunisia and Egypt, Islamic democrats won the plurality of the vote and set about constitutional transition. Tunisia's constitutional drafting process succeeded, for complicated reasons that included a strong civil society and a willingness to compromise by both the leading Islamic political party and its leading secularist opponents.

Arab Spring's Dreams Became the Islamic State Nightmare

 

[g5000]

Tunisia, Arab Spring Success Story, is a Key Target of Islamic State Group

The Islamic State group is keen to derail the North African nation's progress toward democracy and stability.

 

[g5000]

Tunisia has been making great progress, and that is pissing off ISIS.

 

[tinydancer]

Tunisia has been making great progress, and that is pissing off ISIS.

Bullshit.

"THE loss of human life is of paramount concern, insisted Selma Elloumi Rekik, Tunisia’s tourism minister. But the killing of 38 tourists by an Islamic State-inspired gunman at a beach resort in Sousse on June 26th prompted another worry. “This is a catastrophe for the economy,” she said. Sadly, she is right. Last year Tunisia’s beaches and museums attracted 6m tourists, whose spending accounted for 7% of GDP and supported more jobs than anything but agriculture. Now thousands of visitors have fled. More are cancelling trips.

Tunisia has made political progress since protesters toppled the dictatorship of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. Last year it adopted a new constitution and held parliamentary and presidential elections. But those achievements have not been matched in the economic arena, which is still haunted by Mr Ben Ali’s abuse. Growth slowed to 2.2% in 2014, from an already sluggish 2.6%, estimates the World Bank. The jobless rate remains above pre-revolution levels at 15.3%."

AND

"Most Tunisians think graft has got worse since then. The system that favoured Mr Ben Ali’s cronies remains largely in place, benefiting other businessmen. “It poses a big obstacle to a swift recovery,” says Bob Rijkers, the report’s lead author. Domestic and foreign investors continue to face barriers to entry in sectors representing nearly 60% of the economy.

The woes of McDonald’s are typical. Under Mr Ben Ali the fast-food chain was denied access to the country for not picking the “right” partner—ie, a government insider. Four years after the revolution there are still no golden arches in Tunisia.

The public is not just missing out on fast food. Prices are higher than they should be. Based on data from December 2013, Mr Rijkers and his colleagues found that incoming international calls in Tunisia cost about 20 times as much as the market price in the region.

Red tape and graft have also distorted the jobs market. Firms that cannot cope with all the paperwork operate in the shadows, but this makes it hard to obtain capital and hire new workers. Outside agriculture, up to 40% of jobs are informal.

The official solution has been to hire more government workers"



Maybe they need some shovel ready jobs too!

http://www.economist.com/news/middl...th-tunisias-economy-has-deeper-problems-other

 

[g5000]

Tunisia has been making great progress, and that is pissing off ISIS.

Bullshit.

"THE loss of human life is of paramount concern, insisted Selma Elloumi Rekik, Tunisia’s tourism minister. But the killing of 38 tourists by an Islamic State-inspired gunman at a beach resort in Sousse on June 26th prompted another worry. “This is a catastrophe for the economy,” she said. Sadly, she is right. Last year Tunisia’s beaches and museums attracted 6m tourists, whose spending accounted for 7% of GDP and supported more jobs than anything but agriculture. Now thousands of visitors have fled. More are cancelling trips.

Tunisia has made political progress since protesters toppled the dictatorship of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. Last year it adopted a new constitution and held parliamentary and presidential elections. But those achievements have not been matched in the economic arena, which is still haunted by Mr Ben Ali’s abuse. Growth slowed to 2.2% in 2014, from an already sluggish 2.6%, estimates the World Bank. The jobless rate remains above pre-revolution levels at 15.3%."

AND

"Most Tunisians think graft has got worse since then. The system that favoured Mr Ben Ali’s cronies remains largely in place, benefiting other businessmen. “It poses a big obstacle to a swift recovery,” says Bob Rijkers, the report’s lead author. Domestic and foreign investors continue to face barriers to entry in sectors representing nearly 60% of the economy.

The woes of McDonald’s are typical. Under Mr Ben Ali the fast-food chain was denied access to the country for not picking the “right” partner—ie, a government insider. Four years after the revolution there are still no golden arches in Tunisia.

The public is not just missing out on fast food. Prices are higher than they should be. Based on data from December 2013, Mr Rijkers and his colleagues found that incoming international calls in Tunisia cost about 20 times as much as the market price in the region.

Red tape and graft have also distorted the jobs market. Firms that cannot cope with all the paperwork operate in the shadows, but this makes it hard to obtain capital and hire new workers. Outside agriculture, up to 40% of jobs are informal.

The official solution has been to hire more government workers"



Maybe they need some shovel ready jobs too!

http://www.economist.com/news/middl...th-tunisias-economy-has-deeper-problems-other

You just confirmed exactly what I said!

Tunisia is making progress and it is pissing off ISIS. You then provided evidence of how pissed off ISIS is.

Thanks!

As for higher prices and whatnot, name me one revolution in all of history that has not experienced such things after a regime change. Name one country which experienced a revolution and all was peace and calm in less than five years.

There is no such country. You have no historical perspective at all.

I plainly said they are making progress. I did not say all was peaches and cream now. Time takes time.

 

[dilloduck]

Tunisia has been making great progress, and that is pissing off ISIS.

Bullshit.

"THE loss of human life is of paramount concern, insisted Selma Elloumi Rekik, Tunisia’s tourism minister. But the killing of 38 tourists by an Islamic State-inspired gunman at a beach resort in Sousse on June 26th prompted another worry. “This is a catastrophe for the economy,” she said. Sadly, she is right. Last year Tunisia’s beaches and museums attracted 6m tourists, whose spending accounted for 7% of GDP and supported more jobs than anything but agriculture. Now thousands of visitors have fled. More are cancelling trips.

Tunisia has made political progress since protesters toppled the dictatorship of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. Last year it adopted a new constitution and held parliamentary and presidential elections. But those achievements have not been matched in the economic arena, which is still haunted by Mr Ben Ali’s abuse. Growth slowed to 2.2% in 2014, from an already sluggish 2.6%, estimates the World Bank. The jobless rate remains above pre-revolution levels at 15.3%."

AND

"Most Tunisians think graft has got worse since then. The system that favoured Mr Ben Ali’s cronies remains largely in place, benefiting other businessmen. “It poses a big obstacle to a swift recovery,” says Bob Rijkers, the report’s lead author. Domestic and foreign investors continue to face barriers to entry in sectors representing nearly 60% of the economy.

The woes of McDonald’s are typical. Under Mr Ben Ali the fast-food chain was denied access to the country for not picking the “right” partner—ie, a government insider. Four years after the revolution there are still no golden arches in Tunisia.

The public is not just missing out on fast food. Prices are higher than they should be. Based on data from December 2013, Mr Rijkers and his colleagues found that incoming international calls in Tunisia cost about 20 times as much as the market price in the region.

Red tape and graft have also distorted the jobs market. Firms that cannot cope with all the paperwork operate in the shadows, but this makes it hard to obtain capital and hire new workers. Outside agriculture, up to 40% of jobs are informal.

The official solution has been to hire more government workers"



Maybe they need some shovel ready jobs too!

http://www.economist.com/news/middl...th-tunisias-economy-has-deeper-problems-other

You just confirmed exactly what I said!

Tunisia is making progress and it is pissing off ISIS. You then provided evidence of how pissed off ISIS is.

Thanks!

As for higher prices and whatnot, name me one revolution in all of history that has not experienced such things after a regime change. Name one country which experienced a revolution and all was peace and calm in less than five years.

There is no such country. You have no historical perspective at all.

I plainly said they are making progress. I did not say all was peaches and cream now. Time takes time.

Ya and Syria is making progress to-----slow and steady.

 

[dilloduck]

The Arab spring was the neocon's plan of spreading democracy throughout the Middle East;

the plan they started with the Iraq War.

And Obama and Hillary have followed it to the letter. Liberals are OK with it now tho.

 

[tinydancer]

Tunisia has been making great progress, and that is pissing off ISIS.

Bullshit.

"THE loss of human life is of paramount concern, insisted Selma Elloumi Rekik, Tunisia’s tourism minister. But the killing of 38 tourists by an Islamic State-inspired gunman at a beach resort in Sousse on June 26th prompted another worry. “This is a catastrophe for the economy,” she said. Sadly, she is right. Last year Tunisia’s beaches and museums attracted 6m tourists, whose spending accounted for 7% of GDP and supported more jobs than anything but agriculture. Now thousands of visitors have fled. More are cancelling trips.

Tunisia has made political progress since protesters toppled the dictatorship of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. Last year it adopted a new constitution and held parliamentary and presidential elections. But those achievements have not been matched in the economic arena, which is still haunted by Mr Ben Ali’s abuse. Growth slowed to 2.2% in 2014, from an already sluggish 2.6%, estimates the World Bank. The jobless rate remains above pre-revolution levels at 15.3%."

AND

"Most Tunisians think graft has got worse since then. The system that favoured Mr Ben Ali’s cronies remains largely in place, benefiting other businessmen. “It poses a big obstacle to a swift recovery,” says Bob Rijkers, the report’s lead author. Domestic and foreign investors continue to face barriers to entry in sectors representing nearly 60% of the economy.

The woes of McDonald’s are typical. Under Mr Ben Ali the fast-food chain was denied access to the country for not picking the “right” partner—ie, a government insider. Four years after the revolution there are still no golden arches in Tunisia.

The public is not just missing out on fast food. Prices are higher than they should be. Based on data from December 2013, Mr Rijkers and his colleagues found that incoming international calls in Tunisia cost about 20 times as much as the market price in the region.

Red tape and graft have also distorted the jobs market. Firms that cannot cope with all the paperwork operate in the shadows, but this makes it hard to obtain capital and hire new workers. Outside agriculture, up to 40% of jobs are informal.

The official solution has been to hire more government workers"



Maybe they need some shovel ready jobs too!

http://www.economist.com/news/middl...th-tunisias-economy-has-deeper-problems-other

You just confirmed exactly what I said!

Tunisia is making progress and it is pissing off ISIS. You then provided evidence of how pissed off ISIS is.

Thanks!

As for higher prices and whatnot, name me one revolution in all of history that has not experienced such things after a regime change. Name one country which experienced a revolution and all was peace and calm in less than five years.

There is no such country. You have no historical perspective at all.

I plainly said they are making progress. I did not say all was peaches and cream now. Time takes time.

ISIS couldn't give a shit about Tunisia. The jihadists that keep attacking are coming in from Libya.

You know the country we freed so they could experience democracy.

You need to get your terror groups right.


"In late 2013, two young Tunisians returned from a jihadi camp in Libya planning to blow themselves up among foreign tourists. It was a spectacular failure - one bomb malfunctioned; the other killed only the bomber on the sands of Tunisia's Sousse resort.

Two years later, just a few months apart, three more Libyan-trained Tunisian militants succeeded in bringing bloodshed to Sousse and the capital Tunis, gunning down 60 people, mainly tourists, in the two deadliest attacks in the country's history.

Hailed as the only "Arab Spring" success, Tunisia now finds its young democracy under siege from a jihadist expansion in North Africa, where militants, radicalized locally and trained in Libya, are exporting their violent ideology back home."

Homegrown jihadists with Libya ties target Tunisia's democracy


Homegrown jihadists with Libya ties target Tunisia's democracy

 

[Uncensored2008]

You just confirmed exactly what I said!

Tunisia is making progress and it is pissing off ISIS. You then provided evidence of how pissed off ISIS is.

Thanks!

As for higher prices and whatnot, name me one revolution in all of history that has not experienced such things after a regime change. Name one country which experienced a revolution and all was peace and calm in less than five years.

There is no such country. You have no historical perspective at all.

I plainly said they are making progress. I did not say all was peaches and cream now. Time takes time.

Jake, get Obama's dick out of your mouth an THINK.

Tunasia has LOST 7% of it's economy because the Islamic terror is so overwhelming that even Russians are afraid to go there.

Look, I know you love Obama and will say anything to prop him up, but you're making a fool of yourself, yet again.

 

[Freewill]

Spring is in the air in the Arab word. The Spring that the left wing so supported.

Mrs Hamdy was the council inspector who, five years ago today confiscated the vegetable stall of a street vendor in her dusty town in central Tunisia.

'I started the Arab Spring. Now death is everywhere, and extremism blooming'

In despair, that young man set himself on fire in a protest outside the council offices. Within weeks, he was dead, dozens of young Arab men had copied him, riots had overthrown his president, and the Arab Spring was under way.

As the world marks the anniversary, Syria and Iraq are in flames, Libya has broken down, and the twin evils of militant terror and repression stalk the region.

Yes, but things are getting better for Tunisians than they were before that guy set himself on fire.

No Tunisia is seriously hurting because of extremism. Have you forgotten the jihadist attacks in Tunisia and the havoc they have wrought on the country?

He might have been comparing the countries. Tunisia turned into an extremist crap hole where as all the other are really big extremist crap holes. What is the most unbelievable part of the Arab Spring is how the left wing will deflect and blame anything on GWB.

 

[Freewill]

The Arab spring was the neocon's plan of spreading democracy throughout the Middle East; the plan they started with the Iraq War.

Although the two have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

That's only because you'd have to blame Bush. When Obama's in your sights, anything goes.

I offered the link to an article that TELLS you how the Arab Spring started. It is you that is ignoring the evidence. Iraq has nothing to do with the Arab Spring, although being involve in protest. Syria and Libya are both children of Obama, and they look like him

 

[American_Jihad]

The Bipartisan Enemy of the Good
A curious moral call from discredited voices.
April 5, 2016
Caroline Glick

Originally published by the Jerusalem Post.

On March 25, The New York Times published an editorial effectively calling for US President Barack Obama to abandon the US alliance with Egypt.

The Obama White House’s house paper urged the president to “reassess whether an alliance that has long been considered a cornerstone of American national security policy is doing more harm than good.” The editorial concluded that Obama must “start planning for the possibility of a break in the alliance with Egypt.”

The Times’ call was based on an open letter to Obama authored by a bipartisan group of foreign policy experts that call themselves the “Working Group on Egypt.” Citing human rights violations on the part of the government of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Working Group urged Obama to tie US financial and military assistance to Egypt to the protection of NGOs operating in Egypt.

The self-proclaimed bipartisan band of experts is co-chaired by Robert Kagan from the Brookings Institution and Michele Dunne from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Among its prominent members are Elliott Abrams, Ellen Bork, Reuel Gerecht, Brian Katulis, Neil Hicks and Sarah Margon.

The Working Group has a history.

In January 2011, it called for Obama to force then Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak to resign from office. In so doing, it provided bipartisan cover for Obama’s decision to abandon the US’s most critical and dependable ally in the Arab world. Then, as now, the group’s esteemed experts argued that due to the regime’s infringement of human rights, the US could not in good conscience support it. Back in 2011, Israelis found a rare wall-to-wall unanimity of purpose in vocally and forcefully defending Mubarak from his American detractors. From the far Left to the far Right, from the IDF General Staff to the street, Israelis warned anyone who would listen that if Mubarak were forced out of power, the Muslim Brotherhood would take over and transform Egypt into a jihadist state.

Due in large part to the presence of senior Republican foreign policy hands on the Working Group, by and large Israel’s warnings were ignored in Washington. Facing the unusual Israeli consensus backing Mubarak was an American consensus insisting that “democracy” would ensure that a new liberal democratic Egypt would emerge out the ashes of the Mubarak regime.

The Americans chided us for repeating over and over again that the Muslim Brotherhood, the progenitor of al-Qaida, Hamas, Egyptian Islamic Jihad and every other major Sunni jihadist terrorist group around at the time, was a terrorist group.

We were attacked as “anti-democratic,” for insisting that the Facebook posters and twitterers on Twitter were in no position to replace Mubarak.

Who were we, the Americans scoffed, to point out that the “Facebook revolutionaries” were but a flimsy veneer which barely hid the Islamists from willfully blind Western officials and reporters who refused to admit that liberal values are not universal values – to put it mildly.

In the ensuing five years, every single warning that Israel expressed was borne out in spades.

Just as we said, right after Mubarak was forced from power, the Islamists unceremoniously dispatched with the Facebook crowd. The two million Islamists who converged on Tahrir Square to hear Sheikh Yussuf Qaradawi call for jihad and the Islamic conquest of Israel weren’t interested in democracy.

The women and Christians of Egypt soon realized, Mubarak’s overthrow, which paved the way for the Muslim Brotherhood electoral victories in 2012, did not expand their rights, it endangered their lives. As for the hapless Americans, immediately after Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Morsi was inaugurated to serve as president of Egypt, the government began demanding that the US release from prison Omar Abdel Rahman, the so-called Blind Sheikh who masterminded the 1993 World Trade Center bombings. The US embassy in Cairo was the target of jihadist riots on September 11, 2012.

...

The Bipartisan Enemy of the Good

 

[FA_Q2]

Yes, but things are getting better for Tunisians than they were before that guy set himself on fire.

Yes, Obama has certainly made the middle east heaven on earth. Your little tin god is a wonder to behold.

Does 'better' mean 'Heaven on Earth?'

It seems there is a MASSIVE gulf that has to be crossed from getting to Heaven on Earth from oppressive hell hole.


I have to wonder as well, who here actually thinks that massive change to an entire societies structure and oppression to something with a grater degree of freedom is not a very painful and difficult process? This would be like demanding that the revolutionary war was a terrible idea and we should have stayed under British control because we were not better off 6 months later. That is just a silly concept.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Does 'better' mean 'Heaven on Earth?'

It seems there is a MASSIVE gulf that has to be crossed from getting to Heaven on Earth from oppressive hell hole.


I have to wonder as well, who here actually thinks that massive change to an entire societies structure and oppression to something with a grater degree of freedom is not a very painful and difficult process? This would be like demanding that the revolutionary war was a terrible idea and we should have stayed under British control because we were not better off 6 months later. That is just a silly concept.

When Obama helped Al Qaeda (ne Muslim Brotherhood) take Libya and Egypt, he formed a bloc of Islamic radicalism in North Africa. Freedoms that were slim in Libya were crushed entirely by the new Al Qaeda rulers. Egypt took a 500 year step back, attacking Christians and women. Obama's buddies laid plans to destroy the pyramids and sphinx, ironically claiming they were idols and offended the Idol they worship. Thankfully the Egyptian people revolted and drove Obama's cronies from power.

Obama has made the Middle East a far more dangerous and evil place. His every action is in direct contrast to a stable and modern region.