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Posts Tagged government
Egypt and the Idealist-Realist Debate in U.S. Foreign Policy
Egypt and the Idealist-Realist Debate in U.S. Foreign Policy is republished with permission of STRATFOR.
By George Friedman
The first round of Egyptian parliamentary elections has taken place, and the winners were two Islamist parties. The Islamists themselves are split between more extreme and more moderate factions, but it is clear that the secularists who dominated the demonstrations and who were the focus of the Arab Spring narrative made a poor showing. Of the three broad power blocs in Egypt — the military, the Islamists and the secular democrats — the last proved the weakest.
It is far from clear what will happen in Egypt now. The military remains unified and powerful, and it is unclear how much actual power it is prepared to cede or whether it will be forced to cede it. What is clear is that the faction championed by Western governments and the media will now have to accept the Islamist agenda, back the military or fade into irrelevance.
One of the points I made during the height of the Arab Spring was that the West should be careful of what it wishes for — it might get it. Democracy does not always bring secular democrats to power. To be more precise, democracy might yield a popular government, but the assumption that that government will support a liberal democratic constitution that conceives of human rights in the European or American sense is by no means certain. Unrest does not always lead to a revolution, a revolution does not always lead to a democracy, and a democracy does not always lead to a European- or American-style constitution. Read the rest of this entry »
Why the Afghan surge probably will not succeed as well as the Iraq surge
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 17/Aug/2010 21:49
by Omar
“Afghans, while not necessarily fond of the Taliban actions, do not seem to see huge differences between Taliban and government control. In fact sometimes they prefer the former as the Taliban can be better at governance and creating working relations with the population, largely because the government is so incompetent and corrupt. Read the rest of this entry »
Afghan Presidential Decree Bans Security Firms
Posted by Gary in News, Threat Watch on 17/Aug/2010 15:50
From: Star Telegram
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s president issued a decree Tuesday ordering private security companies to disband by the end of the year, drawing a warning from the United States that the move could delay reconstruction and development assistance programs.
“Always we women should do the sacrifice?”
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News on 23/Jul/2010 00:36
Governor of Bamyan Province, Dr Habiba Sorabi
“Habiba Sorabi, the governor of the Bamiyan province — where the Taliban terrorized Shiite members of the Hazara minority during their rule, and destroyed ancient Buddhist monuments — rejected a suggestion from a minister in the national government that women would have to “be sacrificed†in return for a deal with the fundamentalist insurgents. Speaking in English to a crew from Channel 4 News, Ms. Sorabi said:
“Why are they not doing the sacrifice? Always we women should do the sacrifice? Always women during the war and during the conflict, for a long period in Afghanistan, women sacrificed. So this is enough I think.”
Ms. Sorabi was not invited to the conference in Kabul, the Afghan capital, on Tuesday.
http://canada-afghanistan.blogspot.com/
The Canada-Afghanistan Blog: Nation-building in Afghanistan is a noble and justified cause, consistent with our broad Canadian values of democracy and human rights. We recognize the military aspect is a vital, but not sufficient, component of this mission.
To Get A Concealed Handgun License
I recently had to renew my CHL and in Texas it seems like the government is trying to make it hard as possible and to make citizens jump through as many hoops as possible . None of what i had to do was hard, it was just a matter of making sure each piece of the puzzle was completed before mailing the documents to the state. Most of the process was easy, but time consuming. I was able to pay the renewal fee online and then the state sent me all the necessary paper work to fill out. My next step was to take the proficiency test. For people renewing their license the class is a half-day class of reviewing changes to the law and proficiency in shooting. The next two steps required me to get passport photos taken and have my fingerprints taken. I had the photos taken at a local drugstore. As for the fingerprints, the state is moving toward electronic scanning. I would not be opposed to this except that the scanning device costs $15,000 and as of right now there is only one company that provides the service to the state: L1 Solutions. When I received my packet of documents from the state there was one piece of paper directing me to L1’s website where I could find locations for their fingerprinting service. Anyone renewing their CHL must get fingerprints done through L1 or a local police department.
The system in Texas could be easier, but overall I never had a moment of frustration or had to deal with some bureaucrat. I am thankful that I don’t live in a state where the government does everything humanly possible to prevent citizens from defending themselves. If my ideal experience would be a 10, I would rate Texas’s process as an 8.
License fee: $75
Class fee: $75
Passport photos: $8
Fingerprinting fee: $10
Total cost of Texas CHL: $168