This Modern World - The Adventures of Middle Man: Egypt edition

[meegbear]

Will Middle Man stand up for erstwhile ally, Egyptian Strongman?



http://www.salon.com/entertainment/comics/this_modern_world/2011/02/14/this_modern_world

[Boswell]

1. normally i like TOm T's cartoons

but trying to blame Obama for what happened in Eygpt? f&*k that noise

[notesdev]

2. He's not blaming Obama

merely pointing out the absurdity of our official foreign policy decisions in this matter

[Divernan]

3. And the absurdity of crediting Middleman with forcing Mubarek out.

[maxsolomon]

4. i think he's faulting him for not taking sides against a dictator

but it wound up being the smart play, didn't it?

the president doesn't really have the ability to turn 30 years of american foreign policy around overnight. but to simply NOT INTERFERE in Egypt's internal politics - that's a major shift.

[kenfrequed]

6. Hopefully

This same approach of non-interference and not-intervention will be the policy with Venezuela. I am tired of the US constantly trying to support coups and BS PR moves.

[Boswell]

7. kind of a welcome one don't you think?

Instead of making their efforts all about us. and then of course whatever happened would be OUR fault and possibly embroil us in another Iraq/Afghanistan. while CPAC might have an orgasm about that, rational people shouldn't

[yurbud]

8. how did you get that out of the toon? Or are you implying something bad happened that someone needs

to be blamed for like losing puppet in the Middle East?

[Boswell]

9. the clear implication is

that Obama really wanted Mubarak to stay and only when it was "convient" did Tom allow BHO to support democracy. In other words Tom made Obama the equivelent of those who support despots

[yurbud]

11. Does it matter what Obama's feelings about Mubarak were if he didn't act on them?

That's really a lot like the ''Obama is progressive at heart but can't act on it'' argument. If you have social contact with someone, that kind of argument might serve some purpose, but as citizens evaluating our elected representatives, it does not.

[gratuitous]

5. "Yay, freedom"

Don't want to alienate or insult anyone on any side. Especially not on the side of those who kept Mubarak (who we barely knew) in power for so long, because it provided "stability" in the region. We are very solicitous of the tender feelings of the forces of oppression and repression. They get very upset when someone notices the screams of their victims. So very unseemly and in bad taste.

Yay, freedom!

[meegbear]

10. kick