Egypt - Elections Do Not Equal Democracy

Did anyone really expect that ultimately we would see anything but the military taking over in Egypt? Really?

A year ago the world of theorists, academics and media commentators rejoiced that the “evil” dictator Hosni Mubarak had been overthrown in a popular revolution driven, as the world press was quick to point out, by Facebook and Twitter.

The Arab Spring, as the faux revolution was known, was supposed to herald a whole new era in both Egypt and the Middle East in general. Democracy, and by extension human rights, were breaking out everywhere and, if you listened to the pundits, it was only a matter of time until the entire Middle East would be democratic – war on terrorism over.

A year ago the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt backed its candidate in an internationally forced election that saw Mohammed Morsi become “the first elected president in 5000 years of Egyptian history.” For many in the world it was job done – move on, nothing to see here.

If there was one group in Egypt who understood its people better than any foreign pundit it was the military. When Mubarak’s almost 40 year reign of a secular Egypt was challenged by marches in the street the military stood down and allowed events to unfold.  The tanks stayed on the military bases. When the people demanded elections the military supported both the process and the result. Again the tanks stayed on the military bases.

Let us be really clear. The winner of last year’s election, the Muslim Brotherhood, is not a benevolent political party that we would recognize in the West. The Brotherhood is focused on bringing a Sharia based legal system to the most important economy in the Middle East. The Brotherhood’s political and social goals for Egypt 10 years from now? Think Iran.

Egypt proved the old maxim that “the first election in a country is easy – the second one is much more difficult.” The reality is that elections do not equal democracy. A functioning democracy is based on a fundamental belief in the very system itself. For a democracy to work the people must trust that the entire process is fair and will reflect the will of the people.  Democracies do not spring whole from the earth – they are grown and nurtured over 100’s of years.

So, was the Muslim Brotherhood building and nurturing a democracy? No, they were going in exactly the opposite direction. Christians and Jews living in Egypt were put on warning - they were not welcome in the new Egypt. Opposition parties were told the same thing. The real power was the Brotherhood –not democracy. Want a tangible example? There is a law in Egypt that it is illegal to make fun of the President. Morsi enforced the law more often in one year that Mubarak did in his entire time in power.

Finally, the Egyptian Army had had enough. This week, in support of millions of Egyptians again pouring into the streets, the army finally acted. However, what was lost in the caterwauling of the international media, was the fact that the Army acted in a deliberate and balanced manner.

 Before taking over the government it went to Morsi and gave him 72 hours to start to put in the reforms the people wanted and expected. Morsi told them he had no interest in changing, that the Brotherhood was the right track for Egypt.

In a bloodless transition of power the Army removed Morsi from power for failure to act in the interests of the majority of Egyptians. Continuing its efforts in support the Egyptian people the Army did no install on of its own as acting President – it named the head of the country’s Supreme Court to the Presidency.

There are two realities in what happened this week in Egypt.  1) Egypt is not a democracy and was not heading to become one and 2) what happened this week in Egypt was not a coup. It was a revolution.

Calgary flood was terrible, but it could have been worse

 

• 0
  inShare
• 

By Norman Leach (Originally appeared in the Beacon - Independent Local News)

Calgary flood highlights lack of disaster preparedness

By now the scenes are familiar. Calgary and surrounding communities hit by the worst floods in Alberta history. Turn on any television, open any newspaper or listen to the radio in southern Alberta and it was wall to wall coverage 24 hours a day.

I knew how serious things were, despite the fact the water was nowhere near our house, when my mother-in-law called from Mexico worried about the safety of her grandchildren. Apparently, according to Mexican television, all of Calgary was under water and the entire city was being evacuated. After calming her down, my wife and I had the opportunity to reflect on what might have been.

As it was, approximately 100,000 Calgarians were living in or near the flood zones. Calgary flood water had pretty much completely inundated the downtown core, with the most spectacular site being the Saddledome filled with 30 million gallons of water.

Yet for all of that, the vast majority slept soundly through the Calgary flood crisis. For anyone not immediately involved you would hardly have known there was a disaster going on all. 900,000 plus continued to be served by clean water, sewer, electricity, and fire and police. In fact, Mayor Naheed Nenshi seem to spend most of his time telling Calgarians just how normal things were. (Okay, the traffic was a little bad but only by Alberta standards.)

The Calgary flood serves as a reminder for everyone that it doesn’t hurt to be prepared for the worst. Photo: calgaryisawesome.com

On the second day of the Calgary flood I went to a grocery store on the west side of town. There, parked among the BMWs and Mercedes, it became clear not everyone was listening to the mayor. In the store, there was no bottled water left to purchase (again, despite the fact there was clean water available at the tap at the kitchen sink at home) and people were purchasing canned goods as though preparing for a zombie apocalypse.

What would it have been like if it had been a real crisis? Don’t get me wrong, for those who were directly affected it was a real disaster – but it was only a real disaster for 10 per cent of the population – at most.

As far as disasters go we are pretty protected here in Canada. Yes, we get blizzards but I have lived in both Tokyo and Mexico City where earthquakes are a daily way of life. My best friend lives in hurricane alley in the U.S. People all over the world live one day away from disaster – every day.
The response to the Calgary flood was fairly typical. City police, fire and ambulance were able to hold the line on services for about three days – exactly what is expected of them. The army took about three days to arrive on scene – exactly what was expected of them. People held off on full-out panicking, though did get some practice in. All in all it turned out pretty well.

However, what Calgary received was only a small sample of what could have happened. If 20 per cent or more of the population have been affected or if critical services have been lost, the outcomes, and the Mayor’s speeches, would have been very different.

The city will argue it is ready for all eventualities. However, when a CP Rail train derailed due to a bridge weakened by the Calgary flood, Mayor Nenshi publicly stated that the overtaxed first responders did not need yet another crisis.

My argument is that we might not be so lucky the next time around. There are simply not enough first responders to handle a major crisis in Calgary, or anywhere else in the country. It is time we looked at programs from around the world that actively engage citizens in their own protection.

I would suggest the first place to look at our neighbors to the South who have put in place the Community Emergency Reaction Team (CERT) program. CERT “educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations.” As far as I can tell there is no equivalent program operational in Canada – certainly not on a widespread basis.

Trained and prepared civilians – directed by professional first responders – will increase the chances of any community surviving a disaster. The next time round it might be the only thing that does.

Supporting our troops overseas

Good Afternoon:

Funny – we are in July already – where did the time go?

I know many of you are supporting flood relief in southern Alberta and we are grateful you are.  However, this year I am again supporting our troops overseas by contributing to Operation Santa Claus and I need your help. The deadline for donations is August 30, 2013.

Whether they are serving in Afghanistan or on a peacekeeping mission or at a distant Arctic post we work to see that each and every service person (over 1600 of them) gets a present from Operation Santa Claus (an official part of the Canadian Armed Forces). These special packages bring a feeling of home to those serving in remote locations and overseas.

For many members of the Forces the Op Santa Claus gift is the only one they will receive on Christmas Day. For others, the treasures they find in the boxes will be given out to children on patrol routes and at orphanages and hospitals across the globe.

I am asking you to help by donating new personal items like tube socks (a particular favourite) or company branded items that are no longer current. (wondering what to do with the shirts from last year’s golf tournament? Now you know!) or items like playing cards and board games.

Items must be into Operation Santa Claus by August 30 so they can make the long trip to Afghanistan and other remote locations in time for December 25.

I am gathering up the donations here in Southern Alberta. Let me know what you might have and I will see it gets to our troops. If you are not from Southern Alberta I will put you in touch with the right people.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Edward Snowden is not a patriot but a criminal hiding out in Moscow

Edward Snowden is not a patriot but a criminal hiding out in Moscow

By Norman Leach (originally run in the The Beacon on-line newspaper

One of the downsides to writing a weekly column is that every once in a while you have to admit you are wrong – very publicly. The case of Edward Snowden is a case in point.

When I first heard that the 29-year-old National Security agency contractor had gone public with the U.S. government surveillance program that was clearly out of control, I was there cheering Snowden on. I might have even used the word patriot.

Let’s be very clear. The National Security Agency in the United States has a program called Prism. On the surface, the program appears to be justifiable. Large computers are used to track inbound and outbound telephone calls trying to connect when terrorists talk to confederates around the world. The idea is forewarned is forearmed.

So far so good. In fact, the program was set up under President George Bush in response to the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. The idea was to try to identify foreign terrorists planning evil in the United States or against Americans living abroad. Under Bush the program was restrained by both the courts and the limits of the technology of the day.
However, then senator Barack Obama thought even the Bush program was too far reaching without adequate oversight. Obama went on to vote against a Bush candidate for CIA director because the candidate supported the NSA surveillance programs.

Enter Edward Snowden. Hired by an outside contractor serving the National Security Agency , Snowden appeared to have the best interests of the United States and its citizens at heart when he went public with how much further the Obama regime had pushed the old Bush surveillance program.

Had Snowden stopped there I might still be calling him a patriot. His initial revelations were worrisome to anyone who takes privacy and independence seriously. He claimed that under the Obama rules Snowden was able, by his own authority, to listen in to any conversation he chose to without the nicety of a warrant.

To that point it sounded like an overreaching government in Washington focused much more on its own survival than the ideal of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Then Snowden not only crossed the line he left it well behind in the rear-view mirror. After sneaking off to Hong Kong (the territory has notoriously difficult extradition laws) Snowden met with the media and explained in great detail how the United States was spying on China and other friendly nations. Snowden had gone from being a hero to a criminal in one short media conference.
Snowden was soon on the way to Moscow heading to, depending on the media story, Cuba, Venezuela or Ecuador – all countries that are far from friendly with United States.

Then the other shoe dropped. Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks who is hiding at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to avoid prosecution in his own messy case involving leaking US State secrets put his nose in. Now Assange is just a criminal – no different than the guy who robs a 7-11 except Assange uses a computer rather than a pistol or knife.

Hiding behind the rhetoric of freedom and openness Assange’s release of information put real human beings at risk – some at the risk of death. Not that he cared. His only interest was grabbing as much media as he could – and the donations that inevitably followed.

Snowden seemed different. That is, until he left Hong Kong for Moscow ducking the arrest warrant waiting for him in the US after advice from Assange lawyers. Were Snowden a real patriot he would have surrendered to US authorities relishing the chance to tell his story in front of the most aggressive media in the world. What better way to get the truth out?

Instead he is, tonight, hiding out in Moscow (or so we are told) waiting for an opportunity to head somewhere in Latin America. With both China and Moscow refusing to help arrest Snowden it will prove difficult to arrest and transport him to the United States. Justice could be a long way off.

In the end both Snowdenn and Assange are criminals who should be in a cage – if we could just get them out of the gilded Ecuadorian cage they are hiding in.