With news that Mubarak might step down, here’s hoping the most lasting Middle East peace deal ever will stay intact. As a clueless White House intern in 1978 I witnessed its signing. We celebrated the historic moment. But let’s be clear, President Jimmy Carter gave Egypt and I
srael massive aid deals to make peace. In many ways that helped Egypt’s corrupt regime stay in power. In the end, however, our aid over the years to the military helped strengthen the institution that appears to have been instrumental in this possible regime change. I remember chatting with an Egyptian journalist at the White House on the day the historic Camp David Accord was signed. He said, “We are centuries old. You are but two hundred.” If Egypt is reborn as a genuine Democracy, we restart the clock.
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26 Responses to Camp David Remembrance
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Hosni Mubarak Calls Fox News.
Fox News Operator: Good Morning, Fox News. How may I direct your call?
Hosni Mubarak: Human Resources, please.
Human Resources: Hello, this Bristol Palin. Can I help you?
HM: Yes, I’m interested in applying for the job as a Middle East political analyst. The ad was in the Sunday “Times.”
BP: Gee, I don’t know about that. I’m just an intern. The Middle East. Is that like New Jersey?
HM: No. It’s like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, you know deserts, oil, camels.
BP: Oh yeah. It’s like the Holy Land.
HM: It’s been called that. Can I speak to your supervisor?
BP: Nah. Everybody’s off at something called CPAC. They said I had to stay here and answer the phone.
HM: Can you give me the name of someone I can mail my resume to?
BP: You mean like a “printed on paper” thingy? I don’t know. Most people send their resume as an e-mail attachment.
HM: Well, I would do that but we just got upgraded to the new version of Windows and I can’t figure out how to use the e-mail. And all my IT people are…well…they’re busy at the moment.
BP: Doing what?
HM: Hacking into my Facebook page. Ungrateful bastards.
BP: Oh yeah. I know how much that sucks. My ex-boyfriend used to post all these embarrassing photos of me. You take your top off at a party now and everyone has cell phone cameras.
HM: Yeah. They take them to demonstrations too. You shoot a couple of troublemakers and it’s on youtube in 5 minutes.
BP: Mom says all demonstrators should be shot, except the ones outside the abortion clinics, of course.
HM: Your mom sounds like my kind of people. What does she do?
BP: Well, I think she’s running for President.
HM: President of what?
BP: The United States, silly.
HM: Well, I suppose you could have a woman president. In fact, I’d say you have one now.
BP: Well, I knew he was a Kenyan, but I didn’t know about that other thing. You mean he’s like a transgender or hermapho-whatever?
HM: Let’s just say Hillary Clinton has a higher testosterone count.
BP: My mom has a moustache problem. She has to get regular waxes.
HM: Did you ever hear the phrase “too much information?”
BP: Nah. I’m from Alaska. We always overshare. There’s nothing else to do, unless you like to hunt wolves from an airplane.
HM: well, this has been interesting. I don’t suppose you could connect me with Roger Ailes?
BP: Who?
HM: He’s your boss.
BP: No, my boss is this cool guy named Todd who went to Yale.
HM: Well, when Todd gets back from CPAC, could you tell him Hosni Mubarak, former President of Egypt, called? I can give you a number. It’s a hotel in Geneva.
BP: I’m writing this down on my iPad. Did you say “former” president?
HM: As of about six hours from now. Or less. Gotta Go.
(Sounds of breaking glass.)
BP: Wait. Geneva. Is that like in Europe or something?
Woo Woo.
Nash….. I gotta remember to get a depends when I read your stuff…. I almost pissed my pants!
re cnn from last thread:
i like cnn. yeah it’s dull, repetitive most of the time. but it’s always there. there. and over there. it wasn’t designed for entertainment or to please the couch potato and the radical activist. it’s for the drop-in visitor with a busy life that wants to see actual footage.
rennee: The rule for us professors is “publish or perish.”
I’m not sure comments on a blog count.
Then again, everything here is subject to “critical peer review.”
Jimmy Carter -- worst president in the history of the republic? (I’m sure I heard Hannity say that). Wait, he did something that made peace happen in the Middle East? I never heard that on Fox. I guess I better check out CNN for a few minutes.
Remember -- if you are younger than 35 years old you would likely have no idea that Israel and Egypt were warring enemies unless you happened to have had one of those librul college professors for modern world history. You also wouldn’t know that Carter brokered the release of the Iranian hostages before he left office. You’d prolly think that his major contributions to the world were nothing more than wearing sweaters and telling folks they needed to conserve energy (which in retrospect weren’t such dumb things to do and say)
Nash, you have to save all these things into a folder that you’ll end up publishing. Sell it througha new Amazon category -- Comedic History -- Conversations That Didn’t Occur but Should Have. They are truly inspired.
pogo: Thanks, but I’m an amateur, not a pro. There is a BIG difference. If I can give (terminally eccentric) “regulars” here a few laughs, I am satisfied.
Posted by: Nash2.0 Author Profile Page | February 10, 2011 2:08 PM
Job well done.
Terminally Eccentric Regular
Christopher Lee -WTF- trolling Craig’s list for dates
another example of the political professional class pretending to values they do not have and don’t really think are important except for bashing other people
Far more goopers than Dems but both are guilty of such ginormous hyppccrisy they all all quite
well the last line should ready
hypocrisy they should all quit
Glad to see the hoser is stepping down
and I rather doubt that crowd is going to except an Islamic extremist government. When the an employee of google is the crowd favorite (and with good reason) I think we are looking at people interested in real democracy.
Who knows maybe we will be next
As John McInsane would say…
Today were all Egyptians…
I’m a bit sorry that having the first comment (by sheer chance) I sort of stepped all over Craig’s serious message.
I too remember the signing of this historic peace treaty.
Craig is right about the Egyptian Army. Jimmy Carter started the process of turning it into a modern professional force, where most of the officers have been trained at U.S. Army schools. These schools often get a bad rap, but, in the absence of strong civilian institutions, a professional army can remove corrupt dictators and create conditions favorable to multi-party democracy.
Thailand is one example. The Philippines is another. These are not perfect societies but they would be much worse without their U.S. trained armies.
Part of the “indoctrination” that officers receive at these schools is the idea of civilian control of a military that remains on the sidelines in normal political contests. True, it doesn’t “take” in most cases, but sometimes it does.
I hope every world leader(sic) learns that real change can come without war fare.
Thanks you Al Gore for inventing the internet.
The biggest potential fly in the ointment that I see in Egypt right now is the VP. Hard to put a lot of trust in the guy who the US went to to help with our extraordinary rendition and enhanced interrogation program. But then again, I don’t know how much the Egyptian street is aware of that. And, hey, Hoser hasn’t stepped down yet, has he?
Hosey gets what’s behind door #2 as a lovely parting gift. 70 Billion Dollars.
a lovely parting gift. 70 Billion Dollars.
Nash , have him call Goldman Sacks looking for work.
Hosey goes on unemployment -
Chapter #1
Paperwork
Better yet -
Have Hosey call Goldman trying to move his 401K.
” You invested in Credit -- Default -- Whats ?!!?/!! ? ”
Hosni Hosni Hosni
Your speech is worthless get out of town now
It would seem the coral record on the Great Barrier Reef has me looking a little less insane. -
“Then we seem to see a signal from the end of the 19th century up until 1981 of more rainfall but also more variability, so that the wet years tend to be wetter and dry years drier and that the frequency of such extremes increases.”
Subsequent weather records over the past 30 years backed up the move towards more extremes, she said, with the past several years in Townsville being very wet. Townsville is in northeast Queensland, which was badly affected by Cyclone Yasi last week.
http://www.reuters.com/ article/ 2011/ 02/ 10/ climate-corals-idUSL3E7DA0V420110210
Hosni Star of Clueless
No one wants you involved in the reform process
get out now while you still can
Unearthed Roman statues date to a troubled era
Cache found near Rome probably depicts members of the Severan dynasty
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41514048/
Mubarak has seriously misunderstood or underestimated or something what is going on — he is not dialed in to the mass movement going on in his very own country.
Hosni you are yesterdays news.
Your tax dollars at work :
January 2011 Global Temperature Anomalies Map:
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/ cgi-bin/ gistemp/ do_nmap.py?year_last=2011&month_last=01&sat=4&sst=1&type=anoms&mean_gen=01&year1=2011&year2=2011&base1=1951&base2=1980&radius=1200&pol=reg
CNN is like the girl with the curl..with they are good they are very very good and when they are bad they are awful
Wolf Blitzer manages to do both in the same interview