Egyptians pelt Clinton motorcade with tomatoes

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Protesters threw tomatoes and shoes at U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's motorcade on Sunday during her first visit to Egypt since the election of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.

A tomato struck an Egyptian official in the face, and shoes and a water bottle landed near the armoured cars carrying Clinton's delegation in the port city of Alexandria.

A senior state department official said that neither Clinton nor her vehicle, which were around the corner from the incident, were struck by any of the projectiles.

Protesters chanted: "Monica, Monica", a reference to Former President Bill Clinton's extra-marital affair. Some chanted: "leave, Clinton", Egyptian security officials said.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/07/15/uk-egypt-usa-clinton-idUKBRE86E09V20120715

[Politicalboi]

1. "Monica" Really?

That sounds so Republican.

[patrice]

5. Yeah, kinda Super PAC -ish, don't you think? Are we supposed to believe PNAC has bowed out of

the scene?

Remember their plan was step-wise from Iraq to the apple of their eye, Egypt.

[Posteritatis]

15. Could be the locals have agency of their own, too.

Weird thought for some here, I know, but not everyone abroad's a victim of the Republican orbital mind-control lasers.

[patrice]

16. True.

[MrSlayer]

2. They aren't subtle are they?

When they don't like you they make it known.

What's their beef anyway?

[may3rd]

8. What's the beef? It's not rocket science..."During her speech, Clinton said....

During her speech, Clinton said
"When we talk about supporting democracy, we mean real democracy."

"To us real democracy means that every citizen has the right to live, work and worship as they choose, whether they are man or woman, Christian or Muslim."

"Real democracy means that no group or faction or leader can impose their will, their ideology, their religion, their desires on anyone else."

That was a message she is likely to have repeated in meetings on Sunday with women and Christians, both groups that fear their rights may be curtailed under a Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government.
...

I can see how this stance would upset "the majority" in Egypt.

or , it could be something different


http://www.newsy.com/videos/clinton-s-egypt-visit-highlights-complicated-relationship/

Egypt has two leaders...

[MrSlayer]

10. Yeah, that might do it.

Calling for civility and reason in an uncivilized and unreasonable culture is just asking for it. It's going to be ugly there for a long time.

[FarCenter]

11. Wouldn't this statement be blasphemous?

Islam does not recognize other religions as equal, even though it grants higher status to Christians and Jews. Hindus, Bhuddists, and atheists are beyond the pale.

[shaayecanaan]

18. Christianity doesnt recognise any religions as equal...

"No one comes to the Father, but through me"

At least Islam is a bit more liberal - you can still get to heaven if you're Christian, Jewish, or possibly Zoroastrian.

[fujiyama]

23. LOL, you obviously aren't talking about how Islam works in practice

Who cares what Christians THINK about my chances in going to some fictional sky playground. As long as they aren't attacking me physically or actually bombing my house of worship...thoughts are thoughts. What matters is how people are treated within a legal context and whether the law protects those freedoms from threats of violence and intimidation (of course, we have our crazies and we need to watch out for them because some of them are armed and dangerous, but ultimately they will be prosecuted if they resort to violence)...

Ask the Parsis of Iran who fled to India how liberal Islam is (Parsis are Zoroastrian)...Or the Jews of well...any middle eastern country, or the Christians in Iraq (oh wait they all fled because we took out the secular leader of the country and they've been constantly attacked since)...Egypt's anti-Christian violence is nothing new as well. The bombings in Coptic churches took place well before Mubarak was gone. Pakistan has blasphemy laws on the books and people are executed for violating them.

[shaayecanaan]

27. I wasnt comparing Iran with India...

I was comparing it with Christian Europe, which killed or expelled all of its Muslims (apart from the Bosnians) all of its Zoroastrians (or Mithraists) and most of its Jews. By that standard, Islam has been fairly liberal, historically.

[fujiyama]

21. Being that they just elected a theocratic party into power

I don't really have as much respect for them as I did..."Monica, Monica"? Really, hmmm....What year is this? Real fucking mature.

Tolerance and freedom to practice whichever religion you please as well as equal rights between the sexes are not just some "Western concepts" that can be brushed aside. We're FAR from perfect in this country and our religious nuts are a threat to religious freedom, no doubt but Islamists are another order of magnitude crazier.

We'll undoubtedly see a deterioration of relations between the US and Egypt but this may be the natural order of things.There's no point in lecturing these countries. If they want to behave in an uncivilized manner, well so be it. Maybe we can stop throwing a few billion at them each year in military aid just to have them place nice with Israel (cut their military aid off as well). Let these countries figure their own shit out. Our involvement breeds nothing but misery and contempt.

[roody]

12. Could be US foreign policy- nt

[Larry Ogg]

29. Maybe they don't like corporately owned, born into financial royalty / elitist...

who come selling the illusions of a pretend democracy.

[secondwind]

3. they sound like rabid Islamists. Will want NOTHING to do with the U.S. in future. n/t

[atreides1]

4. Maybe

Or it could be the ones that wanted a real democracy...and didn't get it.

[may3rd]

7. They may just storm the american embassy

and demand the US OUT of EGYPT.
Much like Sadat demanded the Soviet Union out of Egypt after the Soviet guards refused him to pass onto a Soviet radar base in the port of Alexandria..

yikes...
Be carefull what you ask for ....


you might get it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_hostage_crisis

[amandabeech]

17. I sincerely hope that someone with your memory is on duty at the U.S. embassy

and at the State Department.

We do not need a repeat of the Iranian hostage situation at any time, let alone this one.

[OnyxCollie]

19. We'll have to rendition our detainees elsewhere to be tortured. nt

[Psephos]

6. Arab Spring now that Mubarak is gone. n/t

[PatrynXX]

9. What is this Fox News's site--- Egyptians pelt Clinton motorcade with tomatoes

Seriously. one Egyptian hit in the face with one red foreign object and thats pelting the motorcade. Hey Bush almost and would have had a shoe in his face if he didn't know how to duck.

[KoKo]

13. Not just FAUX..."Raw Story" picks up from: By Agence France-Presse

Egyptians throw tomatoes, chant ‘Monica’ at Sec. Clinton



By Agence France-Presse
Sunday, July 15, 2012 16:38 EDT


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=n-KPGh3wysw

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was taunted by chants of “Monica, Monica” by tomato-throwing demonstrators as she visited the Egyptian port city of Alexandria on Sunday.

The chants, referring to the Monica Lewinsky scandal when her husband, Bill Clinton, was president, were heard outside the US consulate as she visited for its reopening.

An embarrassed Egyptian security official said they were chanting “Monica, Monica” and “Irhal, Clinton” (Get out, Clinton.)

Tomatoes, shoes and a water bottle were thrown at part of Clinton’s motorcade as it pulled up, protected by riot police, although a US official said Clinton’s own vehicle was not hit.

The protest appears to have been the result of suspicions that Washington had helped the Muslim Brotherhood win elections in Egypt in the wake of last year’s ouster of president Hosni Mubarak after 18 days of massive street protests.

“I want to be clear that the United States is not in the business, in Egypt, of choosing winners and losers, even if we could, which, of course, we cannot,” Clinton said at the opening of the consulate.

The consulate was closed in 1993 due to budget cuts but has been reopened to assist the Egyptian economy in a key port city.

Photo AFP/Pool, Brendan Smialowski

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/15/egyptians-throw-tomatoes-chant-monica-at-sec-clinton/

[FailureToCommunicate]

14. This CAN be what democracy looks like. In Mubarak's day they would have

been 'disappeared'...or never allowed to show up in the first place.

[riderinthestorm]

20. Disgusting. I'm no fan of many diplomats from some countries (like the KSA)

but would never dare to throw shit at their diplomatic representatives.

[OnyxCollie]

22. Why not? They seem shit-worthy.

US diplomats spied on UN leadership
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cables-spying-un

A classified directive which appears to blur the line between diplomacy and spying was issued to US diplomats under Hillary Clinton's name in July 2009, demanding forensic technical details about the communications systems used by top UN officials, including passwords and personal encryption keys used in private and commercial networks for official communications.

It called for detailed biometric information "on key UN officials, to include undersecretaries, heads of specialised agencies and their chief advisers, top SYG [secretary general] aides, heads of peace operations and political field missions, including force commanders" as well as intelligence on Ban's "management and decision-making style and his influence on the secretariat". A parallel intelligence directive sent to diplomats in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi said biometric data included DNA, fingerprints and iris scans.

Washington also wanted credit card numbers, email addresses, phone, fax and pager numbers and even frequent-flyer account numbers for UN figures and "biographic and biometric information on UN Security Council permanent representatives".
...

I sincerely doubt that collecting "biographic and biometric data, including health, opinions toward the US, training history, ethnicity (tribal and/or clan), and language skills of key and emerging political, military, intelligence, opposition, ethnic, religious, and business leaders. Data should include email addresses, telephone and fax numbers, fingerprints, facial images, DNA, and iris scans" was to pick out the perfect birthday gift.

[BT021]

24. better to avoid places you are not welcome

if Clinton wants to send some message
to Mursi, send him a tweet

[The Northerner]

25. Is this reaction due to blowback from US foreign policy?

[ode2joi]

26. Blowback you say ?

you betch yah !!!!!!

[Vinca]

28. Stop the flow of foreign aid checks to that country.

I heard they get billions from us. You're on your own, people.

[Beacool]

30. Screw them!!!

Offensive and sexist to boot!! Stop giving them billions of dollars in aid. Ditto for the other cesspools in the Middle East.

These are the same people who sexually harassed and even raped female demonstrators in Tahrir Square. Aside from sexually assaulting Lara Logan and groping a photographer of the NY Times (who they had briefly kidnapped, along with several male reporters).

After the Logan incident Egyptian women were interviewed and they said that they were constantly harassed on the streets. If they don't show respect for their own women, why would we expect anything for our SOS?