'I started the Arab Spring. Now death is everywhere, and extremism blooming'

[NightHawkeye]

'I started the Arab Spring. Now death is everywhere, and extremism blooming' | The Telegraph

Faida Hamdy confiscated a vegetable stall in Tunisia five years ago today. Neither she nor the rest of the world could have imagined the consequences.
...
Mrs Hamdy was the council inspector who, five years ago today confiscated the vegetable stall of a street vendor in her dusty town in central Tunisia.

In despair, that young man set himself on fire in a protest outside the council offices. Within weeks, he was dead, dozens of young Arab men had copied him, riots had overthrown his president, and the Arab Spring was under way.

As the world marks the anniversary, Syria and Iraq are in flames, Libya has broken down, and the twin evils of militant terror and repression stalk the region.
..
“Mohammed Bouazizi and I are both victims,” Mrs Hamdy said. “He lost his life and my life is not the same any more.

“When I look at the region and my country, I regret it all. Death everywhere and extremism blooming, and killing beautiful souls.”​

 

[nightflight]

Let's not give this man all the credit, when our own Oblabla did his part.

 

[NightHawkeye]

Let's not give this man all the credit, when our own Oblabla did his part.

Oblabla simply fanned the flames ... albeit vigorously.

 

[ChristsSoldier115]

Let's not give this man all the credit, when our own Oblabla did his part.

All Obama does is say the wrong thing at the wrong time.. and mostly to the wrong people.

 

[TerranceL]

If it hadn't been his actions it would have been someone else. This has been building up for decades.

 

[rambot]

So the argument I'm reading is that Obama is responsible for the mess that the Arab spring has become in many countries? That seems a bit of an overstatement. It seems like it's minimizing the role of people who are over there actually, you know, doing stuff.

 

[ChristsSoldier115]

So the argument I'm reading is that Obama is responsible for the mess that the Arab spring has become in many countries? That seems a bit of an overstatement. It seems like it's minimizing the role of people who are over there actually, you know, doing stuff.

Man don't you know how this works? Everything wrong with this country and the world is Obamas fault, while everything good is the stuff Reagan did , and it was so good it lasted for 3 decades. sheesh.. some people.

 

[Sketcher]

So the argument I'm reading is that Obama is responsible for the mess that the Arab spring has become in many countries? That seems a bit of an overstatement. It seems like it's minimizing the role of people who are over there actually, you know, doing stuff.

Feigning to the rebels that we would have their backs likely encouraged them. Without that encouragement, would they have even tried?

 

[LivingWordUnity]

Feigning to the rebels that we would have their backs likely encouraged them. Without that encouragement, would they have even tried?

When they are thinking that the most powerful nation on earth has their back it has to be a huge motivating factor.

 

[rambot]

Feigning to the rebels that we would have their backs likely encouraged them. Without that encouragement, would they have even tried?

Ha! You think Syrian rebels would not have tried to overthrow Assad?
That is American hubris. Sure they would have liked your help but theyou had their own reasons that had nothing to do with obama

 

[Sketcher]

Ha! You think Syrian rebels would not have tried to overthrow Assad?
That is American hubris. Sure they would have liked your help but theyou had their own reasons that had nothing to do with obama

Strange that their rebellion didn't get serious until after Obama intervened in Libya.

 

[wing2000]

Man don't you know how this works? Everything wrong with this country and the world is Obamas fault, while everything good is the stuff Reagan did , and it was so good it lasted for 3 decades. sheesh.. some people.

Americans in general (the Right and Left) tend to over estimate the influence of American power.

 

[nightflight]

So the argument I'm reading is that Obama is responsible for the mess that the Arab spring has become in many countries? That seems a bit of an overstatement. It seems like it's minimizing the role of people who are over there actually, you know, doing stuff.

He was quick to take credit for it before it went south.

 

[rambot]

He was? What did he say?

 

[LivingWordUnity]

He was? What did he say?

While Obama didn't use the exact phrase "Arab Spring" in his speech in Egypt on the subject of Arabs in the Middle East and North Africa, he used the phrase "a season of hope."

Here's a Foreign Policy article about it:

"We have the chance to show that America values the dignity of the street vendor in Tunisia more than the raw power of the dictator … America must use all our influence to encourage reform in the region … we need to speak honestly about the principles that we believe in, with friend and foe alike."

Which prominent American spoke these words? It was neither Senator John McCain, enthusiast of democracy promotion, nor former President George W. Bush, architect of the Freedom Agenda. It was our realist, pragmatic President Barack Obama, in a major speech on May 19, 2011, during the heady early months of the Arab Spring. The president argued that concentrating mainly on longstanding U.S. security interests was no longer enough. Obama declared that encouraging transitions to democracy was now a "top U.S. priority that must be translated into concrete actions and supported by all of the diplomatic, economic, and strategic tools at our disposal." He announced a three-pronged strategy for the transitioning countries: standing up firmly for democratic values, helping troubled economies, and expanding engagement beyond Arab regimes to newly-emboldened citizens. (More)​