Muslim Protests in 20 Countries Focus on U.S. Embassies

An informative clip, from the PBS News Hour:

And at the Los Angeles Times, "Mideast violence offers reminder of 'Arab Spring' dangers":

WASHINGTON — The cascade of anti-American protests in the Middle East this week is a jolting reminder to the White House of a dangerous dimension of the "Arab Spring" revolutions: Freedom for long-suppressed Islamist groups that weak elected governments can't manage and that America can't control.

Although President Obama welcomed the uprisings that toppled authoritarian leaders like dominoes last year, attacks on U.S. missions and other protests across the Middle East and North Africa have created a deepening crisis in Washington as White House aides struggle to protect U.S. diplomats abroad, ease regional tensions and recalibrate American interests.

Violence flared again Thursday when hundreds of protesters attacked the U.S. Embassy in Yemen, Egyptian crowds scuffled with police firing tear gas, and demonstrations erupted in Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia. In Libya, police reportedly made several arrests for the assault that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans late Tuesday.

The challenge of the abrupt upheaval was clear from comments in which Obama appeared to reclassify America's view of Egypt, which is the second-largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid and has long been seen in Washington as a linchpin of peace in the Middle East.

"I don't think that we would consider them an ally, but we don't consider them an enemy," Obama told the Spanish-language network Telemundo on Wednesday. He called the relationship with Cairo "still a work in progress."

On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney downplayed those remarks. He said Obama was speaking in "diplomatic and legal terms" and that U.S. policy toward the Arab world's most populous nation had not changed.

"'Ally' is a legal term of art," Carney said during a campaign stop in Golden, Colo. "We do not have a mutual defense treaty with Egypt, like we do, for example, with our NATO allies. But as the president has said, Egypt is a long-standing and close partner of the United States, and we have built on that foundation in supporting Egypt's transition to democracy and working with the new government."

Jay Carney. Oh man.

The dude's the biggest f-king joke. A perpetual disaster machine. The most epic clusterf-k personified.

See: "White House Denies Islamic Protests Are Reaction to Obama's Foreign Policy."

Nicole Neal Rule 5

The lady's on Twitter.

Via Make Her Famous.

In Boost for Merkel, German Court Backs Euro Rescue Fund

This is interesting.

At the New York Times, "In Victory for Merkel, German Court Ruling Favors European Bailout Fund":

KARLSRUHE, Germany — The Federal Constitutional Court in Germany gave Chancellor Angela Merkel a significant victory on Wednesday in her bid to master the debt crisis that has buffeted the Continent for years and endangered its common currency, granting approval to one of the main pillars of her strategy.

With the ruling, the 17 European Union countries that use the euro will be able to move ahead with the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism, something like a Continental version of the International Monetary Fund. The mechanism will handle bailouts and work in tandem with the European Central Bank to buy the bonds of countries like Italy and Spain that are straining under high interest rates.

The court ruled that Germany could proceed with its contribution to the mechanism, but it set certain conditions, including a requirement for parliamentary approval of any increase in the agreed-upon German contribution of 190 billion euros, or about $240 billion.

The fund, with $644 billion, is intended to buoy struggling countries and help protect the common currency, an impossible mission without Germany, which has the European Union’s largest economy. Although the ruling is unlikely to still Europe’s economic crisis entirely, a rejection could have unleashed new waves of instability and thrown the fitful march toward European integration into question.

“Once again, Germany today sends a strong signal out to Europe and the world beyond,” Ms. Merkel told Parliament. “Germany is decisively true to its responsibility in Europe as the largest economy and a reliable partner.”

For Ms. Merkel, rejection by the court would have been a severe political blow. Her coalition has been weak and fragmented at home. Her leadership in Europe has helped her clamber above the domestic political fray, even if many are leery of the growing financial commitments.

The court ruling cheered investors, with the Stoxx 50 index of euro zone stocks rising 1.1 percent in morning trading to its highest point since March. The euro rose to nearly $1.29, its highest since May. On Wall Street, the major market indexes were up at the close of the trading day.

More at the link.

Must See: Kirsten Powers Slams Obama-Media Coverage of Ambassador's Death in Libya

Via Lonely Con:

BONUS: At iOWNTHEWORLD: "Kirsten Powers Gets It – How Friggin Loony Does This Make The Rest of the Left?"

Bodacious Brunette Goodness

At Egotastic, "Lucy Pinder and Holly Peers and Friends Topless for Bodacious Brunette Goodness."

'For the first time since Jimmy Carter, we’ve had an American ambassador assassinated...'

The last time an ambassador was killed was in 1979, when Ambassador Adolph Dubs was killed in Afghanistan.

The quote at the headline is from Richard Williamson, an advisor to Mitt Romney's campaign. See Philip Rucker, at the Washington Post, "Romney team sharpens attack on Obama’s foreign policy," via Hugh Hewitt on Twitter:

WaPo's @philiprucker breaks MSM omertà,reports on POTUS Egypt pratfall and Team Romney's critique without slanting washingtonpost.com/politics/decis…
— Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) September 14, 2012

Advisers to Mitt Romney on Thursday defended his sharp criticism of President Obama and said that the deadly protests sweeping the Middle East would not have happened if the Republican nominee were president.

“There’s a pretty compelling story that if you had a President Romney, you’d be in a different situation,” Richard Williamson, a top Romney foreign policy adviser, said in an interview. “For the first time since Jimmy Carter, we’ve had an American ambassador assassinated.”

Williamson added, “In Egypt and Libya and Yemen, again demonstrations — the respect for America has gone down, there’s not a sense of American resolve and we can’t even protect sovereign American property.”

The aggressive approach by Romney’s campaign thrust the issue of foreign policy to the forefront of the presidential campaign a day after the Republican candidate was widely criticized for blasting Obama while U.S. embassies in Egypt and Libya were under attack.

Criticism from Republicans over their nominee’s handling of the situation overseas quieted Thursday, with influential voices in the party’s foreign policy establishment rallying to Romney’s defense. And it was Obama who faced criticism for saying that he did not consider Egypt an ally — a comment that his administration struggled to explain.

“The president can’t even keep track of who’s our ally or not. This is amateur hour — it’s amateur hour,” said Williamson, a former assistant secretary of state and ambassador. He was among those who counseled Romney to respond aggressively on Tuesday night and was offered by the campaign to speak about the candidate’s foreign policy.

Williamson was referring to Obama’s interview Wednesday night with Telemundo in which the president said that the U.S. relationship with Egypt was a “work in progress.”

“I don’t think that we would consider them an ally, but we don’t consider them an enemy,” Obama told Telemundo. “They’re a new government that is trying to find its way.”

Administration officials tried throughout the day to parse Obama’s statement on Egypt without appearing to contradict him.

More at the link.

Charles Krauthammer: 'America in Retreat' in Middle East

Krauthammer offers a devastating critique.

From this afternoon's Fox News panel with Bret Baier, via National Review, "Krauthammer’s Take: America ‘In Retreat’ and Now ‘Irrelevant’ in Middle East."

U.S. Marines' Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team (FAST) Deployed to Sudan

We'll, who else you gonna call?

This is the third FAST company the U.S. has deployed since the uprisings broke out on Tuesday.

At Fox News, "Marines en route to Sudan to secure US Embassy":

A Marine fast team is en route to Khartoum, Sundan, to help secure the U.S. Embassy, Fox News confirms.

The move follows news that Marines arrived on the ground in Yemen to deal with the aftermath of another attack on the U.S. Embassy in the capital city of Sanaa. They arrived in addition to an earlier contingent dispatched to Tripoli.

Pentagon spokesman George Little told Fox News the team is in Yemen as a "precautionary measure."

The move comes amid reports that protesters jumped over U.S. Embassy walls in both Sudan and Tunisia. At least 3 people have been reported dead and another 28 have been wounded during the Tunisia attack, Reuters reports, citing state television. Reuters also reported that protesters set fire to trees and broke windows inside the U.S. Embassy compound in Tunis.

PREVIOUSLY: "Protesters Storm Gemany Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan."

White House Denies Islamic Protests Are Reaction to Obama's Foreign Policy

Fox News broadcast the entire return ceremony earlier at the Dover Airbase. I felt deep sadness. But I was also shocked at Hillary Clinton's comments. She said that the protests were exclusively a response to the inflammatory "Innocence of Muslims" film, and were thus not directed against U.S. policy at all, or against the American people. All those burned American flags say otherwise, not to mention all the rage we're now seeing from Cairo to Khartoum. The video has snippets from the speeches today, but see the full transcript of Secretary Clinton's comments, "Remarks at the Transfer of Remains Ceremony to Honor Those Lost in Attacks in Benghazi, Libya":

This has been a difficult week for the State Department and for our country. We’ve seen the heavy assault on our post in Benghazi that took the lives of those brave men. We’ve seen rage and violence directed at American embassies over an awful internet video that we had nothing to do with. It is hard for the American people to make sense of that because it is senseless, and it is totally unacceptable.

The people of Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Tunisia did not trade the tyranny of a dictator for the tyranny of a mob. Reasonable people and responsible leaders in these countries need to do everything they can to restore security and hold accountable those behind these violent acts. And we will, under the President’s leadership, keep taking steps to protect our personnel around the world.

There will be more difficult days ahead, but it is important that we don’t lose sight of the fundamental fact that America must keep leading the world. We owe it to those four men to continue the long, hard work of diplomacy. I am enormously proud of the men and women of the State Department. I’m proud of all those across our government, civilian and military alike, who represent America abroad. They help make the United States the greatest force for peace, progress, and human dignity the world has ever known. If the last few days teach us anything, let it be this: That this work and the men and women who risk their lives to do it are at the heart of what makes America great and good.

The key part is highlighted. The protests are allegedly a response to a video that "we had nothing to do with," which is a way to absolve the administration of any pent up anger at its policies, or any generalized anti-Americanism that Obama's policies have failed to assuage, despite the president's shameful Islamic appeasement, beginning with the stupid Cairo apology speech in 2009.

But even worse is White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, who claims that the protests were exclusively a "reaction to a video" and "not a reaction to 9/11 or US policy." See PJ Media, "Shocking Video: WH Spox Jay Carney Says Attacks are Reaction to Film, Not US Policy, and Were Not Pre-Planned." And also the Washington Times, "White House calls report ‘absolutely false,’ was not warned about Cairo attack: Says Middle East protests are against film, not Obama’s policies."

And Alana Goodman nails it, at Commentary, "Carney: Anti-Islam Video Completely to Blame for ‘Unrest’":

Even if the video fueled the protests, how did a low-budget Youtube film that nobody had heard of before last week get dubbed into Arabic and distributed around Muslim countries? The answer is fanatical Islamist leaders who used the film to incite outrage on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

And if you believe the video was the sole drive behind the protests, then why were U.S. flags replaced with the flags of al-Qaeda? Why were terrorists groups reportedly involved in organizing the protests weeks in advance — before the film even came to light?

The Obama administration does not want to talk about terrorism, because it wants to pretend it defeated terrorism by killing Osama bin Laden. They don’t want to mention al-Qaeda, unless of course it’s in the context of a drone our military dropped on one of its leaders. But as the embassy attacks illustrate, the Islamic terror threat has not disappeared. It hasn’t been vanquished by the lofty speeches of a Nobel Peace Prize-winning president, or eradicated by his policy of covert assassinations. The fact that the White House hasn’t seemed to grasp this is what made today’s briefing so tone-deaf, and so startling.

RELATED: At the New York Times reports, "Somber Ceremony as Bodies of Slain Americans Return."

Protesters Storm Gemany Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan

The New York Daily News reports, "Sudan protesters storm German embassy, raise Islamic flag."

Don't Blame 'Innocence of Muslims' — Worldwide Islamic Protests Burn From Anti-Americanism and Global Jihad

As Caroline Glick reported yesterday, the initial attacks on the U.S. missions in Egypt and Libya "weren't about a movie." The film was pushed as a cover for Islamist protests to coincide with the 11th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Below is the screencap from earlier today, at National Journal, "A Map of Muslim Protests Around the World." And there's commentary at Memeorandum.

The mainstream press continues the fiction that the "Innocence of Muslims" film sparked for protests, at the New York Times, for example, "Anti-American Protests Over Film Expand to More Than a Dozen Countries." But see Barry Rubin's analysis from Wednesday, "Egypt Kicks Sand in Obama’s Face; Obama Gives Money, Arms, and Apologies":

Egypt tells us everything we need to know about the horror of Obama’s Middle East policy. The latest development is that a group of several Salafist and jihadist groups — including the local affiliate of al-Qaeda — announced a demonstration outside the U.S. embassy. This was explained as a protest against some obscure film made in America by a mysterious man who is a crackpot or provocateur and who has told so many lies one starts to wonder whether this was all a set-up (by Islamists? Arab Christians?) to provoke riots and antisemitism.

But note well that everyone — except the Western media — understands that holding such a demonstration at the U.S. embassy in Cairo on September 11 means supporting the September 11 attack. The Egyptian government knew the time of the demonstration and the participants — it was all publicly announced — yet Egyptian security forces did not protect the embassy. And so the demonstrators scaled the wall, entered the compound, tore up the American flag, and put up the historic revolutionary flag of Islam (the eighth century black one, not the seventh century green one) in its stead. Why didn’t Egyptian security forces stop them? It was a deliberate decision no doubt taken at the highest level.

Rather than expose the phony excuse for the demonstration and condemn the Egyptian government’s behavior, the U.S. government groveled. It issued statements in English apologizing for the fact that someone had exercised his right of free speech within its country. The tweets it sent out in Arabic were even worse, pitiful pleas of the we-are-on-your-side-against-this-terrible-Islamophobia variety. And will Egypt’s failure to protect the embassy — because it is on the side of America’s enemies — have any effect on the Obama administration’s helping the Egyptian government get two German submarines (against Israel’s efforts), taking $1 billion off Egypt’s debt, and having a nice meeting with the visiting Egyptian president (while refusing to meet Israel’s prime minister, this supposedly super-pro-Israel president)? You know the answer.

This is a policy of institutionalized cowardice unprecedented in U.S. history...

Continue reading.

Expect updates...

Arab World Descends Into Further Chaos

Via Theo Spark:

'Innocence of Muslims' on Vimeo

YouTube pulled the so-called inflammatory anti-Muslim film from Egypt and Libya, and the White House is looking to have Google ban the film from YouTube altogether. See Michelle Malkin, "White House speech censors and the return of DhimmiTube." Added: From Alana Goodman, at Commentary, "WH Asks YouTube to Pull Anti-Islam Video."

But here's a copy at Vimeo for posterity:

And check the Los Angeles Times, "Charity, Ex-Con Linked to Islam Film."

Kate Middleton Topless!

At London's Daily Mail, "Photographs of Kate Middleton topless is a blatant invasion of privacy. But the French will see it differently..."

And at Independent UK, "Royals launch legal action after topless Kate Middleton photographs in French Closer magazine."

And Egotastic's server is getting slammed, but the photos loaded after a couple of tries: "Kate Middleton Topless in Closer Magazine! Somebody Snapped My Future Baby Mama Topless!"

And don't forget, Robert Stacy McCain's the inspiration for these gratuitous traffic slumming entries, "Ye Merry Olde Upskirt Traffic."

Added: At Scallywag and Vagabond, "NSFW: Kate Middleton naked nude pictures published. What now?"

More: At Evil Blogger Lady, "Kate Middleton topless photos? French magazine Closer publishes them. Rule 5 Britannia! Update: Reports of outraged Brits storming French embassy in protest!"

Still More: Robert Stacy McCain hops on board, "The Royal Pair: Why Are You Googling for ‘Kate Middleton Topless,’ You Sick Freaks?"

Christopher Stevens: Devoured by a Monster He Helped Create

From Robert Spencer's essay, at FrontPage Magazine:

What happened to Stevens is a microcosm of what is happening to the country in general. Christopher Stevens, after aiding the Libyan jihadists, ended up being tortured and murdered by them. And with this murder the Obama administration’s folly in aiding the “Arab Spring” uprisings is laid bare. Just as Stevens rushed to Libya to aid the forces that ended up murdering him, so also the U.S. rushed to aid rebels in Egypt and Syria, as well as Libya, thereby installing regimes that are proving to be much, much more anti-American than those they supplanted. The monster unleashed in the Arab Spring has already begun to devour its chief benefactor.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Christopher Stevens “will be remembered as a hero by many nations. He risked his life to stop a tyrant then gave his life trying to help build a better Libya. The world needs more Chris Stevenses.”

And the world will get them. Lenin never feared there would be a shortage of capitalists ready to sell the communists the rope they would use to hang them. And now, even despite this brutal murder, there is no shortage of diplomats in Washington, ready to show their nation’s good will and bestow its largesse among those who will stab them in the back as soon as they turn in the other direction. If our nation continues indefinitely down this road, the entire country will eventually suffer the fate of Christopher Stevens, writ large.

Obama's Middle East Policies Have Failed

At Der Spiegel, "The World from Berlin: 'Obama's Middle East Policy Is in Ruins'" (via Memeorandum):

US embassies in the Muslim world were on high alert Friday following days of violent protests against an anti-Islam film. Germany, too, closed several embassies in fear of attacks. Some German commentators argue that the violence shows that Obama's Middle East policies have failed.

The conservative Die Welt writes:

"US President Barack Obama's Middle East policy is in ruins. Like no president before him, he tried to win over the Arab world. After some initial hesitation, he came out clearly on the side of the democratic revolutions. … In this context, he must accept the fact that he has snubbed old close allies such as Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Egyptian military. And now parts of the freed societies are turning against the country which helped bring them into being. Anti-Americanism in the Arab world has even increased to levels greater than in the Bush era. It's a bitter outcome for Obama."

"Obama was naive to believe that one only needed to adopt a new tone and show more respect in order to dispel deep-seated reservations about the free world. In practice, the policies of the Obama administration in the region were not as naive as they may have seemed at times, and the Americans have always been much more involved in the Middle East than the passive Europeans. But Washington has provided the image of a distracted superpower in the process of decline to the societies there. This image of weakness is being exploited by Salafists and al-Qaida, who are active in North Africa from Somalia to Mali."

"One thing is clear: If jihadists believe they can attack American installations and kill an ambassador on the anniversary of Sept. 11, then America's deterrent power has declined considerably. For a superpower, it is not enough just to want to be loved. You have to scare the bad guys to keep them in check."

Read it all.

More at Memeorandum. And Maggie's Notebook, "German Die Welt: For SuperPower – Not Enough to Want to be Loved: US Image of Weakness Exploited by Salafists al-Qaeda."

PHOTO CREDIT: Atlas Shrugs, "MIDDLE EAST ISLAMIC PROTESTS AGAINST FREEDOM EXPECTED TO EXPLODE TOMORROW AFTER FRIDAY PRAYERS 'DEMONSTRATIONS OF MILLIONS OF MUSLIMS' 'OUR FIRST DEMAND IS TO BURN THE EMBASSY AND EXPEL THE AMBASSADOR'."

Blood Stains: Pictures From Benghazi Consulate Indicate Horror of Final Moments Before Death (PHOTOS)

At London's Daily Mail, "Bloody hand prints, stolen documents and shocking security failings: Harrowing pictures inside crumbling U.S. consulate in Benghazi after attacks that left ambassador and three others dead." And, "Safe house where Ambassador died had no Marine guard and his body was missing for five hours: Full scale of chaos surrounding Libyan killings revealed." (Photos at the links.)

And at Gateway Pundit, "Bloody Hand Prints at Consulate Reveal Americans Were Dragged From Building Before Their Death." (Via Gateway Pundit.)

Katherine Heigl Steps Out in Plunging Black Dress for Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute Gala

She's a sweetie.

At London's Daily Mail, "Taking the plunge: Katherine Heigl shows off her considerable assets in a VERY low cut dress as she attends charity event."

Islam's Black Flag Flies Over U.S. Embassy in Egypt

From Raymond Ibrahim, at FrontPage Magazine:

The United States embassy of Egypt is under siege. According to Fox News:

“Mainly ultraconservative Islamist protesters climbed the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Egypt’s capital Tuesday and brought down the flag, replacing it with a black flag with an Islamic inscription to protest a video attacking Islam’s prophet, Muhammad. Hundreds of protesters marched to the embassy in downtown Cairo …. Dozens of protesters then scaled the embassy walls, went into the courtyard and took down the flag from a pole. They brought it back to the crowd outside, which tried to burn it, but failing that, tore it apart. The protesters on the wall then raised on the flagpole a black flag with the Muslim declaration of faith on it, ‘There is no god but God and Muhammad is his prophet.’ The flag, similar to the banner used by al-Qaida, is commonly used by ultraconservatives around the region…. By evening, the protest grew with thousands standing outside the embassy, chanting ‘Islamic, Islamic. The right of our prophet will not die.’ A group of women in black veils and robes that left only their eyes exposed chanted, ‘Worshippers of the Cross, leave the Prophet Muhammad alone.’”

Some clarifications for context: Islam’s black flag with the shehada and sword inscription is not an al-Qaeda banner but rather Islam’s most ancient banner, popularized by the Abbasid caliphs in the 800s. In other words, these protesters were not imitating al-Qaeda; rather they—and al-Qaeda—are imitating Islam’s heritage, replete with jihad against the infidel. Same with the phrase “worshippers of the cross”—Islam’s ancient appellation for the hated Christians.

The reason behind this latest rampage is Muslim outrage over the appearance of a film deemed offensive about the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Apparently it depicts him inciting jihads, deceiving people, and exercising his libido—not unlike what is recorded in Islam’s own authoritative biographies and hadiths of the prophet. It is not exactly clear who made the video, though Egyptian expatriates and Copts are being accused, possibly in conjunction with Pastor Terry Jones. In other words, the reason for this latest bit of Muslim outrage is once again the issue of free speech—in the same camp of Danish Muhammad cartoons, burned Korans, and any number of other freedoms of expression exercised by non-Muslims, and even Muslims.

The U.S.’s formal response to this terror campaign against its embassy and the desecration of the American flag has, once again, been to lay the blame on free speech...

Continue reading.

And Caroline Glick updates the background on the so-called spontaneous outrage over the anti-Islam video, "Attacks on U.S. Embassies Were Not About a Movie":

The attack in Libya was well planned and executed. It wasn’t about a spontaneous protest against some ridiculous internet movie of Muhammad. The assailants came armed to the teeth, with among other things, RPG 7s. They knew that the US Ambassador was in Benghazi rather than Tripoli. They knew how to track his movements, and were able to strike against him after he and his colleagues left the consulate building and tried to flee in a car. As Israel Channel 2′s Arab Affairs Correspondent Ehud Yaari noted this evening, you don’t often see well trained terrorists participating in protests of movies.

Then there is the attack in Cairo. They were led by Mohammad Zawahiri – Ayman Zawahiri’s brother. According the Thomas Josclyn in the Weekly Standard, the US media has been idiotically presenting him as some sort of moderate despite the fact that in an interview with Al Jazeerah he said said, “We in al Qaeda…”

Egypt’s US supported Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi recently released Zawahiri from Egyptian prison. The same Barack Obama who has no time in his schedule to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu next week in New York, is scheduled to meet Morsi.

The Egyptian government has not condemned the attack on the US Embassy in Cairo. But Morsi is demanding that the US government prosecute the film’s creator.

You may be wondering how some movie no one’s heard of has caused such a hullabaloo. Well, as it turns out, the film was screened on an Egyptian Salafist television channel. Obviously the Salafists — many of whom, like Zawahiri were released from prison by Morsi, wanted to stir up anti-US violence on the eve of 9/11. So if the film is responsible for the violence, a finger needs to be pointed to its chief distributor — Al Qaida’s Egyptian friends and members.

With these facts in hand, it is clear that the attempts to present these acts of war against the US as the consequence of some stupid nothing movie are obscene attempts to deflect the blame for these unwarranted attacks onto their victims and away from their perpetrators.

Erin Andrews and the Hottest Sportscasters

At Bleacher Report.