To continue ranting about drivers in LA, on Sunday it was raining in Los Angeles (or what Seattleites call “sprinkling”) and I was rear ended at a red light. Luckily, there wasn’t any damage to me or the car but Seriously LA?! Water decreases friction and you have to brake earlier! I wasn’t even braking at the light; I had been stopped for several seconds, looking over directions. But I can’t complain too much; I’ve seen the chaos that ensues from a few inches of snowfall in Seattle.
Super Bowl XVV
This is a tremendous matchup and, like most people in Washington (and Arizona), I’ll be cheering against the Steelers. While this is usually based on a hate-filled, revenge seeking contempt for their entire organization, this year I have the added bonus of actually caring about the other team! When the Steelers faced Arizona for the Super Bowl in 2008, my hatred for those dirty cheaters (they had to have paid off the refs! There is no other explanation for why the Seahawks got so completely shafted) was in direct conflict with my unwillingness to see one of the Hawks division rivals succeed where they had failed (I mean, come on. Who really wants the Arizona Cardinals to have won more Super Bowls than the Seattle Seahawks?). But this season I’ve watched the Green Bay Packers on multiple occasions and must say that I like their team a lot, which is why they are my pick to win. Packer’s QB Aaron Rodgers is a budding superstar and a win in the sport’s biggest game would cement that title. Plus, he’s never been accused of rape.
I think Pittsburgh has too many injuries, including their entire offensive line and reigning AP Defensive Player of the Year, Troy Polamalu, who missed a few tackles against the Ravens that I have to assume he makes if he’s 100% (on a side note, I have a theory that Polamalu’s strength derives from his hair like Sampson and that at some point it will allow him to simply force balls out of the air like Zoolander’s “Magnum” stopping Mugatu’s throwing star from killing the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Yes that is a biblical reference and a Ben Stiller movie in the same joke not mentioning how a fourth Fockers movie was predicted in Revelations as a sign of the apocalypse). They also have fairly young and inexperienced receivers, who have played well so far in the playoffs, but who I just don’t trust. They do have the league’s best defense (assuming Polamalu is healthy) that will no doubt give the Packers some trouble, but their offense pales in comparison to Green Bay’s, especially since the Packers have finally found a suitable running back in James Starks, who is in the “drafted in the sixth round” club with Tom Brady and Matt Hasselbeck. Starks has torn up defenses in the postseason for 263 yards in three games. But the Steelers only gave up an average of 62.8 rushing yards/game, top in the NFL. Pittsburgh was only ranked twelfth in receiving yards allowed, a statistic that will benefit the Packers. Aaron Rodgers has one of the most talented groups of receivers in the game, including veterans Donald Driver and Gregg Jennings, who have 53 and 40 career touchdowns, respectively, all for Green Bay. They also have two young, talented WRs in James Jones and Jordy Nelson along with young fullback John Kuhn (btw, if you hear the crowd start booing while Green Bay is on offense, it’s very likely that they’re actually yelling “Kuuuuuuuuuuuuhn” after he’s made a big play and it sounds like “booooooooooo,” much like former Mariners’ star Rauuuuuuuuuul Ibanez). The Pack is stacked on offense and it will be great to see them face off versus the Steelers’ D.
The best offensive weapon that the Steelers have is Ben Roethlisberger, who is equally adept at escaping from d-linemen as from prosecution for criminal actions.
Aside
I have condemned Rapelisberger for his actions on multiple occasions in this blog. Not that I should have to excuse my disapproval of a rapist, but I thought I’d at least explain why I hate him more than, say, Michael Vick. First off, he’s a Steeler, and thus my vitriol for him is more intense than if he played for Kansas City or Tampa Bay. Secondly, he continually gets away with atrocious behavior, seemingly without reprimand. Since winning the Super Bowl in 2006, he has crashed his motorcycle and been accused of sexual assault twice. Because of these incidents, Big Ben was forced to miss the first four games of the NFL season and shave his head so he didn’t look like any more of a sexual deviant.
In the same span, Michael Vick, the other villain in the league (not including a certain Wrangler-wearing QB, whose continued presence in the NFL should be a crime), served 21 months in prison and missed two whole seasons and served a third as a backup, for his involvement in a dog fighting organization. While I do not condone forcing dogs to fight, I’m also in the camp of assuming that any crime committed against a human is more severe than one against an animal (sorry PETA). Which leads to my third point, instead of enforcing the idea that his four game suspension was a punishment, analysts have been admiring Roethlisberger as if he was unjustly punished and the four games were an obstacle for him to overcome en-route to the Super Bowl? Instead of demonizing him, sports reporters have been praising him! Mike Vick served a legitimate sentence for his crimes and had to fight back to become not just a star, but to be respected. But all Big Ben has to do is miss four games and not be allowed to practice with the team (oh, how he suffered!) and he’s considered a hero for leading Pittsburg to the Super Bowl. If Rapelisberger shows genuine sorrow for his actions and sympathy for his victims, doesn’t have another violation, and agrees to some sort of real sentencing like community outreach, then maybe I could respect him. But probably not because he’ll still be a Steeler.
End Aside
With all of Pittsburgh’s hopes leaning on Big Ben passing behind an unstable line, I just cannot give the Steelers any shot at victory. They would basically need their defense to play flawlessly, which includes a couple of turnovers that establish great field position for the offense. I’m very doubtful that Rodgers makes any huge mistakes and definitely won’t make multiples, so I’m predicting that the Green Bay Packers will beat the Pittsburgh Steelers: 27-21.
Crisis in Egypt
With the recent demonstrations taking place in Egypt, I decided it would be helpful to ask my friend Mohamed to help inform you readers about what was currently happening in his home country. I met Mohamed during his time studying abroad at the University of Washington, where he joined my fraternity, Kappa Sigma, and was my Little Bro. He is currently studying in Italy (he speaks Egyptian, English, and Italian) but even though he’s not experiencing the events first-hand, he does have a unique perspective to present. I certainly learned a lot more about the issues involved than I had known previously. So I sent Mohamed a few questions and posted his responses.
Introduce yourself for my readers.
Hi everyone, my name is Mohamed EL-Naggar and I’m 23 years old student from Egypt. I’m currently completing my Masters in International Relations at Universita Cattolica in Milan, Itay. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the American University in Cairo with a concentration on International Law, International Relations and a minor in Economics. I also took part in various study abroad programs; the most relevant was in 2006-2007 at the University of Washington, Seattle.
1.Addressing an American audience, describe what has been happening in Egypt. What the history is of the region and of Egypt’s government? What started this revolution? and what the Egyptian people want)
Let me give you a little brief history about Egypt and its president for your further understanding of the current situation. Egypt was once colonized by the British Empire and it gained its independence in 1952 through a military coup by the Egyptian army led by Gammal Abdel Nasser who later became the president of Egypt. One thing that you should know that after this revolution/military coup is the only thing that has changed in terms of politics in Egypt was the fact that an Egyptian leader ruled it for the first time in years. However, the Egyptian political arena remained pretty much the same as it was before the revolution. It continued being a heavily armed police state, with an authoritarian regime and a cabinet composed of mainly the military leaders of the 1952 coup. After Gamal’s death he was followed by President Sadaat, most famous for the Camp David accords at which Egypt, also for the first time, recognized and established peace with Israel. At this point Mubarak was appointed to vice president of Sadaat and later became the president after Sadaat was assassinated in 1981.
For more information on the history of Mubarak coming to power please watch this:
Since 1981 Mubarak has been the president of Egypt a reign of more than 30 years. During his initial reign, Mubarak was doing quite well, however the man wouldn’t step down after two terms as he initially promised and he amended the constitution so it became virtually impossible for anyone to fit the criteria to run for elections except for him. He crashed all the opposition groups and kept the country under a state of “Emergency Law” since it was first established in 1967. This law allows the police to arrest and detain anyone, at any time, for security reasons without any sort of warrants or court orders. In 30 years Egypt has witnessed hyperinflation rates, corruption, high levels of unemployment, poverty and underdevelopment, were more than 45 % of the population lives under the poverty line. Economically, big business tycoons in Egypt who mostly have a close relation to the president or his sons control the Business. In terms of human rights, the regime controls the media; the government controls the two biggest Egyptian newspapers, members of opposition groups or anti-Mubarak journalists are often detained for years, and anyone that speaks against the president is regularly charged with conspiracy and treason.
Recently, Egypt had its parliament elections in December 2010 and the president’s ruling party won about 86% of the seats in parliament. Before the elections, hundreds opposing him were arrested and detained for “security reasons”. During the elections, hundreds of videos spread all over Facebook showing the fraud that took place during the elections and people called for a re-election but nothing took place. The president and his party controlled both the parliament and the executive branch, thus being able to pass any legislate bills as they wished without any opposition groups able to interfere.
The revolution started due to a domino effect that took place after the recent events in Tunisia. A week earlier, before the events of January 25th in Egypt, mass protests took place in Tunisia that called for president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to step down after 23 years in power, eventually the president stepped down and the prime minister became the interim president of the country.
Following this event, the Egyptian people organized a mass protest on January 25th calling for the president to step down and leave the country; the protests grew larger everyday as millions marched the streets calling for democracy and for the president to leave once and for all.
For a timeline of what happened in the past twelve days please read this:
2. Why should Americans be interested in this situation? How does it affect America? What do Egyptians expect from American assistance?
The situation in Egypt is very critical to the Western world, especially to the US, for various reasons. For one, Egypt has been the biggest Arab ally to the U.S since the reign of president Sadaat and previously Nasser. As mentioned earlier, Egypt was also the first country to recognize and establish peace with Israel, the biggest US ally in the Middle East. Egypt is the second highest recipient of US aid, mostly military aid, averaging around 1.5 billion US dollars a year. Egypt and Omar Suleiman, the head of the Egyptian Intelligence who was recently promoted to vice president by President Mubarak, have played a significant role over the past two decades in the peace talks between Palestine and Israel. Egypt is the head of the Arab League and a major player in Middle Eastern politics, hence the lack of stability in Egypt would create a magnificent domino effect on the neighboring countries, which has already taken place in Jordan and Yemen, were people started revolting against their own authoritarian governments in reaction to what took place in Egypt. Furthermore, Egypt boarders Israel, hence any lack of security on the Egyptian borders would threaten Israeli’s security. Moreover, Egypt controls the Suez Canal, which is the only marine point that allows for the transfer of vessels from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, connecting two of the largest oceans to one another.
At the moment, the U.S is in a very big political dilemma. For years the U.S has supported the Mubarak’s regime even though the regime has been well known to be corrupt and undemocratic, yet the U.S legitimized its support for the regime by manipulating the fact and claiming that the only alternative to Mubarak is militant Islamic groups, which for the first time American can now see is not the case. Average Egyptians are fed up with the system and are not the militant people that the U.S has portrayed then as for years. The dilemma, in that sense, is for the U.S to either choose to support its long existing ally or to support the people’s call for democracy. Additionally, the U.S has to maintain an unbiased position on the issue; if it was to support one side over another, this would be perceived as U.S interference in the region that could damage US-Arab relations that the US has established over decades. Yet the people of Egypt are angry that the U.S is not taking any a firm stance in terms of this issue, since America has a strong lobbying mechanism over Egypt: “the US aid” that could be used to pressure Mubarak to relinquish his power to the Egyptian people.
The current situation in Egypt is also very critical for the next US presidential elections; for instance both Senator John Kerry and Senator McCain asked for Mubarak to step down, which is clearly a political move from the Senators to undermine Barack’s position within the next elections and to show that they support democracy and not just a specific regime.
3. In some American news coverage, the demonstrations have been called riots. Others have called it protests or even a revolution. How would you describe the way people have taken to the streets?
This is mainly related to what I have mentioned earlier, the American media has always portrayed the Middle East as region controlled by militant groups hence the use of words such as “riots” or “revolution” merely depends on the news channel and what kind of image it’s trying to portray. Also this could be seen clearly in how the U.S media has always labeled Al-Jazeera as a biased news channel, which is not the case at all.
Indeed this was a revolution by the Egyptian people. For the first time, protests in Egypt consisted of every class of society. Men, women, and children, from all religions, social classes and backgrounds, marched together calling for the president to step down. This was the first time in the history of Egypt since 1919 that such mass protests took place; this was a revolution of the people that were united for one cause, people were not afraid for the first time in their lives. They did not care whether they lived or died, all they cared about was this one unified cause: a call for democracy, a call for freedom.
4. How has the revolution grown in the past few weeks? Are people becoming more violent? Have they become more unified, fighting for a common goal? Who is in danger of being hurt?
The revolution has grown much bigger since it first started. It has become violent in the last couple of days, however, because of a manipulative move that took place by the regime not wanting to let go of power. Hired thugs and ex-police officers came to the streets riding camels and horses to “Tahrir Square” and started attacking the peaceful pro-democracy protestors, they called themselves “pro-Mubarak” but it was clear from the few of them that were captured that they had police ID’s or they were paid by the government to promote chaos, trying to change international opinion that this is no longer a revolution, but a confrontation between two different groups. The government has also resorted to shutting down the internet, telephone lines, satellite channels, while showing fake videos of peaceful Cairo on its national television while people were in the street being beaten up by thugs on camels and horses. However, the past two days the protests were back to being peaceful after most of the thugs were caught or disarmed by the Egyptian Army.
For details about the protests from a first person point of view please read the Sand Monkey’s blog, whom is one of the most popular bloggers in Egypt.
5. President Mubarak has offered to resign after his term is complete. Is this enough of a concession? Or will the Egyptian people settle for nothing short of complete democracy? If you wait until the end of his term, do you fear he will just try and maintain control, making this a now-or-never scenario?
This is indeed not enough of a concession, the man has promised too many things in the past 30 years, yet nothing has changed during his reign. People want a new regime; they want a fresh and clean start. Mubarak is not the issue, but he is the symbol of corruption and for that he cannot be trusted. The people of Egypt don’t want promises, but rather actions; they want the president to step down, they want a new government to be formed and they want to know that for once their demands have been answered. Indeed if Mubarak stays nothing will really change, allowing the leeches that exist within his regime to survive for another 6 month means new methods of corruption and manipulation that will eventually take Egypt from one Mubarak to another and that’s not what people want. They want something new that they can create with their own hands and they are fed up of hearing promises that has gotten them nowhere thus far.
6. What do you ultimately hope will be the result of your country’s struggle? What is the goal?
I hope that the president steps down and his power is delegated to his vice president. Also, that an interim government formed from a collation of opposition groups takes over and the parliament gets dismantled and the constitution reformed with future parliament elections taking place under the supervision of the juridical branch. And finally, I hope that by next November presidential elections take place electing a new president.
For anyone that would like to know more about what’s happening in Egypt, please watch Al-Jazeera or BBC, they both have an amazing coverage of what’s going on in Egypt, bias-free.
That's it for this week. Thanks a lot to Mohamed for his contribution and if you have any questions for him, I would be glad to pass them along and possibly include them here next week. Go Packers!
This post was so informative! Thanks Nick and Mohamed. Hopefully things in Egypt will calm down soon.
ReplyDeleteI want the Packers to win but think the Steelers take it. I have reasoning, but it's too long to fit in this comment!