Shocker: Isalmists In Egypt's Jihadist Spring Now Kinda-Sorta Taking Hostages

Soft power. Soft, flaccid, shriveled power.

The junta that runs Egypt has banned a group of Americans and Europeans working on democracy promotion from leaving the country, among them the son of Ray LaHood, President Obama's Transportation secretary.

Sam LaHood, the director of the International Republican Institute's (IRI) Cairo office, told the Associated Press that he was turned away at the airport last Saturday as he sought to fly out of the country. It has since emerged that a number of other employees of foreign NGOs have been barred from departing, stemming from the December raids by Egypt's ruling military on their offices, among them those of the National Democratic Institute (NDI).

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Egypt alleged that the groups were illegally funding local political groups, and seized computers, documents, and cash in the armed raid. But preventing their executives from traveling – presumably because criminal charges may be brought against them – is a major escalation.

The organizations agitate for human rights and democracy and so forth, and Egypt's junta of paranoid Islamists see this as a foreign conspiracy to inject non-Islamic thoughts into their backwards medieval horror show.

Thank Goodness Obama demanded Mubarak depart immediately, rather than oversee a year of democratic institutions-building in advance of his departure.

Meanwhile, in Syria, a massacre of up to 30 people.

A "terrifying massacre" in the restive Syrian city of Homs has killed more than 30 people, including small children, in a barrage of mortar fire and attacks by armed forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, activists said Friday.

posted by Ace at 03:24 PM

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