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Go Home Why Won’t Morsi Back Down? Read His Resume

PLANK NOVEMBER 30, 2012

Why Won’t Morsi Back Down? Read His Resume

BY ERIC TRAGER

From the moment that tens of thousands of Egyptians took to the streets to protest President Mohamed Morsi’s power-grabbing constitutional declaration, western journalists largely assumed that Morsi would back down. From their vantage point, criticism of Morsi’s move from within his own government, threats of judicial strikes, and the sheer magnitude of popular anger could force Morsi, in the words of The New York Times, “to engage in the kind of give and take that democratic government requires.” So when Morsi met with judges on Monday evening and promised that his newly declared powers only applied to ill-defined “acts of sovereignty,” both the Times and The Washington Post reported that Morsi had accepted limits on his power. 

But it was not to be: Morsi’s assurances were only verbal and, as his colleagues in the Muslim Brotherhood emphasized, the original declaration remained unchanged. And rather than conceding anything, Morsi doubled down on Wednesday, commanding the Islamist-dominated constitution-writing body, which non-Islamists had almost entirely abandoned, to finish its work within 24 hours despite secularists’ mounting protests.

Nobody should have expected otherwise, because Morsi’s political biography suggests that he is not a compromiser. Prior to last year’s uprising and his subsequent emergence as Egypt’s first civilian president, Morsi was the Muslim Brotherhood’s chief internal enforcer within the Guidance Office, steering the organization in a more hardline direction ideologically while purging the Brotherhood of individuals who disagreed with his approach.

In this vein, Morsi led the Brotherhood’s 2007 efforts to draft a political platform that called for restricting the Egyptian presidency to Muslim men and establishing a council of Islamic scholars to approve all legislation for its sharia-compliance. When Brotherhood youths blogged their disapproval with these provisions, Morsi reprimanded them sternly, and some of them abandoned the Brotherhood shortly thereafter. Two years later, when deputy supreme guide Mohamed Habib and longtime Brotherhood leader Abdel Monem Abouel Fotouh advocated for more open political procedures within the executive Guidance Office, Morsi purged them as well.

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While Morsi’s bare-knuckles approach alienated Muslim Brothers who wanted the organization to remain focused on dawa, or Islamic preaching and the provision of social services, it impressed those Brotherhood leaders who wanted the organization to undertake a more political role. Known as Qutbists for their adherence to radical Brotherhood theorist Sayyid Qutb’s politicized interpretation of Islam, these Brotherhood leaders emphasize “the necessity of developing a detached vanguard that focuses on recruitment and empowering the organization,” according to former Muslim Brother Ibrahim El-Houdaiby. Though generally distancing themselves from Qutb’s embrace of violent jihad, Brotherhood Qutbists view ideological uniformity as essential to the Brotherhood’s efficient pursuit of power, and therefore embraced Morsi’s anti-pluralistic policies by giving him important political responsibilities.

For example, in 2007, the Qutbists appointed Morsi to handle its dealings with the Mubarak regime’s repressive state security apparatus, apparently believing that his ideological rigidity and prickly demeanor towards outsiders would make him unlikely to concede anything. “Mohamed Morsi has very good security relations,” Habib, the former deputy supreme guide, told me during a March 2011 interview. “State Security likes a connection point who has the confidence of various Brothers, and [top Brotherhood leaders] pushed for him.”  In this capacity, Morsi negotiated the Brotherhood’s participation in the 2010 parliamentary elections, when he defied the regime by withdrawing the Brotherhood’s candidates during the second round of the elections to protest the regime’s rigging. Morsi also represented the Brotherhood in a meeting with then-vice-president Omar Suleiman during last year’s anti-Mubarak, ultimately joining the other attendees in refusing to end the protests until Mubarak resigned. “Our basic position is with the people: that [the] president should step down,” Morsi told me at the time in a phone interview. “This is our bottom line.”

Following Mubarak’s February 2011 ouster, the Guidance Office named Morsi chairman of the Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice Party (FJP). In this capacity, Morsi worked to ensure that the newly formed party had virtually universal support among the Brotherhood’s cadres. Thus, in the spring of 2011, Morsi successfully pushed for the ouster of Brotherhood youths who wanted the organization to stay away from electoral politics. “There are people who think they’re the temple guards,” Muslim Brotherhood youth Islam Lotfy told me in March 2011, just before Morsi purged him. “He cares a lot about the system, more than the people.”

As FJP chairman, Morsi’s uncompromising demeanor proved vital to the nascent party’s success. Despite initially forming a political coalition with approximately forty other parties, Morsi stubbornly insisted that FJP candidates run for 40 percent of the coalition’s seats. The coalition crumbled as a result, allowing the FJP to run its candidates for approximately 77 percent of the parliamentary seats, and it ultimately won a 47-percent-seat parliamentary plurality.

Of course, Morsi tried to appear more outreach-oriented during his brief presidential campaign. Thus, in the week before the elections results were announced declaring him president, Morsi met with a broad spectrum of non-Islamist leaders and revolutionary youths, and promised to rule collaboratively, including by appointing female and Christian vice-presidents. But unsurprisingly, Morsi declined to deliver: he ultimately surrounded himself with Brotherhood-affiliated advisers and filled his cabinet primarily with Muslim Brothers and non-ideological technocrats.

Morsi is also unlikely to compromise because of his intimate familiarity with the Brotherhood’s unparalleled mobilizing capabilities. Specifically, the Brotherhood is structured such that its Guidance Office can direct thousands of five-to-eight-person cells known as “families,” which are situated in practically every Egyptian neighborhood, to any location that it chooses. During last year’s revolution, this structure was vital to ensuring a mass Brotherhood turnout at the uprising’s most pivotal moments, and Morsi himself was responsible for commanding Brotherhood cadres’ activities within Tahrir Square. The Brotherhood remains extremely confident that it can overwhelm its current opponents, and Morsi is unlikely to respond to protests that his own supporters can exceed.

This is, in fact, precisely what the Muslim Brotherhood will do on Saturday, when it will unite with Salafist organizations and hold a mass demonstration in front of Cairo University. For Morsi, the Islamists’ inevitably impressive turnout will likely affirm his claim that “around 90 percent” of Egyptians support him, and validate his attempt to rush the Islamist-drafted constitution to a national referendum. But for Morsi’s secularist opponents, the Islamists’ mass mobilization to support a naked power grab represents a call to arms, and they are bracing for the worst.

No matter what happens, it can’t end well. The imposition of autocratic rule never does.

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78 comments

TNR provides a valuable service in presenting Trager's informed reporting and Paul Berman's earlier analyses of Sayed Qutb and MB ideology. Unfortunately, much mainstream reporting has allowed hope to triumph over the Brotherhood's history and ideology. I wonder if official Washington understood who they were dealing with.

- amidut

November 30, 2012 at 1:29pm

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" I wonder if official Washington understood who they were dealing with." I'm going to go with yes. I am however, wondering if most people understand the limits of Washington's power to enforce it's wishes or desires in situations like this.

- Nari224

November 30, 2012 at 3:50pm

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agree with what amidut wrote. Maybe Trager should head the CIA? btw, congratulations to Trager, whose previous TNR.com post on 'Morsi as moderate' is still one of the "most-read last seven days" at Real Clear Politics. May his clear insights into Morsi and the MB get echo upon echo. I do wonder what the Saudis think about this since they are the only source of enough money to keep Egypt's economy from completely collapsing. Unless Egypt seizes Libya's oil fields.

- K2K

November 30, 2012 at 5:13pm

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To that extent, it's still worth keeping in mind that Morsi has almost certainly now discovered that he's the president of a country whose central institutions, especially in the military and security area, are dependent upon the United States to keep going.

- ironyroad

November 30, 2012 at 5:25pm

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"Protests raging in Egypt over draft constitution approval" by Chen Cong "CAIRO, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Egyptians flocked Friday to central Cairo's Tahrir square joining a "million-man" protest dubbed "the victim's dream," hours after a draft constitution was rushed through by the Constituent Assembly (CA). Earlier, some civil, liberal and leftist parties had announced a rally Friday to protest against the new constitutional declaration issued by President Mohamed Morsi last week, uncovering the reality that the Egypt's transition period is still prevailed by divisions and conflicts between the presidency and the judicial system as well as between the civil forces and Islamic forces. The new constitutional declaration stipulated that all laws, decrees and constitutional declarations issued by the president since June 30, 2012, when he assumed office, are final and unchallengeable by anybody...." http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-12/01/c_132011302.htm Morsi is proceeding with the MB power grab.

- arnon1

November 30, 2012 at 6:40pm

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Morsi thinks he has Washington in the palm of his hand, because if they don't pay up, he will start fiddling with the peace treaty. It's not as if he is emotionally or cerebrally incapable of countenancing mass immiseration for his population. It is America and the West that can't bear to think about such a human disaster. It's a very strange and unnatural state of affairs.

- Noga

November 30, 2012 at 7:42pm

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"Army Powers Enshrined in Egypt’s New Islamist Constitution" "The bad news is that Egypt’s constitutional assembly is rushing to finish a deeply flawed document. The good news is that it probably doesn’t mean much; most constitutions around the world tend to be paper documents which the powerful use when convenient and work around when they’re not. That’s long been the Egyptian tradition and there are few signs this will change." http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2012/11/30/army-powers-enshrined-in-egypts-new-islamist-constitution/ I doubt the army will let him go to war.

- arnon1

November 30, 2012 at 7:44pm

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Washington can and will, under the right conditions, turn off the money.

- arnon1

November 30, 2012 at 7:45pm

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US aid to Egypt is less than $3BIL/yr, and most of that is for military, including hardware and spare parts. Qatar can't subsidize Egypt - only Saudi Arabia has that much extra money. The IMF has the most clout, and the proposed loan terms include removing some key subsidies that, if implemented by Morsi, probably means rioting. Adding a reminder of the linkage between Arab Nationalism and National Socialism (although I would include the relationship between Germany and Arab muslims goes back to Germany's earlier challenge to the British Empire as covered in Peter Hopkirk's 1994 history "Like Hidden Fire") "A few notable anniversaries on the Palestinians' big day" Caroline Glick November 29, 2012, 8:44 AM "...On November 28, 1941 the religious and political leader of the Palestinian Arabs and one of the most influential leaders of the Arab world Haj Amin el Husseini met with Adolf Hitler in Berlin. Husseini had courted the Nazis since just after the Nazis rose to power in 1933. Husseini was forced to flee the British Mandate in 1937 when he expanded his fourth terror war against the Jews, that he began in 1936 to include the British as well. He fled to Lebanon, and then in October 1939 he fled to Iraq. In April 1941 he fomented a pro-Nazi coup in Iraq. As the British -- with massive unheralded assistance from the Jews from the land of Israel -- were poised to enter Baghdad and restore the pro-British government, Husseini incited the Farhud, a 3-day pogrom against the Jews of Baghdad that took place over the festival of Shavuot. 150 Jews were murdered. A thousand were wounded and 900 Jewish homes were destroyed. With the coup defeated and the Jews murdered, Husseini escaped to then pro-Nazi Iran and then in October to Germany by way of Italy. ... In 1946, as his fellow Nazi war criminals were being tried in Nuremberg, Husseini made a triumphant return to Egypt where he was welcomed as a war hero by King Farouk, the Muslim Brotherhood and the young officers in the Egyptian army who fused Nazi national socialism with the Islamism of the Muslim Brotherhood and took over Egypt after deposing Farouk in 1951. ..." http://www.carolineglick.com/e/2012/11/a-few-notable-anniversaries-on.php [I do not know how Egyptians can look at this guy!]

- K2K

November 30, 2012 at 9:34pm

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I'm curious about a new ballet, The Egyptian Vacillation, with music and dancers. Four acts: 1) the rigid but functionally secular dynasty supported by the U.S. is faced with democratic protests, and caves; 2) the Islamist movement swings into action in the wake of the protests' victory, and runs for political office, aiming for a populist tone and counting on the fact of a conservative country outside Cairo and a couple of other urban centers; 3) the new Islamist leadership, pushed by a base eager for some kind of confrontation with Israel, discovers however that the economy is a shaky bridge over troubled water, and that the decision to go e.g. the Iran route can have profound consequences; the new president has long conversations with Obama; a significant segment of the opposition movement of 2011 doesn't share Morsi's opinion of himself; 4) ??????????????????????????????

- ironyroad

December 1, 2012 at 4:03am

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maybe opera, so we can have arias in arabic. just not sure how to stage the camels waiting for the tourists who never come. oops. news.google only has 1,244 hits on the MB counter-protest in Tahrir Square versus 6,715 on Israel planning 3,000 new apartments in Jerusalem.

- K2K

December 1, 2012 at 7:15am

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ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL Treating Gazans in Israeli hospitals. Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center is taking care of a baby girl in the nephrology department, two children in oncology and an adult in urology. Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem has six Gazan patients. At Tel Hashomer a Gaza girl is in the same room as a boy injured from a Hamas rocket. http://www.jpost.com/Health/Article.aspx?id=292503 Still supplying Gaza. Unbelievable – whilst Gaza terrorists were firing hundreds of rockets at Israeli civilians, Israel was still sending in truckloads of food and medical supplies. Israel provides Gazans with five million cubic meters of water every day and 125 megawatts of electricity from the power station in Ashkelon. http://www.cogat.idf.il/894-en/Matpash.aspx http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVbXmQQAcKY&feature=player_embedded

- JAIMECHUCH

December 1, 2012 at 8:46am

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http://mickhartley.typepad.com/blog/2012/11/ethnic-cleansing-in-the-middle-east.html

- Noga

December 1, 2012 at 9:05am

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A day before the UN vote the Israelis transferred 200 million dollars to the Palestinian Authority. This is money collected from taxes of Palestinians working in Israel. Who is going to build the new 3000 units in the liberated territories and East Jerusalem? Palestinian construction workers, that's who. 200M dollars in taxes translates into 2billion dollars in wages the Israelis pay the Palestinian workers. No wonder the PA wants a bigger piece of the pie. BTW, the PA can not function w/o the money coming from Israel. Talking about biting the hand that feeds you.

- JAIMECHUCH

December 1, 2012 at 9:06am

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ironyroad: Over the years that I've talked to you, you expressed more than once a certain distaste towards such Israeli leaders as Begin and Netanyahu. There was not much subtlety in the tone of your objection to them. Yet I have never seen you display anything even closer to that visceral (let's call it) criticism when you talk about Arab leaders such as Abbas, Arafat, and now, Morsi. It's all delicate language and giving a lot of credit to these leaders. How come? Do you really have respect and expectations from someone who prays for the destruction of the Jews, or is it just that you feel you can dump on Israelis but not Arabs, for some reason? http://www.timesofisrael.com/in-morsis-presence-egyptian-preacher-urges-allah-destroy-the-jews/ I'm really baffled.

- Noga

December 1, 2012 at 9:14am

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http://www.timesofisrael.com/in-morsis-presence-egyptian-preacher-urges-allah-destroy-the-jews/ I'm really baffled.

- Noga

December 1, 2012 at 9:14am

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irony: I adore your idea of the ballet. Something like the Chinese "Red Detachment of Women" but it will be renamed "Green Detachment of Bros". Also, act 4 could be pure improvisation per Brubeck's Rondo ala Turk and could involve world audience. Possibilities are endless.

- rmakover@swbell.net-OLD

December 1, 2012 at 9:29am

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More of the same. They bite the hand that feeds them. http://www.cogat.idf.il/894-en/Matpash.aspx?Sad Coordination of Government Activities in the TerriHome page We hope that at least these eight Gaza children will grow to appreciate the Jewish State that saved their lives. Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center is taking care of a baby girl from Gaza in the nephrology department and two other children in oncology. At Tel Hashomer a Gaza girl is in the same ward as a boy injured from a Hamas rocket. And thanks to the Israeli charity Save a Child’s Heart 11-year-old Mohamed Ashgar, six-year-old Salah and twin babies Remas, and Leen all from Gaza are at Wolfson Medical Centre having heart surgery and follow-up care. I wasn’t surprised that the UK media ignored reporting on the hundreds of Israeli trucks loaded with food and medical supplies that entered Gaza even while terrorists fired similar numbers of rockets at Israeli civilians. Israel provided Gazans with five million cubic meters of water and 125 megawatts of electricity from the power station in Ashkelon to keep the lights on throughout Operation Pillar of Defense. The light has really been shining at several locations in Israel. Three new thermo-solar energy plants are being built in Israel. Israel Corporation is to build a 60MW solar power station at Kibbutz Mashabei Sadeh in the Negev. It comes hot on the heels of announcements of a 120MW thermo-solar energy project at Kibbutz Zeelim nearby and agreement on a 121MW facility at Ashelim. Israeli researchers have really seen the light with Ben-Gurion University scientists designing a radically new concentrator solar cell that could become the most efficient solar power converter ever manufactured. Whilst over at Israel’s Technion a project team is developing a solution that traps the sun’s rays in solar cells and then uses it to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.

- JAIMECHUCH

December 1, 2012 at 9:48am

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"Yet I have never seen you display anything even closer to that visceral (let's call it) criticism when you talk about Arab leaders such as Abbas, Arafat, and now, Morsi." Perhaps you don't actually read what I write, Noga. In fact, delete the "perhaps." makeover -- yes, the Red Detachment is a neat idea. I was imagining that Act 4 was almost impossible to write as nobody really predicted even Act 1. Except curiously enough the much-dismissed Tom Friedman who often wrote about the growing push for reform in Arab societies and the problems that would emerge if it got going properly (especially the lunge toward fake problems -- Israel -- before the understanding that the real problems are at home in their own tent).

- ironyroad

December 1, 2012 at 1:51pm

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The Plague of Moral Relativism makes western liberals blind, failing to recognize the same religious-inspired bigotry in muslims that same western liberals constantly rail against when anyone "rightwing" is elected in a western-style democracy, the kind of democracy where there is a peaceful transfer of power after elections. No one should be giving PA's Abbas ANY support - he has shown the insanity of islam by denying any historical presence of Judaism in Jerusalem. Islam believes that Adam was the first muslim, and of their 15 official 'messengers and prophets', most are Jews (Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, King David, etc), two Christians (Jesus and John the Baptist), and one is Mohamed, the only "true" messenger of Allah. Morsi will still be pushing Egypt's blasphemy law that forbids any criticism (or historical reality) about all of these 15. It really is quite clever for muslims to use religion as a totalitarian, barbaric ideology. Seems to work almost as well as terror in keeping allegedly educated westerners believing there are "moderates" in Islam. The reality is that every schism in islam that has tried to co-exist with modernity, e.g. the Ahmadi of Pakistan, is persecuted by muslims. I assume western liberals get confused by the social justice elements of islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood. or maybe Jew-hatrred runs deeper than any can admit. I do applaud Canada and the Czech Republic for being the only two democracies in the world whose leadership still has moral courage.

- K2K

December 1, 2012 at 2:47pm

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adding that Mahmoud Abbas is an illegitimate 'head of state' of the palestinians in that he is now in the ninth year of his four year term. Really does feel like 1938, without an FDR or Churchill anywhere in sight.

- K2K

December 1, 2012 at 2:49pm

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Hm, 1938 redux? Except that we're missing a powerful, well-armed, scientifically and educationally advanced nation, a lynchpin of European civilization, with immediate plans for world domination. Replace "Nazi Germany" with the most advanced country with an Islamist agenda, Iran, and them make a real comparison of power and potential. Iran comes up short -- it's still no more than a medium-sized regional power whose shaky economy is dependent upon oil.

- ironyroad

December 1, 2012 at 3:25pm

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Iran armed Hezbollah with 50,000+ missiles, and Hamas with 25,000+ missiles. All aimed at attacking Israel. Iran keeps Assad from Syria killing 40,000+ civilians. Oh yes Iran comes up short. And this blogger admires Chamberlian , no more no less. Irony can not find the road.

- JAIMECHUCH

December 1, 2012 at 3:37pm

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So far, so bad; but still I venture to ask, how is that like 1938 again? And I never said I admired Chamberlain, I said that I have read historical arguments on Britain's military readiness that made me seriously reconsider the meaning of Munich. Unless reconsidering anything is a priori unacceptable for you Jaime, I'm not sure exactly where all the scorn is coming from.

- ironyroad

December 1, 2012 at 4:00pm

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" Unless reconsidering anything is a priori unacceptable for you Jaime, I'm not sure exactly where all the scorn is coming from." You got it. I wouldn't bother commenting on anything he scribbles. The guy is full of bile ans uses these forums to discharge it. Now duck!

- arnon1

December 1, 2012 at 5:36pm

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Also, Iran is developing nuclear weapons. Their leaders have declared the destruction of Israel is their main objective. They deny the Holocaust ever took place. Here Abbas agrees , his phD thesis is on denial of the Holocaust. Different from 1938, it sounds you are minimizing Iran . Just like chamberlain minimized nazi Germany. And now we have ..non the not so bright, that needs excr...pack to come to his defense. The same ..non stating LBJ as the best president tha USA had, never mind LBJ was a criminal responsible for 50,000 American fruitless casualties in Vietnam, and over a million Vietnamese killed. In reality ..non is dumb and dumber.

- JAIMECHUCH

December 1, 2012 at 6:00pm

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gee irony, you really do not understand history. Hitler was very open about his plans for Jews, yet so many were so sure that a "powerful, well-armed, scientifically and educationally advanced nation, a lynchpin of European civilization" would never ever ever descend into depraved barbarism. And, even though Churchill and FDR realized the threat, neither did anything to help the German Jews desperate to leave after Krystallnacht, Nov 9-10, 1938. No need to respond irony. Just keep living in your echo chamber - you can always say you are sorry after another six million Jews are murdered by muslims. After the Jews of Israel are destroyed, maybe you can hide an American Jew from the followers of Louis Farrakhan,

- K2K

December 1, 2012 at 6:09pm

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I'm not minimizing Iran but I'm not engaging in wildly disproportionate comparisons either. It seems to me that the 1938 analogy is mostly a rhetorical ploy to accuse people who disagree with your reading of things of being like people who downplayed the Nazi threat in 1938. There isn't however a threat today equivalent to that manifested by Nazi Germany in 1938.

- ironyroad

December 1, 2012 at 6:14pm

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May I politely invite you to investigate your own echo chamber K2K. You might find President Rick Perry there.

- ironyroad

December 1, 2012 at 6:17pm

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"When Sandy Struck New York Did Allah (God) Target Jews for Black Slavery?" By Tingba Muhammad -Guest Columnist- | Last updated: Nov 19, 2012 - 12:16:39 PM http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/Perspectives_1/article_9365.shtml the voice of Farrakhan's Nation of Islam. Still blaming Jews for America's slavery of black people.

- K2K

December 1, 2012 at 6:20pm

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"And, even though Churchill and FDR realized the threat, neither did anything to help the German Jews desperate to leave after Krystallnacht, Nov 9-10, 1938." I am no defender of FDR, but he did understand politics and he did understand that he worked in an antisemitic environment. The same with Churchill. Besides in 1938 Churchill wasn't in power. Had he been in power I doubt he couldn't have much more than Roosevelt. (The Wikipedia article on Churchill claims that he had praised Hitler in 1938 though the single citation offered is not credible. Elected officials in democratic countries have a limited ability to impose their views on the public. Still, England was and remains a hideously antisemitic country.

- arnon1

December 1, 2012 at 6:32pm

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Told you to duck, irony. Contradict the Irascible jc and all hell will break lose.

- arnon1

December 1, 2012 at 6:35pm

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K wants to be taken seriously yet he points his finger at Roosevelt in one post and at Farrakhan in another post as if the two were in any way comparable.

- arnon1

December 1, 2012 at 6:37pm

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And during the last months of the war, the allies refused to bomb the railways taking Jews to Aushwitz . It could have saved over a million Jews. Years later during a visit of Menachem Begin to England, Margaret Tacher was still defending that decision by the allies.

- JAIMECHUCH

December 1, 2012 at 6:47pm

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Told you that ..non is dumb and dumber. He has his limitations, unable to acknowledge them. Irritated when it is pointed out to him.

- JAIMECHUCH

December 1, 2012 at 6:51pm

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Read the Begin Tacher encounter in the book The Prime Ministers by Yehuda Avner. And the antisemitic behavior of Margaret Tacher foreign minister.

- JAIMECHUCH

December 1, 2012 at 6:56pm

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Well ..non you have missed the boat again. Yes Roosevelt and Farrakhan are comparable as far as dealing with the Jews. You see, ..non, that is why you have difficulties understanding .

- JAIMECHUCH

December 1, 2012 at 7:00pm

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"Yes Roosevelt and Farrakhan are comparable as far as dealing with the Jews. You see, ..non, that is why you have difficulties understanding ." What a stupid thing to type. It's not surprising since it comes from the keystrokes of Chuch.

- arnon1

December 1, 2012 at 7:22pm

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I'll leave Chuch to his own demented musings.

- arnon1

December 1, 2012 at 7:23pm

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""Perhaps you don't actually read what I write, Noga. In fact, delete the "perhaps." I must say, ironyroad, you are right. I completely forgot that you invariably refer to Ahmadinejad as Ahmadinnerjacket.

- Noga

December 1, 2012 at 8:08pm

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Irony is just trying to justify Ireland's perfidy in WWII and today. Evidently, the Czech Republic saw some analogy to 1938, because they voted to reject "Palestinian" statehood at the UN. In 1938, the international consensus, too, was that the Czechs needed to be "more reasonable". They, too, faced a condition of siege and international indifference. So the Palestinians have managed to gain international recognition without reciprocally recognizing Jewish statehood and avoiding negotiations with Israel.

- amidut

December 1, 2012 at 8:19pm

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The conclusion is that the peoples who suffered directly from Germany's global aspirations cannot be trusted to apply their lessons to situations that resemble their past persecution. They are too traumatized to understand that Iran is not Germany and that when Ahmaidenjad, sponsor of the Palestinians, threatens annihilation he is not to be compared with Hitler. They should leave such assessments to reasonable, sane people, who understand the difference between this rhetoric and that rhetoric, who are confident that this genocidal rhetoric is just bravado and posturing, for the masses. The further we get from WWII and the Holocaust, the greater the Palestinian "suffering" and the pity it inspires in people who are predisposed not to like Jews anyway.

- Noga

December 1, 2012 at 9:21pm

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And ..non resorts to his preferred nouns "stupid" and "demented" . When he lacks arguments . Negative karma, wasteful discussion. I tell you ..non you are the bully transformed into the cowlly. But don't loose your cool and get back to your senses. Roosevelt was no friend of the Jews. And Farrakhan is no friend of the Jews. And these are facts you can not hide.

- JAIMECHUCH

December 1, 2012 at 9:41pm

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amidut I join you in condemning Irish behavior during WW2 which was more perfidious than English or American since they sat the war out and even supported Hitler, and when the tyrant killed himself, the President of Ireland went to the German Embassy and signed a book of condolence. I find that behavior to be repugnant. However, Ironyroad has nothing to do with that and I am surprised that a usually moderate and rational poster like you tried to tie the two together. Ironyroad's posts are as measured as yours and he is as pro Israel as Peretz or I am though he expresses himself ironically. He doesn't deserve to be treated as if he were a supporter of Arafat Hamas. As for the current UN vote on the PA (PLO?) it is disgusting and deplorable but Netanyahu is as much to blame for this diplomatic disaster as any Western foreign leader. Both the head of the Labor party Shelly Yachimovich and Tzipi Livni of "the movement" as well as the head of Meretz Gal-Onhavehave rightly put the blame on the head of Likud. http://www.timesofisrael.com/livni-blames-netanyahu-government-for-un-vote/

- arnon1

December 1, 2012 at 9:53pm

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Did the chuchu train whistle?

- arnon1

December 1, 2012 at 9:54pm

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"Labor Party chairwoman Shelly Yachimovich slammed the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority Thursday for getting to the point where Ramallah felt it needed to turn to the UN to push forward the two state solution. Yachimovich spoke to Channel 10 as some 60,000 party members took to the polls to determine Labor’s slate in the January general election. Saying that any unilateral measure was problematic, she also chided Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not preventing the move. “Every political process needs to be a dialogue,” she said. “It’s a shame that we got to this point.”" http://www.timesofisrael.com/as-labor-heads-to-the-polls-party-chief-slams-both-netanyahu-and-abbas-for-un-bid/ Yachimovich got it right.

- arnon1

December 1, 2012 at 9:57pm

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Well well, ..non your connection didn't work. Pay attention SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2012KISLEV 18, 57735:10 AM ISTSite updated 48 minutes ago ABOUT US SEND US CONTENTGET OUR NEWSLETTER Fair, fresh and fast HOMEISRAEL & THE REGIONJEWISH TIMESISRAEL INSIDEOPS & BLOGSTHE JEWISH PLANETSTART-UP ISRAELDAILY EDITIONSPOTLIGHT This is somewhat embarrassing, isn’t it? It seems we can’t find what you’re looking for. Perhaps searching, or one of the links below, can help.

- JAIMECHUCH

December 1, 2012 at 10:13pm

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http://www.timesofisrael.com/as-labor-heads-to-the-polls-party-chief-slams-both-netanyahu-and-abbas-for-un-bid/

- arnon1

December 2, 2012 at 12:04am

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The Plague of Moral Relativism makes western liberals blind Excuse me, K2K. Just where do you find your "Moral Absolutes"? Did God whisper them in your ear? Hate to tell you this. There is no God. There are no moral absolutes. All our "evil" traits and all our "virtuous" traits and values our products of physical evolution and cultural development. It's just a matter of good fortune that neither Hitler nor Stalin won.

- skahn

December 2, 2012 at 12:14am

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"It's just a matter of good fortune that neither Hitler nor Stalin won." No it wasn't. It was a matter of manpower, munitions, weaponry, factories that produced tanks and airplanes, and strategy. Hitler lost because tyrants always think they are above mere questions of material and manpower. He thought that being the "master race" the Germans could defeat twenty Russian and American armies staffed by "mongrels.' It wasn't fortune, it was superior planning which was part of the Godless' plan.

- arnon1

December 2, 2012 at 12:22am

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I appreciate arnon's comments but I just want to say directly to you amidut, fuck you. I was born in 1956 and am not responsible for Ireland's neutrality in WW2. There were good and bad reasons for it, and there were several elements of that neutrality that were pragmatically pro-Allied, and I'm also the last to deny the presence of Irish antisemitism then and now, but you know, whatever -- just fuck you. I think anyone who has engaged with me over the years knows where I stand on major issues that come up on TNR, and if after that all you and K2K and Jaime can do is accuse me of wanting to kill Jews or whatever polite version of that you're deploying (e.g. stand by while millions of Jews are being murdered), then all I can say while keeping calm is that I very sincerely hope Israel is not dependent on the likes of you to present its case effectively.

- ironyroad

December 2, 2012 at 1:00am

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". Just where do you find your "Moral Absolutes"" Skahn, your thinking is so dialectical and therefore quite boring and cliche. The opposite of moral relativism is not "moral absolutes". Moral relativism is about not making judgments about any culture even when its values are in direct contradiction to our most cherished projects, such as the idea of freedom of religion, or the meaning of honour/shame societies for women. Moral relativism is better expressed by Martin Amis when he calls it "the fetishization of balance"; it is just another rhetorical fallacy that some "Leftist"academics invented in order to explain why they do not criticize the practices oppressive cultures as they support them for being anti-West and anti-American: "We are drowsily accustomed, by now, to the fetishization of "balance," the ground rule of "moral equivalence" in all conflicts between West and East, the 100 percent and 360-degree inability to pass judgment on any ethnicity other than our own (except in the case of Israel)." The only one expressing a moral absolute in this thread are you when you categorically state: "There is no God. There are no moral absolutes." (Yes, there are. A moral absolute is the prohibition of incest, murder, pedophilia, for example). You are not the only atheist around here, you know. But you are the only atheist around here who is quite religiously zealous about it. I read something recently about the fanatic who is not satisfied that he believes in God, but wants to convert everyone in the world to believe and follow HIS favourite God. The degree of certitude and smugness in your rejoinders certainly suggest an illiberal mind and a rigid adherence to basic formulations.

- Noga

December 2, 2012 at 8:49am

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The Jewish community in Palestine managed to find a formula to stand with the allies even as they were struggling against the British. http://www.myjewishlearning.com/israel/History/Before_the_State/Response_to_the_Holocaust.shtml "With the outbreak of World War II, the Yishuv found itself once again in conflict. [They believed it] was clear that the British would always double-cross them, and they were dedicated to saving Europe's Jews, despite the White Paper. However, armed attacks against the British would subsequently help Germany and the Axis Powers, which was unthinkable. Therefore the Yishuv joined forces with the British. As David Ben-Gurion declared, "We shall fight side by side with the British in our war against Hitler as if there were no White Paper, and we shall fight the White Paper as if there were no war."

- Noga

December 2, 2012 at 9:02am

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skahn: Today there are moral absolutes whether they are God's fiat or "products of physical evolution and cultural development". "Thou shall not murder" is one of them for example. arnon: Wyman's book The abandonment of Jews makes pretty clear the antipathy of patrician Roosevelt and particularly his cabinet to the Jews and their causes as they related to their European brethren. I would definitely not put him in the same group as Farakhan but to completely exhonorate him for the abandonment of millions would not be fair. arnon: Criticism of Netanyahu is justified, although not on the grounds that Shelly Yachimovitch makes. UnfortunatelyYachimovitch is a political midget and a neophyte. To think that Israeli Labor party is led by her make we want to cry. But the Palestinians would have gone this route sooner or later. It gives them all the advantages of the state without the disadvantages of being one and they can still live of shnor.

- rmakover@swbell.net-OLD

December 2, 2012 at 9:08am

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"... if after that all you and K2K and Jaime can do is accuse me of wanting to kill Jews or whatever polite version of that you're deploying (e.g. stand by while millions of Jews are being murdered), then all I can say while keeping calm is that I very sincerely hope Israel is not dependent on the likes of you to present its case effectively." Wanting to kill Jews and standing by while it happens are not at all on the same moral continuum. "Standing by" can be sometimes justified (as exemplified in the opening to the film "Inglorious Bastards")" and sometimes just rationalized away (as one academic once explained why he dropped out of a class on the Holocaust when the Jewish students brought up the charge that the allies did not bomb the railways leading to Auschwitz. When you are at war with an enemy that spends considerable resources on exterminating its own citizens, you stand by and do nothing about it, because it serves your war effort. Since the Jewish students could not understand such a simple rule of war, this academic decided to drop the course in disgust. Enough is enough, he said).

- Noga

December 2, 2012 at 9:11am

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The news from Cairo, in Reuters report: "Protests by Islamists allied to President Mohamed Mursi forced Egypt's highest court to adjourn its work indefinitely on Sunday, intensifying a conflict..." noga's clarification: "...Moral relativism is about not making judgments about any culture even when its values are in direct contradiction to our most cherished projects, such as the idea of freedom of religion, ..." is what I was thinking when I wrote my comment that skahn took exception to. And, I never meant to conflate FDR with Farrakhan. Two separate issues. FDR failed to show leadership on the Jewish refugee crisis 1933-1940. Farrakhan heads the Nation of Islam in America, currently trying to expand in the Caribbean, and the il-liberal intolerance is a universal 'islamic value' Farrakhan has been blaming all of America's slavery on the Jews since at least 1993 when I lost a close friend after he started to listen to Farrakhan on the radio in New Jersey, and subsequently blamed me, as The Jew, for the stain of slavery! Very much like the Catholic Church's blaming The Jew, throughout the generations, for killing Christ, until the late 1960's. Islam believes Adam was the first muslim. The codification of an alternate history. Western liberals are so quick to condemn everything except this false religion.

- K2K

December 2, 2012 at 9:36am

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" Adam was the first muslim." Human = Muslim.

- Noga

December 2, 2012 at 9:43am

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Is it possible that the more the palestinians get involved in UN agencies, the less support they will get in the future? Interesting news nugget reported by Time' Vivenne Walt: "Palestine’s U.N. Bid: UNESCO Experience May Be a Cautionary Tale" By Vivienne Walt / ParisNov. 29, 2012 "...there was no way to put a positive spin on the Palestinians’ defeat at UNESCO’s executive-board meeting in Paris last month. After years of enjoying overwhelming support for their cause within U.N. meetings, the Palestinians were pitted against some of their closest allies. At issue were five resolutions condemning different aspects of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, including archaeological excavations; settlements in East Jerusalem; occupation of sites in Bethlehem; and its censorship of Palestinian schools and universities. Although almost identical resolutions have sailed through UNESCO meetings for years, this time was different. Russia, China, Venezuela and even Syria switched sides, voting to shelve the debate until the next executive-board meeting early next year. The rebuff left the Palestinian diplomats shaken and embittered. “It was a very big surprise for us,” Sanbar says. “We did not expect it at all. I was quite sad about it; very, very disappointed. I don’t understand it at all.” ..." [K2K adds: PajamasMedia has a new post that does not link to either of Trager's posts on Morsi, but comes to some of the same conclusions to be found here, including noting how much this seems like 1938: http://pjmedia.com/blog/egypts-moderate-and-pragmatic-dictator/?singlepage=true but, Trager gets more echo. ]

- K2K

December 2, 2012 at 11:39am

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"arnon: Wyman's book The abandonment of Jews makes pretty clear the antipathy of patrician Roosevelt and particularly his cabinet to the Jews and their causes as they related to their European brethren. I would definitely not put him in the same group as Farakhan but to completely exhonorate him for the abandonment of millions would not be fair." I didn't and I don't exonerate Roosevelt. I said in an antisemitic country which the US along with Canada and Great Britain were even a pro Jewish leader like Churchill and Roosevelt couldn't do anything they wished. I hold them responsible for their inaction during the Holocaust but I also hold the whole society in Great Britain, the US and Canada responsible including the Jewish communities there (both Democratic and Republican). They could have done far more but just along with their "leaders." There is a lot of blame to go around.

- arnon1

December 2, 2012 at 1:07pm

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"arnon: Criticism of Netanyahu is justified, although not on the grounds that Shelly Yachimovitch makes. UnfortunatelyYachimovitch is a political midget and a neophyte. To think that Israeli Labor party is led by her make we want to cry. But the Palestinians would have gone this route sooner or later. It gives them all the advantages of the state without the disadvantages of being one and they can still live of shnor." I disagree, Yachimovich got it right. To say that it wold have happened anyway gets your leader of the hook. Netanyahu is tough with his friends and a pussycat when it comes to dealing with his enemies, Hamas and the PA. Makover you say you are not a supporter of Netanyahu but you keep finding reasons to support to excuse his actions.

- arnon1

December 2, 2012 at 1:12pm

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And this time is different from 1938. This time the Jews defend themselves.

- JAIMECHUCH

December 2, 2012 at 1:13pm

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"Wanting to kill Jews and standing by while it happens are not at all on the same moral continuum" For what it's worth, I agree; however, I believe both K2K, amidut, and Jaime deliberately wanted to accuse me of the latter while at the same time implying that it was equivalent to the former. In fact, I do not have such a wish, and I have also spent a lot of my life wondering about the pressures to stand by or intervene as regards both past and current events, never being very confident of the value of my own responses. Neither, therefore, do I understand why I was suddenly the target of a four-pronged attack that had nothing to do with my arguments (which were largely about how one deals with the changes in Egypt) and everything to do with personal details of origins and biography and deliberate lies about the positions I've argued over years on TNR. On the question of the Irish Free State in WW2: 1) With few asssets at their disposal, Irish counter-intelligence (led by a professor of German, Kevin Danaher, who had been appointed straight out of academia) rolled up 95% German intelligence operations in Ireland (mostly badly-prepared attempts to contact and work with the IRA); in one case at least they succeeded in playing back a captured agent so that Berlin thought he was still active -- the gold standard for CI operations. 2) All German aircrews that crash-landed in the Irish Free State were interned; most British and all American aircrews were allowed to slip over the border into Northern Ireland, and hence return to the UK. Actual damaged U.S. aircraft were handed back in return for gasoline (seriously scarce in the South during the war). 3) No restriction was put on the thousands of Irish citizens who left to serve in British forces during WW2. 4) Although Irish neutrality provoked a lot of hostility in the British government and in Britain at large, the principle was upheld by other Commonwealth/Dominion governments e.g. Australia, South Africa; indeed, many of those Irish people who served in the British forces were often supportive of the Irish government's position. 5) The one thing that Sweden, for example, did as a "neutral" country, to let Nazi forces travel through to invade a neighboring country, is precisely what Ireland never permitted to happen. The foregoing points don't cancel out a number of other issues, of course, but at least Irish neutrality should be understood as a somewhat complex position and, given the deep divide in Ireland over its relations with Britain (the War of Independence had taken place only twenty years earlier), perhaps a pragmatically pro-allied but ostensible neutrality was the most rational option that De Valera could have picked. Ireland didn't become a belligerent, which mollified the anti-British isolationists; but Ireland also guaranteed not to permit Irish territory to be used by the Nazis, which mollified the pro-allied camp. In any event, I'm not claiming the last word, and I'm happy to argue this one -- hopefully free of personal attacks that combine casual insults with a kind of aggressive cluelessness about the actual history.

- ironyroad

December 2, 2012 at 3:54pm

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fwiw irony, I criticized you solely for your comment in this thread that you do not see the parallels with 1938. I did not mention Iran - you made that leap. amidut brought up Ireland, not me. The farce of the United Nations General Assembly voting to support Abbas, in the ninth year of his four year term, as 'head' of a palestinian 'state' is why this is worse than 1938. The UN GA just voted that the vote on Israel in 1948 was a big mistake. I mostly find your wanting to believe that Islam is a religion of peace puts you in the bystander category. It has taken me seven years of studying Islam, political Islam, to figure out it is NOT a religion, but a totalitarian ideology. and really tired of your belief that any criticism of Obama is RACISM! and your auto-defense of anything-Obama in the time I have been at tnr.com. I came here after being bullied OUT of an active role in Obama's 2008 campaign because his base is so anti-Israel they are like Hamas. One of his 2008 Iowa delegates was cleansing the campaign of anyone with Zionist thoughts. the tragedy is that I supported Obama because I did not want another Clinton to lose democratic majorities in Congress. and, I DO detest your endless circular forget it.

- K2K

December 2, 2012 at 4:36pm

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lucky irony. tnr.com ate the other half of my comment

- K2K

December 2, 2012 at 4:38pm

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Your original comment, K2K: "Just keep living in your echo chamber - you can always say you are sorry after another six million Jews are murdered by muslims. After the Jews of Israel are destroyed, maybe you can hide an American Jew from the followers of Louis Farrakhan" Fuck you, K2K. That's not criticism or a counter-argument. That's a lie and an ignorant and vicious insult.

- ironyroad

December 2, 2012 at 5:07pm

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irony: your echo chamber always accuses any critic of being a liar and ignorant. just surprised you have not also called me a racist, which your echo chamber relies on. your echo chamber believes the palestinian Big Lie, um, claim that there is no historical evidence of a Jewish presence in Jerusalem. Your echo chamber thinks Obama is beyond any criticism, that islam is a religion of peace, etcetera, etcetera... It's not like ironyroad is alone. Most of the world is willing to stand by and allow muslims murder every Jew who dares to live in Israel.

- K2K

December 2, 2012 at 5:40pm

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"Just keep living in your echo chamber - you can always say you are sorry after another six million Jews are murdered by muslims. After the Jews of Israel are destroyed, maybe you can hide an American Jew from the followers of Louis Farrakhan" This is pretty disgusting, but I expect nothing less from K@K. The followers of Farrakhan don't amount to much and ignorant K keeps citing them as some kind of grand threat. Pretty fucking pathetic.

- arnon1

December 2, 2012 at 6:07pm

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from one week ago: Pat Condell youtube "Peace in the Middle East" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNNhG0zDtA8&feature=BFa&list=UUWOkEnBl5TO4SCLfSlosjgg

- K2K

December 2, 2012 at 6:53pm

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What you said wasn't a comment by a "critic," K2K, it was a personal insult leveled at an individual without any grounds whatsoever, and fully deserved its response. Criticism usually manages to do without gratuitous personal remarks indicating that someone who disagrees with you supports genocide. Mostly -- for whatever reason -- people don't approach discussions with me that way. Interestingly, a recent "discussion" I had on another site accused me of supporting genocide in the other direction because I wouldn't agree with him that the Palestinians were right to abandon the 2000 Camp David negotiations. So you're in excellent company.

- ironyroad

December 2, 2012 at 6:55pm

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Pat Condell youtube "Peace in the Middle East" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNNhG0zDtA8&feature=BFa&list=UUWOkEnBl5TO4SCLfSlosjgg

- K2K

December 2, 2012 at 7:05pm

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12/02/2012 - 6:53pm EDT | K2K typical K@K tactic when he can't respond to criticism he changes the subject. What's bizarre is that he loves and supports Netanyahu and lionks to videos telling us what genicidal maniacs Hamas and their supporters are yet his hero Netanyahu refused to keep fighting Hamas till they surrendered or were all killed. Why not? Because he would rather have then as enemies than the PLO or PA. With the latter he might have to engage them in negotiations while he can ignore Hamas. Netanyahu is brave with Washington, but a coward with Hamas.

- arnon1

December 2, 2012 at 7:10pm

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Netanyahu thinks the UN vote is no big deal, Dershowitz disagrees: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3475/united-nations-resolution-palestine "Legal implication of the United Nations Resolution on Palestine" by Alan M. Dershowitz

- arnon1

December 2, 2012 at 8:49pm

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GOOD NEWS FROM ISRAEL. A WEEKLY REPORT. http://www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/Good News From Israel News of Israel's Achievements and Heartwarming Stories from the Jewish State. Israel's Good News Newsletter to 2nd Dec 2012 In the 2nd Dec 2012 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include: · The lives of eight Israelis were saved last week with organs from donors over 70 years of age. · Hear the truth about Israel from a Muslim-Arab mother with a son in the IDF. · Israel is funding a teaching hospital in Ghana. · An Israeli application will help autism sufferers. · The first session of the new UK-Israel hi-tech exchange program commenced in London. · Israel will play England in the Under 21 European Soccer Championships in Israel. · An Israeli mother saved her family from a terrorist attacker · Last week’s JPost Israel Good News descriptive summary Click here for “The Future is Bright” Page Down for more details on these and other good news stories from Israel. ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS “Elderly” Israelis save eight lives. In the past week, eight patients received organs from people aged 70 to 80. Israel Transplant reported that since January, eight elderly Israelis, some of whom are over 75 and nearing 80, were the source of life-saving organs. With improved lifestyles and hi-tech scanners, fewer organs are rejected. http://www.jpost.com/Health/Article.aspx?id=294057 Water lily extract combats inflammation. (Thanks to NoCamels) Ben Gurion University researchers have discovered that the leaves and roots of the yellow water-lily (nuphar lutea) have an inhibitory effect on a protein that causes inflammation. This could lead to Inflammatory Bowel Disease medication and cancer prevention. http://nocamels.com/2012/11/israeli-flower-may-hold-key-for-cancer-treatment/ Another Israeli wonder treatment? During trials by Israel’s Can-Fite BioPharma of its anti-inflammatory CF101 medication, the company discovered that the active ingredient is suitable for treating impotence. Can-Fite only found this out when they noticed that patients were not returning all the drugs at the end of the trial. See more at ......... http://www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/

- JAIMECHUCH

December 2, 2012 at 9:31pm

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Israel’s solar ‘revolutionaries’ aim to bring light — and peace — to AfricaEntrepreneur Yosef Abramowitz wants to bring more power to a billion people in the developing world — with all its attendant benefitsBy DAVID SHAMAH November 29, 2012, 8:27 am 2 http://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-solar-revolutionaries-to-bring-light-and-peace-to-africa/

- JAIMECHUCH

December 2, 2012 at 9:53pm

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So, Jaime, exactly whom do you think you are confronting on this discussion board, given that almost everyone (with one or two exceptions who sporadically show up) supports Israel in different ways? It seems at times that you are at the wrong cocktail party.

- ironyroad

December 3, 2012 at 12:59am

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EUROPE Comment5 inShare 65 TriPlay Rakes In $5M And A New Oligarch Investor To Take Its Consumer Cloud To Europe + Asia INGRID LUNDENWednesday, August 22nd, 20125 Comments TriPlay, a U.S./Israeli-based developer of cloud services that lets people consume music and other media across different devices, is today announcing a Series C round of $5 million to take its technology into new and emerging markets in Asia and Europe, and hire more people, including a CMO. The $5 million comes from new investor Kenges Rakishev, a Kazakh businessman who has made millions in petrochemicals and more and is now using some of the proceeds to back tech companies. The company has raised $15 million to date, with other backers including angel investors and the CEO and founder Tamir Koch. Users of TriPlay’s cross-platform streaming services number in the hundreds of thousands of users; with partners like Pelephone Musix and Conduit SendSMS, the figure goes up to 11.8 million. Now, the idea behind extending to emerging markets is that smartphone and tablet takeup is in earlier stages, which feature phones still driving sales for companies like Samsung and Nokia. This is rapidly changing, and given that smartphones and tablets have been major driver for cloud service uptake, it’s a good moment to pick up new users who are just starting to need those kinds of solutions. That opportunity is one of the things that caught the eye of Rakishev. “TriPlay is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the growth in mobile usage and global demand for cloud services,” he said in a statement. Rakishev’s other investments include Net Element, which publishes a number of mobile sites but is also now planning to launch a mobile commerce service in Eastern Europe, so you can see the investment pattern here. Rakishev sits on the board of both companies. While companies like Apple and Google have been developing their own cloud-storage and access services to complement their larger mobile businesses, TriPlay has benefitted from others having less developed strategies. Its flagship product, MyMusicCloud, has had particularly strong pick-up among BlackBerry users, helped in part because it was a featured app on RIM’s App World; it is also the only music-synching service preloaded on Toshiba’s tablets and personal computers. It integrates Dropbox and Google Drive among its storage options. At the moment, TriPlay says that Android and BlackBerry are its top-two most popular platforms for usage, but it benefits in general from fragmentation in the market, with users (Apple fanboys and girls excluded) rarely looking only to one platform for all their products. CEO Tamir Koch says the company will also be looking for more partnerships with local players as part of its growth. TriPlay is the third startup founded by Koch: Orca Interactive was sold to Emblaze in 2000; Dotomi was sold to ValueClick in 2011. In addition to letting users stream and update music collections across connected devices, MyMusicCloud also offers a catalog of 11 million songs, song lyrics and ringtones. Users can use the the service to share music on Facebook. The service supports 23 different languages. MyDigipack, meanwhile, is a photo storing and sharing service that works much the same way as the music offering. It opened in beta earlier this year. CRUNCHBASE TRIPLAYORCA INTERACTIVEDOTOMIVALUECLICKEMBLAZE Company: TriPlay Website: triplay.com Funding: $5M TriPlay is a premier cloud services company, enabling users worldwide to easily access, manage, share and enjoy their music, photos and videos across any computer, mobile phone, tablet or web-enabled television. TriPlay is a privately held company with offices in New York and Israel.

- JAIMECHUCH

December 3, 2012 at 1:52am

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"It seems at times that you are at the wrong cocktail party." Now, that's funny. It doesn't get any better.

- arnon1

December 3, 2012 at 2:14am

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I apologize to Irony for my unfair and harsh comment at 12-1-12, 8:19 pm regarding him and Ireland.

- amidut

December 3, 2012 at 3:10pm

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