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Many bloggers have a difficulty to grasp the dynamics of the Arab uprising and fail to understand the role of the US. See the fp story by BooMan who attempts to find a rationale – Solving the Egyptian Puzzle.
Libya was a wealthy nation and Gaddafi was well armed with SAM-7 missiles, anti-tank grenades and vans with heavy guns mounted. These weapons have spread across the 50+ tribal groups in Libya, the Tuaregs took them into Northern Mali, spread further south to the Boko Haram in Nigeria. The Salafist fighters took the weapons into neighboring states like Tunisia, Egypt (Sinai), Niger, Sudan and to Syria via the “open” border with Erdogan’s Turkey.
CIA boosted MB in Egypt during the cold war years to break the influence of the Soviet Union. The MB were suppressed under Nasser (video) and left Egypt for Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia. Only in Qatar is the MB still welcome, the MB is outlawed in UAE and similarly in Saudi Arabia. The MB turned out to be a subversive militant organisation. Saudi Arabia, the guardian of the three sanctuaries of Islamic faith, is based on the pure Islamic belief of Wahhabism. Apparently Safalism is tolerated and funded/supported to spread the Islamic faith through mosques across the globe. The foreign preachers in Saudi funded Western mosques are homophobic, anti-Israel and against western culture. It’s the source for Muslim youth traveling to Chechnya, Yemen and Pakistan for jihad. The Gülen movement originated in Turkey and is almost a covert religious group with links to liberal, economic states and it is said has been funded by CIA in support of espionage and intelligence gathering. The focus of US foreign policy and CIA activities after the fall of communism in the Soviet Union, has been the Caspian Sea region and the immense wealth in gas and oil. The western European nations have been allies with the US to break the monopoly of Russian and the satellite states of the former Soviet Union.
The colour revolutions under Clinton and George Bush were an attempt to loosen the ties of the satellite states with Russia: Serbia, Ukraine, Georgia and the Caspian Sea states. Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Syria are part of this plan. The pipelines to circumvent Russia plays a major role. Qatar gas – North Iraq (Kurds) oil – Syria (pipelines) – Georgia – Turkey.
In the Bush era, the US became an outlaw-state and this has been continued under president Obama. When a state tolerates rendition, torture, black prisons, Guantanamo Bay and unlimited data gathering by NSA intelligence, is has become a rogue nation and loses its standing in the world. These are actions seen as facts which no funding of propaganda can ever offset. US credibilty in the Muslim world and specifically with Arab states is completely gone. The role the US has played in support of Israel is of course biased and has flaunted international law and UN Security Council resolutions. It has become clear the US and Israel share the same “moral” values and have duplicated its policy to operate outside international conventions and the UN. As Israel has succeeded to isolate itself from the global community, the US is following on the same path.
The Egyptian military seem to have only tactical links with the Pentagon and minister Chuck Hagel, US political influence is reduced to zero as the Egyptian president even refused to answer the phone call made by Obama this week. US meddling in Egyptian affairs is as poisenous as requesting an advice from PM Netanyahu.
I’ll start with an interesting read, a paper by El Sisi as a student at the Army War College titled: “Democracy in the Middle East.” My short recap:
- Well written and very reasonable. Even offers a blue print for a democracy under leadership of the Muslim Brothers. Clearly, Morsi violated all the principles stated by Gen. Sisi. I find the general very kind to the US and the Iraq and Afghanistan “adventure.” From this report, the US never had a chance to reach it’s stated goal of a Western style democracy. No surprise there, even I could have warned the Bush administration. In fact, President Mubarak and the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah gave the warning to Bush. Sisi mentions Syria warmly and hopes to overcome the Sunni/Shia divide and prevent hostilities. Reality is always tougher to deal with than theory and events move too fast.
From his report, he expresses his desire to work for the Egyptian people according to the principles of the Muslim faith. It’s been a very tough first six weeks!
Egypt’s army chief trained at Army War College in Carlisle, Pa.
CARLISLE, Pa. (TribLive) – With unrest in Egypt, U.S. military officials looking for insight might test the ties they formed with the Egyptian defense minister, Lt. Gen. Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, when he was a student at the Army War College.
“In this little historical Pennsylvania town, the most important school in the world operates under the radar,” said retired Col. Stephen Gerras, a professor of behavioral science at the Carlisle Barracks. Al-Sisi was Gerras’ student. In 2006, he watched the Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks, 21-10, in the Super Bowl in Gerras’ home. Gerras remembers him as a warm man, quiet and devout.
“My mother was at our little party, too, and al-Sisi took her around my home and explained to her the meaning behind the Turkish artifacts that my wife and I had picked up when we lived in Turkey,” he said. “At the time he was here, he was only a one-star general. We never dreamed at the time he would go on to lead the Egyptian army.”
A paper that was prepared by then Brigadier General Abdelfattah Said El Sisi when
he attended the US Army War College in Carlisle Pennysylvania is titled Democracy In the Middle East.
Continued below the fold …
$1.4bn US aid to Egypt is not about democracy
(Informed Comment) – The continued unrest upped the pressure on the Obama administration to cut off military aid to Egypt. It is the only legal and ethical thing to do, but here are some reasons it has been difficult for Washington to take that step.
- The US doesn’t give much aid to the Egyptian people per se. Only $250 mn a year out of $1.55 bn is civilian. The aid is to cement a relationship between the Egyptian officer corps and the Pentagon.
- The military aid, $1.3 billion a year, is mostly in-kind, a grant of weaponry. It must be spent on US weapons manufacturers. It is US arms manufacturers like Lockheed-Martin and General Dynamics (and their employees) who would suffer if it were cut off.
- The Congress gave the Egyptian Generals a credit card to buy weapons, and they’ve run up $3 billion on it for F-16s and M1A1 tanks. If the US cancelled aid, the US government would still have to pick up that bill.
- Even most of the civilian aid is required to be spent on US goods and materiel. It is corporate welfare for the US
- The aid was given as a bribe to the Egyptian elite to make nice with Israel. Given the chaos in Sinai, and Egypt’s instability, Congress is more worried about that issue than at any time in 40 years.
- The Israelis asked the US not to suspend the aid.
[Read on …]
Egypt’s presidency says Obama’s remarks encourage violence
(Al Arabya) – Egypt’s presidency said that U.S. President Barack Obama’s remarks on Egypt are not based on “facts” and will strengthen and encourage violent groups. Egypt is facing “acts of terrorism that target government institutions and vital facilities, including tens of churches, courts and police stations and public and private institutions,” the presidency added in a statement.
“Groups of armed violence targeted the loss of lives and the features of the Egyptian civilization, including libraries, museums and public gardens,” the presidency said. “The presidency fears that statements not based on facts will strengthen and groups of armed violence and encourage them in their anti-democratic and stability path.”
Obama had cancelled joint military exercises with the Egyptian military, saying Egypt is on a “more dangerous path.”
Saudi king backs Egypt’s rulers against “terrorism”
RIYADH, Saudi Aeabia (Dawn.com) Saudi King Abdullah called on Arabs to stand together against “attempts to destabilise” Egypt, in a message of support for the military leadership and an attack on the Muslim Brotherhood.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, its people and government, stood and stands today with its brothers in Egypt against terrorism,” he said in a message read out on Saudi television, in an apparent reference to continuing clashes between the Muslim Brotherhood and police.
“I call on the honest men of Egypt and the Arab and Muslim nations … to stand as one man and with one heart in the face of attempts to destabilise a country that is at the forefront of Arab and Muslim history.”
King Abdullah’s statement was Saudi Arabia’s first comment on the turmoil in Egypt, a country it sees as an essential ally against Shi’ite Muslim Iran and anti-Western Islamist groups.
“All those who meddle in Egypt’s internal affairs are inflaming strife,” he said, adding that the North African country faces “a conspiracy of plotters” trying to strike at its unity and stability.
Egypt massacre no longer an internal affair, Turkish President Gül says
Remember Sibel Edmonds?
Court Documents Shed Light on CIA Illegal Operations in Central Asia Using Islam & Madrassas
(July 11, 2008) – During an immigration court case involving Turkish Islamic Leader, Fethullah Gülen, US prosecutors exposed an illegal, covert, CIA operation involving the intentional Islamization of Central Asia. The scene for these dramatic disclosures was an application for a Green Card in the Eastern District Court in Philadelphia by “controversial Islamic scholar” Fetullah Gülen.
The court case was covered extensively by the Turkish press. Leading Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported:
“Gülen’s financial resources were detailed in the public prosecutor’s arguments, which claimed that Saudi Arabia, Iran, the Turkish government, and the Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA, were behind the Gülen movement.”
Lawsuit Fethullah Gülen v. Michael Chertoff (Secretary of Homeland Security)
Morsi gives Egypt governorships to Islamist allies
(BBC News) – Adel al-Khayat is a member of the political wing of al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya, which claimed responsibility for the 1997 Luxor massacre in which around 60 tourists were killed. The group subsequently renounced violence.
An office of the Brotherhood’s political party in Al-Daqahliyah, north of Cairo, has reportedly been set on fire in protest against the appointments.
Mohammed Morsi was sworn into office as Egypt’s first democratically elected president almost a year ago. He was the chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood.
- The Arab Tomorrow
- MB cadres did deploy firearms against the police, killing 60 of them
- Calling the Shots in Egypt, Meet MB Leader El-Shater
- US Will Be Ousted by Saudi King Abdullah in Middle-East
- My earlier diaries:
- Fall and Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood
- Egypt 42 Dead: Conflicting Accounts on Outburst of Violence – July 7, 2013
- Deadly Violence Between MB and Egypt’s Military – July 9, 2013