An Egyptian man walks past anti-military graffiti in Cairo. (Reuters)
Commentary by Dag Danis: "Why Has America Bought Egypt"
The gist of the entire story is that the Egyptian Army does not serve Egyptian interests but -- others.
The
Americans have an ugly habit. They like to play the saviors of world
democracy and freedom. In reality, however, they do not hesitate to
trample on and violate freedom -- to support a military coup. Egypt is a
good example. The United States confirmed on Thursday (11 July) that it
would supply 20 fighter jets to the Egyptian Army this year. The
Americans do not mind at all that the Egyptian military overthrew a
democratically elected president, shot dead pro-government
demonstrators, and established a military regime. On the contrary, the
US diplomatic service supported the putsch.
The
gist of the entire story is that the Egyptian Army does not serve
Egyptian interests but -- others. For example, the Israeli and American
ones. Last week, the Egyptian Army moved its units to the border with
Israel. The operation had been requested by Israel. Egyptian troops were
tasked to eliminate the Egyptians who smuggled weapons for the
Palestinians. This happened in a country where 90 percent of people
consider Israel an enemy state -- and where the Muslim Brotherhood and
an Islamist-leaning president ruled.
They
are ruling no longer. Higher interests prevailed. The Egyptian Army
removed the Egyptian president and sent in armored vehicles against
angry demonstrators.
What
is behind this paradox is, as is the way of the world, the magic power
called the US dollar. The United States gives Egypt $1.3 billion per
year -- for the purchase of weapons. American weapons. Thanks to the
generous hand of the Americans, the Egyptian Army was the third largest
purchaser of weapons in the developing world -- right after China and
India . . . . The Americans wanted three things from the Egyptian
generals in return. They should guarantee the peace agreement with
Israel (dictated by the United States) after the Arab Spring. They
should not stick their noses into the Suez Canal through which oil flows
from the Persian Gulf to the West. And they should intervene if the
Egyptians happened to feel a desire for an Islamist government in the
election.
The
Egyptian Army is doing all three pieces of American homework perfectly.
Therefore, it will receive more weapons -- so that it is even stronger.
And so that the Egyptians` chances of freedom are even weaker.
(Description
of Source: Bratislava Hospodarske Noviny (Electronic Edition) in Slovak
-- Leading independent political and economic daily; owned by the
publisher of Czech Hospodarske Noviny and often reprints its articles;
paper of record; monitored through a third-party subscription)
© Compiled and distributed by NTIS, US Dept. of Commerce. All rights reserved.
Iran Commentary Analyzes Domestic, International Factors Leading to Morsi OverthrowResalat Online
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Commentary by Hanif Ghaffari: “Why Did Morsi Fall?”
The
terms coup d`etat, militarism, interventionism and extremism have
become tied together in Cairo`s political atmosphere. Investigations of
charges of insulting the judiciary will soon begin for Morsi and eight
other defendants, most of who are Muslim Brotherhood leaders. Mohammad
Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood not only no longer have a place at the
head of Egypt`s executive equations, but as in the period of Hosni
Mubarak`s presidency they must prepare themselves for going back and
forth between prison and court!
Although
there are many supporters of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood in the
streets of Cairo, Egypt`s ousted president of the republic effectively
no longer has the ability to recover his lost power. The historic nation
of Egypt is going through days of protest and rebellion. Few people
might have thought that Tahrir Square would become a meeting place for
the government`s opposition!
What
has really happened in Egypt? What errors or mistakes did Mohammad
Morsi make, who was able in a free and democratic election to defeat
Ahmad Shafiq, representative of the secular groups and the remnants of
the former regime? The questions that come to mind about the domestic
equations in Egypt are endless. In this there are constants and
variables that absolutely cannot be ignored:
Mohammad
Morsi`s main mistake was his incorrect interpretation of Egypt`s
domestic and regional developments. When the nation of Egypt overthrew
Cairo`s dictator they had specific demands for their new government. At
the beginning of the year 1390 (21 March 2011 – 20 March 2012) before
Mohammad Morsi`s government came to power, more than half the Egyptians
queried in Pew poll wanted revocation of the Camp David accord with Tel
Aviv. The same poll said most Egyptians want their nation`s laws to
follow the teachings of the Koran.
An
interesting point is that in numerous polls most Egyptian citizens
wanted religious political parties at the top of their nation`s
political equations. Despite this, in the same heated period (the first
months of the fall of Mubarak) most Egyptian citizens were opposed to
the presence in power of extremist and Takfiri groups. To put it in a
better way, Egyptian citizens wanted the establishment of a moderate
Muslim government at a distance from the Zionist regime and consequently
the United States of America. In the year 2012 Egypt`s newspaper
Al-Ahram announced that according to a national poll most Egyptians
consider their relations with the United States of America to be in
crisis.
In
this respect the Egyptian nation`s anti-Americanism during the
political developments of the last three years is completely confirmed.
The reason for this has been the constant support by the leaders of the
Democratic and Republican parties for Hosni Mubarak`s dictatorship. In
such circumstances the nation of Egypt rotated its votes in the Morsi
and Muslim Brotherhood basket so it would be able to achieve its base
demands from Egypt`s revolution.
One
must acknowledge that Morsi did not have a good appreciation for the
support of the Egyptian nation! He was not even able to gather the
moderate Islamist groups around him. The presence of people like
Abdol-Mon`em Aboul Fotouh and his supporters among the crowds protesting
Morsi`s policies gives cause for much reflection. Morsi`s main mistake
was the inability to create political balance while preserving Egypt`s
national interest.
The
fact of the matter is that both Morsi and Mubarak fell into an
extremist abyss. The main objective of both of them was to grab power
and stabilize the power of their nation`s political command. The
secularists came to life in the context of the Hosni Mubarak government
and under the banner of the Morsi government it was the supporters of
the Takfiri groups! Yet secularism and Takfiris can be likened to two
edges of the same scissors whose movement can paralyze a nation. It is
not without reason that the think tanks in the United States of America
and the Zionist regime give the same amount of importance to continuing
the dangerous and poisonous lives of the secularist and Takfiri groups
in the Muslim nations.
There
is now much ambiguity about Mohammad Morsi`s governing for which he
will have to answer later (perhaps from behind prison bars). How can the
Muslim Brotherhood policies on Syria and the Middle East be justified?
Did the Morsi government take effective measures against Saudi
provocations in Damascus, Baghdad and Tripoli? As president of the
republic of a nation with an old civilization, was Morsi able to
restrict the provocations of the extremist groups in the Muslim nations?
Unfortunately not only did Morsi fail to take such measures, in some
instances he himself became a sounding board for Amir Abdullah, the king
of Saudi Arabia.
What
was the meaning of the increase in commercial, security and commercial
dealings and even the staging of joint military maneuvers between Egypt
and Saudi Arabia during the Morsi period? Morsi`s historical memory had
become so weak that he forgot Riyadh`s outrageous support for Hosni
Mubarak during the period of the arrest, imprisonment and torture of the
members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and he had a tranquil image
of Riyadh.
It
can be claimed with confidence that one of the main factors in the
weakening of the Morsi government was the depiction of unrealistic and
fanciful images of the White House, Saudi Arabia and even Egyptian
society. A regrettable point for the Muslim Brotherhood is that the
Saudi family has enthusiastically welcomed Morsi`s removal from power.
Some Zionist regime security sources (such as the Debka File) have even
revealed that Riyadh played a central role bringing down the Morsi
government. To put it in a better way the welcoming of Morsi`s overthrow
was due to the Saudi family`s encouragement of the Muslim Brotherhood!
According
to the results of one poll 63 percent of Egypt`s citizens declared that
their living conditions in the Morsi era were worse than they had been
before and 73 percent even said during his presidency Morsi did not make
any good decisions. This shows that Morsi ignored many of the
livelihood concerns of his nation`s citizens and spent most of his time
stabilizing political power and on political lobbying in the Middle
East. An interesting point is that Saudi Arabia and the United States of
America were among the first nations last week to turn their backs on
Egypt`s President Morsi when the public demonstrations became intense!
Abdul
Moneim Abul Fotouh, president of the Strong Egypt Party, who declared
his support for Morsi against Ahmad Shafiq after being defeated by Morsi
in the first round of the presidential election, is now considered one
of the Egyptian president`s political opponents. About two months ago
when Morsi was immersed in his incorrect images of Egypt and the Middle
East, Abul Fotouh gave Morsi a meaningful warning. He declared:
“If
you do not correct your performance you will face a disaster and you
will have two choices: either a revolution of the hungry or a military
coup d`etat, both of which are bitter options.”
To please God America does not help Egypt but it knows that the fall of Egypt will make a battlefield of the Middle East.
Abul
Fotouh had effectively predicted bitter days in Cairo and Alexandria,
but Morsi ignored this clear and correct warning. In his last speech
Morsi acknowledged some of the incorrect measures by the presidency but
this late confession was of no benefit. Morsi became aware of his
incorrect policies when Egypt`s Minister of Defense General Abdel Fattah
al-Sisi announced his official removal from power.
The
tears the hardline Takfiris and Morsi`s extremists are now shedding are
exactly the same shameless crocodile tears they cried the day they
killed Martyr Sheikh Hassan Shahata in the middle of the month of
Sha`ban this year. Without a doubt the crime by Morsi`s Takfiri
associates in martyring Sheikh Shahata will remain as a black stain on
his unsuccessful one-year political record.
Finally
the militarization of Egypt`s political space like the maneuver of the
Takfiris in the Cairo government is condemned to failure. Some people
might want to suggest that Morsi`s defeat is a defeat for the Islamists
in Cairo but such a claim is entirely incorrect. Morsi`s removal was not
the result of his Islamism; it was caused by extremism and his giving
way to hardline Salafist groups.
Many
of the people who were chanting the slogan “Go Away Morsi” in Tahrir
Square were opponents of the West`s hegemony in Cairo and advocates of
Islamic Sharia. In such a climate the nation of Egypt must rely on its
awareness and collective intelligence and maintain its independence in
the Middle East and the International system.
Without
a doubt the majority of Egyptian citizens are aware of the truth that
Washington and Riyadh never wish them well and are trying to guide
developments in Cairo with a utilitarian view. Therefore the great task
of the nation of Egypt has just begun. The time has come again for a
renewed life for the nation of Egypt in the context of independence from
the West and America`s Arab allies. In this making a model of the
nation of Iran will be useful for the citizens of Egypt, for in more
than three decades the nation of Iran has been able preserve its Islamic
revolution in the face of waves of foreign plots.
(Description
of Source: Tehran Resalat Online in Persian -- Website of conservative
Tehran daily, owned by the Resalat Foundation; associated with
conservative merchants and clerics and the Islamic Coalition Party;
www.resalat-news.com)
© Compiled and distributed by NTIS, US Dept. of Commerce. All rights reserved.
0 التعليقات:
إرسال تعليق
أضف تعليق