“The scene in Egypt looks grim. More than eight months have passed since Jan. 25, when the sparks of revolution finally brought Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule to an end. Yet we have witnessed no real policy changes from the provisional Military Council. The postrevolution era is marked by as much—if not more—brutality as faced the Egyptians during Mubarak’s reign as witnessed by the dozens of Copts killed in recent clashes. The censorship of journalists, bloggers, newspapers, and other publications continues. It seems that the confiscation of journalistic work has become a defining characteristic of the postrevolution era. Worse, nothing suggests that the Military Council will surrender its authority to an elected civilian president in the near future, despite their statements to the contrary. An addiciton to power has taken hold, especially in the mind of Marshal Tantawi………..”
Just as I wrote here: the military will be the supreme power, with some elected politicians suffocating underneath it. Just like in Iran where elected politicians are subservient to an unelected leader. Ayatollah Tantawi, meet Marshal Khamenei. What went wrong in Egypt is simple. The people did not finish up the ‘revolution’. They kept the old regime intact except for the top two or three men. Lenin had it right in 1917, at the beginning, by insisting on a complete overthrow of the old order, as did the Iranian Ayatollah in 1979, as did Castro in 1959. Unfortunately those three old revolutionaries failed to create free societies: they got rid of their ‘democratic’ partners and replaced the bad old orders with bad new dictatorships. Now the military junta is set to share power in Egypt: it is the Egyptian version of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). They will share power, but they will be first among ‘equals’, at best. This suits the Arab oligarchs fine, they are sighing with relief: the SCAF is now using the same divisive sectarian tactics (vis-a-vis the Christian Copts) that are used by the Saudi and Bahraini regimes in the Gulf. But the brave Egyptian people need to make another final push to be rid of the military junta. Cheers
mhg
“Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has said the great Islamic movements that have recently arisen in the Muslim world are a prelude to a greater development and the rule of Islam. The Leader made the remarks on Tuesday during a meeting with scholars and intellectuals who attended the fifth meeting of the Ahl al-Bayt World Assembly, which was held in Tehran on Sunday. He also said, “Our stance is to support and strengthen these movements, and we hope that these Islamic movements will bring an end to the hegemony of the main enemies, namely the Zionists and the United States.” In addition, the Leader advised Muslims to be vigilant about the enemies’ threats, especially their plots to create division between Shias and Sunnis. These plots are politically motivated, he said, adding, “The global arrogance (the forces of imperialism) are especially pursuing a policy of Shiaophobia in addition to the policy of Islamophobia………….” Mehr News Agency
Ayatollah Khamenei is wrong, of course, in labeling the Arab uprisings generally as Islamist, calling them “Islamic movements”. They started as quite secular movements in Tunisia and Egypt, and most Islamists like Salafis and many others either opposed or at least hesitated about them. The Islamists, ever opportunistic, especially the Salafis, have jumped on the bandwagon. Yet he has a point in that the Arab states undergoing uprisings are becoming more Islamist. Egypt will almost certainly become more “Islamist”, as will Libya although I suspect Libya is more susceptible to the threat of the Salafi movement. Syria will certainly become much more Islamist and much less secular than under the Baath, if Assad is overthrown, unless the military takes over again. Syria has had a long history of religious tolerance, even more so than Egypt in recent decades. Islamists have a leading role in both the Libyan and Syrian uprisings. Bahrain is already co-governed by the Salafis and Wahhabis who also fear a Shi’a resurgence if the Apartheid system is dismantled. As for Yemen? Who knows. Only Tunisia has some hope of blocking the ambitions of the Islamist parties. Khamenei is quite right about the dangers of Shiaphobia and Islamophobia. Cheers
mhg
BFF “Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei announced on Wednesday that “we are very worried about situation in Bahrain.” The Leader made the remarks as he addressed worshippers at prayers marking Eid ul-Fitr. The Leader called on people in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen to vigilantly guard their revolutions so that the arrogant powers would not hijack their revolutions. “Muslim nations whether in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen, and in the rest of countries need to be vigilant today. They should not allow the victories they have gained to be hijacked by enemies.” The Leader also pointed to NATO attacks on Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, saying those countries which consider themselves as owners of the Libyan revolution are those past colonial powers who helped suppress the Libyan nation………….”
I agree with the ayatollah about Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen, and Bahrain, especially Bahrain. But he forgot all about the protests and the repression in Syria. Must have been a simple lapse; people do forget one or two countries sometimes. That is also the reason why Saudi media focus on Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Syria, and forget all about the struggle and the repression in Bahrain. And about those parliamentary elections next March: it would be interesting to see who is allowed to run and who isn’t. Cheers
mhg
BFF “Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei and a large number of Iranian elites in a meeting here on Tuesday discussed prevalence of justice in the society as among the tenets of the Islamic-Iranian paradigm of progress. At the second meeting of ‘Strategic Thoughts’ here in Tehran on Tuesday, the Supreme Leader called for maximizing prevalence of justice in the society, and said despite the massive efforts made to prevail justice in the Iranian society after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the country still has a long way to go, “since the Islamic ruling system is after maximized justice and full materialization of justice as an absolute value”. During the 4-hour meeting, the Leader said the holy Quran describes justice as the main goal of all divine religions, and said, “Religions have developed social systems in pursuit of justice, and justice has been the main goal for man’s move within the framework of religion.”. He further reminded that such a justice-oriented view cannot be found in any of the schools of thought presented by man. Ayatollah Khamenei stressed the need for serious efforts and consultations among intellectuals and thinkers to prevail the Islamic theory and view of justice in the country. ……”The use of two concepts of ‘Islamic’ and ‘Iranian’ is never meant to reject achievements and rightful experiences of others,” the Leader went on to say……..” Fars News (Iran)
Also sprach Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to a meeting of “elites”, presumably properly revolutionary “elites”.
WTF: I have to admit that I could not figure this one out, not yet. I know he is gingerly tackling the sensitive issue that is not necessarily a dichotomy: “Iranian” and “Islamic” identities. He called it a paradigm. That is a tough one: Turkey has solved it by being as Turkish as ever, but slightly more Islamic. I know Khamenei is pushing the fundamentalist theocratic line, but there is more. I discern a certain amount of worry, uncertainty even as he speaks with the seeming certainty of a theocrat. That is a good sign: when a leader in our region worries it is always a good sign for the people. They ought to start a Club of Worried Leaders, one that goes beyond the GCC and Jordan and Morocco (I think Libya and Yemen and Syria and Bahrain are beyond the mere worried, I hope I am right). Keep on worrying, y’all. Cheers
mhg
Rattlesnake Ridge 
BFF
