Category Archives: Egypt

Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Egypt, GCC

Al Sisi in Abu Dhabi under Iranian Drones, Burning the Reichstag………

      

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Speaking of Egypt and hooking up with the Gulf GCC:

I fatwa here and now that it will not happen. Egypt will not become a member of the Gulf GCC. It just ain’t gonna happen, and that is all there is to it. That is also the fatwa I issued when the Saudi princes shocked everyone but not me by inviting humorless Jordan and floating Morocco to join the GCC. That was before they politely dis-invited them (is there a polite way, maybe an app to dis-invite someone?). The princes and the potentates often act as if they have no clue as to WhatTheFuck(1) is happening or will happen. So, I am saving them the trouble as a public service.


Speaking of which. Generalisimo (sorry, Field Marshal) Al Sisi is already exploring his putative future domain. He is in Abu Dhabi visiting the UAE. Allegedly reportedly the potentates of Abu Dhabi shared with the Saudi princes the cost of financing the military coup d’etat that overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood and the ensuing police campaign that locked up anybody who is a member. No, the Reichstag was not burned down in Cairo, but pretty close to it. Egyptian media is speculating that he may resign as Minister of Defense next week in order to run for president. Yet he may have a problem: once he is not Minister of Defense, does not control the tanks officially, what authority will he have over the government? How can he guarantee a huge win (or, maybe 80%-85%)? How can he be sure of a win at all? Something for the General (sorry, Field Marshal) to think about.

The Iranians probably have their domestic drones flying right above his bald spot, getting the measure of the officer whom Morsi trusted. To his regret. 


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(1) Note: I don’t often use expletives, especially in composite form and the full WTF, but the potentates often inspire me. The best way I know to describe some of their statements and actions, succinctly.
 
Cheers
mhg

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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Egypt, GCC, Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia, US Foreign Policy

GCC Egyptian Hook-Up Game: Saudis Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places……

      

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“Saudi Arabia is also now bruiting the induction of Egypt into the Gulf Cooperation Council, presumably with the proviso that Egypt will be allowed to extract enormous strategic rent from the GCC. In return, Egypt will protect the very wealthy but very weak GCC from Iran and Shiite Iraq, and from the Brotherhood. Anonymous Egyptian sources I saw quoted in the Egyptian press when I was there last week were speculating that if al-Sisi becomes president, he can bring in $240 billion in investments and aid from the Gulf………………..”

“PAMP (Polygamous
Arab Male Potentates), seeking poor family-ruled Arab country that does
not believe in democracy, and is willing to send troops and security
agents when needed. Money is no object, up to a point. Preferably no
Shi’as or Hasidim or Haredim among the population.” Possible GCC Personal Want-Ad


That PAMP mock want-ad reflects the state of Gulf GCC regimes since 2011. It is actually the state of the Saudi royal family, since it is the princes who have been flailing to grasp some accommodating Arab regime that can be invited to keep order when needed in exchange for money. From Jordan to Morocco, and now to Egypt.
 

Perhaps they are better off staying with the U.S. Navy for external protection from any real or (more likely) imaginary foe. Whoever heard of the Egyptian navy? Or the Jordanian navy? Or the Moroccan navy? But protection from whom? What the princes really want is a land force for protection from their own people, protection from change: that is why they have hired mercenaries from Asia and Arab countries (Bahrain) and even Latin America and Australia (UAE).

Modern Egyptian military history, its effectiveness, is very iffy (I am being polite here). In spite of the heroics of Al Sisi. After all, the four wars with Israel were not exactly ringing victories, starting with the first defeat at the hands of the ragtag Haganah bands in 1948, what we call the Palestine War. Actually in that war five Arab armies were defeated by graduates of the European concentration camps and survivors of the butchery of the civilized world. It was all downhill from then.
They may have won their last campaign at home: the war Mr. Mubarak declared on Egyptian swine in 2009, the so-called War on Pigs. Egypt’s native swine, the country’s largest minority for thousands of years seem to have all but disappeared, reportedly eliminated. Long before anyone ever heard of Mohammed Morsi. Although some of them are probably hidden inside the government and the military, sanctioned within the bureaucracy.
 

The Saudi princes are notoriously unstable (or maybe just stupid). They surprised everyone, perhaps even each other, by unilaterally inviting Jordan and Morocco to join the GCC in 2011. Then they spent the next couple of years trying to walk back from that stupid proposal.
Now they are toying with economically strapped Egypt, a country that keeps getting more crowded along the banks of the Nile. Egypt needs to stop and then reverse its population explosion, otherwise no GCC money can help. Besides, dreams of tens of billions are just that: dreams. They will get a few billion, but at a price of letting the Gulf princes and potentates pick their leaders (as they did in 2013 and 2014), and at the price of deciding their foreign policy. At the price of turning the country even more into a ‘watering’ hole for hungry and thirsty and, er, ‘socially’ frustrated and repressed Wahhabi men.
Here are some links to previous postings on this topic:

GCC Summit in December: Auld Lang Syne and L’Internationale

Bahrain Poised to Import Even More Jordanian Mercenaries?

Morocco and Jordan and GCC Constitutional Monarchy

Moroccans are from Mars, the GCC from Venus? Democracy and Humor

Saudi Leadership of GCC: Three Major Failures, Three Strikes but not Out, not yet

Gulf GCC: on Jordanian Accession, Roman Dinarius, Israeli Shekel, and Kosher Currency

Saudis in Denial: Expanded GCC? What Expanded GCC?

Expanded GCC? Picking Security over Economics, More on Black Magic

Gulf GCC: Moroccan Couscous Controversy, Jordanian Humor Controversy

Riyadh Marriage Proposal: GCC, Morocco, Jordan……

Freedoms the GCC will Bring to Morocco and Jordan……

Fatwas on GCC Expansion: Jordan, Morocco, and the Muftis

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Cairo, Egypt

End of a Revolution: When Tahrir Square became SisiPlatz…….

      

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“Three years after the start of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, thousands of Egyptians rallied in Cairo’s Tahrir Square Saturday calling for another military man to become their leader. The anniversary rallies came against the backdrop of deadly Cairo bombings in a country deeply polarised between supporters and opponents of Mubarak’s successor, the deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. At least 29 people were killed in clashes across Egypt during Saturday’s rival rallies…………….”

“Tens of thousands of people gathered in the square, carrying Egyptian flags and holding posters bearing photos of Egypt’s Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, of Egypt’s late president Gamal Abdel Nasser and even of Mubarak. The crowd that occupied the square until midnight was the second layer of civilian-security sifting: A photo of Sisi or a banner emblazoned with a poetic slogan urging him to run for presidency would grant whoever was carrying it full immunity. Those without such protection tools could see an angry mob turn against them in a matter of seconds and in a manner described by many as simply bloodthirsty. Tahrir Square was a deadly trap for anyone who is not publicly and boisterously applauding the current military-backed regime. Several journalists were harassed or attacked by regime loyalists and by noon, it was clear that foreigners were considered spies ………….”

Nothing like this level of violent repression was seen in Egypt during the combined long years of King Farouk, Gamal Abdel Nasser, or Anwar Sadat. The number of the dead keeps climbing. Over fifty this past weekend, officially. Many more have probably died in the six months since the military coup of July 2013 than died during the uprising against Mubarak. Not many died under Morsi, yet he will be ‘tried’ for murder. Many more will die now, either at the hands of the military, its security, or at the hands of Islamist terrorists. Tahrir Square, once a symbol of an uprising
against a dictator, now has its mobs clamoring for another strongman,
one of Mubarak’s generals, to take over in name what he already has. In the old tried and true style of Franco, Peron, Pinochet, Suharto, Mubarak, and others.
Tahrir Square, named Liberation Square by Gamal Abdel Nasser, is now unofficially Sisiplatz, or AlSisiPlatz.

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Egypt

Generalísimo Al Sisi of Egypt: Torn Between Eisenhower, De Gaulle, and Franco……….

      

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“Egypt’s prime minister said Thursday the spirit of the Arab Spring was still alive in his country and that the army chief likely to run for the presidency was no dictator, but more a De Gaulle figure……………..”

Actually Dr. Al Beblawi went on to compare Al Sisi to General De Gaulle and General Dwight Eisenhower (but oddly not Generalísimo Franco, the most famous counter-revolutionary of the last century). Except that neither De Gaulle nor Eisenhower came to power by a military coup d’etat, Franco did. Eisenhower defeated Nazi Germany during the war, and Al Sisi defeated Tahrir Square and liberated Rab’a Al Adawiya and Mohammed Morsi. Come to think of it: why not Napoleon Bonaparte? He also claimed to be saving France. Al Sisi will be hard pressed to show an Austerlitz in his resume, maybe Mr. Mubarak’s War on Pigs of 2009?

De Gaulle’s return to power was called the Fifth Republic. Sisi’s will probably be called the Third Republic (Nasser was the First, Sadat-Mubarak were the Second).

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Egypt, Saudi Arabia

King Congratulates Egyptian President Zombie on Referendum……..

      

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Alarabiya reports that Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has congratulated the military-appointed interim Egyptian President Adly Mansour Al Zombie on the success of the ‘results’ of the referendum on the new constitution.
The Servant of the Two Holy Shrines assured President Al Zombie that the referendum reflected the unity of the Egyptian people as reflected by the results which reflected the free will of the people. Alarabiya reports all that wisdom was in a telegram sent by the king to the Egyptian president. The king, however, did not promise to hold similar free referendums in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Not yet.
Can you believe all this gavno about free will and popular unity (or was it free unity and popular will)? And don’t these guys believe in text-ing these days? I mean it can’t be any more expensive than a telegram.

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Counterrevoltion, Arab Revolutions, Egypt, Wahhabi

How to Say “Vive la Révolution” in Wahhabi? Egypt Goes Back to the 99% Solution ………

      

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“BREAKING: Official says 98.1 percent of voters approve Egypt’s new constitution in first vote after coup” AP

The new incarnation of the Mubarak regime (now called the Sisi regime) did not want to look greedy. It could have opted for 100% approval for its constitution. Instead it decided to make it more ‘competitive’, decided to get only 98.1%, not even the typical Arab 99% we are used to. Of course the Saudi rulers and other potentates in the Gulf do better: they get 100% of the vote from the day they are born. It is love and larceny from the first bite, the first breath. And if you don’t believe this, try visiting the state security prisons in places like Riyadh and Manama, among others.
 
Generalísimo Al Sisi, dubbed Egypt’s newest sex symbol, has said last week that he will decide on running for president if the Egyptian people show that they want him to run. That presumably meant that if the Egyptian people approved his constitution, then he will run. So, it looks like he will run unopposed or against token opposition, a la Mubarak. As for the Egyptian people, I am becoming more convinced by the day that most of them don’t know WTF they want. Worst, most of them seem not to know WTF they are ‘voting’ for anymore. Meanwhile, the truly elected hapless deposed president Mohamed Morsi looks set to rot in prison for the rest of his natural life.
As for the so-called Arab uprisings, the Wahhabi princes own them now, from the Nile to the Euphrates to the Persian Gulf. How do you say: “vive la révolution” in Wahhabi?

Cheers
mhg

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Egypt, Media

A Mad Time for the General and Miley Cyrus and Li’l Kim: Sisi? Hell, No No………

      

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                           Video:
A Kenny G Holiday

“Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has pulled ahead of pop star Miley Cyrus to claim the top spot in Time magazine’s annual reader poll for person of the year, in a vote that saw accusations of hacking for the second year in a row. Time announced the results on Friday, revealing that Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan came in second with 20.8% of the votes. He came in just above Cyrus, who had 16.3% of the vote. The vote comes ahead of the magazine editors’ person of the year announcement next week. To reach the top spot, Sisi collected 26.2% of the votes………  “Sisi’s numbers were driven by massive support from his native Egypt: the country accounted for the largest number of votes on the Time.com poll,” said the publication in a statement. “India and the United States provided the second and third highest number of responses, respectively.” Cyrus’ presence alongside two political leaders is a combination of the poll’s criteria – selecting a person based on influence rather than merit – and the susceptibility of online polls to computer-assisted trickery. Brutal dictators have also succeeded in past years’ votes. Kim Jong-un won the 2012 online reader poll. That win was pinned on the motley group of internet pranksters………………..”

They are celebrating in some Arab media this first victory by General Sisi. All this is almost meaningless: it doesn’t mean any of these celebrities and coup-makers will be on the cover of Time.

Some Gulf and Egyptian media made it sound like he will be on the cover of Time. It says here Kim Jong-Un won the 2012 person of the year ‘readers poll’, mostly through votes of pranksters in Seoul and California. None of them will be Person of the Year: even Time is not that dumbed down, not yet. Maybe the cover of Mad Magazine.  I also suspect mostly Egyptians and Saudi royals voted for Sisi. They did it probably because they have a lot of time on their hands. Most other people around the world wouldn’t know Sisi from a Nono.
(The Guardian also claims Sisi “was elected deputy prime minister after the coup“. Nobody elected him: he appointed himself).
Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Egypt, History, Jerusalem, Religion

Religion in Egypt: from Saladin to Sisi, from Jerusalem to Beckett……..

      

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“The Shia leader added that the decision of Endowment Minister Mohamed Mokhtar to prevent Shia celebrations came “to prevent Salafis from causing a strife in the community.” He noted that they’re going to commemorate the event by visiting the mosque individually and praying, but to continue the rest of the rituals at home. He vowed that Shias would be quiet and would keep the sanctity of the mosque as to stop “the strife the Salafis want to ignite.” The Egyptian Shia community have demanded greater protections in the country’s new constitution expected to go to public referendum by the end of the year, particularly more emphasis on freedom of religion as well as protection from discrimination and hate speech………….”

Egypt has not changed since the days of Hosni Mubarak ( did you know that he is not the president anymore, technically?). Religious freedom is as restricted now as it was before the alleged so-called ‘revolution’. In the end, that so-called ‘revolution’ was won by revolutionary Saudi Arabian princes and the Jacobin United Arab Emirates shaikhs. In fact religious freedom is worse now, for the Wahhabi Salafis, who take their political cue from their Saudi masters, are monitoring all minority religions, be they Shi’as or Copts or Vegans. They are making sure the old Egyptian idea of religious freedom is never taken seriously.
 
FYI: Egypt was Shi’a for a couple of centuries under the Fatimid Dynasty. Until the Fatimid caliph made the fatal mistake of appointing Saladin (Salah El-Din) as his military commander. He staged a coup d’etat, closed Al-Azhar (which was established by the Fatimids), and appointed himself as the new ruler. Saladin did atone for his treachery later by liberating Jerusalem from the barbarous European invaders and occupiers. Now the Muslim Brothers are probably waiting for General Al Sis to atone for what they consider his betrayal of Mohammed Morsi who had appointed him head of the military. They might as well be waiting for Samuel Beckett’s elusive creation.
Cheers
mhg

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Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Nations International Organizations

WTF? Egypt Supports Saudi Rejection of UN Seat, Arabs Declare Unilateral Victory……

      

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Al Shourouk daily from Cairo reports that the Egyptian regime has declared its full support of the surprise Saudi decision to refuse taking a seat on the United Nations Security Council. It is likely general Al Sisi called the Saudi King, or whoever speaks for him these days, and congratulated him for his rejection. My Cairo source reports that it is not true that Interim semi-President Mr. Adly Mansour Al Zombie has asked if he can take the abandoned Saudi seat on the UN Security Council.

As a reaction, the King of Jordan is said to have made the “right noises”, the nature of which have not been divulged. Not to be outdone, the government of Bahrain has declared a three day holiday in celebration of the Saudi rejection of the UN SC seat. Other Arab potentates are sending messages of congratulation to Riyadh. One Lebanese journalist who writes in Saudi daily Asharq Alawsat is getting ready to call this Saudi move the “true Arab Spring”. Another Arab journalist, J Al-Khazin, who write for Saudi daily Al-Hayat is comparing this rejection to Anwar Sadat’s audacious visit to Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, and in that spirit of support, I have decided to declare my support for Turkish leader Erdogan for calling the President of France and asking him to get tougher on Syria, or was it Mali……….

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood

Is Morsi Refusing a Military Deal?……….

      

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“A senior figure in the Muslim Brotherhood’s political party was arrested Monday on the eve of a major Muslim holiday, while the family of the organization’s jailed leader issued a defiant statement saying he wouldn’t renounce his claim to Egypt’s presidency. As Egyptians prepared to celebrate Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, which begins Tuesday, neither the Brotherhood nor the military-backed interim government showed any sign of moving toward a political compromise. Most of the Brotherhood’s leadership has been in jail for months……………”

It looks like the ruling generals may be offering Mr. Morsi a deal. It looks like they may be offering him some kind of immunity, perhaps exile in Turkey or Qatar, in exchange for renouncing his right to the presidency (forget the Bahamas in this case). But of course it is not for him to renounce any ‘right” to leadership. It is up to voters, or so the legend says. Which means General Al Sisi, if he runs and wins (of course he’ll win), will have a shadow of illegitimacy hanging over him. But then most Arab leaders have a shadow of illegitimacy hanging over them, since most are not elected. So what else is new?

Cheers
mhg

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