A Controversial Law – Demonstrations

الوسوم

application, checks and balances, controversial, demonstrations, Egypt, Government, MB, Oppression, police force, Rule of law

It looks like we are now in a state where we are just looking for something to split us up and over which we can fight. Has Morsi and his terrorist organization succeeded so well? Are we now so enamored of the idea of taking to the street, shouting slogans and even fighting and dying for something we have not thought through? To my way of thinking that is exactly what is happening with this newly ratified law regulating demonstrations
This ill-fated law came into being as an embryonic idea by the MB during Morsi’s rule. The idea was to curb demonstrations and lessen the effect of the opposition. It was mainly a tool of oppression in the hands of a terrorist organization that had a dedicated curbing machine in the police force.
This problem is so compounded, it is mind boggling. So many factors go into it, it will take a lot of effort, thought and education, ON ALL SIDES, to unravel this knot. Or it should be cut by one clean sharp blade. Let me explain.
The elements of the problem are legion. First is the perception of this law as being one initiated by the MB for oppression purposes. This has already settled into the subconscious of the people. Eradicating it needs education and proper, widespread education of the meaning of the law, its philosophy and it also needs CHCKS AND BALANCES in the application.
The wording of the law must be very accurate, it should specify that demonstrations are to take place through advising the authorities, and not through asking permission by the authorities. The irony is that the new Constitution specifies the former, whereas the interpretation of the police authority tends towards the latter meaning. All activists rose in protest at what they perceived as a curbing of their hard earned right to protest, and the behavior of the police in dispersing last night’s demonstrators, compounded the problem.
More seriously is now the splitting of the people in two camps. Those who have reached their boiling point against the hooliganism of a large part of the demonstrators and would like to see all demonstrations dealt with very harshly, ACCORDING TO THE LAW; and those who see this as an attempt to legalize oppression through a new/old regime, with the same tool of the old police force with its oppressive, violent mentality.
There are elements of truth in every point of view, and to bring these closer to a unified view is going to take some very clever mental footwork. Unfortunately the government and its leader do not seem to have this ability. They are in a position where they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. They want to apply the law, but they saw what a disaster the first attempt at this application was. They want to mitigate the effects of this disaster, but in doing so are accused of not applying the law. On one side they have the demonstrators accusing them of turning into another Mubarak oppressive regime, on another side the majority of the people sick of all the chaos and insecurity of the past three years want all demonstraters to be dealt with very strictly by the law, and finally those who look to the principles of things, divorced from application on the ground, protest the law in principle.
Which faction of those three will prevail, is a toss-up. I don’t think any one faction will. They are all losing, and so is Egypt. By being split over this one law, by being unable to discuss, explain and even tailor the application to every given situation, we are all tearing our beloved Egypt apart. If the government was stronger, more assertive, it could have come out and clearly stated that the law is the law and will be applied. That some mistakes were made in its application by a police force that has not yet been re-trained. That said mistakes will be taken into consideration when applying the letter of the law to those already arrested. This way they show that they uphold the law, but are aware of the shortcomings in its application, and are dealing fairly with those arrested, without breaking the law.
Although this is exactly what happened, it is unfortunate that it was not clearly explained to the people in general. So the demonstraters now see that they were right as they are being released one by one. They do not understand that they broke the law, but are being released because the police applied the law incorrectly. The people in general are very loud in their condemnation of the government in breaking its own laws, not seeing that a really higher form of justice is being served when a law is wrongly applied then it is justice not to apply it. Finally the few members of the Committee of fifty have frozen their participation in protest of this application, which has brought the wrath of the people on their heads because most do not see that a law, misapplied is even more unjust than actually breaking said law.
To unravel all that needs a great deal of firmness, clarity, and education. The Minister of Interior must publicly acknowledge the mishandling of the police, the PM must give a firm and assertive statement about the rule of law, and why in this case it was tempered by justice, and the media should ensure that these two statements are interpreted correctly. If this did not happen, the the only thing that would save the situation from spiraling into complete chaos is a sharp, clean cut, which would be totally dictatorial and might really return us to a dictatorial oppressive state.
There are no easy answers, but if people are sincere in their love for Egypt, then it is about time we started using our brains more than our feelings. We should break the habit of taking to the streets at the drop of a pin, we should use words and not fists in getting our point of view across.
God save my beloved Egypt.

The Game of Nations Part 2

الوسوم

American Administration, armaments deal, demonstrations, Egypt, Iran, Russia, sphere of influence, Turkey, UUA

After the unprecedented numbers of Egyptians taking to the streets on June 30 , 2012, protesting against Morsi and asking him to step down and asking for early presidential elections, world media went overboard with their initial coverage. Even CNN called it a Guinness World Record for the number of people coming out in political protest. But it was not long before the American Administration and the MB scrambled to contain the effect and to begin putting a different spin on it. The stance decided upon between the American Administration and the MB was one of labeling it a military coup d’état and waving the stick of sanctions and stopping American military aid. All media outlets were given this official view, and all reported it religiously and with enthusiasm. Except for Fox News that stuck to its guns and kept reporting things as they really were on the ground in Egypt.
Where America goes, so follows Europe. This was the case. The sphere of influence was widening and all opinions were getting more and more negative about the new state in Egypt. Not only was public opinion mobilized against the fledgling Egyptian administration, but active steps were taken to disrupt the actual formation of an interim government. Al Nour the Salafi Part was the instrument used to try to stop the formation of the government with every means possible. So outside pressure and internal pressure were at their highest point. Yet the government was formed and a committee of ten constitutional experts set up to try to amend the 2012 (MB) Constitution as per the road map outlined by Al Sisy after Morsi’s removal and the swearing in of an interim president, the Head of the Supreme Court, Judge Adly Mansour.
From that date on the games were at their fiercest. The American Administration with all its weight, pressured countries all over the world to its point of view of what was happening in Egypt as a coup. The MB also played a very strong role in this instance. Their practically unlimited funds and their loyal people strategically placed, were utilized to the utmost. Qatar and Turkey, as well as Israel, of course, were all part of the front attacking Egypt at every turn. Not only did we have to contend with fifth columnists within Egypt, but we had the whole world coming down on our heads.
The government was trying to hold its own both internally and externally, while being constantly stabbed in the back by sleepers within it, or through outright violent acts by members of the MB and their terrorist allies like Hamas. Also the funds being dispersed to carry out such terrorist acts were being funneled though both Qatar and Turkey. The fight on our hands was very intense.
It is during those days that Al Sisy’s true metal became apparent. With all the noise made by the world that what had taken place was a coup by the military, he again stepped forward and asked the people, directly, for support and a mandate to fight future terrorism. He asked for this mandate in the form of the people again taking to the streets, in a couple of days. His PR group then set it up for all foreign news correspondents in Egypt to be taken up in army helicopters and given a tour of the country when nearly half the population of 85 million were out on the streets. Not only did these correspondents film the demonstrations, they were filmed by the army’s PR group while filming the demonstrations.
To counteract this very obvious popular response by the people to Al Sisy’s request, the MB took out a paid ad in a well known – half Qatari owned – newspaper, saying that these were demonstrations for the return of Morsi! Also the same was done with France 24 television channel – bought time. To anyone who is paying attention or following closely what was happening, this would have seemed ludicrous, but unfortunately a great many people take the news they are fed at face value, without question or thought.
Another effect that the popular surge of July 26 accomplished, was the total shock it left Israel in. That one man, by just a simple request can, within forty eight hours, mobilize half the population of Egypt, was a very rude awakening indeed. The fact that the people rose so promptly in response to the call of duty for Egypt, forced the Israelis as well as the Americans to pause, think and re-assess all the players on the field. Al Sisy was put under a microscope and everything about him that they knew of was investigated and analyzed. Even down to a paper he wrote while going through military training in the States. There was an attempt to put a spin on it that he was really an MB sleeper. But that, in the light of his actual actions, did not really make sense.
By that time America’s name was mud on the streets of Egypt and slogans against its president and its ambassador to Egypt showed a great deal of animosity. While this was happening, another element was introduced into the scene. Russia. While Obama’s picture was reviled and described as a supporter of the MB terrorists, Putin’s picture was put up along with Nasser’s as symbols of heroic freedom fighters. This again should have given pause to the American administration, but with the continuous drumming of the international MB organization, through their people strategically placed within the White House, the American foreign policy stuck to the same line.
Despite this adherence to a policy that was quickly starting to integrate because of the very obvious terrorist acts perpetrated by the MB within Sinai and in several urban spots in Egypt, yet a very slight split within the Obama Administration started appearing. A split between the White House and the President’s Security Advisor Susan Rice on the one hand, and the State Department, headed by John Kerry, and the Pentagon, on the other hand. This would later become more obvious and would reach unprecedented clashing statements by both entities.
In the meantime the world situation was slowly turning in favor of the change that took place in Egypt on June 30. The behavior of the MB was beginning to turn the people away from them in disgust. Their obvious lack of respect for human life and their flagrant utilization of women and children as dispensable “cannon fodder”, turned many an advocate for human rights and the “democratically elected President” against them in disgust. People the world over started listening to all the Egyptians in Egypt who were telling a totally different story of what these barbarians were really doing.
In the meantime Russia started moving towards a closer relationship with Egypt. Not only did Putin categorically refused to have the ‘Islamic influence’ infiltrate Russian society, he came out and said it very plainly in a speech to the Duma, which was highly publicized on social media, and very welcomed by all. Also secret negotiations were rumored to have begun about armament deals. While the US was ‘temporarily’ suspending its military aid to Egypt, the kingdoms of Arabia and the Gulf came out in full support of Egypt and its interim government. The first to openly give support was The King of Jordan who personally came for a lightning visit to show public support. Though the mighty PR machine of the MB tried to turn it into a negative, it did not work, the Egyptians were now more aware of these lies and were questioning a great deal of what was being said, even the sources of a lot of information were now being investigated and questioned.
While this was happening, a very brief announcement made by Al Sisy that the US was advised that from now onwards it will have to give a 14 day advance notice before any of its ships pass through the Suez Canal. This meant no preferential treatment for rights of passage. All these are the moves of the games played by nations. Their sphere of influence and what advantages they could get for themselves, politically and economically.
While this was going on in Egypt, the Syrian crisis was coming to a head, with the poison gas allegedly used by the Assad forces on his own people. Though the US tried to make a case of it within the UN and through world public opinion, again the interference of Russia put a stop to American threats, and the whole tempest in a teacup fizzled out.
Egyptian Russian relations were getting closer and finally it was announced that a 2 on 2 visit was to take place. This expression was explained to mean a very high delegation indeed headed by the two most important Ministers in both countries to meet together. These being the Ministers of Defense and of Foreign Affairs. The two Russian Ministers came on their announced high profile visit to Egypt in mid November. The result was talk of arms deals running in the billions.
Immediately after that visit came a lightning visit by John Kerry to Egypt, after which on the 18th November 2013 while addressing the State Departments’ Overseas Security Advisory Council he stated that the Egyptian revolution of 2011 started by tech-savvy young people with no ideological aims was “stolen” by Islamists from the Muslim Brotherhood who behaved autocratically after winning parliamentary and presidential elections.
Needless to say that this is scrambling by a professional diplomat to contain the damage caused by the Administration’s previous handling of the situation. Yet the White House and its Advisors seem to be still in opposition. It is interesting to watch this situation unfold and raises questions about the old game of “good cop/bad cop” being played by the US.
On the other hand, while many an Egyptian would like to see a closer relationship with Russia take root and cement, a balancing note, and a very pragmatic outlook is given by Al Sisy’s remarks that a nation’s relations with other nations are not built on changing situations.
So while there seems to be a renewed attention to Egypt’s position in the world, and an attempt by the different spheres of influence to attract Egypt to one camp or the other, it looks like we are now holding our own, with a balanced view of the world at large. An indication of Egypt’s return to its previous world standing is the fact that it was an Egyptian that was voted as the Head of UNESCO’s Executive Board.
Since writing this article, more development in this situation. An “agreement” was reached in talks between six countries headed by Iran and the US whereby Iran halts its nuclear enrichment process for the easing of sanctions against it. This will change the balance in the Middle East and will marginalize Turkey’s role in the region. Also relations between Turkey and Egypt have reached an all time low where Egypt recalled its Ambassador and declared Turkey’s Ambassador “persona non grata”.
Awaiting with bated breath for further developments and what the next moves of the game will be.

Burning the Flag

الوسوم

4th generation war, betrayal, Bin Laden, brain power, Burn the flag, Egypt, Egyptians, Khairat Al Shater, Mohamed Abu Shakra, Mohamed Mabrouk, Muslim Brotherhood, Presidential spy, USA

I understand you burn your enemy’s flag as a symbol of belittling your enemy and showing contempt, but burning your own country’s flag?
This is what happened in Tahrir Square last night. The MB and their supporters burned Egypt’s flag. I am in deep shock.
Though I shouldn’t be. I have been writing about them and their treacherous behavior, their atrocities and their viciousness. Yet somehow I still thought of them as Egyptians. With this one act, they have now relinquished all claim to that. I do not think I am alone in thinking that they have now shown their true colors, and that they have not an iota of love or loyalty to this country. I really think that their citizenship should be revoked and that they be exiled out of the country.
The extent of their alienation was never more obvious. But I should not be surprised. If one of them when in the position of President of the country, consorted with enemies of said country and plotted against it, this is beyond belief. If a fiction writer thought of such a plot, it would be laughed out as too far fetched. Well, fiction writers, now you have a precedent in history.
We are always proud to be the first in anything that would get us registered in the Guinness Book of World Records, but this is one time when it will be with great shame. Ours would be the first President in history to be convicted of espionage on his country WHILE HE WAS PRESIDENT!!!
Nothing speaks louder than those two facts, a Presidential spy and the burning of the flag. Those two incidents alone should be enough to damn this organization as a terrorist, rogue organization with loyalty only to itself and its own advancement. The US in allying itself to this organization has left itself wide open to retaliation once they turn on it. And turn they will. If they have no loyalty to the country where they were born and where they have lived all their lives, do you think they will give a second thought to a foreign ally if this ally is no longer useful, or is perceived to have turned its back on them? Watch out America, you are about to be stabbed in the back by your ex- allies.
Treachery is a strong vein running throughout their history. Not only have they allied themselves to each and every ruling party in Egypt over the past 80 years, but they have also betrayed each and every party they had allied themselves to. Even as individuals, betrayal is the rule, if there is any sort of gain. After Morsi was removed, many a name surfaced from members of the brotherhood as police informants. Those especially adept at that were the Salafis, who are on the same platform as the Brotherhood, but even more extreme in their views.
With the assassination of the National Security officer, Mohamed Mabrouk, many more details are being revealed. It seems that Mabrouk, as well as another National Security officer, Mohamed Abu Shakra, were two of the officers closely involved in tracking, surveilling and finally arresting the a Deputy Morshid, Khairat Al Shater. Officer Abu Shakra was assassinated by being riddled with bullets a few months ago. The same method was used on Mohamed Mabrouk. Both officers are seen on the tape showing the arrest of Khairat Al Shater. So it seems that the wave of assassinations had already started a few months back. Neither officer was high profile, nor was he known to the public. With the assassination of Mabrouk, there are definite overtones of the involvement of foreign intelligence forces.
Assassinations, bombings, arson and every criminal behavior is the MB’s modus operandi. They would sleep with the devil if it was to their advantage. This I think, is the main reason they were so attractive to the US as their tool in Egypt to implement for them the 4th generation of asymmetrical war. They have absolutely no principles whatsoever, are not inhibited by a conscience, and are desperately ambitious and hungry for power. Their loyalty does not extend to their followers, who, they think are there to further their cause, and are therefore dispensable. Witness the people they killed in the Rabaa sit-in and kept the bodies to try to make the world think that they were killed when the police dispersed the sit-in. But strongly ingrained habits were their downfall. Their strict death rituals that necessitate the shrouding of dead bodies gave the game away. How could the police have shot these people on the spot and they ended up in shrouds? Also they did not reckon with forensic examination of the bodies. They had intended to burn them, but were not given the chance. The bodies were collected and a forensic examination revealed that they had died a few days before the dispersal day, and that they were shot by the same type of bullets which the MB had used in shooting at the police. Add to that the confessions, and crime scene re-enactment of one of the MB captured snipers, and you have a full case of crimes against humanity against the leaders of that sit-in.
The more these people are left to continue on that path, the more they reveal themselves for the terrorists that they are. Hopefully this will reach a point where they will be completely ostracized by the Egyptian people and would be forced into self exile.
A final word of warning to the United States: remember Bin Laden? He was an ex-Muslim Brotherhood member. Remember what he did to you after you had helped him and he achieve notoriety in fighting the Russians in Afghanistan for you? Well, Bin Laden was a junior player in the Muslim Brotherhood. You have now managed to very successfully open Pandora’s box. My only regret is that those of your people who will take the brunt of the Brotherhood’s retaliation, and retaliation there will be, are the ordinary, innocent American taxpayers. Though the same thing happened in 9/11 yet the American people have not learned their lesson. If they do have such a wonderful, working democracy, how come they still have people in office whose stupid policies are laying them open to a great deal of harm? I should have thought that in their own democratic way they would have been able to clean up their government and bring in people whose primary concern is the welfare of the American people.
If the MB push the Egyptian people any further, I think they will get the surprise of their lives at the reaction and the people’s revenge.
It is now a very vicious war that is being waged by the US using the MB as their tool, and it is the duty of each and every Egyptian to fight back. This is a different kind of war, and the conventional weapons are no longer used. We have to fight back through knowledge and ‘brain power’. We have to ensure that as many people as possible are educated in the methods used in this 4th generation war, and in the means of how to combat them. Spreading the education is the key. So it is the duty of every individual who reads this, to take up the thread and continue in spreading the word about this war we are in.
God bless my beloved Egypt.

Reconciliation Now is Treason

الوسوم

4th generation asymmetrical war, economy, Egypt, Fifth Columnists, media, Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, treason, United States

If you ‘reconcile’ with your enemy, you are surrendering. The MB has proven itself a treacherous organization which has allied itself to an outside enemy. Actually SEVERAL outside enemies. The first and most important enemy is the United States. The second is Palestinian Hamas. Qatar and Turkey being the chorus line.
We are currently in a state of war. The 4th generation asymmetrical war as outlined by Dr. Max G. Wanwaring, Professor of Military Strategy in the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College, is currently underway in all its aspects as outlined in his lecture (http://youtu.be/wflMq7DKvNc). It is very clearly defined what methods are used and more to the point WHO to use in implementing this type of war. It is very clearly stated that as this is a “trans-national” problem, it should have a “trans-national” solution. My understanding of this is that the way to wage this war is through the people you want to defeat. If you are trying to defeat Egypt, you use Egyptians to do it. Preferably an organized entity that has a great thirst for power, and a delusion of grandure and a dream of influence beyond conventional national borders. The Americans found a tailor-made organization in the Muslim Brotherhood. The resultant secret alliance started several years ago. Most of the leaders of this organization were ‘educated’ in the United States. In other words, most were recruited by the CIA. The most flagrant recruitment was that of a poor unsophisticated farmer, who, through circumstances and the enormous pressure and work of the CIA, managed to gain the position of President of Egypt. This played right into their hands.
Last night the National Security officer responsible for Morsi’s case where he is accused of being a CIA agent, was assassinated through several bullets to the head. This comes on the heels of Morsi’s threat, through his lawyers, that assassinations had not started yet. The fact that the case this officer was handling involved the United States throws shadows on the involvement of the CIA in this assassination. It is now clear that we are entering another phase of the 4th generation asymmetrical war.
As destabilization is the basic criteria for the success of this war, Morsi, the moment he became President, immediately set free all terrorists convicted and imprisoned, as well as many an ordinary criminal, through presidential reprieves. He then ensured the security of the underground tunnels linking Gaza to Sinai, to ensure the regular, unimpeded flow of Hamas personnel and weaponry inside Egypt, and the regular, unimpeded flow of gas from Egypt to Gaza. This act alone is one of treason. He gave preferential treatment to a foreign state contrary to the interests of Egypt. This is one of the definitions of treason in the Egyptian law. The penalty for treason is death by hanging.
The flow of all the arms and personnel of all terrorist organizations like Hamas and Al Qaeda into Egypt was very well planned and executed, to the extent that at one point Angela Merkel, of Germany, was making noises about declaring Egypt a country that harbors terrorism. She was not much off the mark. With a treasonous terrorist in the top position in the country, what else was expected? But what none of those who are not Egyptian could not understand was the way ordinary everyday Egyptians felt about what was happening to their country. The country was hijacked by a terrorist organization that came to power while most of the people were unaware, and a large number misled by the religious facade worn by this terrorist organization. Suddenly people woke up to the fact that the rulers belonged to a secret, terrorist organization that had international ties to world terrorism and did not have the interests of Egypt at all at heart.
The objective of the 4th generation asymmetrical war was destabilization and the creation of what is now called ‘alternately governed territories’. This means territories where the State has no control, but what is in control are belligerent, violent, rogue groups who compound the chaos and destabilization of that territory. Sinai has been long targeted for that. This goes back to the days of the Peace Accords with Israel, where Egyptian military presence was greatly curtailed there, to give rogue elements the freedom to grow. The ground was laid for the implementation of the 4th generation asymmetrical war that is being waged now.
One of the very dangerous aspects of this war is the use of what they call the non-uniformed military personnel who could be men, women or children. So what they are saying is that they will recruit everybody to help their cause. In the Muslim Brotherhood they found a most cooperative tool. The Brotherhood saw all their dreams of a Muslim Caliphate coming true, without taking into consideration the penalty of cooperating with an untrustworthy foreign political ally with ulterior motives. For the sake of this dream, the Brotherhood had no compunction in using its members and its supporters and followers in the most ruthless, immoral way. The epitome of that came when women and children were used as human shields in demonstrations and during the sit-in at Rabea, and with the dispersal of that sit-in, many were shot by what now appears to be the same type of ammunition that killed the police. So here again we have a practical translation into facts on the ground of the use of a ‘trans-national’ solution, and the ‘non-uniformed military personnel’ be they men, WOMEN OR CHILDREN’. The 4th generation asymmetrical war is waged in all its aspects on Egypt now.
The part about brain power, or smart power, as opposed to fire power is used very subtlety and very well indeed. The ferocious attack of all worldwide media outlets against the people’s revolt against Morsi, trying to tarnish it by calling it a military coup, waving the threat of withholding Aid, and even hinting at sanctions and the threat of NATO interference. The movements of the American fleet near our nautical borders, the financial pressure of withholding the IMF’s loan were other aspects of the brain or smart power used in waging this war. Another aspect of this brain power being used against Egypt is the ability to turn well known figures, and sometimes quite popular figures, into ones that adopted the opposite point of view. This was a two pronged attack, for not only did it cause many people to feel insecure and suspicious of everybody, but also added to the chaos, or destabilization by spreading the word about the fifth columnists who were everywhere, infiltrating all aspects of the Egyptian scene.
There seem to be ongoing attempts to pressure ‘compel’ a few of those in government to the will of the United States. The demand for reconciliation with the MB and to include them in the road map to the future is nothing but another attempt at derailing the one thing standing in the face of successful implementation of this war, it is the will of the Egyptian people and their determination to have their country back as they know it. As long as Egyptians hold on to their dream of a modern, prosperous country where we can live well and with dignity, where we take our natural place in the world community and where we protect our territorial sovereignty, none of those attempts at turning Egypt into a failed state will succeed. An Egyptian trait which has not been taken into consideration by the United States in its plans is that Egyptians are extremely patient people. As a basically agricultural community, patience is a strongly ingrained trait that could outlast all the ‘slow, subtle, quiet’ attempts at destabilization leading to a failed state. They are also intuitive and can instinctively discern dishonestly or any double dealing, therefore they are not duped for long. Even with the very strong card of religion played by the MB they could not pull the wool over the people’s eyes for long.
The more this plot is exposed, the more Egyptians who are informed of this type of the war waged against us, the better we are equipped to combat it and eventually win. The plan to cause friction with the army will not work, for the army is made up of the people, each family has a son, husband, brother or uncle in the army, there is no ethnic difference, no cliques or cabals. The people and the army are one homogeneous entity. With knowledge and constant vigilance this 4th generation asymmetrical war will be defeated by Egyptians who love their country.
God bless my beloved Egypt.

RED ALERT – WARNING – WAKE UP!

الوسوم

4 generation asymmetrical war, Al Qaeda, compel, Egypt, failed state, Hamas, Middle East, military war, Muslim Brotherhood, nation states, new Nazi, Sinai, Strategic Studies Institute of the US Army War College, trans-national

This is NOT a conspiracy theory, this is a REAL conspiracy. Below I have transcribed a few minutes of a speech given by Dr. Max G. Wanwaring, Professor of Military Strategy in the Strategic Studies Institute of the US Army War College. This is as close a transcript as I could get.
He started off by talking about the characters in Harry Potter and that the main evil character, the “antagonist” as opposed to the protagonist is a horrible, scary person. This is a way of introducing the 4th generation asymmetrical war. He goes on to say:
Whether we like it or not, are prepared for it or not, it is here with us, we are dealing with it, we are in a 4th generation asymmetrical war.
What is war? War is the compulsion to accept the enemy’s will – compulsion. In the past, under the traditional Westphalian Treaties, the idea was that war was between to nation states, maybe an alliance of nation states against another alliance of nation states, but it was a nation state sort of thing. Furthermore, it was a military sort of thing, flags flying, uniforms resplendent, crossing the sovereign borders of another country to take a province, a market, or maybe the whole thing. But under the current experience, particularly over the last twenty or so years, we found that this is becoming more and more obsolete, and what is becoming more and more vogue is the 4th generation asymmetrical war. We do not apparently want to admit that we are engaged in such a war, but if we don’t do that, then we don’t have to worry about it.
Mr. Chavez in 2005 gave a charge to his officer corps in the Military Academy in Caracas to learn the 4th generation asymmetrical war and develop a doctrine to deal with it. We are still stuck with Westphalia and our own thinking when we talk about defense, we talk about uniformed forces crossing a sovereign border. But today that is not happening. The last big confrontation of that nature in Latin America took place around a hundred years ago. But Er have been engaged in, whether we like it or not, whether we admit it or not, engaged in a 4th generation asymmetrical was.
What is the objective of a 4th generation asymmetrical war? It is not to crush another military organization or destroy a nation’s capability of fielding a military force abroad, the objective is to wear down, slowly but surely, the will of the targeted country with the purposes of gaining influence, and eventually, beyond gaining influence, and probably not just eventually, but in reality the real objective is to compel that enemy to your will; and whether that type of war is as bloody as the traditional “shock and awe”, whether it is not as bloody as WWII was or the Korean War was, or some of the other wars that we were engaged in were, the fact is that compulsion, whether it is non-benign or not, is still compulsion. This is something we should give some thought to.
Now, if an objective is to control or influence another entity to your will, the common denominator in all this is the thing we call destabilization.we don’t run uniformed forces across the borders any more, or not very often anyway, and military forces are not all uniformed, they are not all male, they are also female, they Re not all adult, they are also children and we’ve got to understand these things and we’ve got to deal with them, and the only way we can deal with them effectively, since they are transport-national problems, what kind of solutions do we need? Transport-national solutions!
Ambassador N. suggested , not only do we go in that direction, but that we take it a step further, we have to use brain power. Brain power is the main weapon in this context. Brain power, smart power, not fire power. What took down the Berlin Wall? Tanks? Artillery? aero planes? No, the German Deutsch Mark!
Destabilization can take many forms, and usually it is relatively benign, but again we have the problem of compulsion, and co pulses us to where? The idea of the creation of a failing state. The other word that we don’t dare to use: war and failing state. We don’t want to use the word because it might not be politically correct enough, we don’t want to offend anybody, but the fact is, that in some of these states we’ve been talking about in Central America and elsewhere, a good portion of the country is not controlled by the State and that is a definition of sovereignty a definition beyond what has been talked about here: sovereignty is the control of the territory and of the people of a given recognized political entity. If the State doe not control all of its territory, the question is, who does? We use the term up governed territory quite often, we have sophisticated that a tad, and now we are calling it alternately governed territory. The point is, it is not the State that is doing this, it is non-State groups, belligerent, violent and kind of nasty – and over a period of time you create a failed State, and then you can step in and take control of that State, not only take control of it, but maybe go a little beyond that perhaps, and then what happens to that State? It doesn’t wither away, it still exists, somebody will have to take care of it, if no one comes in and takes care of it and runs away with it. Haiti comes to mind.Letting Haiti fail had been a terribly expensive process for the West. Other countries have been known to become “Criminal States”, “New People’s Republics”. In a situation like this, it is the last man left standing, no matter how badly he’s been beaten, the last man standing is the victor. This is a little dicey, and there might be some problems with this.
I am taking up too much time in this case.
But here are a couple of words for a our vocabulary for the next while: war is compulsion, whether it is non-lethal or lethal as we’ve known in the past. Another word is failed StTe or failing State. It is not an event, it is a process. Slowly and quietly enough, people will go to sleep, if you do it well enough, quietly enough, slowly enough, your enemy will wake up dead.
End of clip. You can find this clip at the following link: http://youtu.be/wflMq7DKvNc
It is subtitled in Arabic.

This is a very revealing lecture, it has stated categorically the type of thinking and planning going on in the United States to subdue and then complete the Middle East to submit to its influence and control. It was clearly stated what the objective was: to compel these states to the will of the US, and maybe take them over completely. All this without the use of regular uniformed personnel. Here we come to a very dangerous statement where he defines the military forces as not being all male, they could be female, and even children. That is a shocking concept, and he admits to that by saying they have to get used to it. All these statements can now be translated into actions on the ground.
First the problem is trans-national and the solution has to be trans-national, means that we use their own people to defeat them. Then the military forces not uniformed, so civilians are to be used. Not all male, so as we see now women and children were used in demonstrations and as human shields, to try to alienate world opinion when they were harmed. Brain power, or smart power is the use of any means, such as the economy, media, public opinion, even the threat of trials for war crimes, to coerce, intimidate or “compel” the target country to knuckle under and do the bidding of the aggressor, in this case the USA.
It is no longer a theory, it is now stated plainly in black and white, very clearly explained and defined, and when closely examined, very easily followed in what is taking place on the ground in Egypt, Syria, Libya, Lebanon and what has already been successfully implemented in Iraq and Somalia.
It is probably thought that Sinai is now one of those “alternately governed territories”, but, fortunately, we have a great army, and young, intelligent military leaders who are now cleaning up this mess. It is an out and out military war, where America has used the Muslim Brotherhood to bring in Al Qaeda and Hamas into Egypt through Sinai, to work towards their goal of making Egypt a failed State. Once a large number of Egyptians are made aware of this plan and how it is still being implemented, the whole people will rally around their leaders in defense of our beloved Egypt. The purpose of this article is to spread the word and alert, not only Egyptians, but the world at large, to the evil plans being set in motion to destroy an ancient civilization, a peaceful country and one of the kindest people on this earth, Egypt and the Egyptians. This is the new Nazi world order that has been planned and is now being carried out in the area. Today it is the Middle East, tomorrow it might be you. Wake up!

Second Anniversary of Mohamed Mahmoud Massacre – November 19

الوسوم

Al Kassam militias, Al Qaeda, chaos, Egypt, International Organization of MB, massacre, MB, new plot, treason

As per a report by Al Watan newspaper.
There is a conspiracy against Egypt which is supposed to take place starting with the anniversary of the Mohamed Mahmoud Street massacre on November 19. This conspiracy is primarily between the MB, Qatar and Turkey.
The plan is for mobilizing all MB Members and their supporters to demonstrate all over Egypt, to close all governmental offices, to start civil disobedience and to target the army and police personnel for assassination.
The International Organization of the MB had held meetings, after the first session of Morsi’s trial on November 4, to prepare for their new wave of attack. These meetings were held in Qatar, London and Turkey and were attended by Mahmoud Hussein, the MB member and a fugitive from justice, as well as by Ibrahim Mounir a member of the Irshad Office of the International Organization of the MB.
These meetings focused on the means by which they can mobilize their people for November 19, while holding a dress rehearsal for this next Friday. The plan is to start demonstrations with the maximum amount of disruption on November 19 and continue into the new year up to January 25, 2014. Special groups are assigned for special demonstrations and attacks on the court where Morsi’s second session of his trial is to be held on January 8, 2014.
One facet of the plan is the mobilization of university students against the government, trying to cause friction between the army and the revolutionary demonstrators who will be celebrating the Mohamed Mahmoud anniversary. They will also attempt to add these students to the MB and also attempt to spoil the referendum on the Constitution which is scheduled for some time during the second half of December, by spreading rumors of fraud to show that Egypt is not on the right road towards democracy.
Another aspect of that plan is to mobilize all MB supporters abroad, to demonstrate in front of the Egyptian Embassies, in protest, on November 19 and on January 25, 2014.
The International Organization of the MB was tracked as meeting with officers working for Turkish and Qatari intelligence, to agree on the means to paralyze Egypt economically and to spread chaos through elements belonging to Al Kassam militias and through Al Qaeda. Egyptian intelligence said that they have uncovered a plot to bring about the downfall of the government on 25 January 2014. Also planned was a repeat of the scenario of attacking police stations, invading the prisons, assassinating high profile army and police officers and targeting the different security installations; this, as well as attacking the court where Morsi’s trial will resume on January 8.
It has also been pointed out that a media team, headed by Al Jezirah’s anchorman Ahmed Mansour will be spreading the word about what is to take place on the upcoming date of 25 January 2014.
On the other side, the revolutionary forces have put in place the final touches for celebrating the anniversary of Mohamed Mahmoud, this coming Tuesday. This includes a plan to safeguard Tahrir Square and the formation of popular committees to ensure that none of the MB members infiltrates their lines, and to warn their demonstrators against going into side streets to avoid any clash with the police.
The head of the 6 April movement, the Democratic Front, announced that slogans against the previous SCAF will be chanted, but that Morsi’s supporter were not going to be included.
In my personal view, if the people are forewarned they are forearmed and can combat the latest plan of attack by the International Organization of the MB. The biggest problem would be controlling the different crowds that will be demonstrating on Tuesday 19 November. I hope the police and army have a plan in place to ensure that neither of the clashing factions gets a chance to meet. If they do, that will be playing right into the hands of the MB and facilitating the implementation of their plans for chaos. Having passed the date of Morsi’s trial peacefully on November 4, I am hoping that the same will apply on November 19. Unfortunately the curfew would no longer be in place, so that might make the job of peacekeeping more difficult, but I am starting to have more confidence in the ability of the police and army to protect Egypt and the Egyptians from this international terrorist organization, the MB.
Interestingly enough, last night on a television program called The Black Box, the presenter, a long time scholar of the MB, revealed the acquisition of a document from the meetings held by the International Organization for the MB, outlining their plans, as stated above, but with more in-depth analysis, but taking it a step further and revealing the motivation behind these plans. This was said to be their ultimate goal, to reach the point of negotiating for sharing the rule of Egypt. They clearly state which portfolios they want and which they will give to the opposition. The wording, when analyzed, reveals that although they are willing to initially compromise with the “liberals”, whom they had previously described as infidels, yet the ultimate goal is complete domination of Egypt and its “Islamization” as per their views. The details found in that document are shocking, and the presenter was very emphatic about what its effect should be on those members of the Government, naming a few. These members proposing reconciliation are either naive or traitors, for with such an agenda by the MB revealed, there is no possibility of compromise with these terrorists.
From all previous experience with the MB and from a study of their history, this falls in line with their pattern of behavior. They have never had any loyalty to any of their temporary allies, they have a long history of betrayal and even treasonous behavior where their personal advancement comes in, both as individuals and as an Organization. With knowledge comes understanding, and people who still insist on reconciliation with, and inclusiveness of, the MB in the governance of Egypt, are now under a very strong negative light that is more likely than not to end their political careers rather badly. The people in general have become quite disillusioned by the MB and we are now starting the process of socially ostracizing them, which is far more drastic and effective than any political banning.

Progress

الوسوم

Christian Amanpour, Egypt, lying terrorists, media, Morsi, Nightmare, rehearsal, SCAF, video clips

For the past three years, ever since the 25 January 2011 revolution, every time I get together with my friends we have nothing to discuss except what is going on in the country. After all we have been through, and especially the one year under SCAF and worse still the one under Morsi, we are just now starting to feel the relief of being free of all that. Like someone who had undergone major surgery and was just now getting over the initial shock of the trauma.
When we describe it as a nightmare we are not far off. The feeling of hope being dashed is much worse than no hope at all. The euphoria which followed the removal of Mubarak can only be compared to the joy and relief of removing Morsi. But with the latter, we have become cynical, because of all the experiences we went through all these previous months. We still have hope, but have become far more suspicious, and quite impatient. We are no longer tolerant of what is perceived as either weakness or hesitation.
Our current problem with the Government is that it is perceived, not only as hesitant and weak, but worse still, of having elements with hidden agendas which are not in favor of Egypt or the Egyptians. I have been fearful of our time turning into one comparable to McCarthyism in the US after WWII. Witch hunting is one of the ugliest aspects of any upheaval. But right now I am not sure that we do not have a lot of “witches” in a great many places of authority still.
The Deputy Prime Minister is one highly targeted figure. He was associated with Goldman Sachs which makes his name mud. But he is a very intelligent and professional economist. What he is not is a diplomat. In an interview with CNN’s Christian Amanpour he made some statements which, when quoted in or out of context, have put him in a very poor light indeed, as attacking Egypt. This is typical of what is happening in Egypt now. We do not know who is trustworthy and who is not. So it is much easier to hurl accusations right and left, and believe all the worst about any known figure. The behavior of said public figures isn’t helping either. None seems to have any idea of how to handle the media and what should be said or not said, so all unscrupulous reporters are having a field day. The added talent of perfecting use of Photoshop has made it practically impossible to ensure the authenticity of anything. There are so many official looking documents that have turned out to be forgeries. But the humorous part is all the clips taken of rehearsals by the sheep (Brotherhood), where they are showing scenes of violence or of “dead bodies”. One of the funniest videos is of a supposedly wounded MB, with blood all over the front of his T-shirt, lying flat on his back with eyes closed. The film is being shot from an angle where the “patient’s” legs are nearest to the cameraman. A paramedic with gloves on approaches him and lifts his t-shirt to look at his “wound”. As the man had his eyes closed he did not realize that he was being examined until the t-shirt was lifted clear to show no wound beneath all that “blood”. The reaction of this supposedly unconscious man, was to lift his foot and forcefully nudge away the paramedic!! Hilarious, and all recorded on film. Another very funny tape is the row of “shrouded bodies” (most of them with footwear on) where one of them uncovers his face and asks have we started yet, with the nearer ones convulsing with laughter! And these are supposed to be the evidence of the “atrocities” committed by the police and the army. If anything, the sheep seem to have a warped sense of humor, at least the foot soldiers do. The higher up in the hierarchy the humorless they become.
Yesterday, after Morsi’s trial session was over, one of the organizers of the gathering outside the court held up a hand written poster saying: “Dismissed. Those going to Giza and out-of-town go to the top of the bridge. For Cairo, under the bridge”. Like a tour guide telling his people where the buses were! That was a “spontaneous” demonstration by the sheep! Typical!
I must say that the general atmosphere in the country is becoming more relaxed. Mentally we know that we are still not out of the woods, but emotionally, the fact that the Brotherhood are now publicly exposed as the lying terrorists that they are, has given the general population a sense of relief. This is why now when my friends and I meet our conversations are more general, still touching upon the country’s state, but other subjects are now introduced. I was very happy the last time our group met we started discussing going as a group for a few days to Al Gouna on the Red Sea for a much-needed R&R. We are starting to take control of our lives again. Welcome back to life, Egyptians.

Humor

الوسوم

Criticism, distinctive, Egypt, Egyptians, material, political jokes, situational jokes

A sense of humor is something so individual and so personal, that sometimes one person’s humor is another’s insult. Humor differs from one country to another, even from one area to another within the same country or even the same city. It is a very illusive aspect of human interaction. When shared it is a great bond, when unappreciated it could be a great cause of embarrassment or frustration. There is no worse position to be in than that of trying to explain a joke. Quite often there is no explanation.
In some countries humor has its own distinctive flavor. English humor is known for its sharpness, its sometimes painfully forthright criticism, but mainly for its low key, cleverness, be it in situation or rendering. Not many people outside the sphere of the British influence, appreciate this type of humor. Unlike American humor which stems mainly from ridiculous situations and quite often is farcical, thus giving it a wider audience considering that farce transcends language.
In some cultures most sexual innuendos or references would be considered humorous, while in others it would be taboo. The worst thing that could happen to a joke is to be taken literally. The moment that happens, the humor of it disappears. You want to confound someone telling a joke, just ask them to explain, or tell you why! This kills it.
Egyptians have a unique sense of humor, in the sense that most of it is actually translatable, and does not lose much in the translation. Humor in Egypt is a double edged sword. Not only is it a safety valve for people under tremendous pressure, but it can also become stinging criticism. In all its forms, be it oral, written, drawn or sung, Egyptian humor is greatly appreciated and sought, first by Egyptians, then by the rest of the Arabic speaking world, and finally in its translated form, by the rest of the world.
During the first wave of Egypt’s revolution, during those famous 18 days of continuous sit-ins and skirmishes in Tahrir square, from 25 January to 11 February, 2011, the number of jokes were legion and extremely funny. A great deal of irony went into them, as the political situation was up in the air. Even with all the tragic deaths of all those young people, there were still times when jokes were recounted, and which alleviated some of the tension.
The worse the situation, the more the jokes. Egypt had gone through a great deal of turmoil over the years, and for each era there were the jokes with a particular flavor. During Nasser’s rule, most of the jokes centered around the security forces and lack of freedom of speech. These were whispered about for fear of retaliation. After the defeat in 1967, army personnel were the butt of most of the jokes. Most of these were rather cruel, with a sarcastic and derogatory edge. During the war of attrition, between 1967 and 1973 the jokes were general, definitely less derogatory, but with the fighting still it’s subject. Of course, running parallel to all these situational jokes are the continuous jokes dealing with the Saidi’s (Upper Egyptians) something like the Irish and Polish jokes, the ones dealing with men and women, and the jokes about drunks, but in our culture as drinking is taboo, it is about people high on drugs.
After the 1973 war the relentlessness of jokes subsided a bit. But not for long. When things started going wrong internally, when the economy boomed for just the elite, but the majority started feeling the pinch, the jokes came back with a vengeance. With every major incidents, there was a peaking in the jokes. There were the jokes about Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem. The “peace” jokes are legion, even Sadat’s assassination generated some.
With the advent of Mubarak, the jokes subsided at first, but not for long. He was perceived as “La Vache qui Rit” (The laughing cow on the famous cheese) and totally ineffectual. Jokes were made about his blundering remarks that put people in awkward positions, like once on a visit to a manufacturing plant, he pointed to a man on top of a silo and shouted out to him asking him what his job was. The embarrassing reply came that he was one of the Presidential security detail! Another time after touring a small factory of hand woven carpets, just as he was stepping into the car, he told the owner that he hoped to visit him next year and see that all that has been mechanized! It took months to pacify the man, that this was an off remark that meant nothing. This was all fuel to the fire, he gave us a rich amount of material for our jokes.
The one who surpassed all in that aspect was Morsi and his Brotherhood. Their very antics, especially on television and in Parliament, were enough, without embellishment, to keep most Egyptians in stitches. But Morsi takes the cake. His speeches were classic. To date one of the running jokes is that we need him to give another speech as we need some cheering up! The poor man was clueless as to the reason people paid such great attention to his speeches. The number of ridiculous statements that man made are only topped by the number of embarrassing acts he put us through, and in the most public circumstances.
Not only was he the butt of many a joke, but the whole setup of the Brotherhood, and their followers of supposed Sheikhs who kept tailoring “fatwas” or religious edict to fit in with whatever decisions they made. The most flagrant was that of forbidding the acceptance of the proposed IMF loan as being “haram” (forbidden by God), when they were giving SCAF a hard time, but when they took over, the same Sheikhs tailored another “fatwa” that the IMF loan was no longer “haram” as there will be no interest paid, but what will be paid would be “administrative fees”. Can you imagine the jokes this alone generated? Another situation that generated a tsunami of jokes was his infamous National Security Meeting that was televised live on air – without the participants’ knowledge. This was the ultimate in ridiculousness.
Now, after his deposition, and now that the Brotherhood is on the run, and practicing terrorism, most of the jokes have a cruel twist to them. Like the very popular song about the army now being dubbed the “Brotherhood pesticide”. Whenever you want to disperse a gathering of the Brotherhood members, turn on that song and they all scuttle back under their rocks.
A humorless person must be a very sad person indeed.

The Aftermath – Part 5

الوسوم

Al Fateh, Egypt, MB, Morsi, Rabaa, sit-in, terrorism

After the dispersal of Rabaa and Al Nahda, without the bloodshed planned for by the MB, the latter had to do something else to make up for the fiasco of the sit-ins that did not return Morsi to the Presidency. First thing they did was occupy another mosque in the north of Cairo, called Al Fateh, but the police quickly surrounded it so that the situation does not mushroom into another Rabaa. More to the point, the people have had enough, no more sit ins, no more taking over part of the city, disrupting the lives of all there. So it was more the people than the police, who stopped the Al Fateh sit-in from becoming something unmanageable. The Al Fateh situation was an even bigger fiasco than Rabaa. Members of the MB were caught on tape calling Al Jezira with false information about police snipers killing them inside the mosque, with another man, prompting him about where he should say they are being shot. Another trick caught on tape and shown all over TV was their attempt at giving the impression that the police was throwing tear gas inside the mosque, by using a fire extinguisher’s foam to try to make it appear like tear gas. But the worst part was, when they could not get the people to believe what they wanted, snipers went up to the minaret and started shooting at the people down in the square. It was a total scandal, relayed on live television. The police sent a warning over the speakers asking those inside the mosque to evacuate peacefully. Those who did had to have both police and army protection once they left the mosque as the people around could have torn them apart. We reached the point where it is the people now who are turning against the MB and fighting their ways.
Another incident that really set the people against the MB was the one where a bearded man went up to the roof of one of the buildings in Alexandria where there were a few boys throwing stones at one of the MB demonstrations, and threw two of the boys off the roof to their death. This was taped and went viral over the internet.
The tide was slowly turning against the MB after their brutality and viscousness was seen live all over world media. Even though the official stand of most of the foreign governments was still for the “Democratically elected President”, some people started talking out, started showing what the MB really were- the history of the Brotherhood being one full of violence, assassinations and arson. The same thing is happening now, it is a recurring theme. Attempted assassinations, arson, bombs going off. The Minister of Interior was a target, but miraculously came out unscathed from a car bomb that went off near his motorcade. Bombs that were planted in the most crowded underground stations were discovered before going off. People started becoming very vigilant and aware, started being proactive and reporting anything suspicious. We are now in a state where anything can happen anywhere. Threats of bombs at supermarkets or large shopping malls are now an everyday thing. We now have curfew every evening starting midnight to 5 am, except Fridays, which are the chosen day for demonstrating by the MB. Curfew then starts at 7 pm to 5 am.
The MB are still working at disrupting life, but Egyptians are great. They take everything in stride. We are coming back to life. We do not let MB threats stop us from going out and living normally. Better still, tourists are coming back. Though the MB still vow to reinstate Morsi, I think that they have now been ostracised socially and either they let go of their delusions and integrate with society, or they will not be able to live among Egyptians anymore.
Morsi’s trial for torturing and killing protesters in front of the Republican Palace of Itihadeya is scheduled for November 4th, and more accusations are being investigated, some for espionage and some for treason. All in all he has a very long legal fight on his hands. There is also a great deal of trouble and implications of so many foreign involvements, that we are very worried about his safety. We want nothing to happen to him as we want the whole truth to come out about the kinds of deals that he was involved in against Egypt.
Meanwhile there are still many a fifth columnist who is still working against Egypt. But every day, new masks are stripped and people are revealed for what they are. It is a very educational time.
Up till now Al Sisy remains a hero, his popularity unparalleled. When compared to the elderly PM and hesitant government, Al Sisy comes out shining. He is decisive, firm, yet gentle and understanding. He has taken quite a few steps that could have been taken by the government but were not. These were very simple steps that have alleviated hardships for people who really needed it, like paying the debts of many a mother who took out loans to get their daughters trousseaux but could not keep up the payments, so were jailed. Small farmers who were going under because of a debt up to LE 10,000 were relieved of their debts and these were paid by the army. True the army had the budget, and these were very minor expenses, but the genius of it was that these resonated very strongly with the ordinary man on the street. Not only was the army protecting Egypt from the invaders on the borders and Sinai, not only was it protecting the people on the streets with all the checkpoints especially on highways and flyovers which had become really dangerous, but it was taking care of the poor, the hardworking poor who were struggling to keep their heads above water, or those who actually went under.
The government took a leaf out of Al Sisy’s book and exempted families of a certain income from payment of the obligatory LE 50 per child. Then they finally approved the minimum wage that was one of the main demands of the 25th January 2011 revolution. This to be applied January 2014.
Safety on the streets is not back 100% .Garbage still litters many streets and prices of basic goods are still soaring. But tourism is slowly picking up, some hope for the economy is appearing over the horizon, our relations with some of the powerful Arab countries in the region are improving, and the best of all, we are free of that nightmare of a terrorist organisation that wanted to turn our lives to a living hell. Egypt is slowly but surely coming back to us. It is the Egypt that we all know and love, the fun loving, laughing, singing Egypt that would rather joke about something than cry about it, that enjoys its music, sunshine, its children and its freedom. We have our Egypt back.
A hopeful beginning.

The Aftermath – Part 1

الوسوم

Coup vs revolution, Egypt, Egyptian Army, MB, Morsi, Western Media

After the removal of Morsi, the Brotherhood promised retaliation through violence, and this was the one promise they kept. We are still living through that period so it is a bit difficult to give a final, balanced view now, of what we are actually living through, day by day. There are also so many things that are going on behind the scene, things that will not be known till much later, which could be indicative of how things shape up. I will write only about what I see, and what I think. This is a very personal chronicle of what is going on in Egypt now.
The shock to the MB and their supporters at Morsi’s removal was just as great as the euphoria felt by the rest of the people at getting rid of a nightmare that lasted a full year. The MB are very vociferous and showy, but when Morsi was suddenly removed, they went into deep shock and paralysis. But not for long. Their leaders started gathering their people and started mobilizing all levels of members and supporters. They started putting in plans for retaliation and regaining the upper hand. What they did not see, was the huge wave of relief and gratitude felt by the majority of the people to the army, in the person of General Al Sisy. This was a real feeling of gratitude, for we felt that as head of the only legally armed entity he was in a position to implement the will of the people.The relationship between the Egyptian army and the people is quite unique. We have a draft, where any able bodied male of a certain age, with very few exceptions, is to serve in the army, and remain in the reserve till the age of forty. This means that the army, at any one given time, is made up of a generation of our sons, brothers, husbands, fathers and cousins. We have no ethnic differences, and we have one integrated unit of the armed forces. The very nature of the draft is to instill discipline, give training, receive excellent medical coverage, and lead a very regimented decent way of life, that somehow turns all sorts of different youth into one unit of loyal soldiers who love their country and who would literally die for it or for their comrades in arms. Loyalty and love for the country and its people are paramount. Therefore it was with a great deal of hurt and anger that the people received what was perceived as the transgressions of the army against the people in massacres such as Maspero and Mohamed Mahmoud. And it was with a huge feeling of relief that the people realized that it was the MB who had duplicated army and police uniforms and were probably responsible for the worst atrocities perpetrated against the people. Such is the case in point of the aftermath of the Port Said massacre, followed by the second massacre during Morsi’s reign when forty people were killed by snipers wearing police and army uniforms. Pure chance revealed that some of those were Hamas operatives incognito. In my opinion these should have been shot on the spot. They were enemy soldiers, dressed as Egyptian army personnel, and killing the people.
It did not take the MB leaders long to rally their members and supporters. They started going out in demonstrations asking for the reinstatement of the “democratically elected President”. To the majority of Egyptians who had lived through the fraudulent elections, this was as ridiculous a demand as saying that Morsi was a good leader. It therefore came as a total shock to all Egyptians when western media started quoting the MB claims as the truth, and calling what happened in Egypt a coup. Did they not see the throngs of people, as per CNN, reaching 33 million, out on the streets demanding Morsi’s removal? Are these people blind? Don’t they have correspondents on the ground? Don’t they even have their owns spies in place to give them the right picture? But no. The media took off and the attack on Egypt was so vicious, Egyptians took a step back and started to look deeper for the meaning of such an attitude. This deeper look into the way things were being handled by most foreign media and most European and American mediators, gave us pause and made us investigate all international relations in a different light.
In conjunction with that, Morsi was held in protective custody in an unknown location, but Lady Ashton was given access to him to assure the world as a whole that he was treated humanely and with the dignity due to his previous position. Still, attack on Egypt by most international media outlets, as well as official governments, was at its zenith. At that time all well educated people, those with language skills, volunteered to do whatever they could to combat this attack. We started pages and groups on Facebook dedicated to rebutting each and every accusation levelled at Egypt by the outside press. We wrote letters to officials in Europe and the States. We bombarded them all, continuously, but for at least three weeks there was absolutely no deviation from that hard line they took. It was quite baffling, till we finally found out that the MB with their practically limitless financial resources had hired several public relations firms to promote their image and their point of view, worldwide. Now we understood why we were not getting anywhere. But by then, a few lonely voices in the west started picking up on what was actually happening. and the tide slowly started to change.
In the meantime both Morsi and Khairat el Shater, the deputy Morshid, were held in custody, under investigation of wrongdoing, not just political malfeasance. They were being investigated for criminal acts of torture, murder and fraud.
Continued … Part 2