On November 23, 2016, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi speaking at the RTP Portuguese TV channel said: "There should be international support for the national armies of Libya, Iraq and Syria, to ensure the security of their countries." President el-Sissi thus broke a hitherto well-kept secret: Egypt dispatched weapons to the loyalist forces of these three countries despite the Saudi threats.Voltarie Network
A quick glance at a map of US military bases in the Middle East will immediately tell you that Washington's friends in the region are crowned heads. The Emirs of Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and UAE. The Saudi king in Riyad and the Hashemite king of Jordan.
Meanwhile its historic chosen enemies in the Arab world have been secularist Arab nationalist regimes. Nasser in Egypt, Hussein in Iraq, Gaddafi in Libya, Assads in Syria…Why?
Retrograde Arab monarchies reinforce the Western Orientalist idea of hierarchy of civilizations – Arab modernizers challenge itThe current geopolitical dynamic can be viewed as colonies challenging their former colonizers. While this may not true be of Russia, the goal of the US to turn Russia into a vassal state. Most Atlanticists don't view Russia as part of Western civilization.
A top-secret strategy document prepared for Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan reveals that the United Arab Emirates is losing faith in the ability of Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to serve the Gulf state’s interests.
The document, prepared by one of Bin Zayed’s team and dated 12 October, contains two key quotes which describe the frustration bin Zayed feels about Sisi, whose military coup the Crown Prince bankrolled, pouring in billions of dollars along with Saudi Arabia. It says: “This guy needs to know that I am not an ATM machine.” Further on, it also reveals the political price the Emiratis will exact if they continue to fund Egypt.
Future strategy should be based on not just attempting to influence the government in Egypt but to control it. It is summarised thus: “Now I will give but under my conditions. If I give, I rule.”
Egypt, which has recently tried to stem a run on the Egyptian pound, is heavily dependent on cash from the Emirates, which have become the largest foreign direct investor. At an economic conference in Sharm el-Sheikh in March, the prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, revealed the UAE had already given Egypt $13.9bn and he pledged $3.9bn more. The real amount of aid Sisi got from the Emiratis is thought by analysts to be closer to $25bn, around half of the total Gulf aid to Egypt.
The paper spells out in blunt terms Emirati ambitions to control Egypt. This aim is inherent in a section recommending three conditions for continuing the bailout of Sisi's government.….Middle East Eye
There are reasons to believe that the Russian leadership is inclined to view the A321 incident as a direct declaration of war, similar to the 9/11 attacks on the United States. All terror organizations of a certain size are backed by this or that country or financial interest.Upping the ante?
Barack Obama has upped the ante in his aggressions against Venezuela. The U.S. president claimed Monday that the democratically-elected Venezuelan government poses a “threat to national security,” due to a full compliment of alleged human-rights abuses..
Yet this preoccupation with human rights becomes perplexing when one considers that many of the chief recipients of U.S. aid — a combination of military and economic assistance — or support employ highly-questionable practices to prop up their regimes.
Israel and Egypt, who receive some of the highest military financing from the US, have both been in the spotlight for a whole host of human-rights abuses in the past months, while Saudi Arabia, who Obama sycophantly labelled as the U.S.'s “greatest ally,” has a long history of violent state repression. Colombia, the tenth overall highest recipient, and the highest in Latin America, has jails crammed with political prisoners....
In spite of all these blatant and well-publicized human rights abuses, these countries continue to receive large sums and support from the U.S. Venezuela, on the other hand, which in 2012 was elected the United Nations Human Rights Council for the first time with 154 votes, is deemed a threat.
The hypocrisy of the U.S. in funding actions abroad, while having the highest prison population in the world at 2,228,424, and whose police force is continually criticized for murdering innocent black and Latino people, appears to know no bounds.
The United States government has a long history of declaring certain countries to be a “national security threat.” The policy of declaring a particular country, no matter how small, a threat to the U.S. — the economically-and-militarily-largest country in the world — has its roots in the “Trading with the Enemy Act” of 1917.
Since then, the legal framework for declaring another country to be a national security threat has changed several times. The current legal framework is governed by International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977.
Once a U.S. president has declared a country to represent a national security threat, under the provisions of the IEEPA, the president is authorized to block transactions and freeze assets of any government entity or government official of that country.
If there is an actual armed conflict, then the president has the authority to confiscate the property of any government official or entity of that country. In the case of Venezuela, which owns the major multi-billion dollar oil company CITGO in the U.S., this would be a significant blow to the country....
Currently the following governments have been declared to be national security threats under the IEEPA:
Cuba (since 1977)
Iran (since 1979)
Myanmar (1997)
Sudan (1997)
Zimbabwe (2003)
Syria (2004)
Belarus (2006)
North Korea (2008)
Russia (2014)
The U.S. government has consistently worsened relations with Venezuela ever since Obama became president. As early as 2010, the newly-appointed U.S. ambassador to Venezuela, Larry Palmer, issued uncharacteristically-undiplomatic declarations against the government against Venezuela during his appointment hearing in the U.S. Senate.
When his remarks became public then-President Hugo Chavez rejected Palmer's nomination, at which point the Obama administration expelled Venezuela's ambassador to the U.S.....
Declaring a Country a 'National Security Threat'
Earlier today we reported on India, Pakistan an Iran ready to begin their ascent into the China-Russia lead SCO. Moments ago, Egypt jumped on the Eurasian train, inking more than $4.5 billion of trade deals with Russia and a huge free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Best of all, no austerity is required in order to join this union…the EU may want to take notes.Red Pill Times
The Watergate scandal in the early 1970s exposed Richard Nixon and his inner circle as conspirators who were trying to cover up their criminal involvement in spying against their political opponents. Once it was uncovered, Nixon had to resign the presidency in disgrace, as many of his assistants and senior government officials were convicted and served many years in prison. A majority in Congress at the time, including Republican members, condemned the former president and voted to impeach him. The American public was shocked to witness the level of corruption reaching the highest echelons of their government. Had it not been for the audiotapes that were released by order of the Supreme Court, the extent of Nixon’s lawlessness and lies would never have been revealed or believed.
Now a series of audiotapes involving Egypt’s top military brass, which ousted former President Mohammad Morsi in a military coup in July 2013, were publicly leaked this week. The pro-Muslim Brotherhood satellite channel Mukameleen (Arabic for “We’ll Continue”) released the six audio recordings (see links 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) in a special nightly program on December 4. Shortly thereafter, the recordings went viral on Arabic-language websites, though most foreign language media outlets have yet to cover them.
The contents of the audio recordings (31 minutes in total) are shocking, as they involve the highest-ranking military rulers in Egypt, including coup leader Gen. Abdelfattah Sisi, conspiring together, falsifying evidence, forging documents, and admitting to criminal behavior on tape, while acknowledging that the legal case concocted against Morsi was in danger of collapsing. The question of who released the recordings is still a mystery but rumors abound. The program presenter at the satellite channel Mukameleen insinuated that the leak came from a source within Sisi’s inner circle that is sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood and the January 25 revolution. Haitham Abu Khalil, a prominent human rights advocate, tweeted that since the recordings came from within the Defense Ministry, the leaker must be a rival to Gen. Sisi, such as former Chief of Staff Sami Anan who declared his presidential candidacy last spring only to be sidelined by Sisi and ridiculed by his propaganda machine. Meanwhile, opposition leader Ayman Noor told Al Jazeera from his home in exile in Lebanon that the tapes are authentic because he has known the players and could easily identify their voices.CounterPunch
Property rights for aid: this could be the most effective anti-poverty strategy in historyThe Telegraph (UK)
All this has been established by Hernando de Soto, a Peruvian economist.DeSoto is the new Hayek.
As images rolled in this week of the Egyptian authorities' assault on protesters in Tahrir Square, observers in the United States could not escape thoughts of the official violence that had very recently been wrought on Wall Street occupiers in New York City and around the country. Civilians beaten with clubs, dragged by their hair, subject to tear gas, watching their tents demolished, returning to the square they were occupying only to be beaten back again - all that spoke well of and distinguished American police was their death toll of zero.
Then came Sultan Al Qassemi's report that an Egyptian State TV anchor had confessed the inspiration Egyptian military and security forces drew from "the firm stance the US took" against occupiers, and it all made perfect sense. The Egyptian authorities, even in the post-Mubarak period, look to America for leadership.
Recall that, in the run-up to Mubarak's downfall, the dictator's strategy at every turn followed American advice. First, the Obama-Clinton foreign policy statements urged Mubarak to "seek dialogue," which he dutifully offered to do. That did not appease the protesters, so the US instructed him not to run again. His obedient announcement that he would not was insufficient to quell the unrest. The US then advised Mubarak to make a load of "concessions," and Mubarak's included appointing a vice president and insisting that his son Gamal would not seek the presidency. The Egyptians, however were intent on meaningful democratic revolution, and the State Department's puppeteering was all for naught.
As Egyptian authorities continue to take cues from American authorities, American protesters continue to take cues from Egyptian protesters. In the spring, I reported on an evening meeting between Ahmed Maher and Waleed Rashed, of Egypt's April 6 Youth Movement and a group of American activists that included a number of people instrumental in getting Occupy Wall Street off the ground, activists intent, like their Egyptian brothers and sisters, on wresting democracy from the grip of a corrupt ownership class intent on accumulating wealth and power no matter the human cost. "Don't worry if the revolution doesn't come tomorrow," the Egyptian comrades told us on that occasion. "It will come. It is only a matter of time. Just keep working."
Further hardship lies ahead, with PP leader Mariano Rajoy committed to bringing in even harsher austerity measures to appease financial markets....
Spaniards are now resigned to further cuts, including in health and education, in the midst of the wider European crisis that has pushed Spain’s borrowing costs to critical levels....
“From a market standpoint, an absolute majority for the PP is just what the doctor ordered. Mr. Rajoy will have a freer hand than his predecessor in that he will no longer be dependent on the support of the Catalans and the Basques to govern,” said Nicholas Spiro, managing director of Spiro Sovereign Strategy in London. (emphasis added)Read the whole post at Raw Story
Tens of thousands of Egyptians chanting anti-military slogans flooded downtown Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday to protest the ruling military council's attempts to expand its powers and prolong the transition to civilian rule.
Islamists dominated the demonstration, one of the biggest since the 18-day uprising that brought down longtime President Hosni Mubarak. But the push to curb the army's broad powers also brought out thousands of adherents to secular parties in a rare display of opposition unity.
The high turnout piled pressure on the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egypt's ruling authority, to scrap a plan that would give it almost complete control over the process of drafting a new constitution and to set a date for presidential elections that would mark its departure from power.
"Demands of the public are set and will never be negotiated," said Mohamed Selim el Awwa, a popular Islamist scholar and the presidential candidate for his moderate Wasat Party. "The people will decide, and no one is above the public's decision."Read the rest at Truthout
