An observer watching the evolving mood in Egypt today, especially the mood that ordinary
people have developed with regards to America ,
cannot help but conclude that the people of Egypt have a dim view of that
country. The Egyptians are not only aware that America calls itself a democracy;
they are aware how that so-called democracy works.
Simply put, anything that happens in America today
starts happening when characters of the think tanks, opinion makers, pundits
and commentators begin a media campaign to have that thing done. They pressure
the Congress that subverts the Constitution, thus force the President to do as
they wish. And what they wish is never what is good for America ; it is
what is good for the lobby groups that set the chain of events in motion.
Two articles appearing in prestigious American publications
show how this works. The first was published on August 25, 2013 in Forbes
magazine under the title: “Egypt Crisis Extends to the Indo-Pacific” and was
written by Iyad Dakka and J. Berkshire Miller. The second was published on
August 26, 2013 in the New York Times under the title: “Adrift on the Nile ” and was written by Bill Keller. The first article
openly gives instructions on how to sabotage Egypt even if this will hurt the
world. The second tells what steps must be taken to wrest Egypt away from
the hands of Egyptians, and hand it over to someone else.
The Forbes article is another case where would-be short
sellers are using a major publication to bring the markets crashing down with a
general panic they try to bring about by inciting the people who would commit a
horrendous act. They are the characters generally referred to as terrorists.
What strikes you when you read the article is that it
contains nothing that can be useful to an investor or to someone engaged in any
sort of legitimate business. What it contains in a practical sense is an
instruction sheet that would be useful only to terrorists who want to do
maximum damage to the world economy by damaging Egypt . The authors of the article
tell the terrorists how to do it the surest way; the easiest way.
In fact, the sheet lists and describes “the world's most
important geopolitical chockpoints” and tells the would-be terrorists how to go
about doing maximum damage to the Suez Canal ,
the most important of the chockpoints. This is how they put it: “A successful
major terrorists attack, or series of coordinated smaller attacks, would send
strong symbolic messages to support their insurgencies.” As you can see, the
authors not only tell the terrorists what to do and how to do it, they cheer
them in advance so as to encourage them to the hilt.
Of course, Dakka and Miller are not going to admit they are
inciting the terrorists to sabotage the Canal and the other chockpoints, and so
they formulate their message by saying: “Militants in the region know that
striking the Canal and the Pipeline would be a direct blow to the heart of the
Egyptian national security [that] bring in over USD $5 billion of hard currency
annually.”
But instructions that are this voluminous and this detailed
cause us to ask the question: How do these writers know what the militants
know? And we don't have to wait for the answer because they took the trouble to
indicate what it might be. It is that they preceded their own instructions with
a telling sentence: “Keep in mind that the Canal has been opened for 38
continuous years with no major disruptions.” With this, the authors are telling
the terrorists: Look what a high value target you have here. It has eluded so
many of your kind for so long, it is the grand prize that is waiting to be
plucked and enjoyed. Go for it, men; go for it!
Waiting for this to happen, Dakka and Miller begin to
sabotage Egypt
with the tool they have now at their disposal, and that is the badmouth. To
this end, they start by pretending to speak for the whole world: “The
international community is keeping an eye on the deteriorating situation in Egypt . The
country is a powder keg and any hope … seem distant.” This done, they engage in
a tap dance of the clowns trying to accomplish two contradictory things at the
same time. They want to belittle Egypt yet make it look like a big
threat to the world.
This is what they do: “Egypt ,
while not a major energy exporter, is nonetheless a key component for secure
international trade … home of the infamous Suez Canal ,
coupled by the even more important SUMED oil pipeline, are small but vital
arteries in the shipping system.” Well, my friend, this is the first time, and
probably the last time, that a bipedal animal at the keyboard of a computer
will ever call the Suez Canal infamous. Aside
from that, our authors have something between brackets in that same paragraph
which tells a great deal as to how they went about gathering the necessary
information and saying these things.
Speaking of Egypt ,
look what they wrote: (ranked 54 6h for oil and 80th for natural gas,
respectively.) The first thing you notice is the typo – 54 6h instead of 54th –
indicating that they were in a hurry. The second thing you notice is that they
do not know Egypt
is better positioned in natural gas than it is in oil. While consuming locally
most of the oil it produces, it has enough surplus in Natural gas to rank not
80th in export but 12th in the world. America is not much better off as
it ranks 8th.
We now look at the New York Times article. After citing the
worn out and meaningless principles concerning what should be good for the
Middle East, and after the predictable reminder of what President Obama said in
that regard, Bill Keller writes: “there is a gloomy sense that Egypt may
already be in a kind of death spiral.” So he advises: “It is late for Egypt , but
maybe not too late.” And he gives his recipe for saving that country. He says Egypt now receives aid from Europe and America but “Imagine if the West suspended all
that aid and deposited it into a kind of trust fund, to be disbursed to help Egypt 's
recovery if it kept on a course … toward inclusion and the rule of law.”
And this is where the people of the Middle East – more
specifically in Egypt at this time – sneer with total and absolute contempt at
an America that threatens the Palestinians for suggesting they may be forced to
resort to the rule of law by suing Israel for violating the laws that prohibit
the building of settlements in the occupied lands. Rule of law? American style
rule of law? And what's that about
inclusion? Is it inclusion a la Jewish state, Netanyahu style? Come off it America ! Come
off it, Bill Keller!
The solution the man has suggested is to organize a gang
that will participate in the economic gang rape of Egypt . This was attempted before,
and all it has accomplished was to force Egypt to build a sturdy economy.
Finally, there is no way you can see someone say: “Egypt