There is an Egyptian saying I would translate like this:
“The foolish are exploiting the madmen.” Nowhere does it apply more aptly than
in America
where they pay top dollars to those who tell them – actually flatter them –
with this: Let me tell you how you can use your superior know-how to exploit
those who are lesser than you.
This is how defectors from the old Soviet Bloc used to live
the good life in America
without having to work. It is how every Jew and his cousin that can pronounce
the words “security” and “expert” live high on the hog. It is how some Arabs –
who followed in the footsteps of the now departed Iraqi con artist named
Chalibi – used to live during America 's
misadventure in their part of the world.
Currently, there is a slew of Arabs – supposedly of the
scholarly kind writing for publications often associated with a think tank –
telling the Americans in power, how they can extend their influence in the Arab
world. One of those is Samuel Ramani who wrote an article under the title: “America Can
Exploit Saudi-Egyptian Tensions,” and had it published on August 24, 2016 in
the National Interest.
The genius of Ramani is not that he has new insights to
contribute to the debate; he is only using false clichés that were articulated
by others over the years. Rather, he has managed to convince the Americans that
he worked out a surefire way for them to outperform the Arabs. In so doing, he
guaranteed himself a more attentive ear, thus had a more efficient way to
exploit the American weakness of character.
Do you remember how everybody used to say America should use the leverage it has over Egypt with
regard to the $1.3 billion military deal between the two countries? Look what
Ramani is saying now:
“The United States
has struggled to convert its $1.3 billion military provisions to Egypt into leverage over Cairo 's policies and conduct. Instead of
transitioning to democracy, Egypt
has [opted] for political repression. As Egypt
has become economically dependent on the GCC and strengthened its relationship
with Russia , many have
called for a downgrade in the U.S.-Egypt partnership … [However] despite
underlying tensions between Washington and Cairo the United States
should not dial down its alliance with Egypt . Sisi is on the cusp of
realigning Egypt 's foreign
policy in a way that could greatly benefit U.S. interests”.
From this point on, Ramani sets out to explain his theory.
Let me tell you right away that his presentation is a joke. You will be
convinced of that when you get to this passage: “Modernizing one of Egypt 's most significant landmarks has rallied
Egyptian nationalists around Sisi, but large-scale corruption has caused
Egyptian government revenues from the Suez Canal
to decline over the past year.” What? From where did he get that?
The reality is that the modernization of the Canal has been
one of the most efficient (and free of corruption) undertakings in recent
Egyptian history in that the work was concluded in one year instead of three or
even five as expected. Yes, the revenues have declined slightly over the past
year but that has nothing to do with corruption, and everything to do with a
slowing world trade.
But how did Ramani come up with an idiotic idea like that?
It must be that he read one article which said there was corruption in Egypt . He then
read another article which said that the Suez Canal
revenues declined last year. And so, he “connected the dots” and came up with
this monstrosity: large-scale corruption has caused revenues from the Canal to
decline.
Now that you know how much intellectual fraud there is in
Samuel Ramani's article, you should put a box of granulated salt in front of
you as you read the rest of the article. You'll have to take a grain each time
that you encounter what looks like a new insight because it will turn out to be
a discarded old cliché. Let me now give you a couple of examples on what Ramani
would have known had he followed events in Egypt
instead of reading about them in America .
He says this: “GCC business elites have recently expressed
frustration with Sisi's unwillingness to implement necessary economic reforms.”
To explain what that is, he goes on to talk about the budget deficit. This is
total rubbish. The truth is that the GCC business elites could not care less
about the budget deficit in Egypt .
What they wanted were two things. (1) They wanted a repeal of the law that
forbids foreigners from owning land in Egypt . They wanted to build and own
both the land and the buildings, not just own the buildings they construct over
lands they were to lease. (2) The GCC business elites wanted total ownership of
the mines with Egypt
being satisfied only with levying taxes on the operation … and they better be
rates of taxation low enough to compete against mines elsewhere in the
developing world.
Ramani also says this: “Sisi has antagonized his GCC patrons
by spending much of their financial assistance on inefficient government
programs and status-building projects.” This is worse than rubbish. The fact is
that with two revolutions in three years, a great deal of foreign reserves left
the country. The result was that Egypt fell behind paying for the
share of the oil and natural gas it bought from its foreign partners under the
'right of first refusal' provision in the contracts.
The foreign partners took advantage of the situation and
tried to impose contracts on Egypt
that would have given them total ownership of the resources they discover in
the future. This kind of deal would have served as a model for the contracts
that the oil companies were planning to impose on everyone else in the region.
Thus, it was in the interest of the neighboring countries to stand with Egypt and give
it the oil and gas it needed to keep the lights on while negotiating with the
oil companies. They had Egypt ’s
back to cover their own backs.