August 17, 2013

That story is wrong on almost all counts...

1. We did have 'some' influence over the MB largely because we control the purse strings that kept their gov. going.

2. US interests lie in the Gulf for two big reasons... OIL and IRAN (not Egypt)... Since Camp David, Egypt has pretty much just been the side-show that keeps Israel out of a broader regional conflict. Consequently, the Gulf States hatred of the MB is steering the our foreign policy.

3. With the MB, we only controlled about 1/2 the cards in Cairo... MB was playing games with DC too. Now we hold about 90% of the cards... cards which are tightly controlled in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.


Shockingly ( ) Egypt still doesn't have a government that can legitimately press for democracy... MB couldn't do it and definitely now the generals can't.

This week was a watershed... the level of violence was horrific. I can really only see two directions now. A second Egyptian revolution with the liberals AND the MB taking to the streets and tossing the generals. Or, something akin to civil war will take root... a slow festering insurgency.


My student who was killed this week covering the MB for her paper was both a democrat and a feminist... thought also a Muslim. She died trying to cover the massacre of the MB. In the ME, the situation is never simple and is almost always analyzed wrong by those 'experts' in the MSM.

Something is afoot in Egypt... the only thing I thing that is sure about it is there will still be more blood.

August 17, 2013

Kerry Was Right, Egypt Was NOT a Coup, Instead it Was a Paid Hit By the Gulf Kingdoms

Follow the money... the Saudis and Emiratis despised the Brotherhood:

Saudi Arabia pledged $5 billion in grants and loans to Egypt's new government on Tuesday, a second major promise of aid from the Gulf after the ouster of the country's Islamist president.

Earlier, the United Arab Emirates pledged $3 billion to the cash-strapped country. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are leading critics of deposed President Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/09/saudi-arabia-aid-to-egypt_n_3568635.html


The US was never going to support a Brotherhood Gov. over its 'allies' in the region.

The generals in Egypt were paid to destroy the Brotherhood and are doing such a good job, they will probably end up with a Civil War on their hands.

August 16, 2013

The UAE Reporter Killed in the Cairo Massacre Was a Former Student of Mine

I am in shock right now as I found out one of my former students at the American University of Sharjah, Habiba Ahmed Abd Elaziz, was one of those killed during the crackdown this week.

I found out in the worst way as I saw her face while watching Democracy Now.

I taught Habiba both writing and she served as an editor for the University newspaper when I was the faculty sponsor for the paper.

She was one of those people who was always sweet, kind, and extremely hard-working.

My heart goes out to her family as Egypt has lost one of its future leaders today.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=data%2Fnationgeneral%2F2013%2FAugust%2Fnationgeneral_August148.xml&section=nationgeneral