For thousands of years, Egypt has been one of the primary pillars of the Eastern world. When Egypt falls into turmoil, a shockwave is felt by all other nations that heralds great change and perhaps even great catastrophe. The West’s longtime interest in maintaining a solid foothold in Egypt is based on this reality; even in our modern age, when Egypt is in your corner riches can be accumulated, and power can be gathered.
Our government along with European governments have gone to incredible lengths in the region in order to ensure Egyptian compliance. In the 1940s and 1950s, Britain sought to dominate the country through force of arms. The U.S. set out to buy Egypt with massive foreign aid as well as military subsidies for leaders that held pro-western views. However, it appears that in the quest for “globalization”, western interests now see a destabilized and violent Egypt as more useful to the grand plan. The Egyptian revolution in 2011 which highlighted what many call the “Arab Spring” was heavily manipulated by U.S. and European governments, but such sociopolitical engineering is still limited to the whims of the target population.
No one can create a revolution or civil war out of thin air. Years or even decades of popular angst and anger has to be fostered. The citizenry must already be near the tipping point of mass dissent. Globalists do not make revolutions occur, they simply find a revolution already brewing, and then attempt to direct the preexisting energy of the populace towards an end result that benefits the establishment the most.
Egypt is now ripe for internal conflict far beyond civil disobedience into the realm of Syrian-style civil war, and I believe our government is well aware that such a calamity is brewing…
The ousting of President Hosni Mubarak was driven in part by a distaste amongst the general Egyptian public for the U.S. government’s influence over the political dichotomy of their society. U.S. funding had, in their view, given foundational support to Mubarak’s reign, which had resorted to police brutality, martial law, lack of free elections, crackdowns on free speech, and corruption in order to retain control. This coupled with high unemployment and price inflation inevitably led to citizen dissent, which saw the U.S. as a staunch ally of their abusive oligarchy.
Even after the revolution and the election of Mohamed Mursi (a primary supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood whose political platform calls for the removal of western influences within predominantly Islamic cultures), the U.S. government continued to send $1.6 billion in foreign aid to the region.
After the military overthrow of the elected Mursi in recent months generated in part by the Egyptian people’s anger over western influence, our government is STILL pushing for the continuance of American tax dollars to Egypt, and, still refuses to acknowledge that the latest transition of power is by every definition a “coup”.
Egypt: U.S. to carry on with operation Bright Star in Egypt
(Reuters)
The United States plans to hold a major military exercise in Egypt despite the ongoing tension between supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi and those of the new rulers.
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters on Wednesday that Operation Bright Star will take place in Egypt in mid-September. (Ethiopian New 2006 year’s days)
The announcement to continue a joint US-Egypt military exercise came a day after Egypt’s army-backed interim government ordered the police to sweep the streets of pro-Morsi protesters.
Observers say removing protesters from the streets of Cairo by force could set up a potentially bloody conflict with Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood.
But in the face of such a standoff, the US and Egyptian authorities have refused to suspend their joint military exercise.
“We’re planning on going ahead with it,” Hagel told reporters at a Pentagon news conference.
Operation Bright Star dates back to 1981, and has been a keystone of US-Egyptian military relations.
It began after the Camp David Peace Accords between Egypt and Israel.
The military exercises were canceled in 2011 because of the political turmoil that led to the ouster of Hosni Mubarak.
However, the exercises held every two years will not be cancelled this time around, despite the tensions in Egypt.
The US has also refrained from labelling removal of Morsi as a “coup,” because it would trigger a cut-off in aid and could require the withdrawal of military aids and funds to the Egyptian military, which runs up to $1.3 billion, annually.
Hagel has been in consistent contact with Egyptian army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sissi since the military ousted Mursi on July 3.
Although relations between both nations have been sustained despite the ousting of Morsi, the US has halted delivery of F-16 fighter jets to the African nation.
Arab Oil: The Rise and Demise of the Middle East?
For centuries, the Middle East has been the place that empires and world powers competed to control, for geographic, strategic and political reasons, as a source of fossil fuel and the presence of the Israeli state stability. But are we witnessing a historic change, as the global needs for resources have shifted?
For a very long time, the world relied on the Middle East — most notably, Arab Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia — for crude oil. Oil has been used as a “weapon” when it comes to foreign policy in many parts of the region, including Iraq. Hence it is shocking for oil-producing countries to learn that the United States’ ability to generate energy is in fact larger than expected. The United States has grown oil production to its highest levels since 1990, after it was in decline for many years. And it is now on the rise even more, due to discoveries of natural gas fields that are expected to cover and probably exceed local demand. This will allow the United States to become self-sufficient sooner than anticipated and make an enormous impact on the Arab world and its economic stability and security. The price per barrel of oil, now $107, will decline by half or more.
If my theory proves to be correct, the next five years will bring the historic collapse of oil prices in the Arab world and likely lead to changes of deep political dimensions. As a result, the largest oil-producing countries such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will lose the endowment and “special treatment” that Washington has granted in the past. Historically it has always been a top U.S. priority to keep the price of energy under control and oil flow unhindered. This policy has cost the United States dearly and forced it to tolerate the Saudi misbehavior. Although the Kingdom is the main sponsor and funding source for terrorism, including al Qaeda; and despite the fact that 15 hijackers of the September 11 attacks were Saudi citizens, Washington chose instead to wage two costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in retaliation, turning a blind eye to human rights violations in the Kingdom.
For those who are skeptical of this analysis, who believe that the Arab oil is indispensable and that the United States will not give up Gulf relations it has worked on improving for decades, I say that variables change. The same Middle East the United States is dealing with now may not exist in the next five years. Arab oil will still be important, but not be as strategically crucial as it has been for the past few centuries. And why is that? Here are some short-term and long-term reasons:
- As the United States becomes energy self-sufficient, Arab oil will lose its strategic importance.
- The havoc of the Arab Spring and the Islamist movement will continue to weaken states and create conflicting semi-states.
- Security challenges in the region will spread, as it will be preoccupied with internal wars. Tribal or sectarian conflicts will alarm foreign investors.
- Current governments or countries may disappear, once a new geographical map is drafted according to the changes that will occur.
- Imminent climate and environmental changes and water scarcity will threaten the region with extinction.
In the midst of these momentous changes, which might be just around the corner — and while the world is busy making progress in energy research to cope with demand — the Arab world is cozily sleeping, unprepared and indifferent for what is coming, leaving its fate to be decided by the strongest.
Source: Middle East Post
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