January 26, 2011
Posted: by crescentandcross in
By Yvonne Ridley
The Arab world’s sleeping giant
has finally woken from its slumbers
after years of being drugged
and mugged by the West.
Having witnessed ~ and experienced ~ first hand the brutality of the Egyptian and Tunisian police and their undercover stooges, I can tell you that the uprisings of the masses took real courage.
Over the years, dictator Hosni Mubarak has traded on their fear using some of the foulest methods of intimidation imaginable.
But like their counterparts in Tunisia, the Egyptian people are losing their fear and tearing away the chains of oppression.
The Pharoah’s police state is now teetering as a second day of protests begin.
Whatever the outcome over the next few weeks, I think it is clear that America and Britain can no longer manipulate and control the politics ~ or lack of it ~ in the Middle East.
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Washington’s silence over the weeks of civil unrest on the streets of Tunisia was almost deafening, so when Barack Obama chose to congratulate the uprising only once Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s plane was in the air, his message of support rang hollow.
Today he urged the Egyptian authorities to show restraint.
The world’s most powerful man’s weasel words tripped from his lips as blood was shed on the streets of Cairo, Assiut, Alexandria, Mansura, Tanta and Aswan as the people faced down 2.5 million uniformed and plain clothes thugs using water cannon and teargas.
The truth is the scenes of civil unrest from Tunis to Cairo speak volumes about US and Western interference as much as the actions of the tyrants they have bankrolled and supported.
All of them have seriously underestimated ordinary Arabs. The brutality of tyrants has been allowed to go on for countless decades and the silence of the Western superpowers today exposes their own deep-seated racism and double standards towards the people.
Is the blood of an Arab worth less than that of an American? It’s a rhetorical question and we all know the shameful answer.
With the exception of Iraq (and let’s not go down the road of who created and supported Saddam), all of the governments in the Middle East are identified by their Western-installed family dynasties, sham democracies, rigged elections punctuated by extreme reaction to any signs of dissenting voices.
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Olmert and Abu rubbing noses.
Yes, they must be enemies
!While these leaders have lived a life of luxury bordering on obscene, they’ve carried out their orders from Washington, London, Paris and beyond without question ~ and this goes for the corrupt Abu Mazen and his Palestinian Authority. If ever there was a dictator~in-the-making it’s this odious pygmy of a man.
As Robert Fisk pointed out a few days back,
the emergence of The Palestine Papers
are as damning as the Balfour Declaration.
The right of return for millions of Palestinians, for instance, was traded and eroded beyond measure.
From the West Bank to Gaza and the refugee camps beyond, Abu Mazen sold his people down the river. And the fact that Hillary Clinton’s predecessor, Condaleezza Rice saw no problem in moving the Palestinians half way across the world to settle in South America, exposes the real contempt US Administrations have for the Arab people, not to mention those living in Latin America.
And for why?
For Israel,
a festering pustule
not the size of a South African game park,
squatting in the Middle East.
The creation of this nuclear-powered
Frankenstein State
and the determination
to force it on Arabs
will turn out to be America
and Britain’s biggest ever mistake.
But it’s not just the US to blame, Britain under Tony Blair has been a prime mover in overseeing the brutalisation of the Arab world.
.
.
The UK’s intelligence service, MI6, drew up plans to help the Palestinian Authority crush the Islamic political movement Hamas and armed groups in the West Bank.
Documents ~ part of nearly 1700 transcripts and emails leaked to Arab TV channel Al Jazeera documenting more than a decade of Israeli-Palestinian talks ~ shed light on a little-known role played by British security services in shoring up the corrupt PA’s security apparatus. It was all done on Blair’s watch.
The West has bribed, bullied and cajoled
Arab leaders in to accepting the vile Zionist State
to the detriment of their own people
and this is now coming back to haunt them.
Arab leaders in to accepting the vile Zionist State
to the detriment of their own people
and this is now coming back to haunt them.
The movement of the masses isn’t just about oppression under tyrants, it is also about the creation and maintaining of Israel and the unconditional support it is given by the West and the West’s puppet leaders in the region.
Well the sleeping giant has finally woken up
and when the people start to lead
their leaders will and are becoming irrelevant.
and when the people start to lead
their leaders will and are becoming irrelevant.
Israel’s biggest ally Mubarak must now be planning an exit strategy, wondering to where he can flee ~ or even if he can rely any more on his Western puppet masters. They all turned their back on Ben Ali, didn’t they?
In Lebanon, America’s friends are folding
as a prime minister is appointed
who will support Israel’s arch enemy Hizb’Allah,
and from the West Bank to Gaza,
Hamas is being seen as the peoples’ choice.
The Muslim Brotherhood is being re-energised in Egypt where it has been robbed over the years of election victories. They would be the ruling party if free and fair elections had ever been allowed.
And in the coalition unity government of Tunisia, alliances may well be made with returning and previously banned Islamic political parties.
It’s only a matter of time
before the rest of the tyrants
come tumbling down like a pack of cards.
before the rest of the tyrants
come tumbling down like a pack of cards.
The game is up.
It is over.
It is over.
The Arab world is going to start and choose its own leaders. We in the West might not like the choices of the people but we should respect their wishes.
Western leaders have a great deal to think about in the coming weeks as the Arab people decide how to shape their future in the Arab world.
But the first thing to do is send Air Force One around the region to collect all the dictators, tyrants and despots on the US payroll and take them back to Washington.
Like pet poo in New York’s Central Park, you have to take responsibility for the mess your dogs’ mess.
* British journalist Yvonne Ridley is also the European President of the International Muslim Women’s Union
"Izal-Sha'bu Yauman Ardal-Hayata, Flabudda'an Yastajibal-Kadae"
ReplyDeleteWala-Budda Lil-Layli An Yanjali, Walabudda Lil-Kaydi An Yankasser.", Tunisian poet Abul-Kassim Al-Shabi.
My translation: If the nation one day willed to live a (decent) life, verily, destiny will obey. And the night will expire, and the shackle be broken.
IS EGYPT TOO BIG TO FAIL?
ReplyDeleteby Troy Harris
After 2 days of rather spontaneous uprising in Egypt when upwards near a thousand protesters were arrested (and probably as we speak getting their skulls cracked), there seems to be another day of rage ahead. But how extensive are Egypt's detention facilities? What are the risks of spending time in them? How much time might a detained person expect to stay in them?
We must keep in mind that there are a lot of young unemployed people in Egypt, where the population has tripled in 40 years. So it's an even more spontaneous uprising than in Tunisia where the labour unions play a strong leadership role. Egypt's uprising is by contrast very fragmented and cannot depend on organized labour because such destabilizing organizations have long been outlawed. But the Muslim Brotherhood should be weighing in soon.
Is Mubarak's Egypt too big to fail? It's a serious question. The rulers have after all received upwards near a trillion dollars in US military subsidies over Mubarak's quarter-century tenure - an amount that has nearly underwritten Egypt's entire military expenditure over the same period. This naturally renders Egypt's police force extremely well stocked with light-weight weaponry that can easily be turned against all those noisy young hand-phone wielding dissidents - a graphic scenario that no doubt prompted a very high ranking IMF official who was interviewed by CNN today at the annual Davos Billionaire's fun faire (and where a bomb had incidentally just gone off) to admonish Egypt's battered rulers to "target its subsidized spending well".
So very true Truthseeker. Perhaps the shackles are being opened as we speak... or being clamped tighter. But with these numbers, the jails though huge can only take so much.
ReplyDeleteThe old toad must see the writing is on the wall for him, even if he clamps down with murderous force. He knows the world is watching although his reptilian heart and mind (he sold his soul long ago) are slow to grasp these things.
Who is going to help him? He may have a huge military but who will help him? I think Anonymous is right with the comments he makes. There needs to be unification, there is so much frustration and anger with the people.
I have a very good friend, just in that age group, 25, who graduated from medical school last year. Top marks. He is still unemployed and taking jobs that are crappy and underpaying. IF the boss does not rip him off for his paycheque as has happened more than once. He cannot marry and being a good Muslim leads a chaste (and frustrating) life. That frustrated energy is there with almost all of these young unmarried men. The right organization to tap in on it will do well.
I do not see him in those groups, but I know his sentiments are right in sync with them.