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by slimmouse » Thu Jul 03, 2014 4:04 pm
by AlicetheKurious » Fri Jul 04, 2014 4:20 am
slimmouse » Thu Jul 03, 2014 10:04 pm wrote:Hey Alice,
Just stopped by to thank you for dissecting all the garbage posted on this thread over the last god knows how many pages.
When you listen to the shite being posted about all this suppression, and then read your translation of those "Correspondents" defence, then I find some of the cut and paste crappola to be truly embarrassing
But of course some people appear to have zero shame.
May the force be with you and the Egyptian people
by Elvis » Fri Jul 04, 2014 5:15 am
by AlicetheKurious » Sat Jul 05, 2014 2:19 am
Elvis » Fri Jul 04, 2014 11:15 am wrote:And perhaps best, you've made me excited for Egypt's future!
by SonOfKitty » Sat Jul 05, 2014 4:11 pm
by AlicetheKurious » Sun Jul 06, 2014 2:58 pm
Statement from the Office of Tony Blair
Wednesday, Jul 02, 2014 in Office of Tony Blair
The story is nonsense and we have told them so. Tony Blair is not a formal advisor to Sisi he has simply said that it is vital for Egypt, the region and the world that the new President and his Government succeed in reforming their country and taking it to a better future and that the international community supports them in doing so. He has said this publically on a number of occasions and also stated he would be happy to help galvanise that support if he can.
This is nothing to do with ‘business opportunities’ and we have absolutely no idea what correspondence the Guardian is referring to. Let me be very clear – neither Tony Blair, nor any of his organisations have any commercial interest in Egypt, nor are they seeking business in Egypt, nor have they ever discussed doing business in Egypt. This is simply incorrect.
What is true and we have made categorically clear is that there is no commercial interest in, and absolutely no intention to make money from, Egypt. Link
by AlicetheKurious » Sun Jul 06, 2014 5:16 pm
by conniption » Mon Aug 11, 2014 5:43 am
NEO
(embedded links)
The U.S. Stabbed Egypt in the Back – Al-Sisi
10.08.2014 Author: Christof Lehmann
August 4-6, U.S. President Barak Obama hosted the Washington – Africa Leaders Summit at the White House. Obama expounded “I do not see the countries and peoples of Africa as a world Apart. I see Africa as a fundamental part of our interconnected world – partners with America on behalf of the future we want for all of our children. That partnership must be grounded in responsibility and mutual respect”.
On July 14, the White House Spokesperson for the National Security Council, Ned Price, said that President Obama decided to invite Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi on short notice. Price said Obama decided to invite Al-Sisi because the African Union had restored Egypt’s full membership.
Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi declined Obama’s invitation to the White House saying that he did not have time to attend. Al-Sisi said that he would send Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab instead.
Al-Sisi’s polite rejection brings to mind Larry Weissman’s 2012 interview with the then General Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi who said:
“The people of Egypt are aware of the fact that the USA has stabbed Egypt in the back with the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi. It is nothing that Egypt will easily forget, or forgive”.
Saying these words, Al-Sisi didn’t only show true statesmanship and courage. He touched upon one of the central issues in African debates about neo-colonialism. That is, whether Mandubuchi Dukor was right when he expounded on the “African Unfreedom” and a growing number of African thinkers like John Ezenwankwor who don’t reject Dukor but stress that “the African as a human being with free will and responsibility cannot continue to blame the colonizers when he has the choice either to reject the colonial predetermined events or to accept them taking responsibility for his actions”.
How exactly did the USA stab Egypt and its people in the back with Morsi and the Muslim Brothers?
In July 2012 the Chief of Egypt’s Military Intelligence, Omar Suleiman, died during a routine medical checkup in a U.S. Hospital in Cleavland. Omar Suleiman was not only one of the closest of Al-Sisi’s friends. Omar Suleiman also had detailed knowledge about the U.S., Qatari and Turkish intelligence services’ involvement in the Arab Spring.
Morsi became Egypt’s first democratically elected president. Morsi suspended the lower house of parliament and the judiciary without protests from the USA. Morsi changed Egypt’s constitution and election law, making it impossible for non-Islamist parties to compete in elections. The Obama administration praised Morsi for reforming Egypt. Morsi became Egypt’s first democratically elected dictator. U.S. propaganda sold the coup as struggle for freedom and democracy.
When the opposition demanded serious talks about the constitutional changes, the prominent Muslim Brotherhood leader Amr Darrag said that it was “a waste of time and that suspending the national dialog over the constitution issue was unrealistic”. It was after Darrag’s statement in January 2013 that he opposition began organizing mass protests.
In June 2013, Morsi achieved one more record. About 14 million Egyptians went to the streets and demanded that he either start talks with the opposition or step down. The military deployed to protect public buildings. The warning that the military had to step in unless Morsi began talking with the opposition was ignored.
The U.S. Response to the ouster of Morsi on July 3, 2013 was unequivocal condemnation. The worst betrayal, however, had yet to come.
In August, police and military announced that protesters would have to leave Rabia Square because the one month long occupation of the square had brought traffic and businesses in inner Cairo to a standstill.
Mysterious snipers were seen on rooftops, firing at those protesters who were following police orders to leave Rabia square. A panic ensued and people fled back to the square where they were met with automatic rifle fire. Hundreds of panicking protesters were mowed down by Muslim Brotherhood militants who opened fire from behind sand-sack enforced positions in the square.
Videos, showing military shooting, were distributed to Al-Jazeera. Not one word was said about the fact that the military fired at the gunmen who were firing into the protesters. 578 were killed, 4,021 injured.
The U.S. Response was unequivocal condemnation of the brutal massacre on peaceful pro-Morsi protesters. It was after this incident that Al-Sisi said:
“The people of Egypt are aware of the fact that the USA has stabbed Egypt in the back with the Muslim brotherhood and Morsi. It is something that Egypt will not easily forget or forgive”.
The U.S. State Department and Parallels to Ukraine
In February 2014, about 500 Ukrainian police officers and protesters were shot dead by mysterious snipers. The U.S. Response to the massacre was unequivocal condemnation of Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovich.
A leaked phone call between U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt proved that the U.S. micromanaged the regime change in Ukraine. During a hearing at the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Nuland had to admit that the U.S. was cooperating with Ukrainian Nazis.
A leaked phone call between E.U. Foreign Affairs chief Baroness Catherine Ashton and Estonian Foreign Minister Umeas Paet revealed that members of the western backed opposition were responsible for the mass killings.
There is one parallel between Cairo and Kiev that proves beyond reasonable doubt that the U.S. State Department was involved in inciting the violence in Cairo and in Kiev. The fliers which instructed the “peaceful protesters” in Cairo how to prepare for violent demonstrations were identical with the fliers which were distributed among the “peaceful protesters” in Kiev.
The organization behind these fliers is CANVAS, formerly known as DEMOZ. CANVAS is sponsored by the U.S. State Department. The organization has been involved in the subversions since Yugoslavia. It is one of the bits and pieces in the U.S. State Department’s toolkit for regime change.
To Busy to attend a Washington – Africa Leaders Summit with Obama in the White House
Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi politely rejected Obama’s invitation because he was too busy. The situation in Gaza requires attention. Egypt offered to open the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and the Sinai. Egypt’s only condition for the opening the border is that it is the Palestinian unity-government and not Hamas or any other party that controls the Palestinian side of the border. Qatar and Turkey have so far advised Hamas to reject the proposal and the USA is not interested in a unity-government either.
Egypt is still coping with an armed insurgency in the Sinai. An insurgency that is supported by Turkey, Qatar, and by the faction of Hamas that is led by Khaled Mashal.
Obama had to hold the Washington – Africa Leaders Summit without Al-Sisi. The commander in chief of neo-colonialism and the first African American president in the White House is responsible for the death of more black Africans then the last five of his presidential predecessors. Al-Sisi has shown potential for becoming a true African leader. One that concludes the debate about Dukor and “African Unfreedom” with a show of free will and pragmatism.
Dr. Christof Lehmann an independent political consultant on conflict and conflict resolution and the founder and editor in chief of nsnbc, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
by stefano » Thu Aug 14, 2014 7:47 am
by conniption » Thu Aug 14, 2014 3:44 pm
RT
Russia, Egypt looking to create a free trade zone - Putin
Published time: August 12, 2014
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (L) during their meeting at the Bocharov Ruchei residence in Sochi on August 12, 2014 during the Egyptian leader's first official visit to Russia. (AFP Photo / Alexei Druzhinin)
Egypt and the countries of the Customs Union are looking into creating a free trade zone, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after meeting with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at the Black Sea city of Sochi.
"An important agreement was reached to establish cooperation between Egypt and the Customs Union [of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan]," said the Russian President. "And now we are looking at a possibility of creating a free trade zone."
continued - http://rt.com/business/179860-russia-eg ... rade-zone/
hurriyetdailynews
Egypt’s el-Sisi avoids Turkish airspace with huge U-turn
August/13/2014
[Egypt’s el-Sisi avoids Turkish airspace with huge U-turn]
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s official plane has used an unusual flight route on its way back home from Russia as it avoided flying over Turkish airspace, the website airporthaber.com reported on Aug. 13.
After meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Sochi, el-Sisi boarded the Airbus 340-200 owned by the Egyptian government, which was scheduled to fly to Cairo. After the decision to avoid Turkish airspace, the pilot also had to avoid Ukrainian airspace due to the ongoing clashes that saw Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 shot down over Eastern Ukraine. As a result, the plan flew to Egypt via Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece.
Similar to Ukraine, Iraqi and Syrian airspaces are also not considered safe due to the ongoing conflicts that are occurring in both countries.
However, the avoidance of Turkish airspace is more likely to be linked with the ongoing diplomatic crisis between Cairo and Ankara.
by coffin_dodger » Thu Aug 14, 2014 4:02 pm
However, the avoidance of Turkish airspace is more likely to be linked with the ongoing diplomatic crisis between Cairo and Ankara.
and the fact that Turkey might have shot his plane down by accident.
by stefano » Thu Aug 21, 2014 6:47 am
Mubarak-era Egyptian steel tycoon Ahmed Ezz released on bail
The Egyptian steel tycoon Ahmed Ezz, the secretary-general of Hosni Mubarak's NDP, who was accused of playing a key role in orchestrating the rigging of 2010 parliament elections and has been standing trials since shortly after the outbreak of the 2011 revolution on graft and corruption charges, was released from jail on bail on Thursday afternoon.
Ezz is the former chairman of Ezz Steel and has a 55 percent stake in EZDK, the largest steel complex in the Middle East. It was previously known as Alexandria National Iron and Steel Company (ANISC) before Ezz, then a mid-rank steel manufacturer, was called in to bail out the struggling publicly-owned company in 1999.
Ezz has been standing trial for over three years in two separate cases.
The first was for the illegal acquisition of LE6.4 billion between 2003 and 2011 in deals related to his acquisition of Ezz El-Dekheila (EZDK) steel plant.
The second trial was over the illegal sale of steel licences.
On Tuesday, Ezz paid his first tranche of a LE100 million fine for monopolistic practices.
According to judicial sources, Ezz paid an additional LE152 million, comprising unpaid bails over money laundering charges, illicit gains and the illegal acquisition of Ezz El-Dekheila (EZDK) steel plant.
Over the last three years, Ezz has received cumulative sentences of 60 years in prison, but his appeals have all been accepted and he is currently facing retrials.
Ezz: Business marries politics
The Egyptian steel tycoon Ahmed Ezz played a leading role in the final years of toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party -- leading the NDP's secretariat for organisational affairs, sitting on the committee of policy formulation as well as representing the party in parliament.
His duties allowed him to represent the growing alliance between businessmen and politicians in the years before the January 2011 uprising.
In an attempt by the regime to offer concessions to an angry public, Ezz was forced to resign from the NDP on 29 January 2011. On 3 February of that year, Ezz was banned from travel and two weeks later, the top prosecutor ordered him arrested on a variety of corruption charges.
For 30 years, the NDP acted as the pillar of the political corruption of the Mubarak era.
Its headquarters in Cairo and elsewhere across the country were burnt during the 18 days of the 2011 uprising.
A court officially dissolved the NDP in April 2011.
Ezz enjoyed a close relationship with Gamal Mubarak, the former president's son, who was reportedly being groomed to succeed his father as president.
He also acted as one of the main players in planning and executing the fraudulent parliamentary elections of 2010, when more than 95 percent of seats went to the party.
by stefano » Tue Aug 26, 2014 4:08 am
Arab Nations Strike in Libya, Surprising U.S.
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and ERIC SCHMITT
AUG. 25, 2014
CAIRO — Twice in the last seven days, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have secretly launched airstrikes against Islamist-allied militias battling for control of Tripoli, Libya, four senior American officials said, in a major escalation of a regional power struggle set off by Arab Spring revolts.
The United States, the officials said, was caught by surprise: Egypt and the Emirates, both close allies and military partners, acted without informing Washington, leaving the Obama administration on the sidelines. Egyptian officials explicitly denied to American diplomats that their military played any role in the operation, the officials said, in what appeared a new blow to already strained relations between Washington and Cairo.
The strikes in Tripoli are another salvo in a power struggle defined by Arab autocrats battling Islamist movements seeking to overturn the old order. Since the military ouster of the Islamist president in Egypt last year, the new government and its backers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have launched a campaign across the region — in the news media, in politics and diplomacy, and by arming local proxies — to roll back what they see as an existential threat to their authority posed by Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood.
Arrayed against them and backing the Islamists are the rival states of Turkey and Qatar.
American officials said the Egyptians and the Emiratis had teamed up against an Islamist target inside Libya at least once before. In recent months, the officials said, teams of “special forces” operating out of Egypt but possibly composed primarily of Emiratis had also successfully destroyed an Islamist camp near the eastern Libyan city of Derna, an extremist stronghold.
Several officials said in recent days that United States diplomats were fuming about the airstrikes, believing the intervention could further inflame the Libyan conflict as the United Nations and Western powers are seeking to broker a peaceful resolution. Officials said the government of Qatar has already provided weapons and support to the Islamist-aligned forces inside Libya, so the new strikes represent a shift from a battle of proxies to direct involvement. It could also set off an arms race.
“We don’t see this as constructive at all,” said one senior American official.
The strikes have also, so far, proved counterproductive. Islamist-aligned militias fighting for control of Tripoli successfully seized its main airport just hours after they were hit with the second round of strikes.
“In every arena — in Syria, Iraq, Gaza, Libya, even what happened in Egypt — this regional polarization, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, or U.A.E., on one side and Qatar and Turkey on the other, has proved to be a gigantic impediment to international efforts to resolve any of these crisis,” said Michele Dunne, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former Middle East specialist at the State Department.
Egypt’s role, the American officials said, was to provide bases for the launch of the strikes. The Egyptian president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, and other officials have issued vigorous-sounding but carefully worded public statements denying any direct action by Egyptian forces in Libya.
“There are no Egyptian aircraft or forces in Libya, and no Egyptian aircraft participated in military action inside Libya,” Mr. Sisi said on Sunday, the state news agency reported.
In private, the officials said, the Egyptian denials had been more sweeping.
The officials said the U.A.E. — which boasts one of the most effective air forces in the Arab world, thanks to American equipment and training — provided the pilots, warplanes and aerial refueling planes necessary for the fighters to bomb Tripoli out of bases in Egypt. It was unclear if the planes or munitions were American-made.
The U.A.E. has not commented directly on the strikes but came close to denying a role. On Monday, an Emirati state newspaper printed a statement from Anwar Gargash, minister of state for foreign affairs, calling any claims about an Emirati role in the attacks “a diversion” from the Libyans’ desire for “stability” and rejection of the Islamists. The allegations, he said, came from a group that “wanted to use the cloak of religion to achieve its political objectives” and “the people discovered its lies and failures.”
The U.A.E. was once considered a sidekick to Saudi Arabia, a regional heavyweight and the dominant power among the Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf. The Saudi rulers, who draw their own legitimacy from a puritanical understanding of Islam, have long feared the threat of other religious political movements, especially the well-organized and widespread Muslim Brotherhood.
Sites controlled by Islamist-allied militias in Tripoli were hit.
But Western diplomats in the region say the U.A.E. is now far more assertive and aggressive than even the Saudis about the need to eradicate Islamist movements around the region, perhaps because the Emirati rulers perceive a greater domestic threat.
The issue has caused a rare schism among the Arab monarchies of the gulf because Qatar has taken the opposite tack. In contrast to its neighbors, it has welcomed Islamist expatriates to its capital, Doha, and supported their factions around the region, including in Libya.
During the uprising against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in Libya three years ago, Qatar and the U.A.E. both played active roles, but each favored different clients among the rebels. While Qatar backed certain Islamists, the U.A.E. favored certain tribal or regional militias, including the militias from the Western mountain town of Zintan, said Frederic Wehrey, another associate at the Carnegie Endowment who specializes in Libya and the Persian Gulf.
The “proxy competition” between the two gulf states in Libya, he said, goes back to 2011.
Now it has extended to backing different sides in what threatens to become a civil war between rival coalitions of Libyan cities, tribes and militias. Although the ideological lines are blurry, the U.A.E. has backed its Zintani clients in what they describe as a battle against Islamist extremists. Qatar, its Islamist clients and loosely allied regional or tribal groups from the coastal city of Misurata have squared off from the other side; most insist that their fight has nothing to do with political Islam and seek to prevent an Egyptian-style “counterrevolution.”
The first strikes occurred before dawn a week ago, hitting positions in Tripoli controlled by militias on the side of the Islamists. The bombs blew up a small weapons depot, among other targets, and local authorities said they killed six people.
A second set of airstrikes took place south of Tripoli in the early hours on Saturday. The Islamist-allied militias were posed to capture the airport from Zintani militias allied with the U.A.E. who had controlled it since 2011, and the strikes may have been intended to slow the advance.
Striking again before dawn, jets bombed rocket launchers, military vehicles and a warehouse all controlled by Islamist-allied militia. At least a dozen people were killed, local authorities said. But within hours the Islamist-aligned forces had nonetheless taken the airport.
Responsibility for the airstrikes was initially a mystery. In both cases, anti-Islamist forces based in eastern Libya under a renegade former general, Khalifa Heftir, sought to claim responsibility. But the strikes, at night and from a long distance, were beyond the known capabilities of General Heftir’s forces.
The Islamist-allied militias, allied under the banner Libya Dawn, were quick to suspect Egypt and the U.A.E. But they offered no evidence or details.
American officials said after the first strike that signs pointed to the Emiratis. But some American officials found it hard to believe that the U.A.E. would risk a regional backlash. It was unclear how U.A.E. fighters could reach Tripoli without a base in the region, and Egypt denied any role.
On Monday, however, American officials said the second set of strikes over the weekend had provided enough evidence to conclude that the Emirates had carried out the strikes and even supplied the refueling ships necessary for fighters to reach Tripoli from Egypt.
Asked about an earlier version of this report posted on The New York Times website, a State Department spokesman declined to comment. “I’m not in a position to provide any additional information on these strikes,” the spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, told reporters at a State Department briefing.
by stefano » Thu Sep 04, 2014 4:34 am
An Egyptian court on Wednesday ordered taking Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr (Al-Jazeera in Egypt) off air, state-run Ahram newspaper reported on its website.
The administrative court also ordered to withdraw the licenses for airing the channel on the Egyptian Nilesat.
This is the third time that the court ordered Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr going off air.
The court found the channel made violations and crimes against the Egyptians by "inciting hatred and sedition" against Coptic Christians and "undermining national unity," presiding judge Hasouna Tawfiq said.
Several other liberal and Islamist networks, namely Ahrar 25, a network belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the Jordanian Al-Yarmuk and the Palestinian Al-Quds and the Islamist AL-Hafez channel went temporarily off the air soon after the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi last year.
by stefano » Tue Sep 30, 2014 4:35 am
When it was Sisi's turn to address the [UN General Assembly], he directly addressed Erdogan's criticism, stating, “When kids used to beat me at school, I always said that when I grow up, I will beat you all back.”
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