"According to the Guardian, the Egyptian junta is supported by fundamentalists like Jamaat al-Islamiyya and the Salafite party al-Nour. (8) Morsi made a mistake to keep them away from power. As a result they became the most vociferous street protesters. Besides, the jihadists have accused their political rivals of betraying the faith and groveling before the West. So an alliance of Egyptian Brothers with the United States of America did not serve them well. Washington has nothing to rejoice about. Actually it gave away the Brothers like it had given away Mubarak before. Now the Islamist banner is going to be raised by Salafites, the more radical Islamists and staunch enemies of the West. Still, the main feature of the «Egyptian Summer» regime change is the fact that the military have just deposed the former rulers without taking power themselves. In a way it looks like an ‘incomplete coup». The United States and the European Union have already declared that they don’t view the events as a military coup, something that makes possible for them to avoid imposing sanctions against Egypt. Anders Fog Rasmussen, the NATO Secretary General, said that it is not important if it were a coup or not. As to him, what matters is strengthening democracy in the country. (9) Calling a spade a spade, it sounds like Jesuit logic. On his part Barack Obama has only issued a murky statement saying the United States abstains from supporting any politicians or parties and believes in supremacy of democratic process and law. He called on the Egyptian military to get the country back to civil rule as soon as possible. (10) It makes it clear that no matter all the ritual calls for democracy, so far Washington is satisfied with the power change in Egypt, no matter it has taken place ignoring any democratic norms. The US allies are discontent. Turkish state news agency Anadolu said there is no justification for the takeover. Prime Minister Erdogan called a cabinet emergency session. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that the destitution of power can take place only through an election process respecting the will of people. It’s not acceptable to bring the democratically elected government by illegal means, especially by staging a military coup. (11) Of course, Turkey may worry; the power change in Egypt is an illustration how easily the United States betrays their yesterday’s allies. The Israel’s reaction is reserved. By and large it supports the coup perceiving it like kind of coming back of Mubarak supporters that Tel Aviv had enjoyed working relations with. The main concern there is the possibility of US military assistance suspension. In this case the Camp David accords may be threatened. (12) Of all state leaders Bashar Assad gave the most detailed commentary in an interview to As-Saura Syrian newspaper. According to him, what is happening in Egypt is a prove that the attempts to politicalize Islam are futile. He said it meaning the system the Muslim Brothers tried to impose. The President said it was wrong to use Islam for political gains, because religion should be outside politics [...] When correspondents wanted to confirm the Reuters information received from Egyptian military sources that one of the coup reasons was the Morsi’s decision to sever ties with Syria, President Assad replied that he didn’t want to speak in the name of Egyptian people, but confirmed there were contacts between the Syrian government and those in Egypt who though the decision was a mistake. (14) There is lesson to be drawn by all politicians worldwide. Leave Syria alone! It puts a career into jeopardy." strategic-culture.org/news/2013/07/07/egypt-takeover-short-of-military-coup.html
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 06:05:58 +0000