Syrian Freedom

Egypt’s Mursi says Assad “regime” has no future in #Syria

Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi said on Saturday his country supported the Syrian revolution and that President Bashar al-Asasd’s administration had no place in Syria’s future.

Mursi said Egypt’s priority was to halt the bloodshed and to work, with “Arab, regional and international support and consensus”, for a political solution that would allow “the Syrian people to replace the current regime” with elected leaders.

“All of that while preserving the unity of Syria,” Mursi, an Islamist, said during a televised speech to Egypt’s Shura Council, or upper house of parliament. “There is no place for the current regime in the future of Syria.”

Assad has been losing ground to rebels waging a 21-month-old uprising. Egyptians ousted their longtime authoritarian president, Hosni Mubarak, in a popular revolt in February 2011. Mursi won office in a free election earlier this year.

“The revolution of the Syrian people, which we support, will go forward, God willing, to realise its goals of freedom, dignity and social justice,” Mursi added.

Sat Dec 29, 2012 7:42am EST

#Syrian government spokesman flees country, diplomat says

03/12/12

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Erika Solomon

CAIRO/BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Syrian foreign ministry spokesman, who was the most public face of Bashar al-Assad’s government as it battled a 20-month-old uprising, has defected and fled the country, a diplomat in the region said on Monday.

Jihad al-Makdissi, who is in his 40s, previously worked at the Syrian embassy in London and returned to Damascus a year ago to serve as spokesman for the ministry, defending the government’s crackdown on the revolt against Assad’s rule.

He had little influence in a system largely run by the security apparatus and the military. But Assad’s opponents will see the loss of such a high profile figure, if confirmed, as further evidence of a system crumbling from within.

Rebel forces have made advances in recent weeks, seizing several military bases including some outside the capital Damascus.

“He defected. All I can say is that he is out of Syria,” the diplomatic source, who did not want to be named, told Reuters.

Lebanon’s al-Manar Television, citing government sources, said Makdissi was sacked for making statements that did not reflect the government’s position.

Makdissi belongs to Syria’s Christian minority, which has largely stood behind Assad. He worked with the foreign ministry for 10 years and speaks fluent English, a rarity in a state apparatus shaped by the ruling Baath Party’s anti-Western ideology.

He was rarely seen in the media in recent weeks. His mobile telephone was switched off and there was no immediate comment in Syrian state media. The pan-Arab news channel Al Arabiya said Makdissi had left Beirut and was on his way to London, where he was expected to remain.

DAMASCUS BATTLES

The army has been striking back and appears to have focused most of its energy on Damascus, where rebels have been planning to push into the capital from the surrounding suburbs.

The military has been trying to seal off the capital, using heavy bombardment and air raids to try to drive rebels back. Over 56 people were killed ar ound Damascus al one on Sunday, with 200 dead across the country.

The city itself has not been free of unrest. Rebel-held southern districts have been bombarded heavily, activists say. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported fierce clashes around the Tishreen military hospital in the northern Barzeh district and a car bomb in the southern area of Tadamon.

Neither side appears to have the upper hand in the fighting around Damascus. A previous attempt by rebels last July to hold ground in the city was crushed, but the fighters fell back into the suburbs and nearby countryside.

Clashes and tensions also remain high around Damascus International Airport and along the airport highway, which has become an on-and-off battleground that forced foreign airlines to suspend flights to Damascus since Thursday evening.

EgyptAir, which attempted resume flights on Monday after a three-day halt, had to call back a plane headed to Damascus due to the “bad security situation” around the airport, an official from the airline said.

The conflict has grown increasingly bloody in recent months, particularly as rebels began to contest Assad’s power around the capital as well as in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. More than 40,000 people have died in the conflict, with hundreds more killed each week.

The United Nations said on Monday it was withdrawing “all non-essential international staff” from Syria because of deteriorating security, and was restricting remaining staff to Damascus. It said more armoured vehicles were needed following attacks on humanitarian aid convoys sometimes caught in the crossfire.

CHEMICAL WEAPONS

Rebels have begun to advance more quickly after months of slow sieges to cut off army routes and supplies. In the past few weeks, they seized several military bases, and they are now using anti-aircraft weapons to attack the military helicopters and fighter jets that bombarded their positions with impunity until now.

Media reports citing European and U.S. officials said Syria’s chemical weapons had been moved and could be prepared for use in response - long a fear raised by the opposition.

Syria said on Monday it would not use chemical weapons against its own people after the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that Washington would take action against any such escalation.

“Syria has stressed repeatedly that it will not use these types of weapons, if they were available, under any circumstances against its people,” the foreign ministry said. (Editing by Tom Pfeiffer)

Turkey looking to Iran and Russia to tackle #Syria crisis

24/10/12

Fulya Ozerkan for AFP

Turkey is turning to regional powers Iran and Russia, backers of the Damascus regime, to help it deal with Syria’s bloody civil war that has spilled across its border with deadly shelling and a flood of refugees, analysts say.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave the first signs last week that Ankara may be shifting the way it approaches the 19-month conflict after holding what local media called a “surprise meeting” with Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad in Baku.

Ankara has proposed to Iran establishing a set of trilateral mechanisms involving key regional players to face the Syrian crisis raging at their doorsteps.

“This (trilateral) mechanism might involve Turkey, Egypt and Iran,” Erdogan said. “A second mechanism could involve Turkey, Russia, Iran. A third could be made up of Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.”

“This represents a significant shift in position by Ankara,” Semih Idiz wrote in the English-language Hurriyet Daily News.

“It was no more than a few months ago that Ankara looked coolly on any discussion on Syria which involved Russia and Iran due to their unconditional backing of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad,” he argued.

Erdogan’s government, a one-time Assad ally, has burnt bridges with Damascus after its deadly crackdown on popular dissent that erupted in March last year and has turned into a civil war.

Turkey has since then provided sanctuary for some 100,000 refugees fleeing the conflict, as well as the exiled Syrian rebel and political leadership, in camps along its volatile border.

At the same time Turkey’s parliament has approved military action against Damascus “when deemed necessary,” shortly after Syrian shells killed five Turks in a border town on Oct. 3. The Turkish military has beefed up border security with aircraft and tanks.

But in the region, Ankara’s deterrent measures have not set well with Iran and Russia and have changed the perception of Turkey as troublesome.

Sami Kohen, a veteran columnist of liberal daily Milliyet, said Ankara began to seek an “exit strategy” after the policies pursued so far by the government pushed Turkey to become a part of the problem.

“While on the one side Ankara is keeping on its policy of showdown against Syria, on the other side it is signaling that it wants to be involved in efforts for a peaceful solution.”

‘Has to have friends’

A Turkish foreign ministry official contacted by AFP said Turkey has never ruled out regional initiatives, noting its support for regional quartet talks proposed by Egypt and involving the other two key players Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Turkey and Iran have diverging views on the Syrian crisis but recent weeks have seen an intensive diplomatic exchange between the two countries, resulting in both Ankara and Tehran’s backing a ceasefire plan floated by international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi during the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday starting this week.

Turkey is also talking to Russia despite a recent diplomatic row sparked after Ankara grounded a Syria-bound plane en route from Moscow to Damascus on suspicion that it had military cargo.

Turkey has not yet said what exactly the suspect cargo contained, but both countries have preferred to downplay the incident, and denied there was a crisis in their trade-based relationship.

It is however hard to predict if Turkey’s new overtures, interpreted by some observers as a change in Turkish foreign policy options, will have any chance of success as long as Russia and Iran cling to their support for Assad’s regime.

Yet Turkey finds itself grasping for support over the Syria crisis, amid criticism that the Western powers are not doing enough to stop the bloodshed.

“Turkey has been desperate for 19 months,” Soli Ozel, a professor of international relations at Istanbul’s Bilgi University, told AFP. “It doesn’t have enough strength to change the circumstances in Syria, or to convince Syria’s allies (to find a solution), or to convince its Western allies to stand by it.”

A new initiative to build cooperation with key regional players may be Turkey’s way of mending fences with its neighbors over Syria.

“I think Turkey’s leaders are rediscovering the idea of having zero problems with neighbors,” a Western diplomat, familiar with Ankara’s efforts, told AFP.

“Turks have come to the conclusion that they need to do something as regards Russia and Iran. They have realized Turkey is not alone and even if it were a super power, Turkey has to have friends.”

Swiss hold $1 billion Arab Spring ‘dictator’ funds

16/10/12

GENEVA (AP) — A Swiss official says the government has blocked almost 1 billion Swiss francs ($1.07 billion) linked to rulers in four Arab Spring nations.

M. Valentin Zellweger, who as head of the Swiss foreign ministry’s international law department also oversees its task force for “potentate funds,” says the assets seized since early 2011 are tied to rulers in #Syria, Libya, Tunisia and Egypt.

He told reporters Tuesday that the Swiss government is working with Tunisia and Egypt to return their nations’ money, including 700 million francs ($755 million) stashed away by former President Hosni Mubarak and his aides.

The Swiss government says it has previously returned about 1.7 billion francs ($1.83 billion) in so-called dictator assets to Peru, the Philippines, Nigeria, Angola, Kazakhstan, Mexico and other countries in recent years.

#Syria, Ashrafieh residents support army against migrant workers

10/10/12

A statement issued by the residents of Beirut’s Ashrafieh voiced support for the Lebanese army concerning the measures it had taken against migrant workers in the area.

The Mukhtars of the Ashrafieh area also issued a statement and called on the Lebanese army to “continue with the work it had started away from the interference of the media, in order to put an end to the acts of harassment, rape, murder and theft endured by the residents and which are being committed by the thousands of foreign workers.”

According to a Human Rights Watch report published Wednesday, on Sunday night the Lebanese army raided three houses in the Jeitawi area of Ashrafieh. Over the course of several hours, they attacked at least 72 male workers from Syria, Egypt and Sudan with broomsticks and “viciously kicked and beat them.”

The rights watchdog urged Lebanon to investigate the incident and punish the army and intelligence officials responsible for the beatings.

-NOW

Saudi has opted out of initiative on #Syria

08/10/12

Riyadh considers that going ahead with the initiative is not productive

Dubai: Saudi Arabia has reportedly opted out of the initiative launched by Egypt to tackle the Syrian crisis.

“Riyadh considers that going ahead with the initiative is not productive at this time and that no positive results could be expected from it,” a senior diplomatic source told Kuwaiti Arabic daily Al Rai.

Riyadh has already informed Cairo about its decision to pull out of the “contact group” of Egypt, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia assembled at President Mohammad Mursi’s initiative.

Saudi Arabia did not attend the first meeting held in Cairo last month.

“There are divergences in the views between Riyadh and Cairo,” the source that the newspaper did not identify said. “The kingdom accuses Iran of being part of the crisis and of being directly responsible for the bloodshed while Egypt believes that the participation of Iran is part of the solution to the crisis.”

According to the source, “Saudi Arabia and other Arab parties have informed Egypt that the participation of Iran in the initiative would lead to unhappy endings.”

“Turkey is also likely to pull out following the military strikes and in light of Ankara’s stance towards Iran’s role in helping the Syrian regime,” the source said, quoted by the daily on Monday.

Riyadh, Cairo and Ankara have demanded that Syrian leader Bashar Al Assad step down while Tehran has supported the regime and accused other countries of siding with the rebels seeking to topple him.

Top Egypt security delegation heads to #Syria

01/10/12

CAIRO (AP) — Cairo airport officials say a high level Egyptian security delegation has left for Syria in a rare visit. The mission of the delegation was not immediately clear.

Yasser Ali, who is spokesman for President Mohammed Morsi, denied the report. A senior security official said he had no knowledge about the delegation, which left Monday, but stopped short of an outright denial of the report. The officials spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to address the media.

Morsi is an outspoken critic of Syria’s President Bashar Assad, and has called on him to step down. Morsi launched an initiative last month in coordination with Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia to end the civil war in Syria.

Ali said Egypt’s only channel for dealing with Syria is that four-member regional group.

Egypt: Mursi Heads to Turkey to Discuss #Syria and Palestine

30/09/12

Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi left Cairo on Sunday morning heading to Ankara, in a 12-hour visit to Turkey, where he will meet Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Egypt’s newly-elected Islamist president will discuss with the Turkish leaders an initiative of regional leaders (Egypt, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia) to halt the shedding of blood in Syria.

They will also discuss the Palestinian problem. While in Turkey, Mursi will attend a meeting between the two countries’ businessmen, said his spokesman Yasser Ali. Mursi will look into Turkey’s experiences in an effort to follow suit in reviving Egypt’s economy in light of economic hardships that followed Mubarak’s ouster. The Egyptian president is also expected to attend the third assembly of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party.

Presidential adviser: Egypt ready for conditional Arab intervention in #Syria

30/09/12

Saif Abdel Fattah, political adviser to President Mohamed Morsy, said Saturday that Egypt is examining a Qatari proposal on an Arab military intervention in Syria to end the bloodshed.

He added that Egypt will discuss the proposal with Qatar and Turkey soon.

In statements to the Anadolu news agency, Abdel Fattah said, “Egypt is ready to take part in the Arab intervention operation, on the condition that this not be used as a pretext for foreign intervention in Syria.”

“We are in principle ready for an Arab intervention in Syria after the limits, goals and features of that intervention are made clear,” he added.

In his speech before the UN General Assembly Tuesday, Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani called for Arab intervention in Syria, saying that Arab countries should preferably intervene in Syria out of a feeling of humanitarian, political and military responsibility after the Security Council failed to take a firm stance on the violence there.

Abdel Fattah said that Egypt might push Turkey to put the Qatari proposal into force and support Arab intervention in Syria, and added that President Mohamed Morsy will discuss this matter will the Turkish Prime Minister during his visit to Turkey on Sunday.

Abdel Fattah added that all concerned countries will hold bilateral meetings soon, adding that the four countries should at least agree on a set of demands.

“The minimum is that [the continuation of] the Syrian regime, which kills its people, is no longer acceptable, and that there have to be practical mechanisms to stop the bloodshed.”

Egypt’s Mursi says opposes foreign intervention in #Syria

27/09/12

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Egypt opposes foreign military intervention to stop the civil war in Syria and prefers an inclusive, negotiated settlement, Egypt’s new Islamist president, Mohamed Mursi, said on Wednesday.

“Egypt is committed to pursue the sincere efforts it has been exerting to put an end to the catastrophe in Syria within an Arab, regional and international framework,” Mursi said in his first speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

Such a solution should be “one that preserves the unity of this brotherly state, involves all factions of the Syrian people without racial, religious or sectarian discrimination and spares Syria the dangers of foreign military intervention that we oppose,” he said.

Mursi’s comments contrasted with those of Qatari leader Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who called on Arab countries on Tuesday to bypass the U.N. Security Council and intervene directly to stop the bloodshed in Syria.

Mursi has been outspoken about Syria since he took office on June 30. He has described Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government as “oppressive” and said it is necessary to support the Syrian people.

“We will continue to work to put an end to the suffering of the Syrian people and provide them an opportunity to choose freely that regime that best represents them,” Mursi said.

However, the Islamist president canceled a meeting of four regional powers on the Syria crisis - Egypt, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia - planned for this week due to the absence of Turkey’s prime minister from the U.N. General Assembly.

In the wake of anti-U.S. protests in Egypt and other Muslim countries sparked by a video made in California insulting to the Prophet Mohammad, Mursi called for increased understanding and “respect” of cultural and religious beliefs.

“What Muslims and migrants are going through in a number of regions worldwide, in terms of discrimination and violation of their human rights … is unacceptable,” he said.

“These practices have become pervasive enough that they now carry a name: ‘Islamophobia,’” he added.

“Egypt respects freedom of expression, one that is not used to incite hatred against anyone,” said Mursi, echoing comments to the assembly by several other leaders of Muslim countries.

On Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the violence sparked by the video, which depicts the Prophet Mohammad as a womanizer, fool and child abuser. But he stressed that the U.S. government had nothing to do with its production and staunchly defended free speech.

(Reporting By Amena Bakr and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by David Brunnstrom and Will Dunham)

Iran seeking new contact group on #Syria

27/09/12

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that Tehran was working to set up a separate contact group on the conflict in Syria, in a move unlikely to be welcomed by many nations.

“We do believe that through a national dialogue and a national understanding and consensus, they can, the various Syrian sides, reach a more solid conclusion, a more tangible and long-lasting conclusion,” the Iranian leader told a press conference in New York.

“Therefore we strive to pave the way for national dialogue and national understanding between the two sides and we are working hard to stand up and shape a contact group from various countries.”

He refused to divulge which nations had been approached by Iran to join the group, saying he was hopeful the Iranian foreign ministry would make an announcement in the coming days.

Tehran is already included in another so-called “contact group,” involving Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and has called for sending observers to Syria in an effort to quell the violence there.

There is a separate Friends of Syria group headed by the United States and grouping some 60 nations, which will meet Friday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to discuss the conflict in which an estimated 29,000 people have been killed.

Speaking through a translator to journalists, Ahmadinejad accused “outside forces” of meddling in Syria, without directly naming any countries.

The Syrian issue “has become incredibly complicated because of the meddling of outside forces,” he said.

He warned that outside interference might yield “short-term results, but for decades to come it will keep Syria in complete chaos and instability.”

“The social fabric of Syria does not have the capacity to allow some tribal groups to gain the reins of power through warfare. And if followed will bring with itself subsequent warfare.”

He did not address charges from the United States that Iran is arming the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad, which is engaged in a brutal suppression of an 18-month-old rebellion.

Instead, the Iranian leader insisted his Islamic republic was working for peace.

“I am hopeful that all of those who beat the drums of war can come to understand the sensitive conditions of Syria. The European countries and America as well,” he said.

“No-one should meddle or interfere in the internal affairs of Syria. Anything that the people of Syria decide upon must be respected by all.”

-AFP

Egypt cancels regional #Syria talks because of Turkey’s absence

26/09/12

Egypt’s President Mohamed Mursi meets with Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey on the sidelines of the 67th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York September 26, 2012. REUTERS/Egyptian Presidency/Handout

UNITED NATIONS: Egypt’s Islamist President Mohamed Mursi has canceled a meeting of four regional powers on the Syria crisis because of the absence of Turkey’s prime minister from this week’s U.N. General Assembly, according to Egypt’s presidential spokesman.

The quartet of Egypt, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia arose from an initiative by Egypt, whose new president is looking to make his mark with what he has described as a balanced foreign policy.

“There was supposed to be (a) meeting this week, but due to the absence of the Turkish prime minister it’s now canceled,” presidential spokesman Yasser Ali told reporters late on Tuesday, referring to Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan.

Saudi Arabia stayed away from the quartet’s last meeting, which Cairo hosted on Sept. 17. Saudi Arabia’s decision was seen by diplomats and Western officials as a reaction to the presence of Shi’ite Muslim Iran, the major rival of the Sunni Muslim kingdom.

Iran is the only state in the quartet that is an ally to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has accused Saudi Arabia and Turkey of helping the rebels who are fighting to topple him.

“We believe that through negotiations and not military intervention the situation in Syria can be resolved. The president (Mursi) believes that progress can made through the quartet committee,” Ali added.

Activists say that 27,000 people have been killed in Syria’s uprising, which began as peaceful demonstrations for reform 18 months ago but turned into an armed insurgency fighting to topple Assad, with sectarian overtones that could drag in regional powers.

Turkey is in the mood to take a tougher line with #Syria

26/09/12

While western and Arab states fail to act on Syria, Erdogan’s ruling party bash is likely to involve serious plotting to get rid of Assad

Simon Tisdall

Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul this week. Several regional leaders opposed to Assad are expected to attend his ruling party convention this weekend. Photograph: Murad Sezer/Reuters

Growing fears that Syria’s civil war is spilling over into neighbouring countries are driving urgent discussions involving Turkey and Arab states about a tougher, joint response, including possible military intervention. A focal point is this weekend’s Turkish ruling party convention in Ankara, which several Arab leaders are expected to attend. But old grudges, current weakness, and a tendency to say, “After you, Claude” when it comes to actual fighting seem likely to continue to undermine effective regional action.

Unlike in Libya – where Nato took the lead after the Arab League disowned Muammar Gaddafi – Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and other Arab governments that are demanding Assad’s departure have been left to their own devices by the west. Barack Obama repeated his demand at the UN this week that the Syrian “dictator” stand down, but made no new move to achieve it. Hopes that Obama will take a tougher line if he is re-elected in November remain just that: hopes.

Paralysing divisions within the UN security council, where Russia and China have repeatedly blocked calls for harsher measures, show no sign of easing. Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, spoke of a “regional calamity with global ramifications”. Ban added: “The international community should not look the other way.” But despite fine speeches, and reminders of the UN’s legal “responsibility to protect”, this is exactly what is happening.

Anger at this sorry state of affairs was voiced recently in Tehran by President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt, who insisted, to his Iranian hosts’ discomfort, that the world had a “moral duty” to stop the Syrian slaughter. Speaking this week, Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Hamad al-Thani, went further, proposing a military intervention.

“The security council failed to reach an effective position. In view of this, I think that it is better for the Arab countries themselves to interfere out of their national, humanitarian, political and military duties and do what is necessary to stop the bloodshed in Syria,” Hamad told the UN general assembly. Countries should provide “all sorts of support”, presumably including arms, to the opposition.

Direct military intervention in Syria by Arab countries remains extremely unlikely at present. But indirect, covert means are already being applied, and militarily weak governments continue to push others to act on their behalf. It was reported in July, for example, that Saudi Arabia and Qatar had induced Turkey to set up a secret “nerve centre” in Adana to direct military, intelligence, logistics and communications aid to Syrian rebels. This supposed operation may also have tacit CIA support. All the countries mentioned deny supplying arms.

Yet despite evident reluctance to get involved directly, the political temperature is rising as Syria’s civil war spreads like an ink stain across a parchment map of the Middle East. Lebanon and Jordan fear political and social destabilisation amid an inexorable refugee tide. Reports from Iraq speak of repeated incursions into its land and air space by Syrian combatants. Syrian mortar shells landed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday.

Among all the neighbours, it is militarily formidable Turkey that is suffering the most, principally as a result of Assad’s decision to offer Syrian bases and backing to Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) fighters in their ongoing separatist struggle in and around south-east Turkey. Damascus’s move followed the decision by the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to break ties with Syria, condemn the bloodshed and demand Assad’s removal. In an interview last week, Erdogan said: “This regime will go. Bashar is politically dead”.

The price of such enmity is high. PKK-related violence inside Turkey has now reached a 10-year high and is spreading, according to recent reports. Tuesday saw another attack in which six Turkish soldiers and one civilian were killed. Iran, Syria’s ally, is covertly supporting Assad’s Kurdish strategy, and this has led in turn to new strains in its relations with Ankara.

Turkey is being pressed by France to create and defend “liberated zones” along its border with Syria, an idea harking back to the Iraq “safe havens” of the 1990s and from which the US and Britain have so far distanced themselves. But while Erdogan will not act on the French proposal without UN or at least US and Nato backing, he may well be in the mood to hit back at Assad over his provocative support for the PKK. This weekend, several regional leaders opposed to Assad, including Egypt’s Morsi, will attend Erdogan’s ruling party bash. Expect ever more urgent plotting on the theme: Get Bashar.

#Syria, Morsy’s foreign policy: Sugar-coated but unchanged

26/09/12

A state of general — yet perhaps less articulated — dissatisfaction and frustration with Egyptian foreign policy over the last two decades has certainly been one of the causes for the accumulated popular fury that sparked the 25 January revolution. Foreign policy took a backseat to demands reflecting more pressing socio-economic and internal political grievances during the uprising and in the dominant discourse which followed the epic downfall of former President Hosni Mubarak. So much so in fact, that — regrettably — much attention was drawn away from foreign policy issues, especially US and Israeli intervention and desperate attempts to influence political outcomes during the height of the crisis in January and February 2011.

Over the last 20 years the regime has consumed us and itself with a meaningless “peace process” between the Palestinians and Israel. Its hostility towards regional players outside the umbrella of the American hegemonic agenda was obvious, yet largely inexplicable. By taking corroborative positions during the two major Israeli aggressions in the last decade on Lebanon and Gaza, not to mention the US invasion of Iraq, it proved to be a loyal servant to America and its plans in the region.

Over the last decade at least, Egypt’s foreign policy was clearly guided by a pursuit of American consent to Gamal Mubarak’s political succession of his father, rather than a desire to uphold real Egyptian national interests. Paving the way for Gamal’s accession to the presidency as a means of renewing the domination of cronyism and corruption networks which ruled Egypt under Mubarak was the regime’s main project in the last 10 years. Foreign policy, as much as most other tools and resources at the disposal of the regime, was mostly shaped by, and implemented to, the service of this final objective. Today, little is different.

In terms of form, President Mohamed Morsy’s recent stepping up of his foreign policy performance has two main objectives. First, it aims at portraying him as a worthy international statesman. Another important objective of Morsy’s foreign policy is to prove to the US and the West that he, and indeed the Muslim Brotherhood, are a worthy, responsible and reliable political group. Under the Brotherhood’s rule, Morsy has been keen to demonstrate to both the US and the desperately awaited cash donors in the Gulf that Egypt is not in the business of breaking away from American hegemony in the region.

Examples of such reassurances from the president are many: “Egypt does not export revolution” was the clear message he sent out during his first address to the nation as “sponsor of the Sunni project, of which Egypt is the protector.” Morsy’s first foreign visit was to Saudi Arabia, where he escalated his rhetoric towards the Syrian regime and President Bashar al-Assad as a clear signal to the international community as to which camp Morsy’s Egypt is part of, regarding the conflict in Syria.

Even when President Morsy attended the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran last month — a step the self-proclaimed “Iranophobic” Mubarak would have never taken — the president limited his Tehran visit to a few hours and was remarkably keen to reassure the international press afterwards that the resuming of diplomatic relations was not discussed in his meeting with Ahmadinejad. In his speech to the summit, he incorporated enough Sunni rhetoric to cut short any speculation as to the possibility of a prospective reconciliation with the Islamic Republic.

I can understand that some of us may be genuinely excited about finally living to see an Egyptian head of state who is actually capable of putting a few logical sentences together. But on the other hand I cannot help but assert that the substance of Egyptian foreign policy remains largely the same as it was under Mubarak. Such a frustrating preservation of the status quo is one of the many sins of the Mubarak era, which the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces refused to tackle during its reign. Even some of former Foreign Minister Nabil al-Araby’s early attempts to throw some rocks into those still waters by suggesting the need for reviewing the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty and expressing astonishment at the complete insanity that is the lack of diplomatic relations between Egypt and Iran, he was very quickly reigned in by the generals.

Egypt’s foreign policy after the 25 January revolution needs to be the product of a grand vision, which sees the country as the beating heart of the Arab world, and as the main agenda-setter in the region. We need to reformulate our alliances and establish new networks of cooperation, which put this admittedly old yet still valid vision to practice through new and creative dynamics. Egypt should not shy away from direct as well as clandestine action to enforce its vision and agenda. That is what regional powers do; they set their own vision and go ahead and implement it. Yes, it is that simple and everyone else in this region from Israel to Turkey to Qatar is doing it.

What we are seeing now under Morsy is the employment of Egypt’s foreign policy as a tool for paying political debts to international powers for their blessings to the Brotherhood’s ascendance to a position of domestic domination. Except for Morsy’s ability to sugar-coat his speeches and foreign policy statements with both an Islamic flavor and rather imposing revolutionary credentials, little is different from Egypt’s foreign policy under Mubarak.

Khaled Safey El Din is a political analyst and doctoral student at the School of Oriental and African Studies,University of Londo

#Syria, Putin condemns bloody regime change in Middle East

26/09/12

Associated Press/Alexander Zemlianichenko, pool - Russian President Vladimir Putin walks prior to a ceremony of receiving credentials in Moscow’s Kremlin on Wednesday in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012. Russian President Vladimir Putin has renewed calls for a joint international solution to civil conflict in the Middle East in a veiled rejection of Western demands for an end to Syrian leader Bashar Assad’s rule. Putin said Wednesday that incitement to the continuation of violence with a view to securing regime change would only create further unrest. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, pool)

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a strong warning Wednesday against inciting violent regime change in the Middle East — an apparent rebuke to Western calls for an end to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s rule.

Putin said the international community should operate as a united front to soothe the tensions in the Mideast and claimed that a bloody regime change would only fuel further unrest.

“Violence only begets violence,” Putin said in a speech to foreign diplomats in Moscow.

The statement appeared to again pit Putin against President Barack Obama, who used his speech at the U.N. General Assembly this week to call for an end to the Assad regime over its violent crackdown on an uprising that began in March 2011.

Speaking about the rising violence in Syria, Obama said Tuesday that “the future must not belong to a dictator who massacres his people.”

“Together, we must stand with those Syrians who believe in a different vision,” Obama said.

As frustration deepens at the ongoing failure of U.N.-led measures to reach a solution on Syria, officials from a coalition including the United States, the European Union and the Arab League met in the Netherlands last week to devise new ways of isolating the Assad regime.

But Putin said Wednesday that attempts to circumvent U.N.-led diplomatic efforts would prove destructive.

“Such action is fraught with potential for destabilization and chaos,” Putin said. “Life has recently given us proof that this is correct. It is time for us to draw lessons from what is happening.”

Activists estimate that at least 30,000 people have been killed since the Syrian revolt began and hundreds of thousands have been displaced, many fleeing to neighboring countries such as Turkey and Jordan.

In his speech, Putin also called for joint international efforts to counter terrorist threats across a number of Middle East nations, including Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Egypt, and Afghanistan.

“There can be no room for double standards. Terrorists should be given a hard and unanimous rebuff,” he said.