Monday, June 27, 2011

Will U.S. Suspend Aid to Egypt’s Military?

Whither the "Arab Spring": Congress may cut $1.3B in military aid after Egypt warms to Islamists.
 
 
 

The anti-Western policies recently adopted by Egypt’s military government may be spawning a surprising anti-Egyptian backlash in Washington. A movement inside and outside of Congress is calling for re-examination of the $1.3 billion in military assistance the U.S. gives each year to the Egyptian generals.
A call for an end to military aid reverberated throughout Washington last February, when President Hosni Mubarak refused to step down during the height of the “Arab Spring.”

Now, some see Egypt falling into an Arab Winter. Two observers recently noted that all is not well in land of the Nile, writing: “Post-Mubarak Egypt has morphed into a dictatorless tyranny.” Others believe the continuing flow of money is “simply rewarding bad behavior,” as Egypt is now expressing warmth toward Iran, Hamas, and the Muslim Brotherhood — while spurning Washington.

Since 1979, when former President Jimmy Carter helped to broker a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, the United States has endowed the Egyptian military elite with a record $27 billion in military assistance — the second largest sum in the world. This largess has been said to have created an “economy within an economy.” And as a result, the Egyptian military is rife with corruption.

Egypt’s military/industrial complex is a topic rarely discussed in the West. Via U.S. aid, Egypt today operates a vast array of state-owned enterprises under the control of a military-run organization called the Armament Authority. This entity has enriched an entire generation of middle- to upper-level Egyptian officers.

The Armament Authority supervises the Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI), an Egyptian-based Arab military organization established in 1975. The AOI supervises nine military factory complexes, which produce civilian goods as well as military products. They independently run a wide array of for-profit companies ranging from manufacturing cars and jeeps and running auto dealerships to managing hospitals.

The Egyptian web of armament factories is the largest military manufacturing complex in the Middle East, its military industrial base dwarfing all other Middle East countries including Saudi Arabia.

Egypt appears now to be run by a civilian prime minister, Essam Abdel-Aziz Sharaf, who once served as Mubarak’s transportation minister. On March 4 — the day he assumed power — Sharaf appeared on stage with Mohamed Beltagy, a Muslim Brotherhood leader. Sharaf is well-known to hold a strong stance against normalization of relations with Israel.

The balance of power, however, is held by a group of generals who comprise the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. The generals are considered the real power behind the government. The group is secretive and opaque: last month Washington Post associate editor Lally Weymouth interviewed two of the council members — they only agreed to the interview on the grounds that they were not identified.
Lt. General Sami Hafez Enan, the Soviet-trained army chief of staff, is considered the general with the most influence in running Egypt’s affairs. Enan is also reported to be the Muslim Brotherhood’s “favorite general.”

Last month in Bali, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi met with his Egyptian counterpart, Nabil al-Arabi. Both said diplomatic and trade relations should improve now that Mubarak is gone. Tehran had severed ties with Cairo after Egypt signed its peace treaty with Israel.

read more: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/will-u-s-suspend-aid-to-egypts-anti-west-military/

Qatari Investors: Huge Downtown Development Project Must Conform to Shariah


The New York Times' profile of the CityCenterDC project has mostly nothing new in it if you've been following the huge downtown project at all. But it does include this fascinating nugget about the requirements of its Qatari investors:
Even before the Qatari investors became involved, Hines and Archstone determined that leasing to banks would not help them create lively shopping streets, Mr. Alsup said. But as it happened, their hesitancy on bank branches meshed with the policies of their financial partners, who adhere to the restrictions of Shariah, or Islamic law, including the ban on collecting interest. Restaurants will be able to serve liquor, but retailers whose primary business involves selling alcohol will not be allowed, Mr. Alsup said.
In their marketing materials, Hines and Archstone say they intend to provide “an authentic place for urban residents to socialize outside their homes.”
So, no bars or banks for the biggest downtown construction project in recent memory! As Bill Alsup alluded to, banks aren't all that great for a city streetscape, and it's admirable that they planned to forego such a dependable and high-rent-paying tenant. It's less advantageous, though, to not have business devoted primarily to selling alcohol. CityCenterDC is unlikely to be plagued by liquor stores, but it could definitely use a few places to be out at night drinking without getting a full dinner. Could Qatari money turn CityCenterDC into more of a black hole than the last piece of the puzzle in a living downtown?

(Also, I'm really sick of seeing the word "authentic" used in marketing and branding materials—and using it for a brand-new commercial development is particularly meaningless).

(Also I'm thinking about looking into this further—if you've heard any other examples of investors having moral or religious stipulations for the things they fund, drop me a line).

The five nuttiest Arab world conspiracy theories

No region of the world is immune to buying into outrageous conspiracy theories. But the Arab world is a conspiracy theory mecca (pun definitely intended). Maybe as a result of their powerlessness at home and collectively on the world stage, perhaps as a result of their embarrassingly primitive societies, their failure to modernize, and the lies passed on as truth on government run media, conspiracy theories thrive.
Invariably loony and almost always transparently anti-Semitic, the Arab world’s conspiracy theories are also sometimes entertaining in their absurdity – especially when you forget for a moment that they are used to inspire hatred and violence.


The Daily Caller has put together for your enjoyment the five nuttiest conspiracy theories circulating in the Arab world.


5. Mossad’s shark missiles
Shortly before Egypt was consumed by revolution, it was consumed by the threat of sharks – and it wasn’t even Shark Week. After shark attacks in Egypt’s top resort destination of Sharm el Sheikh killed a German tourist and injured several others, Egyptian officials speculated that the sharks could have been sent by the Mossad, Israel’s CIA.


“What is being said about the Mossad throwing the deadly shark in the sea to hit tourism in Egypt is not out of the question,” the regional governor of Sharm el Sheikh Mohamed Abdel Fadil Shousha claimed to the press, adding that Egypt “needs time to confirm” this blockbuster of a theory. (‘The Boners’ offered tortured defenses of Anthony Weiner)


Egyptian state TV helped propagate the conspiracy further when it brought on “Captain Mustafa Ismail,” who was described as “a famous diver in Sharm el Sheikh.”


Ahramonline described what the good captain had to say on the matter:
When asked by the anchor how the shark entered Sharm El Sheikh waters, he burst out, “no, it’s who let them in?”
Urged to elaborate, Ismail said that he recently got a call from an Israeli diver in Eilat telling him that they captured a small shark with a GPS planted in its back, implying that the sharks were monitored to attack in Egypt’s waters only.
“Why would these sharks travel 4000 km and not have any accidents until they entered Sinai waters?” asked Ismail.


The same Ahramonline article quoted an Egyptian marine biologist refuting the absurd conspiracy and stating it was “sad’ that Egyptian television decided to help spread it.


But why quibble with reality when fantasy is so much more interesting?


4. The mythical Zionist-Christian-Hindu alliance nuclear tests of 2004 caused the Asian Tsunami
The devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 killed hundreds of thousands of people in 14 countries. While most of the world recognized this was a natural disaster of epic proportions, some in the Arab world thought otherwise.


“Was [the earthquake] caused by American, Israeli, and Indian nuclear testing on ‘the day of horror?’ Why did the ‘Ring of Fire’ explode?,” an Egyptian columnist asked (translation provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute, MEMRI).


After discussing how America, Israel and India have teamed up “to test a way to liquidate humanity,” the columnist went on to write that while the evidence isn’t yet in, it seemed a very likely conclusion that the triumvirate of evil (U.S., India, and Israel) were responsible for creating the tsunami.


“Nevertheless, although so far it has not been proven that secret Indian-Israeli nuclear testing is what caused the destructive earthquake, there is evidence that the recent nuclear tests, the exchange of nuclear experts between India and Israel, and the American pressure on Pakistan regarding its nuclear cooperation with Asian and Islamic countries [by providing India with advanced nuclear technology in an attempt to stop Pakistani activity] – all these pose a big question mark regarding the causes of the severe earthquake in Asia,” the columnist wrote.


And rain occurs because God cries.

NEXT: Number 2 and 3


Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/06/26/the-five-nuttiest-arab-world-conspiracy-theories/#ixzz1QV0liYWq