With this blog, I want to show my Middle East friends I care.
Egyptian
Dr. Prof. Amin AKKAR – Belgium, explained yesterday at the Belgian
in a 6'24” interview during the primetime news
why
there were again protests in Egypt. Basically, the military
intermediary government
1*
is saying 1 thing when the international press is watching, but
doing another thing in reality: e.g. It says it is maintaining order
until there are free elections next week, but it is releasing
deliberately mostly Islam extremists and plain criminals from prison
so these will start attacking e.g. Koptic Christians and their
Churches or start terrorizing the people. This creates an excuse to
make arrests and boycot the formation of new parties around leaders
of the Egyptian Arab Revolution. However, the only ones they arrest
are leaders of the Egyptian “Spring Revolution”. There are
enough youtube videos to support this.
2*
The military and police shoot with sharp and do not arrest mostly
Islam extremists they released from prison who shoot with sharp.
3*
The military intermediary governments' state TV time given to
different political fractions is completely bogus. More liberal
political groups get near to or no speaking time.
4*
The military intermediary government is suffering from corruption, in
that they are supported by certain Arab Kingdoms who feel menaced by
a democratic Egypt and support financially and logistically radical
Islam groups.
Egyptian
Dr. Prof. Amin AKKAR calls the EU for following-up the election
process closely and certainly sent a very large contingent of
observers as in the past numerous falsifications of the election
results and vote ballots were reported that resulted in President
Mubarak staying in power for “only” several decades which is
completely unlikely in a democracy.
Personal
notes Sven AERTS:
To
check how the EU is supporting democratic forces in Egypt, I use
following strategy:
- google, using Egypt Revolution but this gave too many old results, so added November. I was dissapointed the websites of my 2 preferred sites didn't appear on the first page. I read the most relevant stories presented to me by google. The general tone was that of frustration and allegations of hypocrisy of the EU Representations. My remark to this is not to shoot the pianist: Europe's foreign policy is not muscular like the USA's foreign policy because there is not enough Europe! I think the EU representations are very creative in using the limited power, budget and personnel they have been entrusted with by their EU citizens. The EU representations cannot do much more but make sure they have access to the most reliable independent data, help sending out this info into the world, name-calling those who try to hide the truth or support forces that are against the Universal Human Rights and publish calls for forces that support the Universal Human Rights to have some projects supported financially, but note these budgets are very limited and are only passed by the EU control organs - s.a. the EU Parliament, NGO's – for very specific projects that are go not much further that supporting the organization of a “screening of a movie promoting some Universal Right Theme”. If one wants stronger intervention by the EU, one has to support the EU and applaud what it is doing and call upon EU Citizens to support the EU leaders that one wants more of this, i.e. vote for parliamentarians that want MORE europe and not less.
- Of course go to the source directly: the website of the EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton: http://www.eeas.europa.eu/index_en.htm and then search for Egypt Revolution. This is what came up: “The EU has supported the Egyptian people's democratic uprising from the start and offers its support and assistance to the process of democracy building." What does that mean in practice? The answer is given by The High Representative is supported by a think-tank and expert center : The EU Institute for Security Studies (EUISS): http://www.iss.europa.eu/publications/detail/article/egyptian-democracy-and-the-muslim-brotherhood/
- The EUISS gives clear-cut policy recommendations:
- Kristina Kausch recommends that the EU move beyond a counter-productive focus on political Islam and Islamist ideology in its approach to potential and emerging Arab democracies,
- to focus instead on policy issues,
- all relevant actors and
- (move beyond) the importance to EU interests of successful democratic transitions and economic strategies.
- The EU should make greater strategic use of its statements,
- put pressure on the SCAF and
- move away from ad hoc crisis management towards a comprehensive strategy.
- Amr Elshobaki calls on the EU to demonstrate clarity and consistency on the question of Egyptian democracy and
- put an end to perceived double standards towards democracy in the Middle East. He recommends the
- sustained support of effective electoral monitoring and the
- sharing of European expertise and experience, in particular with newly emerging Egyptian political actors.
- Nathan J. Brown cautions against outsiders playing winners and losers by variously supporting and excluding different political actors, pointing to the dangers of such tactics raising internal tensions and undermining liberal and secular forces in Egypt. He recommends that
- external actors should act multilaterally to communicate
- emerging international standards of governance,
- including with regard to holding elections and
- constitution-writing, as well as
- place sustained emphasis on human rights and universal values.
- And I also take a look at what the top EU electronic free gazette is publishing on the topic. They always have a great chronological overiew: http://www.euractiv.com/global-europe/arab-autumn-disenchants-eu-news-508263
Voila,
my support and contribution of respect to the brave non-extremist
people in Egypt making the Egypt and Arab Spring Revolution. And
remember: push for MORE Europe, not less !
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