Egyptians 'Reject'
John Kerry's Visit (Al Raya, Qatar)
"The American
administration refuses to recognize that a change has taken place in Egypt, and
so a change in discourse must go along with that. There is no longer any point in
talking about Egypt as if it were a state of the American union. ... America cares
only about its interests, the security of the Jewish state, resolving the
problem of Hamas with Israel, and creating a Sunni- Arab alliance comprising
Riyadh, Cairo and Istanbul that could help in the event of an attack on Iran. The
lives and concerns of Egyptians are of little interest to them."
One doesn't know what language U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry
spoke when he met with President Morsi during his
visit to Egypt. The Zionists wrote in their newspapers that despite the fact
that Morsi lived in America for four years, he doesn't
speak English. Their evidence?: Morsi says that when
contacted by Barack Obama, the U.S. president told him that that he was looking
forward to Morsi's visit to Washington. Meanwhile,
the White House asserts that Morsi's visit to Washington
wasn't mentioned in the phone call, and that only Kerry's visit to Egypt was
discussed.
In any event, Egypt's people rejected Kerry's visit. Even
before it began, it was undercut by statements from Kerry's team. Someone said
that Kerry would press the opposition to participate in parliamentary
elections. Another said he would push President Morsi
to work toward opposition participation in the elections. The American
administration refuses to recognize that a change has taken place in Egypt, and
so a change in discourse must go along with that. There is no longer any point in
talking about Egypt as if it were a state of the American union.
Kerry's landing at Cairo International Airport was preceded
by the arrival of an FBI team. They reviewed the road all the way from the
airport's VIP lounge into Cairo. That prompted Egyptians to say - even if in
whispers - that this was an affront to Egyptian sovereignty. Even groups that
back American guarantees viewed the security given Kerry on the streets of
Cairo as hostile to Egypt's sovereignty. When it came out that Kerry was hoping
to shorten his visit from two days to one because Cairo had become less safe,
but that he couldn’t because of prior commitments, it resulted in bitterness
among the Egyptian elite.
The population rejected Kerry's visit. Demonstrations
erupted because of the public perception that Kerry had come to back the rule
of the Muslim Brotherhood and give short shrift to the protest movement against
the Brotherhood's rule of the country. Because America cares only about its own
interests, the security of the Jewish state, resolving the problem of Hamas
with Israel, and creating a Sunni-Arab alliance comprising Riyadh, Cairo and
Istanbul that might help in the event of an attack on Iran. The lives and concerns
of Egyptians are of little interest to them.
The National
Salvation Front [anti-Morsi] held lengthy
meetings to arrive at a position regarding Kerry’s visit. The prevailing opinion
was that there would be no upside to holding discussions with Kerry, so these
were rejected. But there were other views. [Former Arab League Chief] Amr
Moussa said that as an old friend of Kerry, he should meet with him,
particularly because the meeting was personal and no one else would attend. So
Kerry held one-on-one meetings in Egypt with [President] Dr. Morsi, [Defense Minister] General Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi, and the third - in Egypt they say that the third
is the charm - with Amr Moussa.
AmrMoussa's
position sparked popular criticism. How could he refuse to hold a dialogue with
President Morsi, and then go and meet with Kerry
because he's an old friend? Isn't this a serious contradiction on the part of Moussa -
and evidence that he suffers from an elitist complex?
People who spoke to Moussa were told that the meeting took 45
minutes, and that most of the discussion was about economics, centering on the
importance of Egypt reaching an agreement with the IMF. Whatever the importance
of the $4 billion Egypt stands to get from the agreement, the deal would lead
to policies hostile to a majority of the population, and worsen their already significant
misery. And it seems that rather than offering Egypt any additional money, America
would rather push it to borrow from the IMF and see that Egyptians give it
credit for helping arrange the loan.
The Americans said that Mohamed ElBaradei, who announced his refusal to meet with Kerry,
conducted only a phone call with him. People wondered, “If ElBaradei
refused to confer with President Morsi by phone, why
would he do so with Kerry?”
The National Salvation Front [ElBaradei
is its coordinator] denied there was any such phone call, attributing the story
to the Brotherhood’s rumor war against ElBaradei.
Kerry paid his first visit to the Arab League to publicize America's
role in Syria - which is second only to Russia's. Kerry said that while America
stood solidly behind Britain's supply of modern weapons to the Syrian
opposition, the U.S. would not participate in this.
[Editor's Note: Kerry said later that the U.S. role should
not be judged in isolation but in the context of what other nations will do.
... 'What we are doing ... is part of a whole ... I am absolutely confident ...
that the totality of this effort is going to have an impact on the ability of
the Syrian opposition to accomplish its goals.']
Kerry did meet with a delegation of businessmen and representatives
of civil society, as well as politicians who agreed to meet with him. As I write
on the second day of Kerry's visit, I haven't been able to ask those Kerry spoke
to whether anyone told him that America created the plight which Egypt is
passing through - nor, if so, what his response was. A Kerry advisor told some
of those who participated in the informal discussion that the Americans would
stand with Morsi until or unless a new force capable
of moving the Egyptian street emerged.
After Cairo, Kerry flew to Riyadh to meet the foreign
ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council. We don't know what he said to them,
what he heard from them, and whether they discussed the Arab Spring. Or whether
Kerry told them of the role being okayed by the United States in Syria?
Kerry’s visit to our country may have been the first act if a
superpower secretary of State, but the trip was filled with neither facts nor results.
