2011 Africa & Middle East Protests/Revolutions

What’s happening on the ground in Cairo and Benghazi appears to be a case of political opportunism — no, not by Mitt Romney, though there was some of that Wednesday — but by Salafist Islamic extremists who are unhappy with the success the more moderate Islamist and secularist parties in Egypt and Libya have had in building political support.
We’re still in what I like to call the “fog of revolution” in both countries, where it’s hard to know for sure what’s happening and who benefits, so my reporting comes with a basic caveat. But based on conversations with sources who were on the streets Tuesday in the midst of the Cairo demonstration, and who have been following events in Libya closely, it’s possible to pierce the fog a bit and offer some basic analysis:
First, the situation in Cairo: The Arabic banners of the protesters moving toward the U.S. Embassy identified them as members of the Nour Party and the Asala Party, the two leading Salafist groups that have competed in the Egyptian elections. The Salafists, whose name connotes respect for the Islamic “ancestors” of the Prophet Muhammad’s time, are more conservative and less pragmatic than the Muslim Brotherhood that is now ruling Egypt.
An analyst who was in the midst of that crowd Tuesday told me he thinks the Salafist demonstrators were using the pretext of a supposedly anti-Islamic American film to send two messages: the first was obviously anti-Americanism, which is potent in today’s Egypt; the second and more interesting message was a challenge by the Salafists to their rivals in the Muslim Brotherhood government of President Mohamed Morsi.
As is so often the case in revolutions, the Cairo uproar appears to be partly a case of radicals wanting to undermine a more moderate governing party. The Salafist demonstrators’ threat was augmented by violent hooligans, who are often described as soccer fans but increasingly are inflammatory anarchists.
A similar process of post-revolutionary jockeying is going on in Libya, and it tragically led to the death Tuesday of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. The Salafists’ assault on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi at first appeared to be a “copycat” attack like the one in Cairo, but U.S. officials said it may have been planned by extremists linked to al-Qaida. They were augmented by a well-armed Islamic militia. Their anger, again, is mixed between a baseline anti-Americanism (sadly, always a draw in the region) and a challenge to Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib and the secularist parties that are the backbone of the new Libyan government.
Does America have an interest in the internal fights taking place in these countries still quaking from the Arab uprisings? Yes, of course it does, especially when U.S. embassies are targets of protesters and American diplomats get killed in the crossfire. But this isn’t really about America: It’s about different factions battling for power in a fluid political situation.
Unfortunately, the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 is an apt parallel. That was the work of a group of extremist Iranian “students” who were unhappy that the post-revolutionary government of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini wasn’t proving radical enough. They captured the revolution when they seized the embassy. The lesson of that disaster is that local security authorities must quickly restore order — and if they can’t or won’t, then Americans must move out of harm’s way.
Also worrisome is the link between Salafists (whose posters disturbingly appear in Cairo neighborhoods near Heliopolis populated by members of the military) and the more violently “takfiri” wing, which believes it’s permissible to kill apostate Muslims, and has links with al-Qaida. The takfiris hate the ruling Muslim Brotherhood, if that’s any consolation.
The delicate political balance in Egypt and Libya makes the blunderbuss campaign rhetoric of Mr. Romney especially unfortunate. His comments make this crisis more “about America” than it needs to be.
Let’s return to the main trigger for these events: It’s the success of the tolerably non-extremist (I won’t say “moderate”) governments in Egypt and Libya in consolidating power, and the anger of the more radical Salafists at this success. Morsi, for example, has just won pledges of billions in financial support from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The Gulf Arabs are making a bet that over the next year, Mr. Morsi can stabilize Egypt and get the economy moving again. Despite Tuesday’s tragic events, the U.S. should make the same bet.
David Ignatius is a columnist for The Washington Post.

Egypt's prime minister said some of the thousands involved in days of protests near the U.S. Embassy got paid to participate, state news reported Saturday, the same day riot police managed to force demonstrators from the area.
Prime Minister Hesham Kandil said "a number" of those involved in the tense, sometimes violent protests, which began Tuesday, later confessed to getting paid to participate, according to the state-run Middle East News Agency. He noted, too, that some of the demonstrators were acting on their own and weren't paid to vent their anger against the United States over an inflammatory anti-Islam film that was privately produced in that country.
Kandil did not say whether the government knew or suspected who paid the demonstrators, according to the MENA report.

Al Qaeda's branch in Yemen praised the killing of the U.S. ambassador in Libya in a Web statement Saturday and called for more attacks to expel American embassies from Muslim nations.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as the group in Yemen in known, said the killing of Stevens was "the best example" for those attacking embassies to follow.
"What has happened is a great event, and these efforts should come together in one goal, which is to expel the embassies of America from the lands of the Muslims," the group said. It called on protests to continue in Muslim nations "to set the fires blazing at these embassies."
"The killing of al-Libi only increased the enthusiasm and determination of the Libyan people to take revenge on those who belittled our religion and our messenger, so they stormed the American consulate and killed its ambassador, and they so, are rewarded by God, on behalf of Islam, the best reward," the group said in a eulogy to al-Libi, posted Friday.

In a move to try to end the unrest, the top religious authority in Saudi Arabia said Muslims should not be "dragged by anger" into violence, suggesting the film could not truly hurt Islam.
Trying to contain the violence, the highest religious authority in Saudi Arabia said Saturday that "the film does not hurt the Prophet and Islam ... We have to denounce it without anger."
"Muslims should not be dragged by wrath and anger to shift from legitimate to forbidden action and by this, they will, unknowingly, fulfill some aims of the film," Saudi grand mufti Sheik Abdel-Aziz al-Sheik said.

Larry Beale wrote:I hope people understand why Muslims are angry.

dena wrote:I read an op-ed in the WaPo today and it brought a good question, it seems that (and of course this is a minority) Muslims are VERY sensitive about their religion, and this is understandable, and I KNOW the west (specifically the US) havent been the best at Middle Eastern relations, and there are many underlying factors that would contribute to this, but the overreaction to this video has me stunned.

Mustangt125 wrote:Haha that guy is hilarious.

And yeah how awful of us to help them overthrow their brutal dictators.

Mustangt125 wrote:Haha that guy is hilarious.

And yeah how awful of us to help them overthrow their brutal dictators.

Mustangt125 wrote:Haha that guy is hilarious.

And yeah how awful of us to help them overthrow their brutal dictators.

Mustangt125 wrote:Have any of you guys watched this video? Especially Ahly and the properly named childish logic?

If anybody actually believes for one second that all of this was caused by this video, then they are stupid. I bet there's multiple posters on this forum that can make a better video with better acting, production, GGI, etc in a week.

It's just a convenient excuse for this administration. Cuz Obama was under the impression that when he was elected, the Middle East would be nice to us.

Larry Beale wrote:Why are you even trying with Mustangt125 ? The only thing he knows about Arabs, Muslims and the Middle east is what US TVFOX News spoon feeds him.

ahlycotc wrote:

Larry Beale wrote:Why are you even trying with Mustangt125 ? The only thing he knows about Arabs, Muslims and the Middle east is what US TVFOX News spoon feeds him.

Fixed.

The same network that reported the iPhone 5 has laser keyboard and holographic images.

Mustangt125 wrote:

Larry Beale, don't even start bud. You've already been bullied out of the Liverpool thread as the fucking idiot that you are. Jog on.

Mustangt125 wrote:

ahlycotc wrote:

Fixed.

The same network that reported the iPhone 5 has laser keyboard and holographic images.

Hilarious.

Okay then, what would you then have America's strategy with Israel, our biggest ally, be? Let me guess, let the Palestinians take over Israel right?


Larry Beale, don't even start bud. You've already been bullied out of the Liverpool thread as the fucking idiot that you are. Jog on.

Mustangt125 wrote:Have any of you guys watched this video? Especially Ahly and the properly named childish logic?

It's just a convenient excuse for this administration. Cuz Obama was under the impression that when he was elected, the Middle East would be nice to us.

Mustangt125 wrote:

ahlycotc wrote:

Fixed.

The same network that reported the iPhone 5 has laser keyboard and holographic images.

Hilarious.

Okay then, what would you then have America's strategy with Israel, our biggest ally, be? Let me guess, let the Palestinians take over Israel right?


Larry Beale, don't even start bud. You've already been bullied out of the Liverpool thread as the fucking idiot that you are. Jog on.

Mustangt125 wrote:Can't you read? I typed that he thought the ME countries would be nice to us, not the other way around. I'm glad he has killed terrorists with drones.

No, it's after a car. So you could say I run as fast as a horse or a car. Thanks.

About your last post: My point was I am glad we assisted in killing a dictator that killed his own citizens, but those citizens shouldn't turn their ire on us then.

Ahly: What form of government should they put in place? Are you against all their males having to serve in the military? Their very existence is at stake with multiple countries around them vowing to wipe them off the earth, most notably Iran.

Mustangt125 wrote:Can't you read? I typed that he thought the ME countries would be nice to us, not the other way around. I'm glad he has killed terrorists with drones.

No, it's after a car. So you could say I run as fast as a horse or a car. Thanks.

About your last post: My point was I am glad we assisted in killing a dictator that killed his own citizens, but those citizens shouldn't turn their ire on us then.

Ahly: What form of government should they put in place? Are you against all their males having to serve in the military? Their very existence is at stake with multiple countries around them vowing to wipe them off the earth, most notably Iran.

Larry Beale wrote:Iran are a brillant country. Very misunderstood by the West.