** - *Permali<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/world/middleeast/03diplomacy.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2&pagewanted=all#> *
SHAME ON ARAB AND MUSLIM WORLD!!! The entire tone and tenor of the following New York Times report is a shame for any nation or people that have any self-respect, dignity or aspiration of freedom and liberty in this world of history's most oppressive force manifested by the United States of America. The manner in which so many technocrats/bureaucrats in so many offices of US administrations in Washington and bureaus and embassies around the world, is described issuing minute by minute direction of a supposed 'people's revolution' in Egypt in effect mocks any aspiration of the sovereign and security of a nation of 80 million people and with that the entire population of over a billion people of Arab and Muslim world. Just as people have risen against the oppressive regime of Husni Mubarak in Egypt, it is time people of the world should rise against the oppressive hegemony of the United States of America. Let it be as peaceful revolution as people gathered in Liberation (Tahrir) Square have staged. Unless a world wide peaceful movement against US oppressive hegemony over practically each and every nation in the supposedly Free World is organized, a new Age of Slavery will be ushered in to darken the entire globe. Let Obama head the storm brewing all over the world. *Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai* *[email protected]* *http://ghulammuhammed.blogspot.com ------------------------ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/world/middleeast/03diplomacy.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2&pagewanted=all#h[] * Sudden Split Recasts U.S. Foreign Policy *By HELENE COOPER, MARK LANDLER and MARK MAZZETTI* *Published: February 2, 2011* *WASHINGTON — After days of delicate public and private diplomacy, the United States openly broke with its most stalwart ally in the Arab world on Wednesday, as the Obama administration strongly condemned violence by allies of President Hosni Mubarak<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/hosni_mubarak/index.html?inline=nyt-per>of Egypt against protesters and called on him to speed up his exit from power. * * Egypt’s government hit back swiftly. The Foreign Ministry released a defiant statement saying the calls from “foreign parties” had been “rejected and aimed to incite the internal situation in Egypt.” And Egyptian officials reached out to reporters to make clear how angry they were at their onetime friend. * * Separately, in an interview, a senior Egyptian government official took aim at President Obama<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per>’s call on Tuesday night for a political transition to begin “now” — a call that infuriated Cairo. * * But the White House was not backing down. “I want to be clear,” said Robert Gibbs<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/robert_gibbs/index.html?inline=nyt-per>, the press secretary. “ ‘Now’ started yesterday.” * * The Obama administration seemed determined Wednesday to put as much daylight as possible between Mr. Obama and Mr. Mubarak, once considered an unshakable American supporter in a tumultuous region, with Mr. Gibbs once again raising the specter of a cutoff of American aid to the Mubarak government if the Egyptian president failed to bend. * * “There are things that the government needs to do,” he said. “There are reforms that need to be undertaken. And there are opposition entities that have to be included in the conversations as we move toward free and fair elections.” Those elections are currently scheduled for September, but the State Department spokesman, Philip J. Crowley, said, “The sooner that can happen, the better.” * * The open rupture between the United States and Egypt illustrates how swift and dramatic changes in Cairo are altering the calculus of the entire region and the administration’s foreign policy agenda. Besides Egypt, there were upheavals this week among other close American allies in the fight against Al Qaeda<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/al_qaeda/index.html?inline=nyt-org>, and in the long struggle to reach a Middle East peace. Israeli officials expressed concern that Mr. Mubarak’s abrupt exit could jeopardize the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. * * Even as the White House was trying to react to the latest flare-up of violence in Egypt on Wednesday — Mr. Gibbs pointedly criticized attacks against the media in Egypt and against “peaceful demonstrators” — officials at the Pentagon, the State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/central_intelligence_agency/index.html?inline=nyt-org>and the White House were running various scenarios across the region in an effort to keep up with events. * * What would the covert American war in Yemen look like if the supportive Yemeni president were to be forced out? Will Mr. Mubarak’s successor duplicate his support of the Middle East peace process? Will the shifts in the region benefit Islamic extremists, who will try to capitalize on unrest, or will it show the Arab street the power of a secular uprising? * * “A full range of events are being discussed in many buildings throughout Washington,” Mr. Gibbs said. * * As evidence of how far the rift has gone, a senior Egyptian official reached out to a reporter to criticize Mr. Obama’s remarks. * * “There is a contradiction between calling on the transition to begin now, and the calls which President Mubarak himself has made for an orderly transition,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Mubarak’s primary responsibility is to ensure an orderly and peaceful transfer of power. We can’t do that if we have a vacuum of power.” He said that the Egyptian government has “a serious issue with how the White House is spinning this.” * * For the Obama administration and the Egyptian government, the flip from allies to open confrontation has been fast. When former President George Bush was briefed ahead of his recent call to Mr. Mubarak — a call Mr. Bush volunteered to make because he was an old friend — Mr. Bush was given no instructions to push the leader toward the exit, according to people familiar with the conversations. * * “No one wanted the vacuum of power that would happen if Mubarak left too soon,” said a former senior official who was consulted by the White House. * * Now, though, administration officials are calling for visible steps from the Mubarak government. At a minimum, the Obama administration wants to make sure that political opponents of Mr. Mubarak are included in negotiations — which the United States wants to see begin at once — over how to restructure Egypt’s political system in a way that will take into account the grievances of the protesters. * * American officials do not want a repeat of past promises from the Mubarak government for free elections that were followed by a shutting of the process to its opposition. After watching Mr. Mubarak’s statement — in which he fell far short of sweeping reform — Mr. Obama decided to toughen his own language further, demanding that change begin immediately. “The language was crafted after he spoke,” a senior administration official said. * * “They want something better than when Mubarak said, ‘I want my Parliament to amend the articles of the Constitution relating to the presidential elections,’” said Brian Katulis, a foreign policy expert at the Center for American Progress. “If you’re the opposition, you’re thinking: ‘This is the Parliament which was elected in sham elections? No way.’ ” * * Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/hillary_rodham_clinton/index.html?inline=nyt-per>called Egypt’s vice president, Omar Suleiman<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/omar_suleiman/index.html?inline=nyt-per>, in the afternoon to reinforce Mr. Obama’s call for Mr. Mubarak to begin a transition immediately. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/robert_m_gates/index.html?inline=nyt-per>and Adm. Mike Mullen<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/michael_g_mullen/index.html?inline=nyt-per>, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/j/joint_chiefs_of_staff/index.html?inline=nyt-org>, both called their counterparts on Wednesday as well. Officials said the administration is worried about a call for even larger protests on Friday, and said Wednesday’s clashes had narrowed Mr. Mubarak’s options. * * Mr. Obama’s private emissary to Mr. Mubarak<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/world/middleeast/02transition.html>, Frank G. Wisner<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/frank_george_wisner/index.html?inline=nyt-per>, abruptly left Cairo on Wednesday evening after only two meetings, one with the president and one with Mr. Suleiman. * * “We felt that he had done what he could do,” the official said. “They had a conversation, and we felt that it had gone as far as it could.” * * For the United States, the unfolding crisis is about much more than just a rift with an ally.* * With the popular revolts in Egypt and Yemen — and a government already deposed in Tunisia — American counterterrorism officials are concerned that radical factions in those countries could find a new foothold amid the chaos. The United States is heavily reliant on foreign partners, and officials and outside experts said that losing Mr. Mubarak or President Ali Abdullah Saleh<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/ali_abdullah_saleh/index.html?inline=nyt-per>of Yemen would deal a short-term blow to its counterterrorism campaign. * * Or perhaps not. * * “There’s part of this that’s dangerous to Al Qaeda,” said Juan Zarate of the Center for Strategic and International Studies<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/center_for_strategic_and_international_studies/index.html?inline=nyt-org>, who was a top counterterrorism official during George W. Bush<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/george_w_bush/index.html?inline=nyt-per>’s administration. “If the street protests lead to a peaceful, pluralistic transition, that does huge damage to the Al Qaeda narrative,” he said. That narrative holds that authoritarian pro-American governments should be deposed by violent jihad. * * Still, some cautioned that it could take months or years for the long-term impact of the recent uprisings to be revealed. Citing Lebanon’s Cedar Revolution of 2005, Bruce Hoffman of Georgetown University<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/g/georgetown_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org>pointed out that the uprising had the immediate impact of bringing down the country’s Syria-backed government and causing the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, but six years later the militant group Hezbollah<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/h/hezbollah/index.html?inline=nyt-org>is now Lebanon’s de-facto government. * * Experts said Mr. Saleh might be able to navigate the shoals of popular unrest more expertly than President Mubarak. * * Described by American officials as a wily survivor, Mr. Saleh has spent years dealing with strife inside Yemen, from Shiite separatists to militants linked to Al Qaeda. Some in Washington questioned whether the pledge he made Wednesday to step cede power in 2013 was sincere, or a clever tactic to appease his enemies in Yemen. * * “Saleh is used to dancing in the snake pit,” Mr. Zarate said. * *David E. Sanger contributed reporting. * -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en.
