Barack Obama’s incompetence is destroying another US allegiance.
Squeezing a few precious moments from his golf vacation, Barack Obama informed us that he will not choose sides in Egypt
CHILMARK, Mass. (CBSDC/AP) — President Barack Obama is calling for an end to the violence in Egypt a day after 525 people were killed in protests across the country.
Speaking from Martha’s Vineyard Thursday, the president strongly condemned security forces going after supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi.
“America cannot determine the future of Egypt, that’s a task for the Egyptian people,” Obama said. “We don’t take sides.”
We don’t take sides when Christians are persecuted.
Obama also decided to cancel a joint military exercise with Egypt
Washington (CNN) — President Barack Obama announced Thursday that the United States has canceled joint military training exercises with the Egyptian military and alluded to the fact that his administration could take further steps to deal with the violence in Egypt.
“Going forward, I’ve asked my national security team to assess the implications of the actions taken by the interim government and further steps we may take as necessary with respect to the U.S.-Egyptian relationship,” Obama said.
In a statement from his vacation home on Martha’s Vineyard, the president, however, refrained from calling the government overthrow a coup, which would have implications for the military and humanitarian aid the United States sends to Egypt.
“The United States strongly condemns the steps that have been taken by Egypt interim government and security forces,” Obama said about this week’s Egyptian military crackdown against protests in Cairo. “We deplore violence against civilians.”
Unless the violence is against Christians. Then it’s not so bad. Christians are under siege by the Muslim Brotherhood
CAIRO — After torching a Franciscan school, Islamists paraded three nuns on the streets like “prisoners of war” before a Muslim woman offered them refuge. Two other women working at the school were sexually harassed and abused as they fought their way through a mob.
In the four days since security forces cleared two sit-in camps by supporters of Egypt’s ousted president, Islamists have attacked dozens of Coptic churches along with homes and businesses owned by the Christian minority. The campaign of intimidation appears to be a warning to Christians outside Cairo to stand down from political activism.
Persecution of Christians in Egypt is nothing new
Christians have long suffered from discrimination and violence in Muslim majority Egypt, where they make up 10 percent of the population of 90 million. Attacks increased after the Islamists rose to power in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that drove Hosni Mubarak from power, emboldening extremists. But Christians have come further under fire since President Mohammed Morsi was ousted on July 3, sparking a wave of Islamist anger led by Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood.
Nearly 40 churches have been looted and torched, while 23 others have been attacked and heavily damaged since Wednesday, when chaos erupted after Egypt’s military-backed interim administration moved in to clear two camps packed with protesters calling for Morsi’s reinstatement, killing scores of protesters and sparking deadly clashes nationwide.
More from Al Jazeera:
Cairo, Egypt – At Abu Seifein church in the wealthy Cairo district of Mohandeseen, there was little sign of any damage on Thursday, despite the rubble lying in the streets nearby. The church is a short walk away from Al-Gamat Al-Dowal Street, the site of heavy clashes the day before, but despite the violence, the church escaped unscathed.
Many churches in Egypt were not so lucky. Security forces moved to violently disperse two protest camps by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi in Cairo on Wednesday morning, setting in motion a day of deadly violence that left at least 525 people dead in clashes across the country.
Amid the violence, alleged Morsi supporters carried out on dozens of attacks on churches and Christian-owned properties throughout the country.
Mina Thabet, an activist with Christian rights group the Maspero Youth Union, told Al Jazeera on Friday that at least 32 churches had been “completely destroyed, burned or looted” in eight different governorates over the previous two days. The group also recorded dozens of other attacks on Christian-owned shops, businesses and schools around the country.
The Anglican church of St Saviour’s in the city of Suez was one of those attacked on Wednesday. “They attacked the church with Molotov cocktails and stones, and the car of the priest was completely destroyed,” said Egypt’s Anglican Bishop, Mouneer Annis. “Two other churches in Suez were completely burned – and the thugs looted the churches afterwards. It’s a mixture between burning and looting.”
“It never happened before in history that such a big number of churches were attacked on one day,” Bishop Thomas, a Coptic Orthodox bishop in Assiut told Al Jazeera. “We normally used to have attacks once a month or so.”
Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood brought this on themselves.
Pressure is growing on Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi to walk back his sweeping assumption of new powers as he announced last week. Egyptian protesters have taken to the streets again, as they did in the #Jan. 25 revolution, calling Morsi the “new pharaoh” despite Morsi’s assurances this move is just “temporary.”
Calling someone a “pharaoh” in Egypt is not a compliment; it is a condemnation of the absolute political rule that held sway in Egypt for millennia under dynasty after dynasty of kings who were considered gods, and who oppressed the people.
Fresh off of helping to broker a “cease-fire” between Gaza and Israel, Morsi then announced he was assuming broad authority to take any steps against “threats to the revolution,” and that included immunity from judicial oversight.
Immediately, activists who had helped bring down Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s long-time dictator, returned to the streets, fearing their fragile democracy was disappearing before their eyes. They are not wrong to fear this.
Muslim Brotherhood domination of Egypt was once labeled a “myth” by the Washington Post.
Obama’s support for Morsi and insistence that the Muslim Brotherhood be part of the Egyptian government has been very costly for the US. The Egyptians dislike for Obama grows.
And now it appears that Obama is opening the door for Russia and China to become allied with Egypt.
Breitbart News has also learned that Russia is offering the Egyptian government fighter jets and other military equipment. This week, President Obama announced that the US is suspending its planned joint military exercise with the Egyptian army. It seems the Russians are jumping in to fill the void left by the Americans.
“Sadat threw Russia out of Egypt,” the source told Breitbart News. “Peace came from that. If Russia reenters Egypt, they reenter the world.”
Russia’s moves to influence events in Egypt coincide with its effort to support the Assad regime in Syria. The government there seems to have a permanent upper-hand on the sectarian violence that has plunged the country into a civil war.
The dithering of the Obama Administration may result in Russia exerting greater influence in the region than at any time since the depths of the Cold War. Egypt and Syria could both become defacto client states of Putin’s Russia.
Predictably, the NY Times portrays Barack Obama as a victim in this mess rather than the incompetent boob “leading from behind” that he really is. But note what the Times does say about Morsi:
Mr. Morsi’s failure to incorporate other factions, his habit of demonizing his critics as part of a treasonous conspiracy and a near-calamitous economic crisis..
“Demonizing his critics”?
“Treacherous conspiracy”?
“Near-calamitous economic crisis”?
Above judicial reach?
Those sound very much like words from another President I know.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.