It started in Tunisia when a shopkeeper set himself alight. From Tunisia it spread to Egypt, Yemen, Morocco, Oman, Syria, Jordan and to Libya. The starting point in at least 2 countries seems to be convenient for the “revolutionaries”, rather than being started by those plotting behind the scenes.
From what I understand, the revolution in Tunisia began with a man setting himself alight in protest over demands to pay protection money. According to his family he was not involved in any groups demanding change. His was a one man protest. However, people behind the scenes seized the opportunity to start the protests that led to the demise of the Tunisian President. (when I have time I really should look up reports about the events that led to the overthrow of the Tunisian President).
In Egypt, it was a day of rage organized by young people that set the ball rolling. Now wait a minute… look at that language… “a day of rage”. Why does that remind me of Communists, Weather Underground, SDS, Code Pink and followers of Che Guevera from Cuba? ( I will touch on this again at some point). Yet Egypt is a lot more complex than these Communist plotters. The reason for the complexity is the Muslim Brotherhood, and El Baradei who was endorsed by Muslim Brotherhood (I will also touch on this point in another post). What started as a trickle became a stream and Hosni Muburak was pushed from power.
At the same time protests began in Jordan, Morocco, Syria and Yemen, but one thing stood out to me, and that was the reaction from Libya when the protests began. Let me explain it this way, buried in the middle of one news report was information that a Daffy Duck official who was in Africa at the time, heard about the protests elsewhere and rushed home. I was not sure what way Daffy was leaning, but the world was soon to find out what Daffy had in mind. The first thing he did was release 100 prisoners who had been held because they had links to Al Qaeda. He intended to use them as an excuse for a crackdown.
The protests in Libya deserve a post of their own so I will deal with what I have learned since the first early protest. It started out small, a protest because of the arrest of a man who had links to the families of the 1000 plus political prisoners who had been killed in prison back in 1996. The Daffy goons fired shots at this small group of protesters and at least one was killed during the first protest. Just like in Egypt this was the root cause for the swelling of the crowds who were protesting. Daffy decided to take the route of a brutal crackdown. The protesters managed to take out the fort in Benghazi. At the same time the justice minister and an army unit arrived in Benghazi. Instead of fighting with the protesters they joined them. Protests broke out in other cities, all the way to Tripoli. The crackdown has been brutal. Despite the calls by the protesters for a no-fly zone to be implemented the world dithered. The push has come from Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron, with the great Duh Won having to be dragged into making a decision to back the UN resolution that put in place the no fly zone. This was at the 11th hour when Daffy’s thugs were on the outskirts of Benghazi and Daffy was threatening to show no mercy. (The full story will be given in later posts). Finally, the French began the action, with French aircraft swooping in and hitting the Daffy tanks.
Now, everything is not as it seems. Whilst I continue to back the “rebels” in Libya, I am well aware that the rebels are made up of a very intriguing mix of individuals. It appears that the people who have formed the National Transitional Council are professionals who have had no experience in government, yet they have pulled this coalition together to present a front to the world that says “we are pro-West”, but amongst those who are fighting, there are Islamists, and yes some who are associated with AQ, they have even gone to Iraq to fight. One thing that should be considered here is that these young men went to Iraq as mercenaries for AQ. Yes, they are even Islamists, but are they the majority? Or are they just a small group? The potential is there for AQ or other Islamists to try and gain a foothold in Iraq. Time will tell about what will happen next. In the meantime, the people in Benghazi have made a deal with Qatar to market the oil that is being produced.
To me, it seems that there is a good reason to treat each of these “revolutions” with suspicion. Who is behind them? In Bahrain, where there has been a somewhat brutal crackdown, it appears that the hand behind the curtain belongs to Iran. I suspect that perhaps an Iranian puppet master is hiding in Egypt (even though there has been one set back to the puppet master’s plans) and that perhaps either Iran or Muslim Brotherhood have been active in Yemen, Bahrain, Syria and a few other countries. The only difference is Libya, and this is due to the fact that the events happening right now are tied to events that occurred in 1995-1996. It is somehow tied to the shooting of the British policewoman outside of the Libyan embassy in London. I will try to elaborate on this hunch in a future post.
Should we be concerned about these revolutions in the ME? I think that we should be concerned, rather than welcoming with regard to the revolutions. I admit to my own unease when I see that even in Libya there are photos of Che Guevera being posted around the place. It could be that these people are totally ignorant about Che Guevera’s brutality which is matched by the brutality of Daffy Duck, even so the photo disturbs me. Yet, for now I will put this down to the fact that the rebels are indeed a very disparate group of individuals who have different aims.
