Monthly Archives: July 2013

Egypt, Foreign Affairs, Government, Middle East, United States

Egypt is on the brink of sliding into civil war, but the U.S. is best placed to help…

TENSIONS RISING IN CAIRO

There is a grave prospect that Egypt will descend into a bloody civil war and insurrection following the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi. The situation in Egypt is fast moving but another significant step has occurred with the military being accused of killing 51 protestors on Sunday. The fatalities include women and children, as well as hundreds of others injured.

The army said it opened fire after a group it described as ‘terrorists’ tried to storm a barracks on the outskirts of Cairo, where the deposed Egyptian president is believed to be detained under house arrest in the Officers Mess.

Television footage beamed across the world did identify a number of hooded men in the crowd brandishing weapons and firearms, but the large number of fatalities and wounded casualties will inevitably lead to an increase in tensions in a country that is now on the brink of collapse.

‘Egypt on the edge’: Egyptian military soldiers stand guard atop armoured personnel carriers near Cairo University, where supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi have installed their camp in Giza, southwest of Cairo. [Photo-credit Manu Brabo]

‘Egypt on the edge’: Egyptian military soldiers stand guard atop armoured personnel carriers near Cairo University, where supporters of Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi have installed their camp in Giza, southwest of Cairo. [Photo-credit Manu Brabo]

To add to the already simmering tensions the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood has called for a ‘public uprising’ to protest against last week’s military takeover. The Brotherhood is urging Egyptians to revolt against ‘those trying to steal their revolution with tanks’. Supporters of the intervention, however, claim it was necessary to prevent Mr Morsi’s Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood’s political organisation, from mounting an Islamist takeover of the country by stealth.

If Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous nation, is to be spared the catastrophe of succumbing to a Syria-style civil war, urgent action will be required. Britain has called for ‘calm and restraint’, but the country best-placed to help is the United States. It donates at least $1.5 billion in military and humanitarian aid to Cairo each year.

Washington was supportive of Egypt’s first democratically elected government and has, understandably, been dismayed by the military’s conduct. The Obama administration, though, must now overcome its reservations and provide the support to the interim administration of Adly Mansour. Mr Mansour has the difficult task of not only changing the constitution and mandating for new elections, but for steering Egypt back to the path of democracy.

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Arts, Photography, Sport, Wimbledon

Sealed with a kiss…

Murray gets his hands on the famous Wimbledon trophy much to the delight of a raucous Centre Court crowd.

The marathon final game at Wimbledon, with its four nerve-shredding match points, was agony to watch.

But what an outpouring of national relief and joy when Scotland’s Andy Murray last night became the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win Wimbledon.

The crowds at Wimbledon, so fervent in their support over the past fortnight, certainly played their part. Murray’s phalanx of dedicated coaches and family has also been integral to his success.

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Britain, Politics

Labour’s struggle with Unite…

EXPOSING MILIBAND’S WEAKNESS

For Ed Miliband, the Labour Party’s leader in the UK, the last ten days or so have been wretched. Mr Miliband who has been so desperately unimpressive in the past few months, particularly in response to the spending review delivered by George Osborne, now finds himself at the centre of a scandal that exposes his weakness even further.

Mr Miliband would never have guessed that a Westminster barroom brawl involving Falkirk MP Eric Joyce would have had such seismic repercussions.

Mr Joyce decided to stand down and subsequently this has triggered a poisonous battle in who should become the next Labour candidate in this safe Labour seat. The issue is now threatening to engulf the Labour leader, who has never looked so weak, rattled and indecisive.

The first allegations to emerge were that the union Unite – whose block vote was crucial in winning Mr Miliband his job following the departure of Gordon Brown – had swamped the local party constituency with new and unfettered members, so they could vote for the union’s preferred Left-wing candidate.

Worse still, it was then discovered that Unite, led by Len McCluskey, was itself paying the new members’ subscription fees, and in some cases had even signed up people as members without their knowledge. This could lead to a potential criminal act of identity theft.

A strong leader of the Labour Party would have recognised the huge political danger in allowing a militant trade union (which wants Labour to wreck the economy all over again with more spending and more debt) to tighten its already vice-like grip on the party.

It is alleged that, for weeks, Mr Miliband knew about the Falkirk allegations and did nothing. It has taken the deeply suspicious resignation of his election chief Tom Watson, and the revelation that Unite had tried to influence the outcome in a further 40 selection contests elsewhere in the country, to wake him up from this pathetic dithering.

And yet Ed Miliband’s response has been feeble and inadequate.

On Friday, Mr Miliband made much of the fact that he has referred Labour’s internal report into Falkirk to the police. But, in reality, was this not an act of weakness given that 24 hours earlier the Conservative MP Henry Smith had written a public letter to the Chief Constable of Police Scotland calling for a full fraud inquiry?

Mr Miliband who champions the cause of openness and transparency is steadfast in his refusal to make the report public. A string of senior figures, however, has demanded that he do so.

Mr Miliband, who wants to shackle Britain’s free Press with statutory regulation, is a position that is at odds with the openness he calls for. For how would the murky dealings and vote-rigging within his party have surfaced if such a framework had existed? It is likely the shenanigans and underhand dealings of Unite would never have been exposed.

Calling on Mr McCluskey to turn his back on ‘machine politics’, the Labour Party has to answer as to why it has quietly changed the rules by making it a condition that any candidate in a council or Parliamentary election must be a union member (as opposed to should be, which was formerly the case). This was done shortly after Mr Miliband become leader.

Many people will question whether Mr Miliband is in any position to confront Unite and its leadership over its bid to drag Labour back to the bad old days of 1980s militancy. It is certain that if Unite withdrew its financial support of the Labour Party, the party would quickly become inoperable, if not by going bust. Over the past three years alone Unite has given Labour a staggering £8 million.

No wonder then that Labour are unable to commit properly to spending cuts, in fear that Mr McCluskey and his union cronies might not like it.

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