Little to celebrate in Egyptian anniversary

The post-uprising mistakes in Egypt are no less serious than those before the revolution, writes Abdel Bari Atwan in Rai Al Youm. Other topics: "Axis of resistance" (Faisal Al Qassem), Geneva 2 (Mohammed Akif Jamal)

The day before millions of Egyptians were expected to gather in public squares to mark the third anniversary of the revolution that ended Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year autocratic rule, Cairo was rocked by four explosions, plunging the country into a new bout of despair, wrote Abdel Bari Atwan on news website Rai Al Youm.

The four blasts killed six people and wounded dozens more, and were followed by clashes between protesters and security forces that claimed 12 lives, painting a grim picture of what lies ahead for Egypt, the writer said.

Egyptians who were unified by the revolution and the longing for freedom and dignity were divided by a lust for power and the military’s biased meddling in politics under the excuse of protecting the country and restoring order.

The post-uprising mistakes are no less serious than those before the revolution. This is because the pre-uprising mistakes were a unifying and driving factor for the people whereas the post-uprising mistakes have polarised society so acutely that they have hurtled the country towards a precipice.

Prominent Doha-based Islamic preacher Dr Yousuf Al Qaradaw argued that Cairo’s police headquarters is the most tightly guarded across the country. In his Friday sermon he accused Egypt’s security apparatus of staging the Cairo bombings in a bid to put the blame on the Muslim Brotherhood, designated as terrorists by Egyptian authorities.

There might be some truth in Dr Al Qardawi’s assumption. Former interior minister Habib El Adly was involved in Alex Qiddisin’s church bombings, which took place a few weeks before the outbreak of the January 25 revolution, the writer argued.

Egypt’s security forces are waging a war in Sina against the Ansar Bayt Al Maqdis group (Champions of Jerusalem), which has claimed responsibility for the four bomb attacks and assassination attempts on senior officials.

“We definitely do not disagree with those who have listed the failures of the Muslim Brotherhood and its president Mohammed Morsi, from attempts at power monopoly to the constitutional declaration, which was called off,” he said. “But we disagree … with those who applauded the military coup and provided it with a popular cover.”

Every bombing in Egypt is an act of terrorism that must be condemned with no reservation and any life that is lost because of police forces is equally an unjustifiable act of terrorism, the writer noted.

Egyptian authorities failed to learn from similar experiences in other Arab and Islamic countries. Now both the military and the Brotherhood have to admit their mistakes and rethink their policies. Any stalling increases the risk of terrorism and civil war, which will be destructive in a country with scarce resources, a population of over 84 million and multiple faiths, the writer said.

‘Axis of resistance’ has changed its rhetoric

The so-called “axis of resistance” has completely forgotten its bygone rhetoric that threatened to wipe Israel of the map and crush the “Greater Satan”, Faisal Al Qassem wrote in the London-based paper Al Quds Al Arabi.

Not only has that fiery rhetoric disappeared, the new “resistance” rhetoric has amazingly become identical to the “imperial” one, the writer suggested.

Compare the US discourse in the past few years with that of the Syrian regime, Iran and Hizbollah, and you will find that they are quite the same and all converge on “counterterrorism”.

Hizbollah threatened terrorists in Syria of hellfire and brimstone and joined the fight alongside the regime, with not a single objection from the US; in Tehran, the blistering slogans against what they call “the Greater Satan” have been replaced with new slogans against the “takfiriyin”.

In Syria, “terrorism” has become the most frequent mantra in the political and media discourse over past months; fighting “terrorism à l’américaine” seems to be the regime’s main obsession.

Syria’s Bashar Al Assad went so far to say that the Geneva 2 conference must forget the Syrian issue and focus on countering terrorism in Syria and the world.

Resistance to Israel, liberation of Palestine, unifying Arabs, reclaiming the Golan and facing the US hegemony have all been used for four decades only to fool the people and cling to power, the writer said.

Chances of success at Geneva 2 are slim

Despite all efforts, chances of success at the Geneva 2 conference remain very slim, argued Mohammed Akif Jamal in the Dubai-based paper Al Bayan.

The political stances of the participants have not been helpful. The Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said before the conference that it would not settle the Syrian crisis.

The odds of a political settlement usually increase when the chances of a military victory decrease equally for both parties. In Syria, however, a military triumph is no more a possibility for the opposition rebels who are caught between the regime troops and the radicals. On the other hand, the regime has grown more confident of a military victory following a series of successes on the ground and its approval for the destruction of its chemical weapons, which has softened the stances of the international community.

This imbalance is not favourable to the Syrian opposition, even though the US secretary of state John Kerry has said that there is no place for President Bashar Al Assad in a future Syria. But Mr Assad has said he is not ready to give up power.

With so many hurdles in the way, there is little ground for optimism about the outcome of the talks, the writer noted.