Revealed: Britain sold nerve gas chemicals to Syria 10 months after 'civil unrest' began

Revealed: Britain sold nerve gas chemicals to Syria 10 months after 'civil unrest' began

    Monday, September 02, 2013   No comments

BRITAIN allowed firms to sell chemicals to Syria capable of being used to make nerve gas, the Sunday Mail can reveal today.

Export licences for potassium fluoride and sodium fluoride were granted months after the bloody civil war in the Middle East began.

The chemical is capable of being used to make weapons such as sarin, thought to be the nerve gas used in the attack on a rebel-held Damascus suburb which killed nearly 1500 people, including 426 children, 10 days ago.

President Bashar Assad’s forces have been blamed for the attack, leading to calls for an armed response from the West.

British MPs voted against joining America in a strike. But last night, President Barack Obama said he will seek the approval of Congress to take military action.

The chemical export licences were granted by Business Secretary Vince Cable’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills last January – 10 months after the Syrian uprising began.

They were only revoked six months later, when the European Union imposed tough sanctions on Assad’s regime.

Yesterday, politicians and anti-arms trade campaigners urged Prime Minister David Cameron to explain why the licences were granted.

Dunfermline and West Fife Labour MP Thomas Docherty, who sits on the House of Commons’ Committees on Arms Export Controls, plans to lodge Parliamentary questions tomorrow and write to Cable.

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US President Barack Obama’s decision to seek the approval of Congress over military strikes in Syria has led to calls for French President François Hollande to also put the question of action against Damascus to a parliamentary vote

US President Barack Obama’s decision to seek the approval of Congress over military strikes in Syria has led to calls for French President François Hollande to also put the question of action against Damascus to a parliamentary vote

    Sunday, September 01, 2013   No comments

Pressure is mounting on French President François Hollande to put any motion to launch military strikes against Syria before a parliamentary vote.

It follows Barack Obama’s surprise announcement Saturday that he would seek approval from Congress before taking action against Damascus and Thursday's shock defeat of a motion to approve a military strike in the UK parliament.

On Saturday evening, Jean-Louis Borloo, leader of the centrist UDI party, urged Hollande to follow the example of the US and UK and also seek parliamentary approval before going ahead with an attack on Syria.

The French parliament is due to debate the issue on Wednesday, but as yet, no formal vote on Syria has been scheduled. Under the French constitution, Hollande does not require parliament’s approval in order to launch a military strike.

“Like the US president, who decided to consult the US Congress in the name of democratic principles, the French president must organise, after the debate, a formal vote in parliament," said Borloo in a statement.

A similar request was made by Christian Jacob, the leader in parliament of the right-wing UMP, as well as representatives of several other smaller French political parties on both the left and right.

France on its own as US stalls, UK backs out

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The Egyptian military uses religion to keep troops from deserting or disobeying orders

The Egyptian military uses religion to keep troops from deserting or disobeying orders

    Tuesday, August 27, 2013   No comments

The Egyptian military uses religion to keep troops from deserting or disobeying orders:

Gulf Islamists irked as monarchs back Egypt's generals

Gulf Islamists irked as monarchs back Egypt's generals

    Monday, August 26, 2013   No comments

A scuffle broke the reflective atmosphere of Friday prayers in Riyadh's al-Ferdous mosque after the imam deplored the recent bloody crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood protesters by the military in nearby Egypt.

The fight between members of the congregation, recorded on a widely circulated Youtube clip and reported by the daily al-Hayat newspaper, demonstrated how high feelings are running in the devoutly Muslim kingdom.

While they have been careful to express only muted dissent in public, Islamists and some other conservative Gulf Muslims are quietly seething at Saudi Arabia's whole-hearted backing of Egyptian army chief General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.

After Sisi's military seized power last month, a group of clerics in the kingdom signed a letter calling on King Abdullah to reverse his position, and since the violence began two weeks ago, many Saudis have spoken out on social media.

"For Riyadh to be in the frontline of a confrontation like what is taking place in Egypt is unprecedented. It is making ripples inside Saudi Arabia," said a Saudi journalist.

Saudi King Abdullah and the rulers of the United Arab Emirates, and to a lesser extent of Kuwait, have long distrusted the Muslim Brotherhood, which they feared would use its power in Egypt to agitate for political change across the Middle East.

When Sisi ousted Mohamed Mursi of the Brotherhood as president, the three monarchies promptly gave Egypt's secular new government $12 billion in aid. When, with much bloodshed, security forces moved to clear Brotherhood protest camps, they all spoke strongly in support.

Though Islamist anger is unlikely to erupt in a significant public way at the moment, or to change Gulf support for Sisi, analysts say, it is something the region's states are watching.

The al-Saud family has always regarded Islamist groups as the biggest threat to its rule over a country where appeals to religious sentiment can never be lightly dismissed and where Muslim militants have previously targeted the state.

Last decade it fought off an al Qaeda campaign of attacks targeting officials and foreigners that killed hundreds. In the 1990s, the Sahwa, or "awakening", movement inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood demanded political reforms that would have weakened the ruling family.

That history of Islamist opposition to the Saudi authorities was echoed on Sunday in a letter published by Sheikh Ibrahim al-Rubaish, the main ideologue of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, attempting to leverage public disquiet over Egypt.

"The Saudi position is generally in favour of Godlessness," he wrote.

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Erdoğan says history will curse Al-Azhar Sheikh for endorsing coup

Erdoğan says history will curse Al-Azhar Sheikh for endorsing coup

    Sunday, August 25, 2013   No comments

Turkey's prime minister has slammed Egypt's leading Islamic cleric for endorsing the military coup in Egypt, saying that history will curse scholars like him.
Ahmet al-Tayed, Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, backed an army-sponsored roadmap on July 3 which removed former President Mohammed Morsi, suspended the constitution and called for early presidential and parliamentary elections.

The leader of Cairo's ancient seat of Sunni Muslim learning made a brief statement following an announcement by the head of the armed forces that deposed the elected president, endorsing the military coup. 

Speaking at a university named after him in Rize, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said a scholar is the one who doesn't compromise from his honor no matter what the consequences are, in an apparent reference to Al-Azhar Sheikh. He said if a politician like him tells a scholar something that is not true, the scholar should reject this.

Erdoğan said being silent in the face of events in Egypt means taking on a tremendous burden. He complained that scholars and universities failed to voice their opposition to the military coup in Egypt, despite expectations for the opposite. He provided the sheikh of Al-Azhar as an example, as he endorsed the Egypt coup.

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Saudis give Egypt ‘blank cheque’: Saudi Arabia and several conservative Gulf Emirates have pledged to support Egypt’s interim authorities as they continue their crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood

Saudis give Egypt ‘blank cheque’: Saudi Arabia and several conservative Gulf Emirates have pledged to support Egypt’s interim authorities as they continue their crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood

    Friday, August 23, 2013   No comments

Saudi Arabia and the Gulf emirates – with the notable exception of Qatar – remain unfazed by last week’s bloody crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and supporters of ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, events that left around 1,000 people dead and many more wounded.

These conservative monarchies have voiced their support for the country’s army since it deposed the democratically-elected Islamist leader on July 3 and are maintaining their promise of financial support for the interim authorities despite severe international misgivings, especially in the West.

The European Union and the United States are pondering cutting off their financial aid to Egypt. But the Authorities in Cairo have the luxury of a blank cheque from the Saudis who say they are prepared to make up the shortfall of any drop in Western cash.

This promise follows a commitment, made well before the brutal crackdown on pro-Morsi sit-in camps across Egypt, by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates to give the interim authorities in Cairo two billion dollars.

Not having to rely on Western support gives the Egyptian authorities far more leeway in continuing its crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.

“If General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi [head of the Egyptian army] has a sense of impunity in his dealings with the Brotherhood, this is all down to the blank cheque given him by the Saudis and the Gulf Emirates [ with the exception of Qatar]," Karim Sader, a political scientist and consultant on the Gulf states, told FRANCE 24. “It could wholly substitute any aid withdrawn or frozen by the EU.”

Last week, Saudi King Abdullah voiced his personal support for Egypt’s interim authorities in its battle against “terrorism and foreign influences”.

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Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: Israel was behind the military coup that ousted Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: Israel was behind the military coup that ousted Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi

    Tuesday, August 20, 2013   No comments

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has stated that Israel was behind the military coup that ousted Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, in early July, adding that the Turkish government has evidence to prove the Israeli hand in it.
“Israel is behind the coup in Egypt. We have evidence,” Erdoğan told members of his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) at a meeting in Ankara on Tuesday.

With regards to his evidence, Erdoğan noted a French intellectual, without mentioning his name, who, according to Erdoğan, said at a 2011 meeting in France that the Muslim Brotherhood would never be in power even if elected because “democracy is not the ballot box.” Erdoğan stressed the Jewish identity of the French intellectual.

“If we stay silent in the face of the coup in Egypt, we will not have the right to say something if they set the same trap for us in the future,” said Erdoğan.

The Israeli Consulate in İstanbul released a statement on Tuesday, quoting Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yigal Palmor's comments on Erdoğan's remarks regarding Israel. Palmor reportedly said, “This is one of those statements that is well worth not commenting on.”

The Turkish prime minister also stepped up his criticisms of Muslim countries, saying: “The Islamic world is like the brothers of the Prophet Yusuf, who threw him down the well. As in the case of the brothers of the Prophet Yusuf, Allah will shame those in the Islamic world betraying their brothers and sisters in Egypt.”

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10 biggest US Defense contracts involving direct military aid to Egypt from 2009 to 2011

10 biggest US Defense contracts involving direct military aid to Egypt from 2009 to 2011

    Tuesday, August 20, 2013   No comments

The irony is thick: Obama calls on Egypt’s interim government to stop its bloody crackdown on protesters, but continues to give it $1.3 billion a year in military aid.


For decades, Egypt has been one of the largest recipients of US foreign military aid, receiving everything from F-16s to teargas grenades.

So who are the companies reaping the benefits?

The list below were the 10 biggest US Defense contracts involving direct military aid to Egypt from 2009 to 2011, according to The Institute for Southern Studies.


See the table at the bottom of the page for full details of the contracts.

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PORTRAIT OF A CAIRO LIBERAL AS A MILITARY BACKER

PORTRAIT OF A CAIRO LIBERAL AS A MILITARY BACKER

    Tuesday, August 20, 2013   No comments

In Cairo Friday morning, before the midday call to prayer and an afternoon of protest marches that resolved in violence, chaos, and the overnight siege of a mosque, I jumped into a taxi and slipped across the Nile into the quiet, semi-suburban neighborhood of Dokki. I was there to meet with Mohammed Aboul-Ghar, a seventy-three-year-old academic and politician who has been a leading figure in Egypt’s liberal establishment, and now represents one of the most confounding elements of the country’s current crisis: the wholesale alignment of old-guard liberals with the military.

Aboul-Ghar’s reputation in pro-democracy politics is well earned. In 2004, during the era of Hosni Mubarak, Aboul-Ghar co-founded the March 9th organization, a group of professors who bravely fought against the interference of state-security services into the operations of Egypt’s universities. In the run up to the 2011 revolution, he was an organizer and spokesman for the National Association for Change, an anti-authoritarian organization led by Mohammed ElBaradei, the Nobel Prize Winner and Egypt’s most prominent liberal politician. And after Mubarak finally fell, he helped create what many viewed as the most substantial political party for liberals, the Social Democratic Party. That fall, as a temporary military regime ruled Egypt, I had met with Aboul-Ghar, who happily assured me that the military would soon be leaving the management of the country to civilians. “My feeling is that the military wants to have a safe retreat,” he said then. “A safe retreat and all their previous privileges.”

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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has accused Egypt’s interim rulers of committing state terrorism and compared army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has accused Egypt’s interim rulers of committing state terrorism and compared army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad

    Sunday, August 18, 2013   No comments

“The Al-Fath Mosque is under siege. People’s place of worship is innocent. They have burned, destroyed our mosques in Syria and in Egypt. Either Bashar or Sisi, there is no difference between them. There is no salvation with oppression,” Erdoğan said during a defiant speech in the northwestern province of Bursa Aug. 17 where he attended the launching ceremony of an urban renovation project.

Erdoğan also slammed Egyptian officials for describing supporters of toppled President Mohamed Morsi as “terrorists.”

“People are saying ‘we ask for our vote to be honored.’ But there are those calling them terrorists. But I am saying that state terrorism is currently underway in Egypt,” Erdoğan said.
 

“There are currently two paths in Egypt: Those who follow the Pharaoh, and those who follow Moses,” he added.    

Erdoğan condemned the attacks against worship places, including churches, but said that supporters of Muslim Brotherhood where mostly protecting those places from being vandalized.

He also argued that Turkey could be next for "those who were stirring unrest" in Egypt.

The tension between the countries peaked as Turkey recalled its ambassador in Cairo, sparking a reciprocal move by Egypt. Egypt’s Ankara envoy, Abdurrahman Selahaddin, had urged Turkey not to side solely with the Muslim Brotherhood and respect “all Egyptians.”

However, Erdoğan refused to step back from his defiant rhetoric vis-à-vis the July 3 military takeover, accusing those who have financially helped the “coup regime” of being accomplices to its actions. He also assured that Ankara was pursuing diplomatic efforts to increase pressure on the interim government that took power following the military coup.

“We had wanted the United Nations Security Council to speak with a fair and determined voice. The Organization of the Islamic Conference and the European Union have no face left to look at in the mirror,” he said.

Erdoğan said Turkey and Qatar had been the only supporters of the Morsi government, while also thanking the Netherlands and Denmark for their position during the current Egyptian turmoil.

Erdoğan saluted several times the crowd with the 'Rabaa' sign made by raising four fingers, which has become the symbol of the killings in Egypt and at the Rabaa al-Adawiya Square where the supporters of the ousted President Mohamed Morsi have gathered for weeks.

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Propaganda Trap: Egyptian Elite Succumb to the Hate Virus

Propaganda Trap: Egyptian Elite Succumb to the Hate Virus

    Saturday, August 17, 2013   No comments

Just weeks ago, they decried police violence and the heavy-handed state apparatus. Now, after over 600 members of the Muslim Brotherhood were killed on Wednesday, the Egyptian elite is silent. Those who dare to voice empathy are given a hostile reception.

Egyptian Amir Salim has the classic profile of a revolutionary. As a politically engaged young lawyer, he specialized in human rights cases, a focus which earned him nine trips to jail under Hosni Mubarak. When the revolt against the aging despot gained traction in 2011, Salim quickly became one of its spokesmen. After Mubarak's fall, he founded an organization which promulgated the creation of a civilian state free from military meddling. In a book published in 2012, he dissected the structures of Mubarak's police state.

Now, the same police that Salim attacked so vehemently in his book, has responded to demonstrations in Cairo with shocking brutality. At least 623 people, the vast majority of them civilians, were killed in street battles earlier this week.
And what is Salim doing? Sitting in a popular café in the Cairo city center, he says things like this: "The Muslim Brothers are a sickness and the police have to eradicate them." And: "The police and the army were only defending themselves." He adds that "the problem will only have been solved when the last Muslim Brother who causes problems is locked away in prison." When asked about the obvious human rights violations perpetrated on the dead and wounded, he said: "And what about the rights of those who live near the protest camps? What about their right to be able to enjoy their apartment?"

Welcome to Egypt under General Abd al-Fattah al-Sissi. The country is so polarized that people are no longer able to feel any empathy whatsoever for others. It is a country in which the smartest and most critically thinking intellectuals are now spewing little more than propaganda, with people on both sides of the deep political divide displaying a penchant for simplification, vilification and agitation. Those who ask critical questions run the risk of being physically attacked, an experience that many foreign journalists have encountered in recent days

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On the streets of Cairo it's not just a fledgling democracy that lies in ruin. US policy too is in tatters - in the eyes of many - or at least America's reputation and credibility

On the streets of Cairo it's not just a fledgling democracy that lies in ruin. US policy too is in tatters - in the eyes of many - or at least America's reputation and credibility

    Saturday, August 17, 2013   No comments

Since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in 2011, the US has struggled to strike a balance between support for the tenuous progress towards democracy and protection of its national security interests.

The White House has tried hard to work with whoever is in power in Egypt but has ended up with no friends and little influence in Cairo.

Washington's recent diplomatic efforts in Egypt have failed one after the other. Up until his removal from power, the US tried to counsel Mr Morsi to accept a compromise with the army and the protesters.

The US also appealed to the military not to remove Mr Morsi. After the coup, Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns travelled to Cairo twice to help mediate between the military and the Muslim Brotherhood. But even getting an audience in Cairo these days is a hard task for US officials.

The US refrained from calling Mr Morsi's removal a coup for fear of upsetting the country's generals and the millions who demanded Mr Morsi's departure.

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Murdering the Wretched of the Earth

Murdering the Wretched of the Earth

    Saturday, August 17, 2013   No comments

Radical Islam is the last refuge of the Muslim poor. The mandated five prayers a day give the only real structure to the lives of impoverished believers. The careful rituals of washing before prayers in the mosque, the strict moral code, along with the understanding that life has an ultimate purpose and meaning, keep hundreds of millions of destitute Muslims from despair. The fundamentalist ideology that rises from oppression is rigid and unforgiving. It radically splits the world into black and white, good and evil, apostates and believers. It is bigoted and cruel to women, Jews, Christians and secularists, along with gays and lesbians. But at the same time it offers to those on the very bottom of society a final refuge and hope. The massacres of hundreds of believers in the streets of Cairo signal not only an assault against a religious ideology, not only a return to the brutal police state of Hosni Mubarak, but the start of a holy war that will turn Egypt and other poor regions of the globe into a caldron of blood and suffering.

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The reaction to this week's massacre in Cairo will be key to the reputations of the United States and Europe in Arab states and the Muslim world in general for years to come. Its credibility and influence are at stake

The reaction to this week's massacre in Cairo will be key to the reputations of the United States and Europe in Arab states and the Muslim world in general for years to come. Its credibility and influence are at stake

    Thursday, August 15, 2013   No comments

When historical turning points present themselves, there's no avoiding the need for decisive action. Now that the Egyptian armed forces -- with the backing and the approval of a subservient civil government -- has brutally clamped down on protests by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Western world is at a crossroads. It is irrelevant if the number of casualties is 500 or over 1,000, depending on which source is to be believed. The reaction to this week's massacre in Cairo will be key to the reputations of the United States and Europe in Arab states and the Muslim world in general for years to come. Its credibility and influence are at stake.

As is often the case, the issue is not how much outrage and sympathy is triggered by shocking images of seriously injured men, helpless elderly women and crying children. The issue is how to balance realpolitik with human rights.
Do we want to issue stern diplomatic warnings and return to dialogue with a strongman at the top of the Egyptian government with blood on his hands but the clout to bring a modicum of stability to the country and the region, and a foreign policy stance that dovetails with ours?

Or do we want to issue stern diplomatic warnings against pushing the Muslim Brotherhood underground, thereby turning them into martyrs, and instead call for them to be supported in their rights -- even though the fundamentalist ideology of these bearded men is so alien to us and undoubtedly at least partly responsible for the current political turmoil?

                                                                                                                                            Photos >>

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army claims the supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi were armed and it has broadcast footage in a bid to prove it

army claims the supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi were armed and it has broadcast footage in a bid to prove it

    Thursday, August 15, 2013   No comments

The death toll continues to rise in Egypt, a day after the presidency declared a month-long state of emergency in most of the country. Egypt’s new leaders justify this exceptional measure on the grounds that armed Muslim Brotherhood supporters allegedly fired at the security forces. Videos doing the rounds on the internet are supposed proof of such allegations.

Many online videos and photos bear witness to the fierce violence on the streets of Cairo and across the country. Dozens appear to show the security forces shooting live ammunition. But the army claims the supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi were armed and it has broadcast footage in a bid to prove it. But besides the army’s images, only one bit of footage appears to add weight to this claim.

The video was filmed by journalists from Youm7, a newspaper highly critical of the Muslim Brothers. They filmed on the roof of the publication’s offices on Battal Ahmed Abdel-Aziz Road, not far from Arab League Road in Cairo’s Mohandissen neighbourhood.

In the first video in the series, two civilians armed with AK-47s (kalashnikovs) are clearly visible. One of them is wearing a bullet-proof vest. Both men fire, but it is not clear what their target is.

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Turkish PM, Erdoğan: The Egyptian people are showing dignity against the military coup for weeks. They didn’t have Molotov cocktails or weapons in their hands, they had patience. They didn't allow vandalism. Nothing that happened in our country has been happening in Cairo or in Alexandria

Turkish PM, Erdoğan: The Egyptian people are showing dignity against the military coup for weeks. They didn’t have Molotov cocktails or weapons in their hands, they had patience. They didn't allow vandalism. Nothing that happened in our country has been happening in Cairo or in Alexandria

    Saturday, July 27, 2013   No comments

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has slammed in the strongest terms the security forces crackdown against supporters of the ousted President Mohamed Morsi in the early hours of July 27 that killed dozens of people and injured over a thousand.

Quoting the Anatolia Agency’s report which puts the death toll well over 200, Erdoğan described as a “massacre” the killings of protesters refusing to leave Rabaa al-Adawiya Square since the military takeover on July 3.

“We see that hearts are not softening in the Muslim world despite the Ramadan. While Muslims were preparing for their Sahur meal, a massacre took place in Egypt. 200 people were martyred. After the people's will, those who overthrew the government are now massacring the people,” Erdoğan said during a fast-breaking dinner organized by the All Industrialist and Businessmen Association (TÜMSİAD) in Istanbul July 27.

Creating parallels with the nationwide protests sparked after an attempt to cut down trees in Istanbul’s Gezi Park, Erdoğan argued that Morsi supporters did not participate in violent acts unlike the Turkish demonstrators.

“The Egyptian people are showing dignity against the military coup for weeks. They didn’t have Molotov cocktails or weapons in their hands, they had patience. They didn't allow vandalism. Nothing that happened in our country has been happening in Cairo or in Alexandria,” Erdoğan said.

“People were calling on their rulers to desist from the coup and give them back their president. But instead of listening to their people, the coup-stagers in Egypt have responded by sending their gangs with guns and bullets,” he added while he criticized the Egyptians who filled Tahrir Square following a call from the Army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to demonstrate in support of the interim government.

“You know what saddens me? While more than 200 of my brothers were being killed and five thousand injured, there were people having fun with fireworks in Tahrir Square. Who were these people? We should be vigilant against this sort of plots,” he said.

‘Where are you Europe, US, UN, BBC, CNN and Muslim World?’

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Egyptian politicians and Western diplomats: Mohamed Mursi might still be president of Egypt today if he had grasped a political deal brokered by the European Union with opposition parties in April

Egyptian politicians and Western diplomats: Mohamed Mursi might still be president of Egypt today if he had grasped a political deal brokered by the European Union with opposition parties in April

    Tuesday, July 23, 2013   No comments

Convinced that election victories gave them a sufficient basis to rule, Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood spurned the offer to bridge the most populous Arab nation's deep political divide. Less than three months later, the army overthrew him after mass anti-government protests.

Under a compromise crafted in months of shuttle diplomacy by EU envoy Bernardino Leon, six secular opposition parties allied in the National Salvation Front would have recognised Mursi's legitimacy and agreed to participate in parliamentary elections they had threatened to boycott.

In return, Mursi would have agreed to replace Prime Minister Hisham Kandil and five key ministers to form a technocratic national unity cabinet, sack a disputed prosecutor general and amend the election law to satisfy Egypt's constitutional court.

The failure to clinch a deal shows the challenge facing the EU as it seeks to raise its profile in an area where the United States was long the sole power broker. But given deep antipathy to Washington on both sides of Egyptian politics, the EU may be the only "honest broker" and it is not giving up.

Its foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, returns to Cairo on Wednesday in a fresh effort to forge consensus - though there was little sign of that on Tuesday when an interim government was sworn in and the Brotherhood denounced it as "illegitimate".

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David Cameron: The Assad government may have got "stronger" in recent months, but more can be done to help Syria's opposition forces

David Cameron: The Assad government may have got "stronger" in recent months, but more can be done to help Syria's opposition forces

    Sunday, July 21, 2013   No comments

The UK prime minister told the BBC there was a "stalemate" on the ground, but work must continue internationally to try to find a solution.

UK military chiefs have warned of the risks of arming rebel groups.

Mr Cameron said there was "too much extremism" among the opposition, but moderate groups still deserved support.

Syrian government forces have taken the initiative in recent months, and have been bolstered by the capture of the strategically important town of Qusair in the west of the country in June.

Most of the much bigger city of Homs has been recaptured by government troops backed by Lebanon's Hezbollah.
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Killing in Cairo: the full story of the Republican Guards' club shootings

Killing in Cairo: the full story of the Republican Guards' club shootings

    Sunday, July 21, 2013   No comments

In the early hours of 8 July 2013, 51 Muslim Brotherhood supporters camped outside the Republican Guards' club in Cairo were killed by security forces. The Egyptian military claimed the demonstrators had attempted to break into the building with the aid of armed motorcyclists.

After examining video evidence and interviewing eyewitnesses, medics and demonstrators Patrick Kingsley finds a different story – a coordinated assault on largely peaceful civilians. 'If they'd just wanted to break the sit-in, they could have done it in other ways. But they wanted to kill us,' a survivor says...

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Although Iran deems the recent popular-backed military ouster of Egypt’s Islamist president Mohamed Morsi “unacceptable”, analysts believe the move is unlikely to affect future relations between Egypt and Iran

Although Iran deems the recent popular-backed military ouster of Egypt’s Islamist president Mohamed Morsi “unacceptable”, analysts believe the move is unlikely to affect future relations between Egypt and Iran

    Monday, July 15, 2013   No comments

The first official Iranian reaction came five days after Morsi’s removal earlier this month, when Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi said on July 8 that “the intervention of the Egyptian armed forces in political affairs is unacceptable and disturbing.”

Two days later, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry labeled the Iranian reaction as “unacceptable interference,” adding it was based on Iranian misunderstanding of the Egyptian domestic developments.

Analysts say Iran seems to have reconsidered its position and thought it might not want to base its ties with Egypt on Morsi’s issue, which is shown by the recent statement of Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi in which he urged Egyptian political groups to consolidate national unity.

“Egypt’s fate should be determined by its own nation and any decision made by the Egyptian people should be respected by all,” Salehi told his Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Kamel Amr in a phone call Thursday, adding that “the Islamic republic has always sought and will seek the best relations with Egypt.”

Ambassador Mahmoud Farag, Egypt’s former charge d’affaires in Tehran, told Xinhua that he does not expect the ouster of Morsi to negatively affect the gradual normalization of the Egyptian-Iranian ties that suffered a three-decade rift.

“I do not think Morsi’s removal will affect ties with Iran, which are already stagnant for other reasons including the positions on the Syrian crisis and the ideological differences between Egyptian Sunnis and Iranian Shiites,” the ex-diplomat explained.

Ties between Egypt and Iran were cut off after Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. But after Egyptians in early 2011 ousted Hosni Mubarak, “a breakthrough” in the tense Egyptian-Iranian ties emerged.

The icy bilateral relations started to thaw after ousted Morsi paid his first visit to Tehran last August to attend the Non-Aligned Movement Summit, which was followed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Cairo in February to attend an Islamic conference.

Farag said that the relations between the two did not witness a great development except for exchanging diplomatic visits.

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