From Tunisia: Yanks' Give Nod to the Egyptian Bomb

[BurtWorm]

From the Tunis Hebdo, Tunisia. Posted on the blog link:www.watchingamerica.com/tunishebdo000054.shtml|Watching America]:


By Tahar Selmi

Translated By Sandrine Ageorges

September 25 – October 1 Issue
Tunisia - Tunis Hebdo - Home Page (French)


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Mubarak's Egypt, future member of the nuclear club with Uncle Sam's blessing: true or false? One need not be a fortuneteller to guess the answer. The events now shaking the Middle East region permit us just a taste of the profound strategic transformation occurring in the land of the Pyramids. Once upon a time "the beating heart of the Arab world," Egypt will no doubt be one of the most changed nations in the region. We had, last week, a foretaste of the much-awaited mutations in the thunderous speech given by Gamal Mubarak. The (presumed) heir apparent of his father insisted in a never-so-dramatic tone, on the pressing need for Egypt to acquire nuclear energy. Immediately after this announcement, the suggestion was immediately "approved" by the Yankee Ambassador to the Land of the Pharaohs: nuclear proliferation is not at all reprehensible if practiced by countries allied with the United States (Israel, India, Pakistan, etc.).

At the root of this spectacular Egyptian-American about face is the amazing military ascension of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its Hezbullah ally, which just inflicted a major defeat on the most powerful army in the Middle East - something that had not been realized or imagined by all the Arab armies put together. The Sunni nations of the Machrek , like Egypt and the Gulf monarchies, in particular Saudi Arabia, no longer hide their concern over Teheran's growing influence. Powerless spectators of the arrival of the Shiites in Iraq, and then of the gains of the popular Hezbullah chief Sheik Nasrallah during the war in Lebanon, they don't intend to allow Iran of the Ayatollahs to become, thanks to nuclear power, the lone regional power next to Israel.

<Editor's Note: The Machrek is a French term referring to the Western Arab world, as opposed to the Maghreb, which refers to the Arab east>.

Fear in the oil monarchies of the Iranian "threat" is one shared by Washington - but for an altogether different reason. The United States sees in the country of Khomeini RealVideo as a major obstacle to its plans for the region. With geostrategic position of major importance, an economy among the strongest thanks to its fabulous oil income, a proven effective military and long-standing links to China and Russia, the Persian state is viewed as the final hurdle to America's long-term seizure of the Middle East.



To foil Iran's "excessive ambitions," the United States is currently working to complete its encirclement with a vast military deployment in neighboring states. Washington is also striving to curb the influence of the Islamic Republic outside of its borders. By isolating it politically and diplomatically, The U.S. is pursuing a strategy of direct and indirect destabilization of Iran. Regardless of what is publicly stated, the scheme to grant the nuclear weapon to Egypt - a friendly and docile American ally - fits into this plan perfectly. This has nothing to do with "civilian" energy, as one pretends, but everything to do with an atomic bomb capable of correcting the strategic imbalance affecting the region … and to clear a path for the Americans.

[BurtWorm]

1. kick

[tocqueville]

2. Machrek is no more French than Macaca

it's a seldom used Arabic word (In French) while Maghreb is more commonly used, but still an Arabic word.
it's amazing that everything coming lately from Tunisia turns out to be "French" even if it is an Italian word (macaca).

[BurtWorm]

5. It looked an awful lot like Maghreb to mean something else.

I report. You decide.

:patriot:

[tocqueville]

6. Igil got it right nt

[Igel]

3. The editor's note is backward:

Mashriq is the Eastern part of the Arab world (< sharq 'east'), while the Maghrib is the western part (< gharb 'west'). Usually, I think, Egypt and points east.

It's also, IIRC, the Arabic word for 'Morocco', al-Maghrib.

Machrek is just how you transcribe the usual pronunciation of 'mashriq' into French orthography.

[BurtWorm]

7. Thanks.

:toast:

[tocqueville]

4. a nuclear Egypt is a nightmare for Israel

the problem with nuclear "Arab" States is not the nukes, but that it allows conventional war again.

[BurtWorm]

8. That's obviously not why the "yanks" would be wanting to develop

the program. It seems, also, very risky for the US to give a program to a government that is a perpetual target of jihadists.

[tocqueville]

9. that too...

but I think that the primary source won't be US. Could be Russian, Pakistani etc... The day the Iranians declared they'll go nuclear, the research started in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. THe Sunnis cannot allow that Shiites have a monopoly on nuclear weapons...