Globalist Fueled Revolutions Around the World

Assad Says Syria Immune from Unrest Roiling Egypt

January 31, 2011

AP – Syria's president, who has resisted calls for political freedoms and jailed critics of his regime, said in an interview published Monday that his nation is immune from the kind of unrest roiling Tunisia and Egypt.

In a rare interview, Bashar Assad was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as acknowledging that the toppling of Tunisia's longtime ruler and the protesters that have left Hosni Mubarak's government teetering in Egypt signaled a "new era" in the Middle East.

But he said Syria, which has gradually shed its socialist past in favor of the free market in recent years, was insulated from the upheaval because he understood his people's needs and has united them in common cause against Israel.

He also blamed the trouble on the West — primarily the United States — for failing to push through peace between Israel and the Arabs and for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Anger feeds on desperation," he was quoted as saying.

"We have more difficult circumstances than most of the Arab countries, but in spite of that Syria is stable. Why? Because you have to be very closely linked to the beliefs of the people," Assad said, according to the paper.

"This is the core issue. When there is divergence ... you will have vacuum that creates disturbances."

Assad, a 45-year-old British-trained eye doctor, inherited power from his father, Hafez, in 2000, after three decades of iron-fisted rule. He has since moved slowly to lift Soviet-style economic restrictions, letting in foreign banks, throwing the doors open to imports and empowering the private sector.

Assad has not matched liberal economics with political reforms and critics of the regime are routinely locked up, drawing an outcry from international human rights groups.

He is seen by many Arabs, however, as one of the few leaders in the region willing to stand up to arch enemy Israel. And his support for Palestinian and Lebanese militant groups opposed to Israel as well as his opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq has won him more support among his people than other Arab rulers.

"It is about the ideology, the beliefs and the cause that you have," Assad said, according to the Journal. "There is a difference between having a cause and having a vacuum."

"This is a revolution against whoever wants to oppose the belief of the people," he was quoted as saying.

Assad said he will seek to push through economic and political reforms in Syria, but not necessarily because of the events in Egypt and Tunisia.

"If you did not see the need for reform before what happened in Egypt and in Tunisia, it is too late to do any reform," he was quoted as saying.

"If you do it just because of what happened in Tunisia and Egypt, then it is going to be a reaction, not an action and ... you are going to fail."

Assad said the pace of reform in Syria had slowed in recent years as a result of the upheaval in neighboring Iraq and Lebanon.

"Today is better than six years ago, but it is not the optimal situation. We still have a long way to go because it is a process," the Journal quoted him as saying.

Israel Agrees to Some Egyptian Troops in Sinai

January 31, 2011

AP – Israeli officials said Monday that they have agreed to let Egypt move several hundred troops into the Sinai peninsula for the first time since the countries reached peace three decades ago.

With street protests threatening the Egyptian regime, the officials say that Israel allowed the Egyptian army to move two battalions — about 800 soldiers — into Sinai on Sunday. The officials said the troops were based in the Sharm el-Sheikh area on Sinai's southern tip, far from Israel.

Under the 1979 peace treaty, Israel returned the captured Sinai to Egypt. In return, Egypt agreed to leave the area, which borders southern Israel, demilitarized. The arid peninsula lies between Egypt's mainland and Israel, and Israel was worried about an Egyptian invasion then.

Now, as the unrest in Egypt has spread, Israeli officials have grown increasingly concerned about the stability of their southern neighbor. They are especially worried that Palestinian militants could take advantage of the unrest to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip through tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border.

The Israeli officials spoke Monday about the troop movements on condition of anonymity because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has banned the government from discussing the situation in Egypt.

There was no confirmation from Egypt, and David Satterfield, the director general of an independent 12-nation monitoring force in Sinai, refused to comment.

Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel is "anxiously following" the developments in Egypt — reflecting Israel's concern that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's days in power could be limited. Mubarak has been a key ally for Israel, strictly honoring the peace treaty during his 30 years in power and frequently acting as a bridge between Israel and the Palestinians to the broader Arab world.

Israeli President Shimon Peres said "we always have had and still have a great respect" for Mubarak. "I don't say everything that he did was right, but he did one thing for which all of us are thankful to him: He kept the peace in the Middle East," Peres said Monday.

In an interview, international Mideast envoy Tony Blair said Monday that a change in Egypt's leadership appears inevitable.

"Change will happen. You can't put the genie back in the bottle now," he said.

The former British prime minister did not say explicitly whether Mubarak should step down. He said it's important that Egypt holds proper elections and that any transition be peaceful.

"People want to get to a position where the Egyptian people are able to express their will in free and fair elections," he said. "But I think the watchword is change with care, because at the same time we have to make sure any change occurs with stability and order."

In particular, he said he was concerned that unrest in Egypt could disrupt the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Blair represents the international "Quartet" of Mideast peacemakers — the U.S., the European Union, Russia and the United Nations — which is set to gather next week to discuss stalled peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians. He acknowledged the unrest in Egypt has put Western powers, especially the U.S., in the difficult position of choosing between a longtime ally and a grass roots protest movement demanding more freedom.

"I think when people criticize America over this, they're being a bit unfair," Blair said, adding that President Barack Obama has handled the crisis in "the only way he can."

"That's why the sensible thing to do is to partner the process of change and make sure we get the right change, with order," he said.

Blair said the focus of the upcoming Quartet meeting would be to get the sides talking again, a task he acknowledged has become more difficult by the situation in Egypt.

Negotiations have been stalled for more than three months because of disagreements over Israeli settlement construction in areas claimed by the Palestinians.

"I think there's one key issue really that is necessary to revive direct negotiations and get this process back under way, and that is to give credibility to the notion that we want a Palestinian state," Blair said.

Cairo Airport a Scene of Chaos as Foreigners Flee

January 31, 2011

AP – Cairo's international airport was a scene of chaos and confusion Monday as thousands of foreigners sought to flee the unrest in Egypt and countries around the world scrambled to send in planes to fly their citizens out.

Nerves frayed, shouting matches erupted and some passengers even had a fistfight as thousands crammed into Cairo airport's new Terminal 3 seeking a flight home. The airport's departures board stopped announcing flight times in an attempt to reduce tensions — but the plan backfired, fueling passengers' anger.

Making matters worse, check-in counters were poorly staffed because many EgyptAir employees had been unable to get to work due to a 3 p.m.-to-8 a.m. curfew and traffic breakdowns across the Egyptian capital.

"It's an absolute zoo, what a mess," said Justine Khanzadian, 23, a graduate student from the American University of Cairo. "I decided to leave because of the protests, the government here is just not stable enough to stay."

A U.S. military plane landed at Larnaca Airport in Cyprus on ferrying 42 U.S. Embassy officials and their dependents from Egypt. The U.S. Embassy in Nicosia said at least one more plane was expected Monday with about 180 people. U.S. officials have said it will take several flights over the coming days to fly out the thousands of Americans who want to leave Egypt.

In Cairo, EgyptAir resumed its flights Monday morning after a roughly 14-hour break because of the curfew and its inability to field enough crew. Over 20 hours, only 26 of about 126 EgyptAir flights operated, airport officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

By midday, an announcement filtered through the crowd instructing groups of Danish, German, Chinese, British and Canadian passengers that their governments had sent planes to evacuate them — causing a stampede to the gates.

The officials said many countries were working to evacuate their citizens, with Turkey sending four flights, Israel and Russia sending two planes each and the Czech Republic one. They said those additional flights had helped ease the airport's restless crowds but the gains were short-lived as other foreigners and Egyptians poured in.

Greek petroleum employee Markos Loukogiannakis, who arrived in Athens on a flight carrying 181 passengers including 65 U.S. citizens, said confusion reigned at Cairo airport and travelers had to negotiate a string of checkpoints to even get there.

"In a 22-kilometer (14-mile) route from our suburb to the airport we had to get through 19 checkpoints, including nine manned by civilians," he said. "There were lots of people gathering at the airport and it was very difficult to get in."

He said security had deteriorated sharply over the past three days in Cairo after police withdrew from the streets.

"There was a wave of attacks by criminal elements who engaged in burglaries and wrecked shops and banks. There was a lot of shooting and residents took up the burden of protecting their property," he said.

In a geopolitical shift, even Iraq decided it would evacuate its citizens, sending three planes to Egypt — including the prime minister's plane — to bring home for free all those who wish to return. Thousands of Iraqis had once fled to Egypt to escape the violence in their own country.

About 800 Iraqis had left Cairo by Monday afternoon, said Capt. Mohammed al-Moussawi, a crew member for the prime minister's office. He said the flights would continue until all those who wished to return had done so.

Nearly 320 Indian nationals were evacuated from Cairo to Mumbai on board a special Air India flight and another 275 expected to reach Mumbai later in the day. An Azerbaijan flight carrying 80 adults, 23 children and the body of an Azeri Embassy accountant killed in the unrest arrived in Baku.

China sent two planes and was sending two more charter flights Tuesday to help pick up an estimated 500 Chinese stranded in Cairo. It issued a warning urging citizens not travel to Egypt had embassy personnel hand out food and water to Chinese passengers at the airport.

That echoed earlier warnings from Britain, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and the Czech Republic, which all advised against all nonessential travel to Egypt. Many European tour companies canceled trips to the country until Feb. 23, others left the cancellations open until further notice.

One big question was what to do with the tens of thousands of tourists in other parts of Egypt. Tour operators say they will fly home all their customers this week when their holidays end, or on extra flights, stressing there has not been any unrest in Red Sea resort cities like Hurghada or Sharm el-Sheik.

Britain estimated there were around 30,000 U.K. tourists and long-term residents in Egypt, but said Monday it has no plans to evacuate British citizens. Foreign Secretary William Hague has advised against all but essential travel to Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor and Suez.

Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Marcin Bosacki, however, said food shortages were starting to be felt at Egyptian resorts and some restaurants were refusing to serve foreigners.

He said the Polish airline LOT would fly to Cairo on Tuesday to bring back those hoping to return but added there was no immediate need for an evacuation.

Indonesia was sending a plane to Cairo to start evacuating some 6,150 Indonesian citizens — mostly students and workers — and SAS Denmark said it would fly home some 60 Danes stranded at Cairo airport.

The Danish company shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S chartered a plane to pick up relatives of its Danish employees in Egypt, the Danish Embassy said. The company itself said there were no terminal operations in Egypt on Monday and the Maersk Line, Safmarine and Damco offices were closed.

Air France canceled its daily flight from Paris to Cairo on Monday and planned to increase its capacity Tuesday by an extra 200 seats to help bring passengers back to France.

Portugal sent a C-130 military transport plane to evacuate its citizens and Greece was sending three C-130 military transport planes to Alexandria on Tuesday for evacuations.