The Urgency of Addressing Iran’s Nuclear Threat

[webfact]

Egypt's president backs Saudi purge, urges de-escalation with Iran

By Ahmed Aboulenein and Malak Ghobrial

 

FILE PHOTO - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi delivers a statement following a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France November 26, 2014. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/File Picture

 

SHARM AL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Wednesday he was against military strikes on Iran or the Tehran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, saying there was enough turmoil in the Middle East.

 

In a meeting with a group of journalists, Sisi also pledged support for Saudi Arabia in its stand-off with Iran.

 

Asked about the prospect of attacks on Iran and Hezbollah - two days after Saudi Arabia had accused Lebanon of declaring war because of Hezbollah's "aggressive actions", Sisi stressed the importance of de-escalation.

 

"I am always against war," Sisi said, without spelling out who might be involved in military action.

 

Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia called for sanctions against Hezbollah this week and accused Iran of supplying Yemen's Houthis with missiles used to target it.

 

"I have said it once and I will say it again, Gulf national security is Egyptian national security. I have faith in the wise and firm leadership of Saudi Arabia," Sisi said.

 

Sisi said the situation in the kingdom was "reassuring and stable" following last weekend's arrests of 11 princes, former and current ministers, and a group of elite businessmen on corruption allegations.

 

They face allegations of money laundering, bribery, extortion and exploiting public office for personal gain.

 

Sisi stressed his backing of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states, which have showered Egypt with aid ever since the general-turned-president led the military's ouster of former President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 following mass protests.

 

Lebanon has been thrust to the centre of regional rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran since the Saudi-allied Lebanese politician Saad al-Hariri quit as prime minister on Saturday, blaming Iran and Hezbollah in his resignation speech.

 

Hezbollah is both a military and a political organisation that is represented in the Lebanese parliament and in the Hariri-led coalition government formed last year.

 

Its powerful guerrilla army is widely seen as stronger than the Lebanese army, and has played a major role in the war in neighbouring Syria, another theatre of Saudi-Iranian rivalry where Hezbollah has fought in support of the Syrian government.

 

COY ON ELECTION

 

Sisi was elected a year after he ousted Mursi and his first four-year term ends next year. He would not be drawn on when he would announce a re-election bid, although he is widely expected to run and win. He hinted at doing so by February.

 

"I have to present achievements over the past four years to Egyptians first, before saying whether I will run or not. I will do this over the next two months, December and January, and based on their response I will reach a position on running."

 

One candidate has already declared his intention to challenge Sisi. Rights lawyer Khaled Ali announced his 2018 bid on Monday in a speech criticising Sisi's administration; accusing it of suppressing freedoms and causing deteriorating economic and security conditions.

 

Egypt's economy has been struggling to recover since a 2011 uprising scared away tourists and investors, two main sources of foreign currency, but a three-year International Monetary Fund programme is expected to help restore confidence.

 

The IMF programme is tied to harsh reforms, chief of which was the central bank's decision to float the pound currency last year, which halved its value from 8.8 to the dollar to almost 18. Sisi said on Wednesday he expected the pound to rally in the near future.

 

"I expect that the exchange rate will strengthen in the coming period, because all the problems that created the crisis over the past few years before the float, I believe, have been solved," he said.

 

Tourism, a major source of hard currency, took a massive hit in 2015 when Russia suspended flights to Egypt, after Islamic State blew a plane out of the air that took off from Sharm al-Sheikh, the Red Sea resort in which Sisi was speaking on Wednesday, killing all 224 people, mostly Russians, on board.

 

Sisi said he was not pressing the Russian government to restore flights because he understood its need to protect its citizens.

"I have never, and will never, insist on the restoration of flights," he said.

 

MILITANT THREAT

 

He said security forces were making significant gains against militants, however. The military had captured a foreign fighter in a raid it carried out against militants responsible for a deadly attack on a police convoy in Egypt's Western Desert last month, he said.

 

Three security sources said at the time that at least 52 police officers and conscripts were killed on Oct. 21 when their patrol came under attack, but the interior ministry rebutted the figure the next day and said only 16 policemen had been killed.

 

A new militant group with links to al Qaeda claimed responsibility for attack last week.

 

The foreign militant is the sole survivor of the raid and his confession would be revealed to the public soon, Sisi said.

 

The Western Desert, which spans Egypt's more than 1,200 kilometre (745 miles) border with Libya, is a new battlefront for security forces, who have been fighting Islamic State militants in the Sinai Peninsula since 2013.

 

Sisi did not specify the fighter's nationality but the porous border with Libya has been used to smuggle people and weapons regularly.

 

When asked about his support for Khalifa Haftar, the eastern Libyan commander whose Libyan National Army has been fighting Islamist militant groups and other fighters in Benghazi and Derna for more than two years, Sisi said it did not mean he opposed the U.N.-backed Tripoli-based government, even though Haftar and his supporters reject it.

 

"Our support for Haftar is in line with the constants of Egyptian policy; we support a political solution and our backing of Haftar is not at the expense of Fayez Seraj's government."

 

(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein and Malak Ghobrial; Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Samia Nakhoul and Lisa Shumaker)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-11-09

[nasanews]

Why TVF is interested in bringing dictators news! It is against our values as decent human beings.

[Naam]

3 hours ago, nasanews said:

Why TVF is interested in bringing dictators news! It is against our values as decent human beings.

lack of NASA news?

[dexterm]

Is this the same corruption fighting Prince Mohammed bin Salman who "has slashed the state budget, frozen government contracts and reduced the pay of civil employees, all part of drastic austerity measures as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is buffeted by low oil prices."

 

..and then went and bought himself a $550 million yacht on a whim while vacationing in the south of France last year.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/world/rise-of-saudi-prince-shatters-decades-of-royal-tradition.html

[nasanews]

14 hours ago, Naam said:

lack of NASA news?

The more we live the less freedom we have, viva dictators viva imperialism. 

[craigt3365]

7 hours ago, nasanews said:

The more we live the less freedom we have, viva dictators viva imperialism. 

There are plenty of other forums out there.  You are welcomed to visit them instead of here if you don't like the news.

[Ramen087]

18 hours ago, dexterm said:

Is this the same corruption fighting Prince Mohammed bin Salman who "has slashed the state budget, frozen government contracts and reduced the pay of civil employees, all part of drastic austerity measures...

 

..and then went and bought himself a $550 million yacht on a whim while vacationing in the south of France last year.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/world/rise-of-saudi-prince-shatters-decades-of-royal-tradition.html

It's his money, and he isn't in the business of worrying about re-election, or pleasing some of his colleagues for necessary votes for pork belly legislation.  He has a nation to modernize, and that isn't easy.  Why can't he kick back on his boat when he needs a break?

[ilostmypassword]

2 hours ago, Ramen087 said:

It's his money, and he isn't in the business of worrying about re-election, or pleasing some of his colleagues for necessary votes for pork belly legislation.  He has a nation to modernize, and that isn't easy.  Why can't he kick back on his boat when he needs a break?

And how did he earn that money? You don't see that there's something inherently corrupt about a bunch of unlected and unaccountable royals helping themselves to massive and secret quantities  government income.?

And it's really stupid to boot. He's going to have to start imposing  harsher austerity measures on the rapidly growing Saudi populace. Let's see how his backing and popularity fare in the face of his self-indulgence. 

[Morch]

5 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

And how did he earn that money? You don't see that there's something inherently corrupt about a bunch of unlected and unaccountable royals helping themselves to massive and secret quantities  government income.?

And it's really stupid to boot. He's going to have to start imposing  harsher austerity measures on the rapidly growing Saudi populace. Let's see how his backing and popularity fare in the face of his self-indulgence. 

 

I don't think anyone claimed the Crown Prince is a paragon of virtue, or that the "anti-corruption" is not about power. And leaders engaging in lavish lifestyle while claiming to fight corruption is not just a Saudi thing: similar instances all over the ME, if one needs a closer to home reference, consult the other news section on this forum.

 

That it wasn't the most wise of decisions, quite probably so. That it would directly effect his popularity, questionable, or at least, as yet unknown.

[dexterm]

5 hours ago, Morch said:

 

I don't think anyone claimed the Crown Prince is a paragon of virtue, or that the "anti-corruption" is not about power. And leaders engaging in lavish lifestyle while claiming to fight corruption is not just a Saudi thing: similar instances all over the ME, if one needs a closer to home reference, consult the other news section on this forum.

 

That it wasn't the most wise of decisions, quite probably so. That it would directly effect his popularity, questionable, or at least, as yet unknown.

Sounds like you are obfuscating with the usual litotes and deflection.

 

Of course there are other hypocritical corrupt politicians, but two wrongs don't make a right. The OP concerns the Saudi prince's pseudo anti corruption drive, not others'.

 

The prince is the caliber of person whom Trump and other western governments hold in high enough esteem to sell 100s of $billions of arms to despite his atrocious domestic and international human rights record.

 

And whom one day USA and allies may be called upon to defend militarily.

 

Stinks of hypocrisy all round.

Edited November 12, 2017 by dexterm

[Morch]

12 hours ago, dexterm said:

Sounds like you are obfuscating with the usual litotes and deflection.

 

Of course there are other hypocritical corrupt politicians, but two wrongs don't make a right. The OP concerns the Saudi prince's pseudo anti corruption drive, not others'.

 

The prince is the caliber of person whom Trump and other western governments hold in high enough esteem to sell 100s of $billions of arms to despite his atrocious domestic and international human rights record.

 

And whom one day USA and allies may be called upon to defend militarily.

 

Stinks of hypocrisy all round.

 

Obfuscation and deflection how?

 

No one said anything about two wrong making a right. Or, for that matter, about Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince actions being "right". And there were actually quite a few references to, and acknowledgment that the current moves are more about consolidation of power. 

 

The point made is that the Crown Prince's supposed corruption and hypocrisy are pretty much the norm - with regard to Saudi Arabia, the ME and indeed, other regimes elsewhere. It is neither unique, nor of a such magnitude which merits the faux indignation.

 

As for the rest of your nonsense, arms deals were signed with Saudi Arabia long before the present Crown Prince came to forefront. It has nothing to do with "high esteem" and never did. Arms were not directly sold to the Crown Prince, but to the country, and many of the deals signed by the Trump administration (which are, in part, deceleration of intent and permissions to buy, rather than actual sales) were negotiated during Obama's term. Obviously, no issues with Russia recently getting in on the action as well.

 

I don't know that the Crown Prince's domestic human rights record is "atrocious" - the country's is, and it was so long before he came along. If anything, some of his introduced domestic policies seem to improve things some.

 

The USA, Western countries and "even" Russia, are all in bed, to one degree or another, with unsavory regimes. Some may call it hypocrisy, some accept that the world is not perfect.

 

[ilostmypassword]

16 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

Obfuscation and deflection how?

 

No one said anything about two wrong making a right. Or, for that matter, about Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince actions being "right". And there were actually quite a few references to, and acknowledgment that the current moves are more about consolidation of power. 

 

The point made is that the Crown Prince's supposed corruption and hypocrisy are pretty much the norm - with regard to Saudi Arabia, the ME and indeed, other regimes elsewhere. It is neither unique, nor of a such magnitude which merits the faux indignation.

 

As for the rest of your nonsense, arms deals were signed with Saudi Arabia long before the present Crown Prince came to forefront. It has nothing to do with "high esteem" and never did. Arms were not directly sold to the Crown Prince, but to the country, and many of the deals signed by the Trump administration (which are, in part, deceleration of intent and permissions to buy, rather than actual sales) were negotiated during Obama's term. Obviously, no issues with Russia recently getting in on the action as well.

 

I don't know that the Crown Prince's domestic human rights record is "atrocious" - the country's is, and it was so long before he came along. If anything, some of his introduced domestic policies seem to improve things some.

 

The USA, Western countries and "even" Russia, are all in bed, to one degree or another, with unsavory regimes. Some may call it hypocrisy, some accept that the world is not perfect.

 

No, his supposed corruption and hypocrisy are not pretty much the norm. They are spectacularly egregious and drew lots of attention for that reason. Corruption and hypocrisy may be the norm there, but not on the scale practiced by him.

[dexterm]

20 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

Obfuscation and deflection how?

 

No one said anything about two wrong making a right. Or, for that matter, about Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince actions being "right". And there were actually quite a few references to, and acknowledgment that the current moves are more about consolidation of power. 

 

The point made is that the Crown Prince's supposed corruption and hypocrisy are pretty much the norm - with regard to Saudi Arabia, the ME and indeed, other regimes elsewhere. It is neither unique, nor of a such magnitude which merits the faux indignation.

 

As for the rest of your nonsense, arms deals were signed with Saudi Arabia long before the present Crown Prince came to forefront. It has nothing to do with "high esteem" and never did. Arms were not directly sold to the Crown Prince, but to the country, and many of the deals signed by the Trump administration (which are, in part, deceleration of intent and permissions to buy, rather than actual sales) were negotiated during Obama's term. Obviously, no issues with Russia recently getting in on the action as well.

 

I don't know that the Crown Prince's domestic human rights record is "atrocious" - the country's is, and it was so long before he came along. If anything, some of his introduced domestic policies seem to improve things some.

 

The USA, Western countries and "even" Russia, are all in bed, to one degree or another, with unsavory regimes. Some may call it hypocrisy, some accept that the world is not perfect.

 

>>The USA, Western countries and "even" Russia, are all in bed, to one degree or another, with unsavory regimes. Some may call it hypocrisy, some accept that the world is not perfect.

This represents the starkest contrast in our two different philosophies.

 

I do not accept a world that is not perfect. I know it's difficult to reform and maybe a very long struggle, but that doesn't mean it's not worth trying.

 

“A thousand candles can be lighted from the flame of one candle"  (Ghandi)

[Morch]

6 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

No, his supposed corruption and hypocrisy are not pretty much the norm. They are spectacularly egregious and drew lots of attention for that reason. Corruption and hypocrisy may be the norm there, but not on the scale practiced by him.

 

His supposed "corruption and hypocrisy" does not actually draw "lots of attention". Not within the country, nor globally. That is perhaps should, or that you wish it to be otherwise, are different matters. As for the Crown Prince's excesses being way out there, doubt that you have a lot to go on.

[Morch]

9 minutes ago, dexterm said:

>>The USA, Western countries and "even" Russia, are all in bed, to one degree or another, with unsavory regimes. Some may call it hypocrisy, some accept that the world is not perfect.

This represents the starkest contrast in our two different philosophies.

 

I do not accept a world that is not perfect. I know it's difficult to reform and maybe a very long struggle, but that doesn't mean it's not worth trying.

 

“A thousand candles can be lighted from the flame of one candle"  (Ghandi)

 

More nonsense. Accepting that the world is not perfect has nothing to do with a desire for change. It's just a matter of addressing how things are, rather than pretending that they are otherwise. Considering that the faux "philosophy" of yours is able, when you wish it, to accommodate moral discrepancies, the insistence on specific parties and specific pet issues being the sole moral yardsticks is disingenuous and hypocritical.

 

 

 

 

[ilostmypassword]

6 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

His supposed "corruption and hypocrisy" does not actually draw "lots of attention". Not within the country, nor globally. That is perhaps should, or that you wish it to be otherwise, are different matters. As for the Crown Prince's excesses being way out there, doubt that you have a lot to go on.

Rise of Saudi Prince Shatters Decades of Royal Tradition

He has slashed the state budget, frozen government contracts and reduced the pay of civil employees, all part of drastic austerity measures as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is buffeted by low oil prices. But last year, Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown prince, saw a yacht he couldn’t resist.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/world/rise-of-saudi-prince-shatters-decades-of-royal-tradition.html?_r=1

 

Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman 'buys £452m yacht' but slashes public spending

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-prince-mohammed-bin-salman-yacht-france-new-york-times-a7365261.html

 

Get off my boat! Saudi Prince kicks Russian oligarch off $400million yacht after buying it on the spot
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3847044/It-s-boat-Moscow-Saudi-Prince-kicks-Russian-oligarch-300million-yacht-buying-spot.html#ixzz4yI5nIGYk 

 

Saudi Arabia's deputy crown prince bought this megayacht

http://www.businessinsider.com/prince-bin-salman-buys-serene-megayacht-2016-10

 

Cluster Bombs and Yachts 5 Things You Should Know About Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince
read more: https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/1.797051

 

[Morch]

 

@ilostmypassword

 

You are posting the same story over and over again. It doesn't actually say anything about the scale of his supposed corruption and hypocrisy as you claimed. It doesn't say anything about such excesses not being a familiar feature of Saudi princes and their like. And it doesn't even amount to "lots of attention" - it made headlines for a while, that's all. There was no global outrage, there was no domestic outrage, and the news cycle moved on to other things.

 

[ilostmypassword]

15 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

@ilostmypassword

 

You are posting the same story over and over again. It doesn't actually say anything about the scale of his supposed corruption and hypocrisy as you claimed. It doesn't say anything about such excesses not being a familiar feature of Saudi princes and their like. And it doesn't even amount to "lots of attention" - it made headlines for a while, that's all. There was no global outrage, there was no domestic outrage, and the news cycle moved on to other things.

 

"It doesn't amount to lots of attention." "It made headlines for a while"

[Morch]

2 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

"It doesn't amount to lots of attention." "It made headlines for a while"

 

Back to petty nitpicking arguments. Fine. The story being reported is not the same as "lots of attention". That it made headlines, as such stories do, is a statement of fact. That it amounted to "lots of attention" is your own spin.

[ilostmypassword]

52 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

Back to petty nitpicking arguments. Fine. The story being reported is not the same as "lots of attention". That it made headlines, as such stories do, is a statement of fact. That it amounted to "lots of attention" is your own spin.

Because every story in the news makes it to the front pages or the main page of major internet sites.

[Morch]

5 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Because every story in the news makes it to the front pages or the main page of major internet sites.

 

Many stories do, for a short while. Doesn't quite amount to what you described as "lots of attention". That you keep posting regurgitated versions of the same, doesn't make it into a major story or one which dominated the news.