Egypt & 'The Fifth Column'

TV channels and other media are full of the ongoing protests in Egypt and other Middle East states. A quick over-throw of the regime in Tunisia has followed protests in Jordan, Yemen and the ones in Egypt have been the most dramatic and have caught the world’s fascination. On Tuesday (February 1) Arnab Goswami went hammer and tongs at the USA. Some of his outrage included “America should stay out of Egypt”, “US should stay out of middle east” and so on. Those are not quotes but what he effectively said. The others aren’t too far behind. It was impossible for Christianne Amanpour to not be there, so one can understand how hard it must have been for Barkha Dutt to have not rushed to Egypt. Someone must have stopped her, and thankfully so. Typically, most of our TV channels turned it into greater drama than was already on the streets of Cairo and the anchors themselves were calling for Hosni Mubarak to step down.

A thought on revolutions. Our own independence struggle was a revolution and partition was a consequence. Where democracy and real freedom are not at the core it will be easy to see where states can go. Former Soviet Union’s October Revolution needs to be remembered. That Pakistan, with its Islamic Republic Constitution, has gone down the drain is not hard to see. Iran is not hard to see. Tunisia is already in the making. That is the danger for Egypt. And this can spread much farther.

The Fifth Column?

Arnab Goswami’s calls for America to stay out is understandable.  However, for a super-power that brokered peace between Israel and Egypt, for a country that has poured billions into Egypt, for a country that has several interests in the mid-east, it is not possible to stay completely out. And it shouldn’t. Indian governments have been stupid enough to either get fully involved or completely withdrawn from our own neighbours. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar are all good examples of how these countries are slowly being courted by the Chinese to strangle India from all sides. And, of course, we have the friendly Pakistan next door which our TV anchors, journalists and communist media love so much.

Hosni Mubarak’s rule of 30 years has been autocratic, corrupt and one of suppression. One that has also seen killings of minorities and church bombings regularly, especially Coptic Christians. The longer a government’s rule the more ineffective, the more brazenly corrupt it’s likely to be. Sooner or later people are bound to revolt. This has been seen in Iran before in 1979, in China in 1989 and in many other places. It is a lesson that no party should be voted to power twice in succession. India is already paying the price with the corrupt UPA government. So one can imagine what 30 years of power can do. Imagine what 60 years of Congress has done to India.

However, much as we would like to believe and are being told over and over again by the media that the popular uprising in Egypt stems from the people’s desire for more freedoms, economic well-being and a yearning for democracy, one hopes it is just that and does not turn into what Iran has come to be. There’s a reason to be skeptical. The protests are largely backed and driven by the Muslim Brotherhood, even if not openly so. There may be more, but the one sane analysis of the situation comes from Swapan Dasgupta on his blog – ‘Islamist regime may follow Mubarak exit’.

First, about the Muslim Brotherhood. This is an organisation founded in 1928 and is banned in Egypt since the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981. Members of this organisation, however, contest as independents to the assemblies in Egypt. They support terrorist organisations like Hamas and many other Jihadist organisations. Their final goal : An Islamic Caliphate across the middle east and maybe later across the world. They are staunch opponents of Israel’s existence. Egypt’s peace treaty with the Jewish state is also a cause for the unrest with the Muslim Brotherhood.  Anti-Israel posters also find place with others in the current protests. Early morning on February 3 protestors were heard shouting ‘Jihad, Jihad’ on CNN in Cairo, in the middle of clashes between pro and anti-Mubarak crowds.  

Robert Spencer, a keen observer of ‘Jihad’ and ‘Islamic’ activities had this to say on his site Jihadwatch.org:

"Research analyst Lorenzo Vidino writes about The Muslim Brotherhood's Conquest of Europe: "Since the early 1960s, Muslim Brotherhood members and sympathizers have moved to Europe and slowly but steadily established a wide and well-organized network of mosques, charities, and Islamic organizations." Their ultimate goal "may not be simply 'to help Muslims be the best citizens they can be,' but rather to extend Islamic law throughout Europe and the United States. With moderate rhetoric and well-spoken German, Dutch, and French, they have gained acceptance among European governments and media alike. Politicians across the political spectrum rush to engage them whenever an issue involving Muslims arises or, more parochially, when they seek the vote of the burgeoning Muslim community. But, speaking Arabic or Turkish before their fellows Muslims, they drop their facade and embrace radicalism." Read the devastating full post here on the infiltration of the West by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Former American Special agent Paul David Gobatz infiltrated CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) and revealed the deep nexus between CAIR, Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood in his book titled “Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America”  It would be naive to think the Mafia will want to stop at Europe or America. They have more than willing support in places like Pakistan and some countries in South Asia as well.

In every country where the muslim population has attained significant levels there is a growing desire for Islamic rule or implementation of Sharia. Britain, France, Germany are prime examples. And consequently the existence of ‘The Fifth Column’ should not be dismissed as wild conspiracy theory. In India our own Imam Bukhari, of Delhi’s Jama Masjid’ is on record stating: “We were rulers here for 800 years. Inshaallah, we shall return to power here once again”" and threatens “this country is in for another partition, so let us be prepared for nation wide riots and violence. ”

Islamic regimes and Sharia are incompatible with Democracy. Let us be under no illusion regardless of how our media paints the Egypt protests as. It is in the interest of democracies to be on guard and therefore Western & Eastern democracies must be closely involved in Egypt and the Middle-East. The lies and paints of the Indian media notwithstanding.