Friday, January 28, 2011
Your move, Sheikh
I'm curious to see how Sheikh Osama responds to the current wave of popular revolts in Arab countries. Nominally, this is exactly what he's been working for!
He claims to be a paladin for the long-suffering Arab people, who have been betrayed by foreign-serving client governments for most of the 20th century. He attacks Russia, Britain and America because those three nations have been using Arab governments as chess pieces in the Great Game.
The present wave of uprisings doesn't seem to be inspired by the Sheikh directly. Instead, it appears to be triggered by Wikileaks revelations of the collaborations between those governments and America ... and worst of all, their quiet collaborations with Israel.
[ Later: the London Telegraph reveals that some part of the US govt has been training and funding the protesters in Egypt. This started under Sultan Bush and continues under Pasha Obama. Playing both sides seems strange; we've been heavily funding Our SOB in Egypt for decades, and now we're helping to undermine Our SOB. Is this a strategy with a definite goal, or just Goldman Sachs thinking? Hedge both sides? ]
Egypt is Dr Zawahiri's home and Yemen is the Sheikh's home. Both are bubbling at the moment, which should be pleasing to the Doc and the Sheikh by this hypothesis. Will the revolt finally reach Arabia itself? That should be the keystone, if Sheikh really means what he says.
The big question: If most Arab countries end up with strongly Islamic regimes that serve the cultures and needs of their own people instead of puppeting for the two big Empires, will Sheikh Osama declare victory and stop his war? Or will he act like an American bureaucrat and find new reasons to keep working after his mission is fully accomplished?
= = = = =
Update: The question gets even stronger now that the Muslim Brotherhood, which is the ideological father of al-Qaeda, has claimed control of the Egyptian uprising. If the uprising succeeds, it will mean not just a victory for loose allies of Sheikh Osama but a victory for his own organization. This will probably be good for the Egyptian people in general, who have been yanked around by foreign empires for too long ... but will it satisfy the Sheikh?
¶ 3:36 AM
He claims to be a paladin for the long-suffering Arab people, who have been betrayed by foreign-serving client governments for most of the 20th century. He attacks Russia, Britain and America because those three nations have been using Arab governments as chess pieces in the Great Game.
The present wave of uprisings doesn't seem to be inspired by the Sheikh directly. Instead, it appears to be triggered by Wikileaks revelations of the collaborations between those governments and America ... and worst of all, their quiet collaborations with Israel.
[ Later: the London Telegraph reveals that some part of the US govt has been training and funding the protesters in Egypt. This started under Sultan Bush and continues under Pasha Obama. Playing both sides seems strange; we've been heavily funding Our SOB in Egypt for decades, and now we're helping to undermine Our SOB. Is this a strategy with a definite goal, or just Goldman Sachs thinking? Hedge both sides? ]
Egypt is Dr Zawahiri's home and Yemen is the Sheikh's home. Both are bubbling at the moment, which should be pleasing to the Doc and the Sheikh by this hypothesis. Will the revolt finally reach Arabia itself? That should be the keystone, if Sheikh really means what he says.
The big question: If most Arab countries end up with strongly Islamic regimes that serve the cultures and needs of their own people instead of puppeting for the two big Empires, will Sheikh Osama declare victory and stop his war? Or will he act like an American bureaucrat and find new reasons to keep working after his mission is fully accomplished?
= = = = =
Update: The question gets even stronger now that the Muslim Brotherhood, which is the ideological father of al-Qaeda, has claimed control of the Egyptian uprising. If the uprising succeeds, it will mean not just a victory for loose allies of Sheikh Osama but a victory for his own organization. This will probably be good for the Egyptian people in general, who have been yanked around by foreign empires for too long ... but will it satisfy the Sheikh?
¶ 3:36 AM
