Egyptian Revolution 2.0

Despite having fierce writers block for the past year I have been keeping up to date with events across the world and the recent events in Egypt seem to have finally rekindled by writers imagination (at least partially as this blog shall evidentially highlight).

Just over two years ago I remember watching Al Jazeera with complete and utter amazement as for days upon days countless millions flocked to Tahir square and dozens of other public squares and streets across the country to demand the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, the end of political repression, corruption and the implementation of a fair and equal democratic system. In the aftermath of this revolution I was quite optimistic, as despite the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) tight control over the country in the immediate aftermath, a suitable road map for elections had been planned and the will of the people would've easily toppled any attempt to establish military control of the country in the long-term.

Protesters in 2011

Personally I am naturally biased against any role of organised religion in the political sphere, so what concerned me more was the rise of politicised religion under the newly formed Al-Nour and the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP). It was these parties who aided by their prevalence in the revolution or foreign support came to quickly sweep the 2011 Parliamentary elections with Mohamed Morsi and the FJP winning the 2012 Presidential Election. It was from this point that concern over the future of Egypt and the integrity of the revolution started to form in my head. On the 12th of August 2012 President Morsi announced that he would annul a constitutional amendment made by SCAF that limited the power of the Presidents office and made him liable to judicial oversight. It was this declarations that initiated  the first of many protests against his regime and led to the President going back on his decree.[1] [2]. In addition to these decrees the President also authorised a declaration that authorised him  to "take any measures necessary to protect the revolution." with Mohammed ElBaradei tweeting that Morsi had "usurped all powers and appointed himself Egypt's new Pharaoh. [3]

Despite waves of popular protest against his leadership in 2012 President Morsi continued approving a number of decisions that made him increasingly unpopular with the opposition, judiciary and military. One of these acts was the appointment of Gamaa Islmiya as governor of Luxor, a hard-liner with connections with the terrorist organisation that was responsible for the death of 56 tourists in 1997 something that sparked fears it could negatively affect tourism in the region.[4]. President Morsi was then seen on Egyptian State TV taking part in prayers with a cleric who spoke of "dealing with the jews and their supporters."[4]

Egyptian helicopters fly over anti-government protesters

 It was these attempts to subvert the revolution, corruption, fuel shortages and the continued poor state of the Egyptian economy that led to the recent protests that caused the eventual downfall of President Morsi. It has been said by supporters of the now deposed President that this movement is a coup against the legitimate government of Egypt and that because Morsi was elected with the support of 51% of the electorate he should remain in power and actually be reinstated by the military. Sadly for the deposed Presidents supporters democracy does not cease to exist afer the ballot box and the deadline that was carried out by the armed forces several weeks ago was on the behest of the 22 million Egyptians that signed the petition calling for the President to step down.[6] As for the concerns and complaints of the Muslim Brotherhood and their political wing the Freedom and Justice Party, a 'legitimate' leader loses legitimacy when he cannot guarantee the confidence and support of his/her population, something that Morsi no longer commands in abundance. 

In my opinion what Egpyt needs is a period of calm interim rule followed by a stable democratically elected government that listens to the concerns of all the citizens, even those who voted against him/her. Any future government needs to be mindful of its populace and ensure that aims of the revolution, free speech, democracy and anti-corruption are taken into account. I'll wait and see what Egypt has in store in the coming months however this time I hope my optimism is well placed

1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/08/morsi-annuls-decree_n_2264623.html
2. http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/12/09/254059.html
3. https://twitter.com/ElBaradei/status/271656968341581824
4. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/17/morsi-appoints-islamist-governor-luxor
5. http://www.jewishpress.com/news/morsi-appears-religiously-fervent-in-prayer-to-destroy-jews/2012/10/22/
6. http://www.france24.com/en/20130629-22-million-sign-anti-morsi-petition-egypt

Turkish F-4 shotdown

Relations between Syria and Turkey have declined rapidly since the beginning of the civil uprising against Assad's regime with Turkey agreeing to house refugees fleeing from the civil war and Syria claiming that the border between the two countries has become a major gateway for the flow of illegal arms and fighters it claims are supporting the anti-government forces operating within the country. Matters seemed to have reached near boiling point with the revelation two days ago that a Turkish military aircraft undergoing testing of an indigenous radar system went missing near the Syrian border with the Syrian Government later confirming that it's air-defence network had shot down the Turkish F-4 Phantom because it had illegally entered Syrian Air-Space. 

Turkish F-4 Phantom

In response to this admission the Turkish Government made a statement confirming that the incident would be discussed during the next meeting of NATO powers and whilst the Turkish administration have repeatedly claimed that military intervention in Syria would not be the best course of action, other nations in the alliance with a more positive outlook on military intervention like the United States could utilize this shoot-down incident as possible reasoning for some form of military intervention or action against the Syrian regime and it's armed forces, this comes despite the fact the Turkish President confirmed later on the possibility that the Turkish aircraft could of illegally entered Syrian airspace, confirming the official statement from the Syrian Government.

Syrian claim of aircrafts movement

Of course this brings up more questions then awnsers. The Turkish Defence Ministry claims that it lost contact with its F-4 Phantom over the Turkish province of Hatlay whilst the Syrian Defence Ministry claim that its air-defence network engaged and shot down the aircraft 1km off the Syrian coast, several kilometres from the province of Hatlay and well within Syrian territory, so who is telling the truth? If the Turkish Defence Ministry is correct then the Syrian Air-Defence force acted prematurely and it could hint that some within the network are deeply fearful of the type of international intervention that was seen in Libya however if the Syrian Defence Ministry was correct it creates another series of questions that need to be answered, did this aircraft accidentally stray into Syrian air-space or was it ordered to? Opening the possibility that this was part of a test of the capabilities and loyalty of the Syrian Air-Defence network before an organized international intervention.

So we have three possible scenarios.

1. The Syrian Air-Defence Network acted out of fear of an international intervention and shot down a Turkish military aircraft within Turkish airspace with our without permission from higher up the command structure.
2. The Syrian Air-Defence Network shot down a Turkish military aircraft that accidentally strayed into Syrian air-space either in an act of fear or a signal to the international community.
3. The Syrian Air-Defence Network shot down a Turkish military aircraft that was performing intelligence operations against the Syrian air-defence network and was eliminated in a clear signal to the Western powers that outside military intervention like in Libya would be defended against far more comprehensively then in Libya

Only time will tell if any of these scenarios I have put forward are even remotely correct, although at the moment the evidence is currently pointing towards scenario number two as the most likely option.

Syrian Revolution

It has become a sad reality that the once peaceful Syrian revolution, a call for democracy and freedom has been hijacked by internal and foreign religious extremists that don't wish to create a democratic state and instead wish to use a de-stabilized Syria as a training centre for insurgents and as a weapon against the Iranian regime, this however has not hardly been covered by the mainstream media who appear to take the word of opposition groups operating outside and inside the country as gospel as it seems they continue to push towards military intervention.

Luckily for me and others news agencies like Russia Today continue to report such stories so one can discover what is actually happening inside the country and it certainly paints a disturbing picture. Saudi Arabia and Qatar are actively financing and arming the Syrian opposition fighters regardless of the groups actual ambitions for the country. These groups have been responsible for a wave of massacres and ambushes that have killed dozens of Syrian civilians and soldiers over the past few months, of course the Syrian regime itself is not completely innocent and it has it's own civilian militia that have carried out similar crimes in areas outside government control however the involvement of foreign powers in Syria's internal affairs leans towards the assumption that the Arab League is not interested in the UN peace plan and simply wishes to continue the current chaos in Syria.

Saudi Arabia has even been caught by secret cameras organizing an auction for people to sell off their own family members to carry out suicide attacks that have killed hundreds of civilians and members of the security services. It appears then that certain members of the Arab League have a vested interest in prolonging the current state of civil war inside Syria to either be used as a facility for training insurgents or as a weapon against Iran by destroying one of the countries only allies.

I don't see any easy or even a difficult solution for the current strife in Syria however I think that the Russians and even the Iranians hold the key to ending the violence in Syria as quickly as possible, sadly however I don't think the powers that be have any interest in whatever the Russian Government is planning.

Iran, Israel and Propaganda 2.0

Iran is often criticized for it's aggressive behaviour in the region, for example when the Iranian Navy carried out a naval operation in the Mediterranean Israeli and an American politicians rallied to the mainstream media to share news of this "grave threat" and use this as reasoning for more sanctions or even military action against the Iranian regime despite the reality that the Iranian Navy only sent a singular destroyer and a replenishment ship, more of a signal of support towards the current Syrian regime and propaganda then a direct threat to the Israeli regime.

The Islamic Republic also inflicted another embarrassing defeat on the American-Air-Force when it reported that it had successfully captured an American intelligence gathering drone caught loitering near Iranian military facilities close to the Afghan boarder, the capture of the drone opened the possibility that the Iranian Military could of managed to capture the drone by simply hacking into the control interface and forcing it to land safely into the desert for safe capture, the embarrassment continued for the American Government when they asked to return the drone, an Iranian company instead offered to send several scale models of the drone directly to the American President as a "gift" instead of the drone.

Of course the Islamic Republic of Iran is no stranger to being attacked by foreign power. Iranian infrastructure and science has been under siege by a mixture of cyber-attacks and assassinations carried out by both the Israeli and American Intelligence Services but these attacks are not placed in their proper context, surely these attacks actually give a basis of support for allowing the Iranian regime to have nuclear weapons as they are already routinely attacked despite the fact that the Iranian leadership has constantly and consistently declared nuclear weapons to be prohibited and even said it was everyones duty to "protect against this disaster".

I've been repeating this line repeatedly but it bears repeating. The Military-Industrial Complex and the Politicians they support are continuing to push for military action against the Islamic Republic of Iran and it will be done under the false pretence of dismantling the Iranian nuclear weapons program and I am not in favour in creating an even costlier Iraqi style conflict.

Planned Parenthood can't win

The Texan branch of Planned Parenthood recently gained notoriety in the press for denying a massive 500,000 dollar donation from "comedian" Tucker Max. Why would the fact that a private organization denied a source of funding get into the news? It does when the organization in question recently had it's portion of state medicare funding cut by the Texan State Legislature and the organization recently made a statement announcing that it was looking for alternative sources of investment so it would not have to reduce it's services in Texas. So then if Planned Parenthood is in need of finance and the state organization would have to enforce cutbacks if they don't find investment why did they refuse this massive donation?

Simple answer? Tucker Max is one of the most sexist, selfish individuals in the world at the moment and certainly a toxic source of funding for any organization let alone Planned Parenthood. Simply looking at the career and humour of Tucker can bring up multiple reasons why his money was denied, the guy has made a living and a fortune of an idiotic style of comedy called "fratire" which seems to me like an idiotic excuse for morons like Tucker to get drunk and behave like bigoted and sexist caveman audience, his jokes seem to centre around calling women second-rate citizens and sluts "who will doing anything for money". It's not surprising to learn that people have accused him multiple times of adding to the rape culture especially with jokes like "blind girls never see it coming

It is becoming increasingly difficult to see why anyone can criticize Planned Parenthood for denying the donation from Max Tucker especially when Tucker has attacked the organization in the past, using twitter to post offensive comments about Planned Parenthood a now infamous tweet about "slutty whores" and waiting rooms gaining attention before Tucker deleted it. In another offensive tweet he tweeted that it would be cooler if Planned Parenthood was just a giant staircase with someone pushing pregnant women down them, apparently like a giant "water park slide".

The infamous tweet.

Tucker's offensive attitude to women and feelings towards Planned Parenthood are not just the only reason for denying the donation. Tucker complained about his "excessive tax burden" to his publicist and wished to do something about it that would also give him press attention for his latest book, of course the Publicist suggested that Tucker donate a large sum of money to Planned Parenthood and in return they name on of the centres in his honour, something that would certainly give him a lot of press attention and be free advertising for his new book at the same time, so Planned Parenthood was perfectly within the right to deny this donation from an individual that has been offensive to women, the organization and only wishes to donate to lessen his tax burden.

I wonder what the reaction from the right-wing would of been if Planned Parenthood actually accepted the donation from Tucker Max, would they of congratulated the Texas branch of PP for making some headway on securing it's financial future? I don't think so. They would of attacked the organization for gaining it's source of finance from such an immoral source basically they would of used the entire argument for Planned Parenthood's refusal of the donation to attack them. It's part of the continued attempt by conservatives to destroy Planned Parenthood an organization that benefits millions of American's.

Let's hope that the democrats and progressives in and outside government actually actively defend Planned Parenthood and don't let it suffer the same fate as A.C.O.R.N.

Failure of Anarchy

I've come across quite a growing number of anarchists on the internet and i've always been left confused after conversing with them. According to the dictionary (www.dictionary.reference.com) anarchy is defined as a "state of society without government or law".  

Debating/Conversing with an anarchist is fairly simple especially over the internet. When encountering one a key tool in your arsenal is to ask them to provide an example of an anarchist society that has ever functioned on a regional or local level, of course I have been provided with numerous examples in fact today several people defending the principles of anarchy have given me around three examples of an apparent anarchist state but of course when delving into these examples you often find issues with their defence.


The Icelandic Commonwealth was handed to me as an example of an apparent anarchist state yet the very second this country was scrutinized the example was blown out of the water for being completely and utterly false. The Icelandic Commonwealth was divided into numerous communities called goðorð and whilst this may be similar to certain anarchists principles of a voluntary communities these communities could only be created by certain land owners or people that had gained their title ancestrally these Chieftains would them meet in the Althing (early national assembly) when a dispute rose between different communities or if someone wanted to appeal a decision made by a Chieftain, something that would be decided by the collective leadership. These examples of regional and state-wide leadership and even collective leadership turn the notion that the Icelandic Commonwealth was an anarchy or even close to once to be pure fantasy.


Examples aside the very idea of a functioning anarchist state is pure fantasy to me. Any region without basic laws and governance would collapse into a state of complete destitution, an example of the failure of this system is fairly easy to find and will provide you with a wealth of ammunition to use against any anarchist you stumble upon the internet or in real life.


Your communities drinking supply is being heavily polluted by several large industrial factories that have no qualms with dumping their highly toxic chemicals down stream, the result of the dumping is having an horrific impact on the health and economy of your anarchic community as current filtration techniques cannot filter the vast amount of chemicals in the water and local wildlife has either left the region entirely or completely been killed off by the toxic sludge, attempts to peacefully negotiate with the owners of the factory have completely failed and they posses enough weapons to make any attack against them completely fruitless and once that would most likely end up in the complete destruction of your community. What is the solution? Move into another area? What if the same problem is repeated across the state or even the entire country? Where will you be forced to move then? Could you even move such a large swathe of supplies across such a large distance without being victim to raiders and other criminal elements within the non-functioning society?


It's the problem that most anarchists face, in this situation their is no solution to the problem and the only winners are those with the financial and military clout to do as they wish whilst in a system with a functioning system of governance and regulation, a member of the town could make a simple complaint to the necessary regulatory authority, the Environmental Agency (in the UK) and the Environmental Protection Agency (in the US) etc etc.  


So now we see what a true anarchist system would be like, those with sufficient monetary and military capital would rule over those communities who lack the financial or military power to ensure their own quality of living (river pollution example). The entire idea reminds me of Feudalism when the powerful land-owners controlled the entire life of the less powerful (although more numerous) plebs and serfs.

Iran, Israel and propaganda

As the United States and various more extreme elements in Europe called for military action against Iran in an attempt to stop it's alleged nuclear weapons program it has become clear that the apparent "free" press has become involved in this increasing movement towards military action.

Glenn Greenwald, a journalist for Salon.com published an excellent article that exposed the use of former high-ranking US servicemen to provide objective analysis on issues on national defence on NBC something that would be of non-issue if the same "experts" were not hired by various defence contracts and have a clear conflict of interest with providing the public with information that could damage their employees healthy war profits.

Former General Barry McCaffrey is one of those so called "experts" that has come to notoriety, as it has become public knowledge that he presented a presentation to the top editors of NBC entitled Iran & the Gulf: Creeping towards war" a blatant propaganda piece meant to incite conflict which we can now see thanks to the presentation slides being leaked

"It is in my opinion that we are now in a high-risk situation in the Gulf with a significant probability of Iranian escalation within the next ninety days" - General McCraffrey

This news seems pretty alarming until you read the sentence just below the paragraph which states that the United States Navy is moving three carrier groups into the region. Three Carrier Groups? One Carrier group is enough to cause serious damage to Iran, how do you expect the Iranian regime to react when the most powerful navy in the world is flexing it's muscles right outside your front door? The American media and government went crazy over the Iranian Navy sending a singular frigate into the Mediterranean to meet up with it's Syrian counterparts on a training exercise so why can't the Iranian regime show a similar reaction over a much large task force arriving near to it's sovereign territory for no explicit reason.

A single carrier group (USS Ronald Reagan)

The report also claims the conclusion from an intelligence assessment that claims that the Iranian Navy lack the capability to close the Strait of Hormuz, according to this presentation the Iranian Military could not just close the Strait of Hormuz but also strike GSC economic targets with "highly advanced aircraft" and it's a "high probability" that the Iranians could sink a US aircraft carrier, pretty hilarious if you read other sections of the report on the Iranian military as it views the capability of the Iranian military, calling the aircraft of the Iranian air-force "obsolete" and the command structure of the Iranian air-defence network "weak and vulnerable to electronic warfare"

Strait of Hormuz

Why would the Iranian Navy even consider closing the Strait of Hormuz? Due to the large amount of economic sanctions placed on the country the Iranian economy has become increasingly dependent on the sale of oil and natural gas to a small amount of countries that are still willing to trade with Iran, closing the route this oil travels down with sea-mines and submarines would kill the Iranian economy and lead to de-stabilization that could even topple the Iranian regime, closing the strait would also result in direct military intervention from the oil rich countries which also depend on the strait for economic survival and the United States and i'm guessing that the Iranian regime don't wish to see a large part of their military destroyed.

Stopping the spread of nuclear proliferation seems to be a common trend with those supporting military intervention with Iran, something taken from the build-up to the Iraq war when so called "experts" claimed that the Iraqi regime had the capability to launch nuclear missiles at Israel and other American strategic assets in the region. This report adds to the propaganda claiming that the Iranian regime has the capability to construct nuclear weapons in "60 months" and "strike against targets in Israel, GCC States and US regional US forces" so Iran is going to have the capability to strike with a nuclear weapon in five years? Even if this fact is true why would it matter? Israel has it's own nuclear weapons and any strike against Israel would result in direct nuclear relation against the Iranian state that would result in complete and utter destruction and the loss of tens if not hundreds of thousands of lives. The presentation also fails to include the opinion of the Supreme Leader of Iran who says on his official website

"We believe that using nuclear weapons is haraam and prohibited and that it is everybody’s duty to make efforts to protect humanity against this great disaster." - Supreme Leader of Iran Khameni

Israeli Mossad Chief Tamir Pado has even been heard by Israeli ambassadors and envoys claiming that even a nuclear Iran would not threaten the continued existence of the Israeli state and Former Mossad Chief Effaim Halevy has been quoted saying the same thing and believes that Israel and Iran can return to peaceful relations enjoyed before the Iranian revolution

"What is the significance of the term existential threat?" the ambassadors quoted Pardo as asking. "Does Iran pose a threat to Israel? Absolutely. But if one said a nuclear bomb in Iranian hands was an existential threat, that would mean that we would have to close up shop and go home. That's not the situation. The term existential threat is used too freely."

I think Israel is strong enough to protect itself, to take care of itself. I think ultimately it is not in the power of Iran to destroy the state of Israel,” - Efraim Halevy

It appears then this report is another piece of propaganda made be employees of the defence contractor to bait the United States and it's allies into another middle eastern conflict to bolster their already massive profits with the blood of soldiers and innocent civilians.

Leaked presentation source: http://media.salon.com/2012/02/Scan0011.pdf