The Pyramid Scheme: Egypt and the Politics of Revolution

Yesterday, there was a military coup d’état  in Egypt.

It was not, as is commonly supposed, aimed at the Muslim Brotherhood government of President Mohammad Morsi. Yes, Morsi was overthrown, and is allegedly currently being held in an “undisclosed location”, but he was not the primary target of the coup.

Why do I say this?

I say this because Morsi has been among the walking dead for some time now. When thirty three million people rise up in protest against you, you’ve only two options. Quit, or unleash holy hell on them. If you’re to do the latter, better be sure that either you’re a nuclear power with a credible deterrent, or you’ve got what Chinese Emperors used to call the Mandate of Heaven (said Heaven being Washington these days; that’s why the Bahrain regime can get away with gunning down protestors on the streets with hunting rifles). Otherwise, you’re toast.

Obviously, Morsi had neither. In other words, he was going down.

Now, let me say a couple of words about the Egyptian Army. The Egyptian Army is not a very nice institution. In fact, it is a completely brutal, thoroughly politicised, institution full of thugs whose allegiance is not to Egypt, but to its own interests (it directly controls more than one-third of the Egyptian economy), and to its own interests alone.

Let us not forget that the ex-dictator, Hosni Mubarak, who was overthrown in 2011, and who is in prison now, is a former Egyptian army general and that he only fell when the army no longer propped up his regime.

Ever since the early 1970s, the Egyptian Army has no longer been the property of the Egyptian state. It has, instead, been the property of the United States of America, which provides it huge amounts of military assistance, and which, in consequence, controls all its activities. The Egyptian army could never have contemplated this coup without the blessings of the US, just as it could never have abandoned Mubarak till the US gave the go-ahead to abandon him.

So just why should this army suddenly be so filled with concern for the protesting people that it would overthrow the new ruler, as it allowed the old one to be overthrown?

The answer is, of course, that it didn’t.

The coup wasn’t aimed at unseating Morsi, who was as good as gone. It was a pre-emptive coup, aimed against the people of Egypt, and with only one end in mind – to prevent the emergence of a genuinely popular government or leader. Whoever takes over now will do so under the army’s supervision, and will be under the army’s control.

Why should the army want to keep the government under control, and why should the Empire allow this?

The first part of the answer is that, as I said, the Egyptian Army only looks out for its own interests. The last thing it wants is for any genuine popular government which will clip its wings. It’s seen what Erdogan did in Turkey to the Turkish army, and it has absolutely no desire to be similarly cut to size.

As for the Empire...

Of all the Arab nations, Egypt is probably the most important. Saudi Arabia is important because of its oil; Iraq because of its oil and its strategic position near Iran; but Egypt, the most populous Arab nation, sits between Asia and Africa, and connects the two halves of the Arab ummah together. Also, it’s right on the border of the so-called state of Israel, and the Zionist entity’s security trumps all other considerations where the American empire is concerned.

Therefore, the Empire wants to – in fact, the Empire must – control Egypt. It got its lucky break when Nasser died, and his successor Sadat handed the nation over to it on a platter. It’s fine with a fundamentalist Muslim government being in power – after all, Muslim fundamentalism and American imperialism have always been the best of allies – as long as the fundamentalists manage to hold on to power and the lid down on protests. However, if the protests grow to a critical level, the Empire has to step in and manage a transformation.

That’s why, until it grew evident that he couldn’t hold on any longer, the Empire backed Mubarak – and that’s why it’s still backing Erdogan in Turkey, where the protests haven’t yet reached critical mass. Once the protestors reach that level, though, the formerly loyal dictator becomes dispensable – the Empire’s only desire is to maintain control, by all means possible. Since it owns the army, the tool’s ready to hand.

Therefore, the people who are rejoicing at the overthrow of the Morsi government are seriously deluded. Morsi was not overthrown by the people; if he had, there would’ve been cause for optimism. He was overthrown by the army – and the army is emphatically not on the side of the people.

At this point, the fate of Morsi is probably unimportant, except to prove again to Washington’s toadies that being an American lackey has a short shelf life. Morsi can go to the wall as far as his relevance goes; it’s who’ll come after him that matters. This person will either be an army-backed dictator, or a rubber stamp owned lock, stock and barrel by the US Empire. Either way, his only purpose in power will be to perpetuate the military’s and its American masters’ interests.

Since this isn’t the medieval era, the facts won’t be hidden forever, and just as the overthrow of Mubarak was soon followed by protests against Morsi, so the next puppet ruler will soon face protests of his own. Over a period of time, these protests might force a genuine change. It might happen someday. But it will not happen as long as the Zionist entity and the American Empire do not allow it.

That’s something the people cheering at Morsi’s fall are about to find out for themselves, I think.

Further reading:

http://www.syrianews.cc/washington-egypts-coup-detat/