I have tried to avoid talking about other things while Israel's vile offensive against Gaza continues, but as I consider Dictator Sisi to be even more guilty for the suffering of the Gazans, I will post this.
On Saturday when asked about Ceasefire negotiations over Gaza, the Egyptian foreign minister stuck by their ceasefire proposal drawn up with cooperation of Israel - now that Israel has taken out its anger on Gaza for the Palestinians forming a unity government, to return to how things were before Israel decided to do that and kill hundreds.
Egypt under Dictator Sisi has closed off the border with Gaza and is actively complicit in its treatment of the Palesinians.
WHen attempting to "negotiate" peace, it was even unwilling to speak to one of the parties and instead decided to more or less lob a proposal agreed with israel onto the internet as a demand for th Gazans. Obviously it was rejected and Hamas instead proposed more reasonable terms.
Egypt is not happy under these terms as it probably wants to see Hamas crushed far more than Israel - while Israel uses Hamas as a bogeyman to the outside world, it also internally recognises Hamas' moderation and knows that if it is removed far more extreme groups could gain power.
Going back to the title after discussing Dictator Sisi's treatment of Palestinians, News has recently beein doing the rounds that a number of Egyptian soldiers have been killed near the Libyan border by extremists linked to Hamas.
Ofcourse some sources had tried to blame this on the ousted Muslim Brotherhoo - ignoring that the army had been previously attacked when Muslim Brotherhood was in power - and the Egyptian president Morsi had to confront the army chiefs over their lax standards of providing protection to their troops.
Soldiers have been killed and many in Egypt are feeling outrage. But the person to blame for this is Sisi and the Egyptian top brass.
The EGyptian top brass lead by Dictator Sisi do not want to control a strong army, as that is a threat to them. A strong army could remove a corrupt leader and Dictator Sisi wouldn't want that.
More, for the past 3 decades, the Egyptian army has not been used as a defensive or fighting force. with deals with both Israel and the US, it no longer has a need to have its soldiers well trained.
The only people the Egyptian army is willing to confront and kill is its own citizens, most of who peacefully demand change.
The top brass want a large army as cheap labour for their business empire of making cheap electric goods, not to fight wars or to protect the country.
This has lead to mismanagement of epic proportions. There can be a comparison between the armies of Egypt and of Iraq - relatively poorly trained soldiers given high tech weaponry by America.
Should a threat like ISIS appear in Egypt, the army could be routed just like the Iraqi army and that would be bad for everyone.
The Egyptian army should want to be strong, well trained and professional, one willing to fight actual foreign aggressors instead of kissing their ... erm ... feet. The army should be unwilling to be used as a tool for oppression of Egyptian civillians.
It should also get out of business. Using recruits as cheap labour helps prevent private enterprise developing in Egypt. while this keeps the army powerful, it keeps the people poor and the country under developed and ripe for exploitation.
Finally the army should get rid of Sisi, and execute him for his crimes.
