With every new report originating from Egypt, it has become more and more obvious that it's not what is going on inside the nation that actually matters to the exterior world. For outside parties involved, the hardships and tragedies of Egyptians are of little importance. What matters is the continuation of chaos enabling them to steadfastly keep up their strategic presence in the vital region.
Continue After The Break.
It is virtually impossible to follow the rapidly changing picture inside Egypt. The amount of people killed in protests has approached, as well as exceeded 1,000. Prosecutors have added another 15 days to President Morsi's detention. The supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohammed Badie has been arrested, and that among spreading reports that former President Hosni Mubarak will soon be released soon.
Indeed, everything "returneth again based on its circuits."
And among these turbulent events, rather dubious reports are originating from countries that actually pull the string of the events.
As the US President Barack Obama has reportedly made no decision whether to hold up economic or military aid to Egypt, the US'main allies in the region – Israel and Saudi Arabia – are unequivocally supporting the Egyptian military in their crackdown on the opposition. Israeli officials are carrying it out anonymously after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet to not talk publicly concerning the conflict in Egypt.
As for Saudi Arabia, its support for the military is overt. On Monday, as reported by the Washington Post, the kingdom promised to compensate Egypt for just about any aid that Western countries might withdraw. This might come as a surprise, since elsewhere in the world the House of Saud is known to support most radical and militant Islamist forces. Way more, such policies may apparently contradict the US stance in regards to the existing turmoil in Egypt, if Washington finally decides to withhold its support for the ruling regime.
Explaining your choice to expand support to the military regime persecuting Islamists in Egypt, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, referred to the nation as "our second homeland" and emphasized that Saudi Arabia will never let it be destabilized.
It still remains unclear what type of "stabilization" Prince Saud al-Faisal was keeping in mind besides total extermination of foes of the existing regime.
But all this can be explained in a much simpler way. Today's Egypt went definately not the times of Gamal Abdel Nasser when it had been the acknowledged leader of the Arab (and hence, Islamic) world. Since then, Saudi Arabia – by far the richest state in the Middle East – has always been tempted to fill the positioning, but has always experienced rivalry from other Arab and non-Arab Muslim countries, also laying their claims to leadership.
The terrorist attacks of 9/11 (perpetrated, incidentally, mostly by Saudi nationals) led to certainly one of such rivals, Iraqi Saddam Hussein, to be wiped out. The "Arab Spring" led to the elimination of Muammar Gaddafi's regime in Libya and the removal of the last Egyptian strong-arm leader Hosni Mubarak from the political scene.
But that has not established Saudi Arabia since the acknowledged leader in the Muslim world. At the least two rivals remain there, and neither is usually to be as easily handled as, as an example, Iraq or Libya.
And it could be noteworthy that in Egypt, both Iran and Turkey, in addition to another Gulf Monarchy, Qatar, are supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. So that it comes only natural that, keeping in mind the strategic rivalry for leadership in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia preferred to step away from its usual stance of supporting Islamic radicals and chose to render support to the anti-Islamic military regime. In this sense, for the House of Saud, Egypt is nothing more than merely a playground with very good stakes.
As for the US, the ongoing rivalry in the Middle East presents a win-win situation.
Washington has been feeling an increasing pressure both politically and economically, and is no further able to cope with all the challenges it faces across the globe. So, by keeping a low profile and by creating "controlled chaos", it can weaken the regional powers (no matter whether they're nominal allies, like Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, or foes, like Iran) and thus maintain its strategic influence.
Washington has been feeling an increasing pressure both politically and economically, and is no further able to cope with all the challenges it faces across the globe. So, by keeping a low profile and by creating "controlled chaos", it can weaken the regional powers (no matter whether they're nominal allies, like Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, or foes, like Iran) and thus maintain its strategic influence.
The sole question, though, is whether the exterior parties haven't overdone it, and whether the "controlled chaos" hasn't already gotten unmanageable
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