Updates and Headlines

There are so many pertinent news stories today, we'll just post headlines with a few highly germane comments lifted. But for the most part there is only room for headlines.

1. Updates on Egypt:

Cairo: Thousands gather after relatively quiet morning

Exodus in Egypt: US Suggests Fleeing as Soon as Possible

Egyptians Defiant as Military Does Little to Quash Protests

Egypt Riots: MKs fear more infiltrators

Is the spreading anarchy in Egypt going to cause a heavy price to Israeli demographic? Knesset House Committee Chairman David Azoulay (Shas) expressed his concerns on Sunday that the uprising against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak would lead to a massive flow of infiltrates into Israel.

Israel watches with concern as Egypt teeters

The other possibility that everyone is talking about is that the Muslim Brotherhood, the forerunner of the Palestinian Hamas, will take over. Experts have noted that he Brotherhood is the only large organized opposition force in Egypt, so if the Mubarak regime falls completely, the likelihood of a Brotherhood takeover is high.

If that scenario plays out, there are many that fear Egypt will go the route of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. The only thing that is currently missing is a charismatic Islamic figurehead. Iranian leaders on Saturday said they were pleased with how things are going in Egypt, and said they felt the revolution there had been inspired by their own.

Israel Holds Its Breath

This article brings forth an issue which has been kept relatively quiet:

Meanwhile, however, yet another United Nations resolution aimed at Israel like a guided missile is making its way through the Security Council and, at this point, only the U.S. can shoot it down with a veto.

The UN resolution declares that any construction in the West Bank by Israel is illegal, even if it is in its capitol, Jerusalem.

Though not confirmed, the rumor-mill in Washington is saying that the Obama administration will not veto the latest in an endless succession of anti-Israel resolutions.

If true, President Obama would become the first U.S. President to not defend Israel’s sovereignty.

If true, it would signal to the entire Middle East and the world that America is abandoning the only true democracy in the region and its longtime ally.

2. Recent Commentaries:

Hamas gunmen from Gaza battle Egyptian forces in Sinai

Gunmen of Hamas's armed wing, Ezz e-Din al Qassam, crossed from Gaza into northern Sinai Sunday, Jan. 30 to attack Egyptian forces and push them back. They acted on orders from Hamas' parent organization, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, confirmed by its bosses in Damascus, to open a second, Palestinian front against the Mubarak regime. The Muslim Brotherhood is therefore more active in the uprising than it would appear.

That is most certainly bad news. We keep hearing about how wonderful it is that Muslims and Christians are united in this struggle against the "oppression" of Egypt's current leaders, and to a degree this is true. But just as we have seen before (see below) this will end as soon as the radical element of Islam takes control - and then we'll see extreme persecution ensue as it always does.

Sunday, Hamas terrorists aim to follow this up by pushing Egyptian forces out of the northern and central regions of the peninsula and so bring Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip under Palestinian control. Hamas would then be able to break out of the Egyptian blockade of the enclave and restore its smuggling routes in full.

And that is worth remembering.

Early Sunday, the Egyptian army quietly began transferring armored reinforcements including tanks through the tunnels under the Suez from Egypt proper eastward to northern Sinai in effort to drive the Hamas forces back

The Egyptian troop presence in Sinai, which violates the terms of the peace treaty, has not been mentioned by either of the peace partners. Our Jerusalem sources report the Netanyahu government may have tacitly approved it.

Hamas' Gaza leaders do not seem to fear Israel will resort to military or even air action to interfere with their incursion of Sinai, although it brings their armed units within easy reach of the long Egyptian border with Israel.

Carter Redux?

For those who lived through the 1979 Iran revolution and the abandonment of the Shah of Iran by the Carter administration, there is a tangible sense of foreboding as to what form the outcome of the current upheaval in Egypt will take.

Like Carter, Obama has made overtures to the Islamists. 1n 1978 Jimmy Carter was on the side of "human rights" and eagerly embraced Ayatollah Khomeini. Carter's UN Ambassador Andrew Young went so far as to call him "some kind of saint".

It now turns out that in 2009, the Egyptian daily Almasry Alyoum reported that President Obama secretly met with representatives of the jihadist Muslim Brotherhood, the Hamas and Al Qaeda ally that has been barred by the US and put on the terror watch list by the Bush administration.

The last comment above is one of many articles which has seized upon this meeting between the US and the Muslim brotherhood. Unfortunately, it looks more and more as though this actually did occur.

There are numerous reports out of Cairo that the Islamist element has not only helped foment this uprising but is now taking control of it.

Is this 1979 all over again? The world cannot afford another Iran on the shores of the Mediterranean thus in control of the Suez canal and completing an encirclement of Israel. That will almost guarantee a Middle East War.

Egypt and Iran: We WIll Again Fuel the Fires of Revolution

This paragraph is worth remembering and repeating over and over in the coming weeks:

But revolutions don’t stop with the initial demands.

Revolutions create power vacuums that draw new players with different agendas from those who initially sought to make the revolution. Revolutions move to the extremes, usually to the left. Those who join the mob to demand more liberty will ultimately create a regime that extinguishes all liberty. Did those who ran through the streets of Paris in July 1789 think they were revolting for the ensuing “Terror”? Did the workers who charged the Winter Palace in 1917 think they were fighting for the Gulag? Did Banisadr and Ghotbzadeh think they were replacing the shah of Iran with a theocracy?

There is more worth remembering from this article:

The choice in the streets of Egypt is not Mubarak or democracy.

It is Mubarak or the Muslim Brotherhood. It is the Muslim Brotherhood, like the ayatollahs of Tehran, who are the best situated to benefit from and direct the revolution, unless of course the Egyptian military holds firm.

If the Brotherhood comes to power, it will behave as did its proxy in Gaza: one man, one vote, one time, with the opposition shot in the legs and thrown off rooftops.

For decades we have been dumping billions of dollars worth of advanced weapons into Egypt. A revolution means that those weapons could fall into the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood. This will tilt the balance of power in the Middle East. Emboldened by success in Egypt, radical Islam will next show its power in the Gulf and threaten the world’s oil supply. Already there are riots in Yemen.

The world as we knew it might just spin out of control. It remains to be seen if the Egyptian military, with or without our support, will rise to the task of restoring order and stability in Egypt and become a vehicle for vital political change. But if Obama emulates the horrendous decisions Jimmy Carter made during the Iranian revolution, radical Islam will spread through the region like a forest fire with the Saudis facing the ultimate conflagration.

This situation in Egypt looks more and more like Iran in the early days of its revolution. As the Muslim Brotherhood moves in more and more, one can safely bet that we'll see a radical Islamic faction seize control. We can only watch and pray at this point.

The MSM will attempt to paint this crisis in Egypt as "non-Muslim" and even this morning a pundit on the news was gleefully declaring that Christians and Muslims are united in this effort. Don't believe it. Not for a second. It may be the case, superficially, in the early stages - but as we have seen over and over and over in the past in these types of uprisings - once the Muslim Brotherhood gains complete power - persecution will ensue. And it will do so in a big way.