Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is one of the key heads-of-state participating in the United Nations General Assembly’s 70th meeting.
President al-Sisi, an advocate of an Islamic “reformation” and one of the most engaged warriors in the war against terror, says the struggle he faces is “ferocious.”
Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said in an interview that the Mideast region needs to cooperate to defeat a worsening terrorist threat that has led to a “ferocious war” in Egypt and created the danger of some countries “sliding into failure.”In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press Saturday night, el-Sissi also said that Syria should not be divided after its civil war, that the Egyptian military needs to be “augmented” to defeat terrorists fighting in the Sinai and Western Desert, and that efforts should be renewed to solve the Palestinian issue and expand Egypt’s nearly 40-year-peace with Israel to include more Arab countries.
Egypt’s President also indicated that the last two years were a “real test of the endurance and strength” of the ties with this nation. It appears that al_Sisi has a bit more to endure, as he has been given another taste of the Obama Administration’s SmartPower™.
While Mr. Obama insists on welcoming the Russian autocrat whom the West has sanctioned for invading his neighbors and repressing his own people, he has refused to meet the president of Egypt, the most populous Arab nation and a traditional American ally that is battling Islamic extremists on two fronts.In an interview, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry expressed guarded optimism about Russia’s growing military and diplomatic involvement in the Middle East and ongoing efforts to end the four-year-old war in Syria, which has killed more than 250,000 and forced millions of Syrians to flee.Mr. Shoukry said he hopes that Russian mediation might help find a “solution” to the crisis given Moscow’s “longstanding relationship” with Syria’s regime, referring, among other things, to Russia’s naval base in Tartus, its only Middle Eastern port.“All the international community should be involved in trying to end Syrian suffering and find a solution,” he said.
As I have noted before, Putin has recently been courting Egypt with more vigor than Caesar did Cleopatra.
And, like Caesar, Putin seems to be backing his interest with military might. Russia has now has increased its participation in the fight against ISIS with something more that hashtags and platitudes:
For the second time this month, Russia moved to expand its political and military influence in the Syria conflict and left the United States scrambling, this time by reaching an understanding, announced on Sunday, with Iraq, Syria and Iran to share intelligence about the Islamic State.Like Russia’s earlier move to bolster the government of President Bashar al-Assad by deploying warplanes and tanks to a base near Latakia, Syria, the intelligence-sharing arrangement was sealed without notice to the United States. American officials knew that a group of Russian military officers were in Baghdad, but they were clearly surprised when the Iraqi military’s Joint Operations Command announced the intelligence sharing accord on Sunday..
If it is any consolation for al-Sisi, Putin snubbed Obama:
In his long-awaited speech at the United Nations, the Russian president fiercely attacked American policy in Syria and around the world and criticised the West for “exporting social experiments” in the form of democratic revolutions, which he blamed for the Middle East crisis.
Earlier this month, the US sent 75 more troops to assist al-Sisi in his battle against ISIS. However, given the recent snub, it appears that Egypt’s President will have to endure more SmartPower™ antics until Jan. 20, 2017.
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