Press TV has conducted an interview with political commentator Mark Glenn to discuss the political situation in Egypt.
Below is a rough transcript of the interview.
Press TV: There has been a boycott now we know, by the Muslim Brotherhood youth movements and a religious ban even imposed by a senior Egyptian cleric. Is this polarized society headed to a better future in your opinion?
Glenn: No, I do not believe that to be the case. In fact, what they done, the United States and Israel, is that they have installed a military dictatorship over Egypt which differs very little than what existed before under Hosni Mubarak. I think that Israel and the United States understand that the demographic and the political tension in Egypt is so strong and so powerful that they literally have to have what was the former chief of staff of the Egyptian military sitting on top of these people, who has the loyalty of the military, who understands the way that Egyptian military works, who has very close ties with the United States and with the military industrial complex in the United States.
I think that what the United States and Israel have in effect done is they have put the meanest, most vicious dog they could get a hold of and put this dog in front of the Egyptian people as a threat that if they entertained any notions of departing from what is the threat in the Middle East – let it be Israel or these other players – that the full force of the Egyptian military backed up by the full force of Israeli military and the American military will be set loose upon the Egyptian people.
This notion that this is a good thing, that this is going to promote democracy in the region, this is just more Hollywoodism that the world is subjected to, the result of a disproportionate Zionist control of a Western media and discussion.
Press TV: Mr. Glenn, those who are supporting [Abdel Fattah] el-Sisi have been saying this. They say that the United States has been supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. They are even accusing the US of failing to support the current roadmap or the plan right now for Egypt. What’s your response to that because you are saying that the United States is actually supporting the current administration and Sisi?
Glenn: Absolutely. In the early days of the military coup that took place last year, Barack Obama and his administration made noises, just noises in the direction of protesting against what had taken place, just the usual Western noise. It is nothing but hypocrisy, but the fact of the matter is if this coup had taken place, and if it had been against Washington’s interests, and if it had been against Israel’s interests, then the United States would have rolled in there the way they did in Libya, the way that it rolled into Iraq, and other countries.
So, we have to look at the Obama administration’s early noises after the military take over as basically just the theatricalism. The back doors, when the microphones were away, when the cameras were away, Sisi was getting his marching orders, he was getting his promises and his assurances. Even to this moment, if it really were against the United States interests to have Sisi rise to power, we would see all kinds of turmoil that we saw in Egypt, two or three years ago that led to the ouster of [Hosni] Mubarak. You know we have to be very keen about understanding the way that special effects are applied to political situations like this in order to create certain illusions.
Sisi is going to be Washington’s man, going to be Israel’s man. The Israeli ambassador to Egypt sent a note to Sisi in the early days of the junta last year, congratulating him and telling him that he was a hero for Israel. He was a hero for Jews worldwide. He’s exactly who they need in power right now and I think that this basically puts an exclamation point on this whole notion concerning the “revolution” the “Arab Spring” especially as it took place in Egypt, there was nothing springy about it, there was nothing revolutionary about it. It was just a chopping off one head and replacing it with another.
Press TV: Mr. Glenn, I guess the other guest is saying we shouldn’t over-simplify the situation here and when we are speaking about this relationship, it’s not the US ordering and Egypt obeying. I would just like to bring in a quote here, Daniel Kurtzer, a former US ambassador to both Israel and Egypt, saying that a strong US-Egyptian relationship is necessary for the US to achieve its many objectives in the Middle East. How do you think that relationship is looking now?
Glenn: I would certainly agree that there is some elasticity that exists. It’s not as rigid as some would like it to appear, but at the end of the day even the most elastic bands can be used as a leash in controlling in one hand and around the neck in the other.
As far as Mubarak and [Mohamed] Morsi, yes it’s true Mubarak America’s man for a long time, but there were certain things where his interests diverged from those of the United States and Israel, namely with war against Iran and he started making noise, and of course his old age threatened that a real revolution could take place in Egypt if one of his cronies was elected to replace him. And I believe that this is the reason why Mubarak was removed.
I believe this was the reason that Morsi was removed. Yes. He did do certain things the Muslim Brotherhood said they would maintain the peace treaty with Israel, but at the same time, Morsi also was insistent on Iran being a part of any peace talks involving the situation in Syria. Now, it’s true that the Russians have made several trips to Egypt. You have had the foreign ministry has been there, I believe the defense ministry has been there. And it is true that there has been this appearance where Egypt has been brokering what appears to be a closer relationship with Russia.
But at the end of the day, if Egypt is still receiving a billion and a half dollars a year from the United States in form of aid and military surplus and hardware things like that, then these ties with Russia mean nothing. And I think that at the end of the day, that is exactly what is going to happen because for the simple reason I said earlier, if this thing were really going in a direction that were going to undermine Israel’s interests in the region, American’s interest in the region, then all of a sudden NATO would be involved and you would see a repeat of what took place in Libya and against Egypt.
