Headlines:
• Aljazeera Questions Legitimacy of Foley and Sotloff Beheading Videos
• Sisi Blames Outages on Lack of Investment
• Pakistan: Army Not Backing Anti-Government Demos
Aljazeera Questions Legitimacy of Foley and Sotloff Beheading Videos
The Arabic version of Aljazeera, the Doha-based broadcaster funded by the House of Thani in Qatar, has joined the growing chorus questioning the beheading of journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff. The news channel says the videos are “unconvincing” and Foley and Sotloff are actors right out of “Hollywood” casting. It believes the videos were produced as a pretext ahead of a U.S. invasion of Syria. “Perhaps the first thing that draws the attention of the viewer” in the first beheading video is that “Foley was playing the role of champion not the victim only, for he recites a lengthy statement in peerless theatrical performance, and it seems from tracking the movement of his eyes that he was reading a text from an autocue,” Aljazeera reports. The news network poses questions similar to those asked by Infowars.com and other alternative news sites soon after the video appeared. For instance, a clue the video was staged is the lack of blood when Foley and Sotloff supposedly have their throats cut by a masked jihadist. The “knife being moved on the neck of the victim six times triggered no blood,” Aljazeera notes. Moreover, neither of the supposed victims display fear despite the fact they are about to have their heads sawed off. “It also raised questions over how Foley, who was kidnapped since 2012, reached the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Even more, it raised doubts over the identity of the executed man, claiming that he does not look like Foley,” reports Al Arabiya News. “It quoted unidentified ‘activists’ as claiming that Foley had previously worked for the U.S. Department of State and that he might have had links with intelligence, ‘which could mean that he colluded in the fabrication of the tape.'” [Source: Infowars.com, Aljazeera]
Whether the beheadings took place or not, America is itching to invade Syria and is looking to manufacture a host of pretexts that enable it to invade the country and prop-up the Assad’s floundering regime.
Sisi Blames Outages on Lack of Investment
Egypt’s president has blaming widespread power outages in recent days on years of lack of investment, while warning people were trying to cripple his government’s efforts to rebuild the country and seeking to try take advantage of the crisis. In a TV address on Saturday, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said that the outage were “the most significant incident over the last three decades”, adding that the country needs to invest at least $12bn over the next five years to generate sufficient amount of electricity for its population. This is a battle for our existence,” Sisi said in the special address to the nation, three months into his presidency. “We need to carry out a huge power generation development.” “We should be aware that such a crisis cannot be remedied overnight,” the president added. “We as Egyptians are facing huge insurmountable obstacles and no one, the president nor the government, will be able to overcome them individually without your support.” On Thursday, a huge power outage blacked out most of Cairo causing major disruption across the capital city of some 20 million people at the height of the morning rush hour. Services were completely suspended on one of the city’s three metro lines and heavily disrupted on a second. Power was gradually restored several hours later as temperatures rose towards 40 degrees Celsius in the middle of the day. The power disruption also left parts of the capital without running water, and hit telecommunications, knocking out 2,000 mobile phone signal boosters. The outage has forced authorities to impose rolling power cuts neighborhood by neighborhood. Thursday’s outage was the most extensive in years, as investment in generation has failed to keep up with rising population numbers amid the economic woes plaguing the country since the Arab Spring of 2011. [Source: Aljazeera]
Once again Sisi is misleading the people and asking them to be patient, whilst the money needed to fix Egypt’s electricity problem is well in his grasp. If Sisi is sincere he should reclaim $70 billion from Mubarak and his family, which they looted during the Mubarak era. The stolen money is more than enough to address frequent shortages in electricity and food. The money left over could be used to pay off Egypt’s debt principal and return Egypt to economic self-sufficiency in a short period of time.
Pakistan: Army Not Backing Anti-Government Demos
Pakistan’s Defense Minister says the country’s army is not supporting protests demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Talking to VOA Urdu Service, Khawaja Asif said the army would adhere to Pakistan’s constitution that strictly prohibits the military from taking part in political activity. Army is a government institution and it is playing its role as per the constitution and the law. Military is with the government and the constitution, not with any individual,” Asif told VOA. Cricket-star-turned-politician Imran Khan, fiery cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri and their supporters have camped outside parliament in Islamabad since August 15 demanding Sharif quit, claiming the election that swept him to power last year was rigged. Sharif’s previous government was overthrown in a military coup in 1999 and there has been speculation history may repeat itself. But Asif categorically denied such speculation. “There is no such possibility,” he said. “All the institutions, including the Army are acting within the constitution.” Sharif says he has no intention of stepping down, saying the rallies in Islamabad will not deter his government from abiding by the “constitution and law.” [Source: Voice of America (VOA)]
Despite attempts by Mr. Asif to suggest that portray the army as an innocent bystander in the recent protests, there is growing body of evidence that implicates the army as the real perpetrator behind the events. One of these is Mr. Asif’s impending resignation and replacement with a figure that is close to the army leadership. One recalls that the army has persistently demanded Asif’s removal and now it appears that a deal has been struck as reported by the Wall Street Journal, whereby the army will control security and foreign policy of the country. This will Nawaz Sharif weakened and a mere figurehead Prime Minister with miniscule powers to act.