Is Sisi inspiring more coups?

August 25, 2014
By Kate Hodal

..."Our country (click here) has accumulated many problems … which need to be urgently solved," he said. "To do this we must not create future problems."

Prayuth, 60, is the first coup leader to serve as prime minister in nearly 60 years and his appointment was condemned by opponents.

The ruling junta, named the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), has also come under fire both at home and abroad for cracking down on dissidents; detaining politicians, journalists, critics and activists; shutting down newspapers, radio and TV stations; imposing martial law; and handpicking a military-dominated parliament that now has more officers in it than Burma's.

In a statement, the overseas-based Organisation of Free Thais for Human Rights and Democracy described Prayuth's appointment as "a political farce and in violation of the rule of law". Prayuth himself has promised a "Thai-style" democracy and has staged various "happiness festivals" around the capital Bangkok in order to "bring happiness back to the Thai people"....

The problem as I see it is that when a national leader comes from within the military ranks it usually backfires for democracy.  Sisi is such a figure and even in the USA Eisenhower instilled the Military Industrial Complex which spanned wayward wars at least twice that we know of. 

But, one of the more menacing such instances occurred with Pervez Musharaff whoch carried out a coup against Benezir Bhutto in Pakistan in 1999. He became the President-General after the fact. He is known to have been affiliated with bin Laden during his years as General. 2001 followed.

March 21, 2014

...Musharraf (click here) is currently facing treason charges in a Pakistani court, besides other cases. 

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the book is scheduled to go on sale in April 8. 

"One day as he sat at home in Islamabad, the retired general Talat Masood was watching an interview with Musharraf on television, Masood was struck by something the general said. Musharraf was talking about (Osama) bin Laden and as was often the case, he was talking too much," she writes. 

"It dawned on Masood that the former army chief had known about bin Laden and where he was hiding. It was a statement he made in the interview," he told me. 

"I got a feeling that he knew," Gall said in her book that makes startling revelation and runs into over 300 pages....

Musharraf, during his years in power had a very close relationship with the ISIS. He also was directly responsible for the support of the Taliban against the Northern Alliance when Afghanistan's governing royalty failed to maintain a sovereign nation. Musharraf is guilty as so many others of seeking the power within Pakistan's nuclear warehouse and for what reasons can be questioned.

August 25, 2014

Aged Correspondent, Islamabad

...The persistent political crisis in Pakistan (click here) has given hope to former military ruler Pervez Musharraf to make a political comeback, close aides said.

Mr Musharraf, who was until recently making efforts to fly out of the country, is now pinning his hopes on the crisis to linger on so that he can make room for his party, the All- Pakistan Muslim League.

A close aide said Mr Musharraf wanted to stay in Pakistan and he has put aside the option of going abroad even if he is allowed to fly.

He pointed out that the present political situation provided an opportunity to Mr Musharraf to live in the country and try to make inroads in Tahir-ul-Qadri led Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT).

“That is why APML distributed breakfast among the PAT marchers”, he added.

On the directions of Mr Musharraf, APML delegation headed by Rashid Qureshi on Saturday reached PAT’s sit-in at Constitution Avenue and distributed more than 20,000 breakfast packets among the marchers....

It was the War in Kargil, India which provided Musharraf his clout to oust then Prime Minister Bhutto and send her into exile to protect her own life. Today, the Kargil region is still in question, but, Pakistan has little to no influence in the outcomes because of the political crisis there.

August 23, 2014
India recently called off talks with Pakistan (click here) after the latter's high commissioner met with Kashmiri separatists. Fifteen years ago, relations between the two sides hit rock bottom as they fought an undeclared war in the Himalayan territory. Pakistan is struggling with internal strife, but what are things like now in Kargil—the theatre of battle in 1999. ET went there to find out....

At a time when the USA is leaving Afghanistan and there is significant American war hardware and munitions left behind the region is again becoming a focus of any power structure seeking to move forward with it's agenda.

...For travellers between Srinagar and Leh, the essential halt is Drass, the world's second-coldest habitation after Siberia—it can get as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius here. In the foothills of Tololing, one of the two peaks that became famous in the 84-day conflict in 1999, the Army has built Vijaypath, an impressive war memorial that's become a tourist spot.

The memorial features a museum and a sandstone wall with the names of soldiers who died. A large tricolour flutters overhead.

Whenever a group reaches the memorial, Vishal Chhetri of 9 Gorkha Rifles will provide an eight-minute, high-voltage briefing on the war. Both Tiger Hill, the other peak made famous during the Kargil war, and Tololing are visible from where Chitri delivers his monologue. "I usually make 10 presentations a day and on certain days, many more," he said....

Kashmir is among the areas of the world where mountain peaks meet adventurers from around the world. It is why it has interest to many that aren't necessarily interested in any power struggle. To say Earth conditions are hostile to anyone is an understatement. This area of the world is extremely hostile and quite frankly what contains war even for the USA. Spring's thaw returns the aggression of war.

My problem with all this is when realizing the coups surmounted followed by governing by "Former General" what becomes obvious is that democracy and freedom take a back seat to so called "order" in the country.

In the USA it was a weak and bizarre leader that would take the mantel of Commander and Chief deferring only to commander's on the ground to define his presidency. "The War President." If the global community is ever to pursue peace and a unified front to prevent deterioration of world order, it will take the elections of citizens and not generals to achieve it. Citizens with strong and powerful visions that move beyond the male dominated military identity of any leader. Peace is often defined as 'weak' and 'disorienting' because 'control' or the appearance of same 'appears' to be uninformed to the status of citizens' safety and potential to die without warning of an impending attack from a foreign government.

Peace always seems to be a void of control for nations used to a militarized facade for the purpose of elections.

March 19, 2014

...I would spend most of the next 12 years there, (click here) following the overthrow of the Taliban, feeling the excitement of the freedom and prosperity that was promised in its wake and then watching the gradual dissolution of that hope. A new Constitution and two rounds of elections did not improve the lives of ordinary Afghans; the Taliban regrouped and found increasing numbers of supporters for their guerrilla actions; by 2006, as they mounted an ambitious offensive to retake southern Afghanistan and unleashed more than a hundred suicide bombers, it was clear that a deadly and determined opponent was growing in strength, not losing it....

You can't talk about Afghanistan without talking about Pakistan. 

Pakistan's current political turmoil is as much a concern for democracy and freedom within Afghanistan as the Taliban. Basically, will Afghanistan become a province governed by the ruthless Taliban as previously or a country seeking stronger alliances with freedom and peace? 

The outcome in Afghanistan will have a direct impact on the region as a whole, but, will also begin to define Pakistan's governance. If Afghanistan is a strong country rejecting ruthless dominance of it's society by the Taliban (not an ethnic identity - it has no genetics - it is a militia) it will enforce same in Pakistan or there is a possibility for a military conflict between the two nations again. If the Taliban and the representative from the Karzai government dominates the governance in Afghanistan there will be a return to the previous danger within the region. In other words, "Musharraf's Return (either symbolic or literal) to the coupe of 1999."

Human nature is to control for purposes of safety and survival. It takes strong leadership to reduce that propensity and actually seek peace as the final military draw down. 

We aren't in the stone age anymore in case no one noticed.

UN Rights Chief: Crimes against humanity in Iraq (click here)

GENEVA (AP) Islamic State fighters reportedly killed up to 670 prisoners in Mosul and committed other horrific abuses in Iraq that amount to crimes against humanity, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said Monday.

The U.N.'s top human rights official said "grave, horrific human rights violations are being committed daily" by the Islamic State group and other fighters allied with it in an aggressive push to gain a firm grip on the northern and eastern provinces.

The group's violations as it expands the boundaries of its self-proclaimed caliphate along the Syria-Iraq border include targeted killings, forced conversions, abductions, trafficking, slavery, sexual abuse, destruction of places of religious and cultural significance, and besieging entire communities for ethnic, religious or sectarian reasons, Pillay said.

"They are systematically targeting men, women and children based on their ethnic, religious or sectarian affiliation and are ruthlessly carrying out widespread ethnic and religious cleansing in the areas under their control," she said. "Such persecution would amount to crimes against humanity."...