World View: Egypt's al-Sisi Makes Laundry List of Promises at Inauguration

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

• Egypt’s al-Sisi makes laundry list of promises at inauguration
• Pope Francis plants an olive tree for Mideast Peace

Egypt’s al-Sisi makes laundry list of promises at inauguration

Abdel al-Fattah al-Sisi was inaugurated as president of Egypt onSunday, to screams of delight from fans, particularly women. Withmore than a quarter of Egyptians living in poverty, he promised tocure poverty. He promised to build 26 new tourist resorts, eight newairports and 22 industrial estates. He’s just like Ukraine’s PetroPoroshenko, inaugurated on Saturday, India’s Narendra Modi,inaugurated two weeks ago, France’s François Hollande last year, andBarack Obama two years ago. They all make promises that can’t befulfilled, and which are often mathematically impossible, which meansthat they’re all morons or liars or, more likely, both. In any event,they’re all full of crap.

On the one hand, al-Sisi promised “There will no exclusion of anyEgyptian from our march.” But on the other hand, one thing thatal-Sisi did not do is hold out any hand of reconciliation to hisopposition, the Muslim Brotherhood, comprising 25-30% of thepopulation.

“As for those who shed the blood of the innocents,there will be no place for them in this path.

And I say it loud and clear, there will be no soft stand withanyone who resorts to violence or whoever wants to delay our marchtowards the future that we want for our children.”

He called them terrorists and repeatedly said that national securitywas his highest priority. Since he ousted president Mohamed Morsi’sMuslim Brotherhood last year as army chief, his army and securityforces have killed or jailed thousands of Egyptians, many completelyinnocent. These include three reporters from al-Jazeera, whoapparently are jailed to get even with Qatar, al-Jazeera’s homecountry.

Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, sent al-Sisi a “cableof congratulations” on his inauguration, but did not attend theceremony because he wasn’t invited. Leaders of Saudi Arabia andUnited Arab Emirates were invited, as were leaders of westerncountries. The kings of Jordan and Bahrain also attended. However,because of al-Sisi’s violent ouster of democratically elected Morsi,and continued violence against innocent protesters, no top officialsfrom Western countries were present. Many African Union leaders werealso absent, as Egypt was suspended from the African Union two daysafter Morsi’s ouster. BBC andReuters and AP

Pope Francis plants an olive tree for Mideast Peace

Pope Francis held a historic and unprecedented prayer meeting forpeace in the Mideast at the Vatican, together with Israel’s presidentShimon Peres and Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas. ThePope said:

“Peacemaking calls for courage, much more so thanwarfare. It calls for the courage to say yes to meeting, and noto conflict. yes to dialog, and no to violence. Yes tonegotiations, and no to hostilities. Yes to respecting deals, andno to provocation. Yes to sincerity, and no to being false. Forall this, we need courage and strength of soul.”

Shimon Peres said:

“I have come here from Jerusalem, the cradle of thethree monotheistic religions, and the vibrant heart of the JewishPeople. In Hebrew, the word Jerusalem and the word for peace,share the same root – Shalom. And it is with that prayer in ourheart and that call to action that we stand together. FromJerusalem, I have come to call for Shalom – Peace. Peace betweennations. Peace between faiths. Peace between people. Peace for ourchildren.”

Mahmoud Abbas said:

“God, answer my prayers for peace and justice in myhomeland Palestine, the Middle East, and the rest of theworld.”

In order to guarantee peace, the three went beyond words to bringpeace to the Mideast. In addition to their speeches and prayers, theyplanted an olive tree in the Vatican garden together, to show howpeople of the world could work together to build the world withoutconflict.

One Vatican analyst said, “In the Middle East, symbolic gestures andincremental steps are important.” Other analysts around the worldexclaimed, “Thank God! Peace at last! The Pope has brought peace tothe Mideast! Thank God!” AP and Israel National News

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