al-sisi egypt

=<div>3 jrnlist jailled</div><div>
</div><div><a data-ga-action="Home Headlines: Headline" href="https://www.democracynow.org/2019/11/27/headlines/pompeo_calls_on_egypt_to_respect_press_freedom_after_raid_of_mada_masr" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(241, 242, 243); color: rgb(25, 31, 36); text-decoration-line: none; border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700; text-align: center;">Pompeo Calls on Egypt to Respect Press Freedom, After Raid of Mada Masr</a></div><div>
<div>buys 1 bill$ in arms (from US?) djt calls my faV dictator</div><div>anti-terror laws to suppress press and activist (arrest for holding rainbow flag at event)</div><div>
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<div><a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/08/18/google-egypt-office-sisi/">https://theintercept.com/2019/08/18/google-egypt-office-sisi/</a>
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</div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Trump’s haphazard foreign policy is driven by a lot of factors. His rollbacks of free trade, for example, are motivated by his pathological obsession with America being “<a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/09/trump-trade-war-china-tariffs-702292" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">ripped off</a>,” and his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement was motivated by his desire to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/11/donald-trump-barack-obama-legacy" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">erase everything related to former President Barack Obama</a>.</font></p><div class="p0_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>One of his more conventional, but no less disturbing, influences could be that of right-wing evangelism.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Trump’s close relationship with evangelical politicians and voters (or more specifically, </span><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2018/12/theyre-more-white-than-christian-evangelicals-of-color-push-for-greater-voice-in-their-faith/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">white ones</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">), is well-known</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">. Vice President Mike Pence is a well-known fundamentalist culture warrior who tried to make it legal to <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2018/04/25/rfra-indiana-why-law-signed-mike-pence-so-controversial/546411002/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">refuse service to LGBTQ couples</a> and vowed to consign abortion rights to “<a href="https://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-democratic-convention-2016-live-pence-says-roe-v-wade-will-be-1469737388-htmlstory.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">the ash heap of history</a>.” Other senior members of his administration have hardline views about religion, like Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who has said she wants to use America’s schools to build “<a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/01/betsy-devos-christian-schools-vouchers-charter-education-secretary/4/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">God’s Kingdom</a>.”</span></font></p><div class="p2_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the less-noticed influencers is Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, an evangelical Presbyterian who once defined his view of the world as “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO0opXYM52w" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">a never-ending struggle … until the rapture</a>” in a speech at a Wichita megachurch. As America’s top diplomat, he more than anyone else brings these views into the foreign policy sphere — and as an <span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline-color: initial; outline-width: initial; transition-duration: 0.3s; transition-property: color; cursor: pointer;">analysis</span> [lnx] by <em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Guardian</em> shows, that has profound consequences:</font></p><div class="p3_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: none !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For many US evangelical Christians, one of the key preconditions for [the rapture] is the gathering of the world’s Jews in a greater Israel between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River. It is a belief, known as premillenial dispensationalism or Christian Zionism – and it has very real potential consequences for<br style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />US foreign policy.</font></p><div class="p4_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></blockquote><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: none !important;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It directly colours views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and indirectly, attitudes towards Iran, broader Middle East geopolitics and the primacy of protecting Christian minorities. In his Cairo visit, Pompeo heaped praise on Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, for building the new cathedral, but made no reference to the 60,000 political prisoners the regime is thought to be holding, or its routine use of torture<i>.</i></font></p><div class="p5_9" style="font-style: italic; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Trump administration has instituted a number of sweeping policy changes in these exact areas, from <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44120428" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/world/middleeast/trump-iran-nuclear-deal.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">going back on the Iran nuclear deal</a>.</font></p><div class="p6_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A political worldview that is based on a belief in the near-term destruction of the world and the salvation of a chosen few poses obvious dangers. It can, for instance, make <a href="https://religionnews.com/2018/05/16/to-my-fellow-evangelicals-what-youre-cheering-in-jerusalem-is-shameful/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">certain people’s human rights</a> seem less legitimate.</font></p><div class="p7_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is important for the American people to understand the ideology underpinning our current foreign policy — and to have a serious discussion about whether everyone is represented in it.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://fanack.com/united-arab-emirates/faces/mohammed-bin-zayed-al-nahyan/</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">june 2018</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is highly respected by his fellow Emiratis, extremely well connected on the international stage, yet lately has been putting his fingers in too many pies.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When Bin Zayed was born in the dusty town of Ain in 1961, the UAE was neither a country nor a nation. It was known as the Trucial States, a set of <a href="https://fanack.com/united-arab-emirates/history-past-to-present/antiquity-and-early-modern-times/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">British-ruled protectorates</a> set up in the late 19th century to control piracy in the Persian Gulf.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bin Zayed wa<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">s ten years old when his father, <a href="https://fanack.com/united-arab-emirates/history-past-to-present/formation-of-the-uae/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Sheikh Zayed</a>, brought together a federation of six other major families to form the United Arab Emirates.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He received his e<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ducation at local schools in Ain and Abu Dhabi. In 1979, he joined the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the United Kingdom – a long-time ally of his family – where he trained in armour, helicopter and tactical flying and as a paratrooper. He graduated a year later and returned home to join the Officers’ Training Course.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He held several roles in the <b>UAE military, from officer in the Amiri Guard (the UAE’s elite security force) and pilot in the air force, to his current role as deputy supreme commander of the armed forces.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although he put away his uniform some time ago, he remains first and foremost a military man. A look at his biography on the <a href="https://fanack.com/united-arab-emirates/governance/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Emirati government</a> website shows the extent of his role in and influence on the army, putting into perspective the expansion of the army’s budget and arsenal since he became the de facto ruler in 2014. It is now one of the best-equipped army’s in the region.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bin Zayed married Sheikha Salama bint Hamdan bin Mohammed al-Nahyan in 1981 and has nine children with her.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Away from politics, he heads the<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> <a href="https://www.speciesconservation.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Mohammed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund</a>, a philanthropic endowment established to provide targeted grants to individual species conservation initiatives, recognize leaders in the field of species conservation and elevate the importance of species in the broader conservation debate</span>.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A<b> passionate falconer</b> himself, Bin Zayed is committed to the protection of falcons, as well as other species, including the oryx and houbara from the Arabian Peninsula. In line with his dedication to environmental protection, he has also taken the lead in alternative energy projects in Abu Dhabi, primarily Masdar City.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He is also committed to fighting human trafficking through a 55 million dirham donation to the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking; and in 2011, he and the Gates Foundation pledged $50 million each to fund the purchase and delivery of vaccines for children in Afghanistan and Pakistan.</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; letter-spacing: -0.02em; margin-bottom: 5px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Valuable Lessons</font></h3><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bin Zayed grew up witnessing the rapid transformation of the UAE from huts to Hilton hotels and <a href="https://fanack.com/united-arab-emirates/economy/dubai-skyscrapers/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">skyscrapers</a>. Along the way, his father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan, elder brother Khalifa and he learned two valuable lessons: the UAE cannot survive without outside protection and they need to remain strategically significant to keep mainly their Western allies interested and on board. Moreover, the country’s geographical location puts it between two regional powers that historically have shown an interest in controlling it.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The shah of Iran had occupied three Persian Gulf islands claimed by the UAE mere days before the country’s declared independence, while <a href="https://fanack.com/saudi-arabia/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Saudi Arabia</a> tried to conquer Bin Zayed’s hometown of Ain in the 1950s but failed. The governments of Saudi Arabia and the UAE signed the <a href="https://hyper-db.de/monopedia/wiki/index.php?title=Treaty_of_Jeddah(1974)" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Treaty of Jeddah</a> in 1974 to end 40 years of territorial conflict.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Following independence and British decolonization, his father wove a web of alliances mainly rotating around the world’s superpower the United States, offering bases and ports for its growing fleet in the Gulf.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="https://fanack.com/iran/history-past-to-present/the-islamic-revolution/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">1979 revolution</a> in Iran became the main direct threat for the Emirates’ sovereignty.</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; letter-spacing: -0.02em; margin-bottom: 5px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">De-facto Ruler</font></h3><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan’s strategy of maintaining the UAE as an oasis of political calm was inherited and upheld by his son and successor Khalifa, until his <a href="http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/health/high-incidence-of-stroke-in-the-uae-1.1405600" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">debilitating stroke in 2014</a>. Bin Zayed then emerged as the de-facto ruler of the country, although he had already been at the helm of its domestic and foreign policy for almost a decade.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since the <a href="https://fanack.com/iraq/history-past-to-present/military-history/the-kuwait-crisis/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Kuwait war</a>, the Gulf states have enjoyed safety and security, provided mostly by their American ally, yet over the year, <a href="https://fanack.com/iran/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Iran</a>’s growing influence has raised serious concerns in the region. As the Bush years became the Obama ones, Washington policymakers saw China as an emerging threat and began to shift their focus away from the Middle East towards containing the giant in the Far East.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Beginning in 2010, alarm bells began ringing in Abu Dhabi. Obama was serious about <a href="https://fanack.com/iran/history-past-to-present/obama-administration-begins-uphill-battle-in-congress-for-iran-deal/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">negotiations</a> with Tehran. He also oversaw an oil-dependent American economy shaking off it shackles due to domestic fracking. Subsequently, American interest in and concern about Saudi Arabia dwindled, as did its interest in the UAE.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The fears of Gulf monarchs were aggravated when the Arab Spring engulfed the region and proved that the Obama administration would do little to assist its old allies and friends. More importantly, the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood terrified many Gulf monarchs, who viewed it as a direct threat to their governing models.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bin <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Zayed felt the heat when an Emirati opposition group, al-Islah, linked to the <a href="https://fanack.com/united-arab-emirates/history-past-to-present/uae-muslim-brotherhood/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Muslim Brotherhood</a> circulated petitions demanding greater representation in the UAE. </span>He responded by <a href="http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/the-muslim-brotherhood-on-trial-in-the-uae" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">arresting</a> the group’s members and forcing them to sign humiliating promises that they would not demand democracy again. He subsequently introduced an anti-terrorism law intended to keep them in prison or in exile. By crushing all opposition, he sent a message that he would do whatever it took to preserve the system at home, and then embarked on a mission to rebalance power in the region.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">His <b>fears were amplified when <a href="https://fanack.com/qatar/history-past-to-present/qatar-diplomatic-crisis/" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Qatar</a> allegedly supported an array of Arab revolutionaries (liberals, socialists and Islamists) through the state-run broadcaster al-Jazeera, with which Bin Zayed has long clashed over its editorial policies, offering them a platform to speak out.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">His response was to try and contain the effects of the <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/definition-of-the-arab-spring-2353029" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Arab Spring</a> immediately and seek all possible avenues to limit its repercussions.</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; letter-spacing: -0.02em; margin-bottom: 5px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Containment Strategy</font></h3><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He first focused on <a href="https://fanack.com/egypt/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Egypt</a> as the most significant of the Arab nations where the <a href="https://fanack.com/egypt/history-past-to-present/the-rise-and-fall-of-egypts-muslim-brotherhood/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Muslim Brotherhood</a> had gained a political foothold, allying himself with reactionary forces within the country which it backed diplomatically and financially. After <a href="https://fanack.com/egypt/history-past-to-present/sisi-egypt/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Abdel Fatah al-Sisi</a> seized power in 2013, the UAE flooded Cairo’s coffers with <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-protests-loan/uae-offers-egypt-3-billion-support-saudis-5-billion-idUSBRE9680H020130709" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">billions of dollars</a> to help stabilize the <a href="https://fanack.com/egypt/economy/economic-challenges-under-president-al-sisi/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">devastated economy</a>. Al-Sisi’s grip on power tightened, but his biggest threat remained feeding a nation of 90 million people.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">With a new leadership installed in Saudi Arabia in January 2015, Bin Zayed moved to strengthen the relationship among both leaders and to align their policies. Indeed, he succeeded by <b>presenting himself as the ‘mentor’ of the young and ambitious Crown Prince <a href="https://fanack.com/saudi-arabia/governance/saudi-new-crown-prince/" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Mohammad bin Salman</a> (MBS), </b>Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, given his father <a href="https://fanack.com/saudi-arabia/history-past-to-present/king-salman/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">King Salman</a>’s ailing health and lack of interest in ruling.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The designated enemies then became Qatar and <a href="https://fanack.com/turkey/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Turkey</a>, who both sympathize with the Muslim Brotherhood and were supporters of the ‘change’ that was occurring in the Arab world.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Leaks of correspondence by the UAE ambassador to Washington, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/08/yousef-al-otaiba-qatar-gcc/538206/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Yousef al-Otaiba</a>, in 2017 revealed the extent of the influence held by the UAE in major political and diplomatic circles in the United States as well as its media. Billions were also spent supporting and enhancing al-Sisi’s regime.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The leaks also revealed how the UAE amassed political loyalty in preparation for the <a href="https://fanack.com/qatar/history-past-to-present/qatar-diplomatic-crisis/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">diplomatic battle</a> with Qatar that Saudi Arabia, <a href="https://fanack.com/bahrain/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Bahrain</a>, Egypt and the UAE launched in May 2017.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The final piece of Bin Zayed’s strategy was strengthening ties with the Trump administration, which seemed to use rhetoric that heartened the Emirati.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>First came the Russia-Trump spy affair. According to the Washington Post, ‘[T]he United Arab Emirates arranged a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/blackwater-founder-held-secret-seychelles-meeting-to-establish-trump-putin-back-channel/2017/04/03/95908a08-1648-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3_story.html?utm_term=.32a9e4615e18" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">secret meeting</a> in January between Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladimir Putin as part of an apparent effort to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Donald Trump, according to US, European and Arab officials.’</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bin Zayed then flew to Washington and was among the first heads of state to be hosted by the new president. Ahead of <a href="http://time.com/4778549/saudi-arabia-donald-trump-visit/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia</a>, Bin Zayed held talks with him at the White House and discussed enhancing cooperation on counterterrorism, confronting Iran and building on the increasingly close relationship.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Bin Zayed and MBS engineered Trump’s visit to the kingdom</b> and talked to the president in the language dearest to his heart: money. An <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/20/us-saudi-arabia-seal-weapons-deal-worth-nearly-110-billion-as-trump-begins-visit.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">agreement</a>, worth $350 billion over ten years, was signed between the Saudi leadership and the Trump administration.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The strategy behind this back-channel approach was an attempt to neutralize a Russia-US rivalry that had increased under Obama, in an attempt to get Russia to back off Iran, a relationship that had developed after Russia intervened to save the <a href="https://fanack.com/syria/history-past-to-present/moscows-involvement-in-syrian-war/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">regime in Syria</a>, a common ally for both.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>This would give Bin Zayed more leverage to roll back the Iranian threat, which stems mainly from its expansionist Shia supremacist approach.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Moreover, with the <a href="https://fanack.com/turkey/governance/failed-coup-and-its-consequences/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">coup attempt</a> in Ankara, which Otaiba’s leaked emails alleged had been bankrolled by the UAE,<b> Bin Zayed pushed MBS to a stand-off with the Qataris, the weakest link in the bigger regional chain.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; letter-spacing: 0.03em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to the Washington Post, citing US intelligence officials, the UAE arranged for <a href="https://fanack.com/qatar/governance/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Qatari government</a> social media and news sites to be <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-qatar-report/uae-arranged-for-hacking-of-qatar-government-sites-sparking-diplomatic-row-washington-post-idUSKBN1A200H" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">hacked</a> in late May 2017 in order to post fiery but false statements about Qatar’s emir, prompting a diplomatic crisis that has yet to be resolved.</font></p></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</div><div>http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/trump-praises-egypt-abdel-fattah-el-sisi-236829</div><div>
</div><div>...<span style="background-color: rgb(247, 248, 248); font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Times, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" em="em">Unlike Trump, former President Barack Obama declined to invite Sisi to visit the White House over his term in office. Sisi led the 2013 overthrow of Egypt’s first democratically-elected president, Mohamed Morsi, and later ascended to the top of Egypt’s government. He has since been accused of employing repressive tactics, including jailing thousands of political opponents and protesters.</span></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Times, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" line-height="line-height" em="em" font-size="font-size" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Trump did not mention those controversies in his public comments with Sisi before reporters on Monday.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; font-family: ff-tisa-web-pro, Georgia, Times, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" line-height="line-height" em="em" font-size="font-size" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Trump’s praise of Sisi and other autocratic leaders, like Russia’s Vladimir Putin, <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/trump-sisi-egypt-white-house-236782" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(10, 124, 196);"><u style="box-sizing: border-box;">has concerned</u></a> human rights advocates.</p><div>==</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>