World View: Yemenis Fear They Are Target of an Expected Terrorist Attack

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

• U.S. Senators McCain and Graham try to restore U.S. credibility in Egypt
• Yemenis fear they’re the target of an expected terrorist attack
• India accuses Pakistan of involvement in Kashmir attack

U.S. Senators McCain and Graham try to restore U.S. credibility in Egypt

At the request of the Obama administration, U.S. Republican SenatorsJohn McCain and Lindsey Graham delivered a message to Cairo onTuesday:

• Restore democracy as quickly as possible.
• Release ousted president Mohamed Morsi and senior Muslim Brotherhood “political prisoners” from jail.
• Begin negotiations – “an inclusive political process in which all Egyptians are free to participate.” According to Graham,
  

  “The people who are in charge were not elected, and the people who were elected are now in jail. In a democracy, you have to talk to each other. It is impossible to talk to somebody in jail.”

• The July 3 ouster of Morsi was “a coup.” (The official Administration position is that it was not a coup.)

This comes at a time when the credibility of the United States in theMideast, including Egypt, is at an extreme low. Secretary of StateJohn Kerry announced an Afghan “peace process” that collapsed within aday; he announced a Mideast peace process that people in the Mideastconsider to be a desperate joke; President Obama has announced one redline after another in Syria, and did nothing when each red line waspassed, except to announce a new red line; has done nothing to bringto justice the perpetrators of the Benghazi attacks, although CNN hasfound and interviewed at least one perpetrator; and the president whowas greeted with chants of “We love you Obama!” when he spoke in Cairoin 2009 is now the object of unmitigated fury by the Egyptian people.

President George Bush was widely hated, and was even targeted by aHollywood movie (Death of a President) that wishfully portrayed his assassination. But atleast President Bush knew what he was doing and, particularly withSecretary of State Condoleeza Rice, managed foreign policycompetently, crowned by the successful surge in Iraq. But PresidentObama, who would rather be loved than be competent, and is nowneither, is stumbling from one crisis to another with no apparentdirection, which is not surprising in view of his youth and hisattitude ( “Barack Obama to Boomers: Drop dead!”.) So it’s not surprising that he’sturning to senior Republican politicians to try to help out in Egypt– assuming it’s not too late. AFP and Al Ahram (Cairo)

Yemenis fear they’re the target of an expected terrorist attack

When the United States and United Kingdom closed their Mideastembassies on Sunday, it was for unspecified threats by Yemen-basedAl-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), some time towards the end ofRamadan on Wednesday. But by Tuesday, the threat seemed to focusexclusive on Yemen, as diplomats have been fleeing the country fortheir safety. Yemenis have reporting seeing a steady stream ofsurveillance drones of the capital, Sanaa, and U.S. officials saythat U.S. drones have shot down four al-Qaeda suspects traveling bycar outside of Sanaa. As a result, many Yemenis are fearing theworst, and that the intended target is more Yemen itself than America.Time

India accuses Pakistan of involvement in Kashmir attack

Just days after allegedly Pakistan-supported Taliban terrorists killedand wounded dozens in a suicide attack targeting the Indian Consulate in Jalalabad, Afganistan,allegedly Pakistan-supported terrorists killed five Indian soldierslate on Monday in the disputed Kashmir region. The government ofIndia accused Pakistani troops of being involved in the killing,saying that “The attack was carried out by 20 heavily-armedterrorists, along with persons in Pakistani army uniform.” India andPakistan have fought each other in three wars following the massivegenocidal conflict in 1947, so it’s not farfetched that India’saccusations are correct.

Pakistani Taliban terror groups have been attacking Indian interestsin both Afghanistan in the west and Kashmir in the east. Indiananalysts fear that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agencyis taking advantage of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan toredirect the Pakistani Taliban away from Afghanistan, to target theIndian military in Kashmir and Jammu. Dawn (Pakistan) and Times of India

Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail