World View: Car Bomb in Hezbollah's Lebanon Stronghold Kills 20

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

• Car bomb in Hezbollah’s Lebanon stronghold kills 20
• Egypt and Turkey recall ambassadors, as countries pick sides
• Good news is bad news on Wall Street

Car bomb in Hezbollah’s Lebanon stronghold kills 20

Fire engines at the scene of Thursday’s explosion in Beirut (Reuters)

A Sunni Muslim Islamist group called “the Brigades of Aisha” claimedresponsibility for a large car bomb that killed 20 people, injuredhundreds, and damaged numerous cars and buildings in Beirut, Lebanon,on Thursday, in a stronghold of the Iran-linked Shia Muslim terroristgroup Hezbollah. The Islamist group issued a video statementaddressed to Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah:

“This is the second time that we decide the place ofthe battle and its timing…And you will see more, Godwilling.”

This was the largest in a series of terrorist acts directed atLebanon’s Hezbollah group, ever since Nasrallah publicly announcedthat Hezbollah would actively fight side-by-side with Syria’spsychopathic president Bashar al-Assad in his quest to exterminateSunni women and children in Syria. Every since Nasrallah made his announcement in early May, sectariantensions pitting Sunnis and Shias against each other have surgedthroughout the Mideast. Al-Qaeda is taking credit for the unraveling security chaos in Iraq.Reuters and BBC

Egypt and Turkey recall ambassadors, as countries pick sides

The official death count by Egypt’s Interior Ministry from the clashesthat followed Tuesday’s “dispersal” of Muslim Brotherhood supportershas now risen about 600. The coup ousting Egypt’s Islamist presidentMohamed Morsi has been a bitter disappointment for Turkey’s primeminister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has led an Islamist government inTurkey for many years. And now Erdogan is harshly criticizing theTuesday’s violence and the security forces’ “bloody intervention”:

“We strongly condemn that the Egyptian administrationhas once again resorted to violence against peacefuldemonstrations despite all warnings.

The incumbent administration which intervened in the democraticand civilian regime through a coup d’état is responsible for theloss of lives of the brotherly Egyptian people since the 30th ofJune. [The latest developments are a] great blow to hopes forEgypt to return to democracy through an inclusive transitionprocess.”

On Thursday, Turkey withdrew its ambassador from Cairo “forconsultations,” and Egypt quickly followed by withdrawing its ownambassador from Ankara.

Just as the population of Egypt is itself bitterly divided, countriesare lining up on different sides. The United Arab Emirates (UAE)foreign ministry statement said:

“The UAE … re-affirms its understanding of thesovereign measures taken by the Egyptian government after havingexercised maximum self-control. What is regretful is thatpolitical extremist groups have insisted on the rhetoric ofviolence, incitement, disruption of publicinterests.”

As we’ve recently reported, Egypthas been promised $12 billion in aid from Gulf Arab states that don’tlike or trust the Muslim Brotherhood — Saudi Arabia, United ArabEmirates (UAE), and Kuwait.

This is significant for American foreign policy. Washingtonis debating whether to threaten to cut off American aid toEgypt, in order to gain leverage. But America’s $1.3 billionin aid is only a small fraction of the aid they’re getting fromthe Arab states, which means that America really doesn’t havemuch leverage at all.

President Obama has managed to infuriate and alienate just about everyfaction in Egypt. The Islamists are furious because he doesn’tsupport Morsi, who was the first democratically elected president inEgypt’s history. The secularists are furious because Obama appears tobe taking the side of the MB supporters by criticizing thegovernment’s violence, but ignoring the violence by MB activistsagainst police and Christian churches.

President Obama’s Mideast policies have been a disaster at every turn,as we’ve been documenting, and Egypt is no exception. Why isPresident Obama lecturing and moralizing to the Egyptian people on aregular basis? Why is President Obama constantly interfering inEgypt’s politics? How did the Administration get into such a mess inEgypt? In my opinion, the disaster began with President Obama’scould never be kept, with the result that he has no credibility leftwith anyone. Like many young Gen-Xers, President Obama is absolutelycertain that he knows absolutely more than anyone else in the world,and rather than take some advice from his elders, he goes off andmakes one mistake after another. Daily News Egypt and Hurriyet (Ankara)

Good news is bad news on Wall Street

Some analysts are blaming Thursday’s 225 point stock market plunge ona relatively good unemployment data on Thursday morning. Thereasoning is that better unemployment data means that the FederalReserve will begin to “taper” its monthly $85 billion quantitativeeasing, which is the only thing holding up the stock market. As I’vesaid in the past, it’s like we’re all watching a dreadful horrormovie, but we’re locked in the movie theatre and can’t get out.Washington Post

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