A YEAR AGO: Ghanaians shed Tears For A Modest Man

Late President John Evans Atta Mills

By Kwesi Pratt, Jnr.

It was mid afternoon and we had gathered at the Teachers’ Hall in Accra on the platform of the Committee for Joint Action (CJA)  when a woman in the audience  burst out crying.

In less than two minutes the hall was vibrating with wailing.

The news had just been flashed that Ghana had lost its president, Professor John Evans Atta Mills.

I tried to talk to the comrades around about what had to be done and realized that none was in the mood for any such engagement.

Prince Dereck Adjei was crying like a baby and Kwesi Adu had confusion all over his face.

Everywhere there was shock and wailing and it was not for nothing.

Professor John Evans Atta Mills was an exceptional man.

In my view his distinguishing feature was modesty.

He treated everybody as an equal and thousands of Ghanaians had access to him.

On one Christmas eve, Duke Tagoe who was not personally known to Professor Mills texted a Christmas message to the President.

President Mills called him back and had a ten-minute conversation with Duke who was complete stranger.

It is difficult to imagine how a sitting President could touch so many people but he did.

The Insight salutes the memory of Professor Mills and extends our condolences to his wife, family and all Ghanaians.

There is a lot to emulate from the life of Professor Mills.

Editorial

FALSE PROPHESIES

Some so-called men of God are doing irreparable damage to their creed and society and something needs to be done quickly to end the menace they have become.

Take the case of a mother of three who is responding to treatment for a curable ailment who is told by her Pastor that God says she should stop taking her medicines.

This innocent poor woman is gullible enough to believe that the pastor has direct links to God. She stops taking her medicines and she dies.

Should this so-called man of God not be treated like a common murderer?

What is the difference between this man of God and all the fraudsters who are making life unbearable for innocent but greedy people?

The Insight believes that the time has come to pass legislation which will deal with all the fraudsters parading as men of God.

When their fraud leads to murder, they should be treated as such and dealt with according to law.

We have tolerated hallucinating and intoxicated pretenders for just far too long.

Stiglitz and Rashid on Euro bonds

Seth Terkper, Ghana Minister of Finance

By Joseph E. Stiglitz &Hamid Rashid

In recent years, a growing number of African governments have issued Eurobonds, diversifying away from traditional sources of finance such as concessional debt and foreign direct investment. Taking the lead in October 2007, when it issued a $750 million Eurobond with an 8.5% coupon rate,Ghana earned the distinction of being the first Sub-Saharan country – other than South Africa – to issue bonds in 30 years.

This debut Sub-Saharan issue, which was four times oversubscribed, sparked a sovereign borrowing spree in the region. Nine other countries – Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Angola, Nigeria, Namibia, Zambia, and Tanzania – followed suit. By February 2013, these ten African economies had collectively raised $8.1 billion from their maiden sovereign-bond issues, with an average maturity of 11.2 years and an average coupon rate of 6.2%. These countries’ existing foreign debt, by contrast, carried an average interest rate of 1.6% with an average maturity of 28.7 years.

It is no secret that sovereign bonds carry significantly higher borrowing costs than concessional debt does. So why are an increasing number of developing countries resorting to sovereign-bond issues? And why have lenders suddenly found these countries desirable?

With quantitative easing having driven interest rates to record lows, one explanation is that this is just another, more obscure manifestation of investors’ search for yield. Moreover, recent analyses, carried out in conjunction with the establishment of the new BRICS bank, have demonstrated the woeful inadequacy of official assistance and concessional lending for meeting Africa’s infrastructure needs, let alone for achieving the levels of sustained growth needed to reduce poverty significantly.

Moreover, the conditionality and close monitoring typically associated with the multilateral institutions make them less attractive sources of financing. What politician wouldn’t prefer money that gives him more freedom to do what he likes? It will be years before any problems become manifest – and, then, some future politician will have to resolve them.

To the extent that this new lending is based on Africa’s strengthening economic fundamentals, the recent spate of sovereign-bond issues is a welcome sign. But here, as elsewhere, the record of private-sector credit assessments should leave one wary. So, are shortsighted financial markets, working with shortsighted governments, laying the groundwork for the world’s next debt crisis?

The risks will undoubtedly grow if sub-national authorities and private-sector entities gain similar access to the international capital markets, which could result in excessive borrowing. Nigerian commercial banks have already issued international bonds; in Zambia, the power utility, railway operator, and road builder are planning to issue as much as $4.5 billion in international bonds.

Evidence of either irrational exuberance or market expectations of a bailout is already mounting. How else can one explain Zambia’s ability to lock in a rate that was lower than the yield on a Spanish bond issue, even though Spain’s credit rating is four grades higher? Indeed, except for Namibia, all of these Sub-Saharan sovereign-bond issuers have “speculative” credit ratings, putting their issues in the “junk bond” category and signaling significant default risk.

Signs of default stress are already showing. In March 2009 – less than two years after the issue – Congolese bonds were trading for 20 cents on the dollar, pushing the yield to a record high. In January 2011, Côte d’Ivoire became the first country to default on its sovereign debt since Jamaica in January 2010.

In June 2012, Gabon delayed the coupon payment on its $1 billion bond, pending the outcome of a legal dispute, and was on the verge of a default. Should oil and copper prices collapse, Angola, Gabon, Congo, and Zambia may encounter difficulties in servicing their sovereign bonds.

To ensure that their sovereign-bond issues do not turn into a financial disaster, these countries should put in place a sound, forward-looking, and comprehensive debt-management structure. They need not only to invest the proceeds in the right type of high-return projects, but also to ensure that they do not have to borrow further to service their debt.

These countries can perhaps learn from the bitter experience of Detroit, which issued $1.4 billion worth of municipal bonds in 2005 to ward off an impending financial crisis. Since then, the city has continued to borrow, mostly to service its outstanding bonds. In the process, four Wall Street banks that enabled Detroit to issue a total of $3.7 billion in bonds since 2005 have reaped $474 million in underwriting fees, insurance premiums, and swaps.

Understanding the risks of excessive private-sector borrowing, the inadequacy of private lenders’ credit assessments, and the conflicts of interest that are endemic in banks, Sub-Saharan countries should impose constraints on such borrowing, especially when there are significant exchange-rate and maturity mismatches.

Countries contemplating joining the bandwagon of sovereign-bond issuers would do well to learn the lessons of the all-too-frequent debt crises of the past three decades. Matters may become even worse in the future, because so-called “vulture” funds have learned how to take full advantage of countries in distress. Recent court rulings in the United States have given the vultures the upper hand, and may make debt restructuring even more difficult, while enthusiasm for bailouts is clearly waning. The international community may rightly believe that both borrowers and lenders have been forewarned.

There are no easy, risk-free paths to development and prosperity. But borrowing money from international financial markets is a strategy with enormous downside risks, and only limited upside potential – except for the banks, which take their fees up front. Sub-Saharan Africa’s economies, one hopes, will not have to repeat the costly lessons that other developing countries have learned over the past three decades.

The views expressed here do not reflect the views of the UN or its member states.

Hamid Rashid is a senior economic adviser at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Another Prophesy

By Ekow Mensah

 Over the last couple of years, many people who claim to be men of God have made an industry out of predicting doom for Ghana and its people.

With each prediction has come growing anxiety and a rush to fill up the pews in the churches especially the new fangled ones.

 It is more than obvious that the more people rush to church, the more the collections grow and business flourishes for men and women who claim to have telephone contact with God Almighty.

Only recently there was the reported case of a woman who stopped taking her medications and died because one of these men in the name of God saw a vision which forbade her to take medicines.

 After flurry of dooms day prophesies about more market fires, floods, hunger, pain and death another one has been thrown into the fray.

Last Friday, another guy, claiming to be a “messenger of God” and who goes by the name, Ephraim Agawu Sly, threw another prophesy into the confusion.

In very defective English language, this man of God, like others before him wrote “There are bigger disasters on this supreme Court case, Ghana is seating on a Time Bomb, of which anything  can happen after Verdict, some people will want victory at  all cost.”

 At the end of the prophetic message, the messenger provides his telephone number as 0243530936 and pleads for access to president John Mahama.

 Sly’s prophetic message is reproduced below;

BY A MESSENGER OF GOD, EPHRAIM AGAWU SLY

DISASTER IS ABOUT TO HIT HE NATION-GHANA, THUS SAYERS THE LORD,

The Lord revealed to me in a Dream in 2011, that the Homosexuals ( Will) has been passed in the Spiritual and it shall come to pass in the Physical, to take us all by surprise. He says those who will make it possible for them are the Super Powers.

This message came to me, to be given to the Former President of Ghana, President John Evans Attah Mills, but I could not reach him, I tried so many ways through the Radio stations, the Media, and so on and so fourth, but unfortunately, the disaster hit himself the Late President and followed by the former Vice President, Aliu Mahama.

Otabil, another priest in the mood of prophesy

The Lord is Extending this same message to the Present President of Ghana,President Mahama with this same warning, that the Disaster is about to Hit the Nation. The Lord wants President Mahama to do something for him to save the Nation from his Wrath.

Since the message came, that the Super Powers, have helped the homosexuals in Ghana to pass the Will for them. It was about two weeks when David Cameron sent warriors to Ghana, Questing Ghana for not allowing the GAY to have their rights. This confirms what the Lord has revealed to me about the Super powers Involvement.

And all who first head the message believe, apart from that, a lot of Disasters start hitting the Nation until, now that it has shifted from the sabotage type of Strikes of Doctors, Pharmacies and teachers to another sabotage Market fire disaster which is usual and beyond Imagination, but the Lord has spoken that, disaster will hit the Nation Ghana because, of some Particular Sins and wanted the President to do something about it to avoid more Disaster.

The Lord says the Gay rights have been passed in the Spirit and it will take us all by Surprise. Now look at a Mystery here, the very Man who is the back bone and the Architect of the right for the Gays in Ghana and the worlds Super Power, David Cameron Invited our President in June 2013 to have a meeting for what ? What did they discussed, can Ghanaians see any Sing. Watch out for the Lord has Spoken and if Ghanaians don't wake up and fight against this man's evil Idea, the nation will be destroyed by more Disasters. Thus Says the Lord.

We have lots of Minerals, Vegetative lands, Oil, etc, etc in our Soil, but because God is Angry with us, we are not enjoying them. Only few people are enjoying it, until the Voice of the Lord is heard and his Will is done, the Disaster will continue, says the Lord.

Many people who hear the Message think, its all about Prayer and Fasting that will make God change His mind, but he says Prayer is not the Solution and Bringing American Experts is not the Solution to the Problem, but the Solution is right here in Ghana with us.

The Lord, out of his Abundant Love he has for us, he has given us the Solution and it is time somebody Lead me to the President, to Present him the solution. It is a Controversial Secrete, that only the President must Hear and do as the Lord want without Delay, for it is getting Late for what is about to happen, will happen to Ghana and Ghana will fall under Gods Curse, says the Lord. Nobody is taking this serious, and many people are being hit by disasters already and more are yet to come, says the Lord.

There are bigger disasters on this Supreme Court Case, Ghana is seating on a Time Bomb, of which anything can happen after the Verdict, some people will want victory at all cost.

These is something the Lord want the president to do to save the Nation and it is a secrete he alone must know. This very message concerns all Ghanaians and everybody must show Concern and help make the message reach the President to Avoid the Coming Disasters. Is there any Concern Citizen out there who can help make the Message reach the President? May the lord be with you All!!!!!!

By a Messenger of God, Ephraim Agawu sly

0243530936

US espionage unites Latin America

Latin American leaders meets over US espionage

By Yusuf Fernandez

Anger is growing in Latin America over the US espionage disclosed by former CIA agent and current whistleblower, Edward Snowden. The recent meeting of the Mercosur, the common market organization of South America, in Montevideo (Uruguay) focused largely on US espionage against Latin Americans.

The summit issued a statement in which it condemned US “illegal acts of espionage that threaten citizens´ rights and the friendly co-existence between nations.”

The statement also expressed solidarity with the governments of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia, which have offered to grant asylum to Snowden, who has exposed extensive illegal spying by the US National Security Agency. The Mercosur statement reiterated that states have a right under international law to grant asylum. 

Shortly before, Latin American Presidents showed their solidarity with Bolivian President, Evo Morales, whose plane was forced to land in Vienna for 14 hours due to the negative of four European countries (France, Spain, Portugal and Italy), under US pressure, to allow it to overfly their air space for fear that Snowden was on board. 

This act was a clear violation of international treaties and air traffic agreements. It also put the lives of President Morales and other Bolivian officials who travelled in the aircraft at risk.

As a result, Mercosur countries have summoned their ambassadors in the four above-mentioned European states and have demanded an official explanation and “public apologies” from them for their “neo-colonial practices”. 

These Latin American meetings took place amid the growing scandal over NSA spying activities in the continent. According to several sources, the NSA has targeted most Latin American nations in its activities. Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Paraguay, Chile and El Salvador are among the countries that have been spied by the agency, according to the Brazilian newspaper O Globo, which cited documents leaked by Snowden. Significantly, some of these countries, such as Mexico and Colombia, have been close US allies for a long time. 

The documents showed that the NSA´s PRISM program has collected emails, faxes, searches, chats and files from Latin American individuals, companies and government agencies through US companies working in Internet such as Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Twitter and Skype. 

At least, data from 5 Latin American satellites were also intercepted in 2012. “Special Collection Service” centers were created by the NSA and the CIA in some Latin American capitals, such as Bogota, Caracas, Brasilia, Mexico City and Panama City, in order to collect data from these satellites. 

The documents showed that US espionage targeted not only military or political aspects but also commercial and energy issues, such as the oil production in Mexico and Venezuela. 

This fact has fueled particular concern among Latin American companies, as this espionage damages their interests and favors the position of US corporations in their struggle to control the region´s economies. 

The US government is currently worried about the increase of trading links and foreign investments from China, Russia and Europe in Latin America, a region that Washington still considers its “courtyard”. China especially has been developing its ties with Latin American countries in several fields, including energy, in recent years.
Bolivia rejects US envoy.

On July 13, Morales claimed US intelligence had hacked into the email accounts of senior Bolivian officials amid growing concerns about Washington’s secret surveillance programs. “US intelligence agents have accessed the emails of our most senior authorities in Bolivia,” Morales said in a speech. “It was recommended to me that I not use email, and I have followed suit and shut it down,” the Bolivian president added. 

Some days earlier, Morales had threatened to expel the US diplomatic mission and shut down its embassy. “We do not need the pretext of cooperation and diplomatic relations so that they can come and spy on us,” said the Bolivian president. 

Bolivian Interior Minister Carlos Romero also revealed that La Paz had rejected a diplomat suggested by Washington as the new US ambassador to the Latin American country. 

Romero said in an interview that the decision was made due to the negative remarks of James Nealon, the proposed ambassador, about the governments of Bolivia and Venezuela. 

In a secret document revealed by WikiLeaks in 2011, Nealon, who was Washington’s ambassador to Peru at the time, accused “anti-system” Bolivian President Evo Morales of trying to destabilize Peruvian President Alan Garcia with the support of the of Venezuela and Ecuador. 

The US had proposed Nealon as its new ambassador to La Paz in December 2012. It is worth recalling that Morales expelled former US Ambassador to La Paz Philip S. Goldberg in 2008, arguing that he was attempting to undermine the Bolivian government. 

Other Latin American countries have also protested against US spying activities. Colombia's foreign ministry “showed its concern” that there had been an “unauthorized data collection program” and asked the US government to give an account of its actions through its embassy in Bogota. 

“In rejecting the acts of espionage that violate people's rights and intimacy as well as the international conventions on telecommunication, Colombia requests the corresponding explanations from the US government through its ambassador to Colombia,” Reuters quoted the ministry as saying. 

For his part, Peruvian President Ollanta Humala said that the espionage was worrisome. “We are against these kinds of spying activities,” Reuters quoted him as saying. 

“It would be good for Congress to look with concern at privacy issues related to personal information.” “This is the world we live in; a world with new forms of colonialism,” Argentini4n President Cristina Fernandez said. “It is more subtle than it was two centuries ago, when they came with armies to take our silver and gold.” 

Brazil case 

O Globo reported that the NSA and CIA have also collected telephone calls and emails in Brazil, the biggest country of Latin America and a leading member of international blocs such as UNASUR, MERCOSUR, CELAC and BRICS.

After these data were published, Brazil's telecommunications agency said that it would investigate whether local operators had violated customer privacy rules by cooperating with US agencies. According to O Globo, the espionage of Brazilian communications took place through US companies that are partners with Brazilian firms. 

For her part, President Dilma Rousseff warned that if the reports prove true, and so far every indication is that they will, they will represent “violations of sovereignty and human rights.” 

Some Brazilian congressmen have called on the Brazilian government to cancel defense contracts with US companies in retaliation and others have stated that Brazil should offer asylum to Snowden. 

Gilberto Carvalho, a top aide to President Dilma Rousseff, said a “very hard” response to Washington was needed. “If we lower our heads, they will trample all over us tomorrow,” he said. According to Reuters, Anatel, the country´s telecommunications regulator has announced that it will work with the federal police to determine whether local telephone operators have broken any laws. 

US double standards 

For its part and instead of answering Latin American concerns regarding to its spying activities, Washington is still showing its old bully attitude in its relations with these countries. 

“All across the region, American embassies have communicated Washington´s message that letting Snowden into Latin America, even if he shows up unexpectedly, would have lasting consequences”, claimed a recent article published in the New York Times. A senior State Department official told the Times that aiding Snowden “would put relations (of these countries with the US) in a very bad place for a long time to come.” 

Some Latin American media has criticized these open threats and accused the US of using double standards here too. In fact, Washington has rejected the extradition to Venezuela of Luis Posada Carriles, a former CIA operative and terrorist who allegedly masterminded the bombing of a Cuban plane that killed 73 people in the 1970s.

He escaped from a Venezuelan prison in the 1980s and is currently living in the US. Similarly, Washington has ignored Bolivian demand to extradite Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, who was President from 2002 to 2003 and fled Bolivia after he was ousted by massive protests against his plan to sell Bolivian gas resources to foreign companies. De Lozada now faces charges of genocide in his country for ordering the military to fire on unarmed protesters in 2003. More than 60 people were killed due to these facts. 

The spying scandal will certainly deal a serious blow to US influence in Latin America at a time when it was already diminishing. “A region that was once a broad zone of American power has become increasingly confident in its ability to act independently”, said a recent article in the New York Times. “Our influence in the hemisphere is diminishing,” acknowledged Bill Richardson, a former US ambassador to the United Nations.

In any case, US bully policies might well prove unsuccessful this time, when Latin America is striving to increase its unity and integration. “The State Department and the government of the United States should know that Venezuela learned a long time ago to defeat pressures from any part of the world,” Venezuelan foreign minister, Elías Jaua, said. Other Latin American countries will surely think the same. 

Will Egypt revolution be stolen again?

By Jim W. Dean

I have watched with growing fear the aftermath of the Egyptian Army and people’s revolt against Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood as it scrambles to place interim leaders who can present a united front to the Egyptian people and avoid descending into civil war.

Much of the Egypt analysis coming in so far is biased by whatever side the writers happen to be supporting and of little value to us as we have been aware of the ideological disputes. What we need to be looking at now is who internally in Egypt is responsible for what has happened, where certainly one of the options is both sides, and then have certain foreign players played a key role or distant one. 

There is the usual ‘the US is running the whole show’ side. This of course is somewhat validated by the annual support to the Egyptian military. But we must not forget that this was the military, despite America’s standing with Mubarak until almost the end, that went over to the people when they saw he was toast. By siding with the people they saved their own domestic respect, credibility, and privileges. 

Michel Chossudovsky poses that the US is manipulating both sides and uses a miliary.com quote to support the claim: 

“US Defense Secretary Hagel and US Chief of Staff General Martin Dempsey were walking a fine line expressing concern while attempting to avoid the impression that the US was manipulating events behind the scene.”

But an obvious omission here by Chossudovsky is that the US military does not make policy, and peep to peer communications in all situations of turbulence are quite normal. To cast them undoubtedly as evidence of control and manipulation is a stretch. The Army obviously made the call as it was their behinds on the line if Tahrir Two turns into a debacle. 

Kevin Barrett also feels that the Morsi overthrow was a US covert coup, detailing a long history of the tactic being used. Constant involvement in other countries affairs always exposes you to blame for anything that happens there that no one likes. You end up with ‘anti-American’ feelings (or more of them) which could have been avoided simply by keeping a distance. Our Founding Fathers warned us about this but America has lost its way in this regard. 

Edward Peck, former US ambassador to Iraq, and with top sources in Washington. weighed in on the opposite side. “I think that the government of the United States is a little bit confused about what to do… I think anyone who believes that the U.S. or any other country can direct the events in Egypt is badly mistaken.”

I will now jump in here with the caveat that I have no crystal ball but will try to add some dispassionate analysis and some new input from other sources. Foreign Minister Hague recently said, that Britain planned to work with the interim government “as a practical matter” as many British citizens and businesses are in Egypt and international life must go on during these political turmoils. 

The same goes for the US. We obviously were working with the Morsi government and it should come as no surprise that holding fast to the Camp David Accords would be a top priority. It would be naive to think otherwise. American support for Israel is not going to disappear overnight based on what happens in another country, but only after a long hard fight back here at home where we clean out of the Lobby infiltrators, subversives and their fellow travelers.

The world has watched the continuing political/religious struggle inside Egypt for a variety of reasons as Tahrir One was an historic event. The Muslim Brotherhood came in on the tail end of that. The young people had initiated and carried the revolution on their own shoulders through the most difficult and dangerous period, with the Army finally joining in to tip the tide. 

So the MB had no problem with the people and the army teaming up to remove a democratically elected government when it paved the way for their possibly realizing their dream of running Egypt as an Islamic state. 

The current showdown began in earnest with the second year anniversary of the 2011 revolution in late January. Morsi had already burned bridges with the opposition with his decree that none of his presidential edicts could be reversed by the courts, which earned him the nickname the “New Pharaoh.” 

The opposition became more outspoken and called for removal of the ‘dictatorship’ and trials of its top figures, which we might still see. Tensions flared with the famous Salafi cleric Mahmoud Shaaban being arrested for inciting violence against NSF leaders when he said on February 2nd that for their [NSF] wanting to get rid of the Morsi government that “it was clear that their sentence in God's law was death.” That was waving a red flag in front of the army. 

The Army stood by, not interfering. But it did attempt to cool things down with Army Chief of Staff Sedki Sobhi’s warning, “It [the military] keeps an eye on what goes on in the nation and if the Egyptian people ever needed the armed forces, they will be in the streets in less than a second.”

If I had been advising Morsi, I would have asked him to take that threat very seriously and do nothing to trigger the army doing what they had already done in 2011… help get rid of an unpopular corrupt leader if a similar public demand arose. 

The International Crisis Group noticed a dangerous shift in the political climate: 

“In the absence of a shared view of the foundations of a future political system, Islamists are pressing their vision, while their opponents play spoilers. This has the makings of a self-fulfilling prophecy: the more the opposition obstructs and calls for Morsi’s ouster, the more it validates the Islamists’ conviction it will never recognize their right to govern; the more the Brotherhood charges ahead, the more it confirms the others’ belief of its monopolistic designs over power.”

Morsi responded, battening down the hatches by solidifying his brotherhood support through more aggressive patronage for the Brotherhood. The economy was ignored. And when the Tamarod Egyptian Youth movement organized in April and quickly pulled 15 million anti-Morsi regime signatures together, Morsi made a fatal mistake in being dismissive of the movement. 

He responded with an attempted diversion campaign of his own with the over response to the Ethiopian dam project that had been in the works two decades... to the point of even threatening military action. The army was watching, and listening. 

Morsi really shot himself in the both feet when he closed the Syrian embassy and literally began helping recruit Egyptians to go fight with the Syrian rebel terrorists. Maybe he was trying to solidify his Qatari backing. Without the loaned gold from them, the Saudis and Turkey in the central bank, Morsi would not even had the gas fumes he had been running the country on. 

The US was not asleep at the wheel during all this and saw the storm clouds coming. The military had established a record of non interference but also giving solid warnings about when it would come out of the barracks. I cannot view the Obama administration’s communications as manipulation was they had no idea for sure what Morsi was going to do. 

He might have made major changes to his cabinet to defuse the situation, or, even agreed to early elections to seek a new mandate. The US took what is called a 'straddle situation'...maintaining contact with both sides. 

The US ambassador Jane Patterson, to pre-empt the beginning of the June 30th demonstrations, gave a supporting speech for the Morsi regime which not only inflamed the opposition anger at Washington, but has them calling for her dismissal now. 

She said that she and the US government were “deeply skeptical that street action will produce better results than elections.” This was a very strange position for her to take as new elections were basically what the street demonstrations were for. Patterson continued: 

“Egypt needs stability to get its economic house in order, and more violence on the streets will do little more than add new names to the lists of martyrs,” she said in a June 18 speech. “Instead, I recommend Egyptians get organized. Join or start a political party that reflects your values and aspirations.”

Meanwhile, the Pentagon was talking to the Egyptian military to get assurances that if they did step in that an interim government would be set up quickly with new elections as soon as possible. The concern for this was that American aid could continue and the situation diffused with the military not taking power into their own hands. 

In late June, Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi stated that, “The military’s patriotic and moral responsibility toward its people compels it to intervene to keep Egypt from sliding into a dark tunnel of conflict, internal fighting, criminality, accusations of treason, sectarian discord and the collapse of state institutions.”

Morsi rejected all accommodations. All he would agree to do is engage in more talks. With the Tamarod group’s petition up to 22 million signature and an estimated of 30 million people ready to hit the streets the bow string was pulled, and that would not be stopped just to continue talking. Morsi froze up, and events overtook him. 

But the end game is still way up in the air. The ElBaradei interim Prime Minister appointment was fumbled as being divisive within the opposition ranks when they must present a united front. Putin is concerned about civil war in Egypt with a potential outcome like Syria. But while I also think there is the potential of one starting, the Egyptian Army will end it in less than two years I assure you. 

Are their parties who could want a civil war in Egypt… the mother of all destabilizes? Yes, of course. But I would hope that Egyptians would realize that to be a lose, lose situation. If I had a crystal ball I would take a peek to see, but alas I do not. Good outcomes take hard work, good leadership and a population with good common sense. 

We shall hope for the best for the long suffering Egyptian people, but at least maybe the Syrian people will be spared the Egyptian Salafis coming to be trained as terrorists and cannibals in their country.