Iranian Speaker: US, Israel Crippled by Egyptian Revolution

Fars News Agency

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani underlined the importance and influence of the Egyptian uprising in the region, saying that the revolution has crippled the US and the Zionist regime. 

"The US and the Zionist regime's backbones were broken by the Egyptian revolution," Larijani said in a meeting with Secretary-General of Egypt's Amal Party Majdi Hussein here in Tehran on Sunday evening.

He also pointed to the different aspects of the Egyptian revolution, and said, "The revolution of the Egyptian people restored the high status of the country in the world and among the Muslim nations."

Larijani announced the Iranian nation's full support for the revolution of the Egyptian people, and said maintenance of unity, solidarity and integrity among different Egyptian groups is necessary at such a sensitive juncture.

Political observers believe that people's uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Jordan, Yemen and Libya are the result of growing 'Islamic awakening' in the Middle-Eastern countries sparked over three decades ago by Iran's Islamic Revolution.

People in the Middle-East now believe that the western approach to the ongoing revolutions in these countries has unveiled the true nature of the West's stance on democracy.

The United States and certain other western countries have adopted a double-standard approach towards the popular protests against the dictatorial regimes in the region.

Political observers also believe that the recent uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain and Jordan are the result of America's double standards in the Middle-East and its biased policies against different nations.

When asked if Mubarak was a dictator, United States Vice-President Joseph Biden said, "Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things."

Western analysts underline that such statements leave negative effects on the Muslim nations of the region because it reveals that the United States has double standards when it comes to human rights and democracy.

The United States and Europe supported the dictatorship of Zine El Abidin Ben Ali, the ousted Tunisian President, and showed indifference to the Tunisian people's cries of protest.

In Egypt, the United States and the West also supported Mubarak in repressing Islamic groups and intellectuals and torturing freedom-seeking Egyptian youth.

Under the pretext of human rights, the United States criticizes establishments that respect human and civil rights but stand against its authoritarian policies.

U.S. to spend $75 million on new Yemen military training

(Reuters) - The United States aims to spend $75 million to double the size of a special Yemeni counter-terrorism unit, a U.S. official said on Monday.

The funding, which has yet to be approved by Congress, is part of a broader effort to increase pressure on al Qaeda's Yemen-based affiliate, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, the official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Michael Leiter, head of the National Counterterrorism Center, told Congress last week he saw AQAP as the biggest current threat to the U.S. homeland.

The group has claimed responsibility for a failed Christmas Day attack in 2009 aboard a U.S. airliner and a more recent attempt last year to blow up two U.S.-bound cargo planes with toner cartridges packed with explosives.

The U.S. official said the funds would be invested in a special Yemeni counter-terrorism unit that is operated under Yemen's interior ministry and now totals around 300 people.

The funds are unrelated to another $120 million earmarked for Yemen in President Barack Obama's 2012 budget request unveiled on Monday. The request includes $35 million in additional military assistance for Yemen and $69 million in economic assistance.

Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in power for 30 years, has faced growing protests in recent weeks from thousands of Yemenis, inspired by uprisings that toppled Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and Tunisia's President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

He is also under pressure to quash the resurgent al Qaeda wing in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state, at the same time as he struggles to control southern secessionists and to cement a fragile truce with rebels in the north.

U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told Congress last week that Yemen's "myriad political, security, and development challenges" pose the greatest threat to that poor Arab nation since its 1994 civil war.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; additional reporting by Andrew Quinn; Editing by John Whitesides)

Israeli minister urges Egypt to use force

Note:  Biden has recently made a statement in support of dictator Hosni Mubarak

 

Press TV

 

An Israeli minister says Egyptian government forces will have to exercise force to rein in public protests as the African country is teetering on the brink of a Tunisia-style revolution. 

 

Inspired by the recent popular revolution in Tunisia, which resulted in the historic overthrow of the country's President Zine El Abidin Ben Ali, Egyptians have staged similar anti-government protests since Tuesday, calling on President Hosni Mubarak to relinquish power after three decades in office.

Meanwhile, an Israeli cabinet minister who spoke on condition of anonymity to Israeli media stated on Thursday that the Egyptian president backed by a strong militarily prowess will eventually subdue the crisis, The Washington Post reported.

"His regime is well-rooted in the military and security apparatus," said the Israeli minister, adding that, "They will have to exercise force, power in the street and do it. But they are strong enough according to my assessment to overcome it."

Egypt, which is widely regarded as the first Arab country to seal peace agreement with Israel three decades ago, remains one of Tel Aviv's most important allies.

On Thursday, Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom told reporters that Tel Aviv is closely watching the still-unfolding situation in Egypt, and does not see a threat in its ties with the African nation.

"Egypt is the most important country in the Arab world. Egypt has a peace treaty with Israel and we think that the treaty, that the peace treaty with Israel is very strong and the (mutual) interests between the two countries are very big and important," Shalom asserted.

He made the remarks as tens of thousands of Egyptians marched in Cairo and a string of other cities to protest against the 82-year-old Mubarak.

In the city of Suez, along the strategic Suez Canal, protesters set ablaze a fire station and stole weapons that they then turned on police.

Meanwhile, Egyptian security forces took up positions in strategic locations, including Cairo's Tahrir Square, site of the biggest demonstrations this week, raising fears that the government would mount its crackdown on demonstrators.