Barkha Dutt Saves Hosni Mubarak

“It was impossible for Christiane Amanpour to not be there, so one can understand how hard it must have been for Barkha Dutt to have not rushed to Egypt. Someone must have stopped her, and thankfully so”.  This is what I wrote a couple of days ago in my post ‘Egypt & The Fifth Column’. As expected Barkha Dutt has proved me wrong once again and has rushed to Egypt. Well, she was just a bit late. Hosni Mubarak was looking for someone to pass the buck for the present crisis in Egypt. He wanted to pick Barkha for an exclusive interview, but in her absence he had to pick the poor man’s version of Barkha, Christiane Amanpour.

I have to presume Barkha was fed up with the comic work of CNN-IBN journalists who went there and were either detained or attacked. So on CNN-IBN the reporting was much about their own journalists’ plight than Egypt itself. After all, these are the representatives of India, the new super-kid on the block. To her absolute delight Barkha found she had scared the living daylights out of the protesters and Mubarak’s goons. Incidentally, CNN-IBN had originally planned to send Sagarika Ghose, but the Egyptians strongly objected to the fact that her shrill screaming would drown their own voices. So good sense prevailed on that channel. Another reporter, Karmic Soliloquy, who was in Cairo, has filed this live report from Egypt:

Protesters praying for Barkha Dutt to go..

“Live and direct from Cairo: NDTV journalist and all round news aunty Barkha Dutt has lodged a strong protest with the Egyptian government over the latter’s decision not to arrest or threaten her. Bharkha, who is reporting on the crisis in Egypt from Cairo, was among the few journalists left unharmed by President Hosni Mubarak supporters, policemen and army soldiers.....Barkha’s stock in India has been on a freefall since the last three years following among others an incident where she got a tiny small time blogger to shutdown his blog over some uncharitable comments he had made on the self proclaimed queen of Indian newsdom .......not only did the Egyptian government goons leave her alone, but they also treated her with much respect as if she was one of them. An angry Barkha rushed to the makeshift office of the Mubarak Goons Association and demanded an immediate arrest\detention or even a reprimand from the forces loyal to Mubarak..... (instead) The goons served her tea and breakfast and even gave her a sturdy horse to take her around Cairo. Grandpa Pranoy Roy has meanwhile condemned the incident and refused to dye his beard for three days in protest....” Read the full report by Karmic Soliloquy

The New York Post writer Andrea Peyser had once conferred the title ‘War Slut” on Christiane Amanpour for her reporting from conflict zones, and later called her a “Palestinian Propagandist”. Barkha is now angry that the international media has conspired to deprive her of similar titles which would have been well-earned.

 

Knowing Barkha was in Egypt can Nira Radia be far behind? Well, the Egyptian protesters suddenly realised that with Barkha in Egypt there was every chance that Hosni Mubarak may stay on in office. After all, some Indian journalists and PR bigwigs know how to put people in office or keep them there. So they have now shifted their focus away from Mubarak and instead want Barkha out.

Another Indian reporter in Cairo (Emmaarcee) has sent in this one:  “Here is a sms message which says that "After seeing (NDTV's) Burka Dutt's reports, several Egyptians dropped their demand for Mubarak's exit. They want HER to go”. So now you know how our very own Barkha saved Hosni Mubarak. I can confirm the Amanpour-Mubarak interview, but the rest is, of course, based on unconfirmed reports. Indian journalists can get anything done and keep anyone in power. Now you know!

Egypt & 'The Fifth Column'

TV channels and other media are full of the ongoing protests in Egypt and other Middle East states. A quick over-throw of the regime in Tunisia has followed protests in Jordan, Yemen and the ones in Egypt have been the most dramatic and have caught the world’s fascination. On Tuesday (February 1) Arnab Goswami went hammer and tongs at the USA. Some of his outrage included “America should stay out of Egypt”, “US should stay out of middle east” and so on. Those are not quotes but what he effectively said. The others aren’t too far behind. It was impossible for Christianne Amanpour to not be there, so one can understand how hard it must have been for Barkha Dutt to have not rushed to Egypt. Someone must have stopped her, and thankfully so. Typically, most of our TV channels turned it into greater drama than was already on the streets of Cairo and the anchors themselves were calling for Hosni Mubarak to step down.

A thought on revolutions. Our own independence struggle was a revolution and partition was a consequence. Where democracy and real freedom are not at the core it will be easy to see where states can go. Former Soviet Union’s October Revolution needs to be remembered. That Pakistan, with its Islamic Republic Constitution, has gone down the drain is not hard to see. Iran is not hard to see. Tunisia is already in the making. That is the danger for Egypt. And this can spread much farther.

The Fifth Column?

Arnab Goswami’s calls for America to stay out is understandable.  However, for a super-power that brokered peace between Israel and Egypt, for a country that has poured billions into Egypt, for a country that has several interests in the mid-east, it is not possible to stay completely out. And it shouldn’t. Indian governments have been stupid enough to either get fully involved or completely withdrawn from our own neighbours. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar are all good examples of how these countries are slowly being courted by the Chinese to strangle India from all sides. And, of course, we have the friendly Pakistan next door which our TV anchors, journalists and communist media love so much.

Hosni Mubarak’s rule of 30 years has been autocratic, corrupt and one of suppression. One that has also seen killings of minorities and church bombings regularly, especially Coptic Christians. The longer a government’s rule the more ineffective, the more brazenly corrupt it’s likely to be. Sooner or later people are bound to revolt. This has been seen in Iran before in 1979, in China in 1989 and in many other places. It is a lesson that no party should be voted to power twice in succession. India is already paying the price with the corrupt UPA government. So one can imagine what 30 years of power can do. Imagine what 60 years of Congress has done to India.

However, much as we would like to believe and are being told over and over again by the media that the popular uprising in Egypt stems from the people’s desire for more freedoms, economic well-being and a yearning for democracy, one hopes it is just that and does not turn into what Iran has come to be. There’s a reason to be skeptical. The protests are largely backed and driven by the Muslim Brotherhood, even if not openly so. There may be more, but the one sane analysis of the situation comes from Swapan Dasgupta on his blog – ‘Islamist regime may follow Mubarak exit’.

First, about the Muslim Brotherhood. This is an organisation founded in 1928 and is banned in Egypt since the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981. Members of this organisation, however, contest as independents to the assemblies in Egypt. They support terrorist organisations like Hamas and many other Jihadist organisations. Their final goal : An Islamic Caliphate across the middle east and maybe later across the world. They are staunch opponents of Israel’s existence. Egypt’s peace treaty with the Jewish state is also a cause for the unrest with the Muslim Brotherhood.  Anti-Israel posters also find place with others in the current protests. Early morning on February 3 protestors were heard shouting ‘Jihad, Jihad’ on CNN in Cairo, in the middle of clashes between pro and anti-Mubarak crowds.  

Robert Spencer, a keen observer of ‘Jihad’ and ‘Islamic’ activities had this to say on his site Jihadwatch.org:

"Research analyst Lorenzo Vidino writes about The Muslim Brotherhood's Conquest of Europe: "Since the early 1960s, Muslim Brotherhood members and sympathizers have moved to Europe and slowly but steadily established a wide and well-organized network of mosques, charities, and Islamic organizations." Their ultimate goal "may not be simply 'to help Muslims be the best citizens they can be,' but rather to extend Islamic law throughout Europe and the United States. With moderate rhetoric and well-spoken German, Dutch, and French, they have gained acceptance among European governments and media alike. Politicians across the political spectrum rush to engage them whenever an issue involving Muslims arises or, more parochially, when they seek the vote of the burgeoning Muslim community. But, speaking Arabic or Turkish before their fellows Muslims, they drop their facade and embrace radicalism." Read the devastating full post here on the infiltration of the West by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Former American Special agent Paul David Gobatz infiltrated CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) and revealed the deep nexus between CAIR, Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood in his book titled “Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America”  It would be naive to think the Mafia will want to stop at Europe or America. They have more than willing support in places like Pakistan and some countries in South Asia as well.

In every country where the muslim population has attained significant levels there is a growing desire for Islamic rule or implementation of Sharia. Britain, France, Germany are prime examples. And consequently the existence of ‘The Fifth Column’ should not be dismissed as wild conspiracy theory. In India our own Imam Bukhari, of Delhi’s Jama Masjid’ is on record stating: “We were rulers here for 800 years. Inshaallah, we shall return to power here once again”" and threatens “this country is in for another partition, so let us be prepared for nation wide riots and violence. ”

Islamic regimes and Sharia are incompatible with Democracy. Let us be under no illusion regardless of how our media paints the Egypt protests as. It is in the interest of democracies to be on guard and therefore Western & Eastern democracies must be closely involved in Egypt and the Middle-East. The lies and paints of the Indian media notwithstanding.