Swedish Greens jolted by claims of Islamist infiltration

One refused to shake hands with a female journalist. Another compared Israel to Nazi Germany. A third was seen doing hand signs associated with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood in the background of a live TV broadcast.

The behavior of some Muslim members of Sweden’s Green Party, which is part of a coalition government since 2014, has sparked concerns that the small environmentalist group may have been infiltrated by Islamists.

It also has triggered a wider discussion about whether Sweden has tried so hard to be inclusive and tolerant toward migrants that it’s failed to stand up for its own feminist ideals.

“In our eagerness to embrace a diverse and multicultural society, we have turned a blind eye to undemocratic views,” said Gulan Avci, a Stockholm city councilwoman for the Liberals, a center-right opposition party.

Green Party leaders said Monday there’s no evidence of Islamists influencing party policies, but admitted the party needs a “reset” with greater focus on environmental issues.

The party’s problems started when Housing Minister Mehmet Kaplan, a Green Party member and former leader of a Swedish Muslim youth group, resigned last week after media reports that he had contacts with ultra-nationalists and Islamists in his native Turkey. Though he denied any wrongdoing and the party leadership defended him until the end, he stepped down when a video surfaced of Kaplan comparing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to how the Nazis persecuted Jews.

Trying to cool things down, Green Party co-leader Asa Romson only made them worse when she went off on a bizarre tangent in a TV interview, describing the Sept. 11 attacks as “accidents.” She later clarified that she condemns the attacks.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_SWEDEN_GREEN_PARTY?SITE=TXHAR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Why We’re Never Told Why We’re Attacked

When Western media discusses terrorism against the West, the motive is almost always left out, even when the terrorists state they are avenging longstanding Western violence in the Muslim world, reports Joe Lauria.

 

After a Russian commercial airliner was downed over Egypt’s Sinai last October, Western media reported that the Islamic State bombing was retaliation against Russian airstrikes in Syria. The killing of 224 people, mostly Russian tourists on holiday, was matter-of-factly treated as an act of war by a fanatical group without an air force resorting to terrorism as a way to strike back.

 

Yet, Western militaries have killed infinitely more innocent civilians in the Middle East than Russia has. Then why won’t Western officials and media cite retaliation for that Western violence as a cause of terrorist attacks on New York, Paris and Brussels?

http://patriotrising.com/2016/04/13/never-told-attacked/

 

Where’s My Mercedes? Egypt’s Financial Crisis Hits the Rich

Gucci Corner is the nickname for a bustling plaza at the private American University in Cairo, where well-heeled students hang out between classes and strut their imported fashions.

These days, though, even the privileged are feeling the squeeze of Egypt’s economic crisis.

Zeyad Mohamed, 19, a business student, said he was shocked to discover on a recent visit to a Mercedes-Benz showroom that his desired model would not be available for 18 months. “Normally I’m not interested in politics — if it doesn’t affect me, I don’t care,” Mr. Mohamed said, reflecting a disengagement that is typical among well-to-do youth. “But this is a problem. And things are getting more expensive.”

Wealthy Egyptians were among President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s most ardent supporters after he seized power in 2013, favoring stability and a harsh crackdown on Islamists, even at the cost of civil liberties. But that loyalty is being tested now, as Egypt’s severe shortage of foreign currency cripples businesses, impedes luxury imports and crimps their lifestyles. And that has prompted a tide of unusually sharp criticism of Mr. Sisi.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/11/world/middleeast/egypt-economic-crisis-abdel-fattah-el-sisi.html?smid=tw-nytimesworld&smtyp=cur

MIDEAST STOCKS-Gulf climbs on oil hopes, Egypt slowed by monetary fears

Most Gulf stock markets rose on Thursday, buoyed by firm oil prices, while Egypt edged up but was again restrained by worries about a possible interest rate rise, a currency devaluation or both.

A decision by Saudi Arabia to raise oil prices to its main customers in Asia contributed to a sense that crude may finally have bottomed out. Also, purchasing managers’ indexes released on Thursday showed non-oil business activity in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates accelerating slightly in February from January’s multi-year lows.

The Saudi stock index rose 0.8 percent as petrochemical blue chip Saudi Basic Industries gained 1.0 percent.

http://af.reuters.com/article/egyptMarketNews/idAFL8N16B1WN

Egypt Says Iran Deal Provides New Opening for a Nuclear Weapons-Free Mideast

Egypt’s foreign minister said Monday that the landmark nuclear agreement between global powers and Iran offers a new opportunity to hold a United Nations-backed conference aimed at creating a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East, alluding to Israel.

“If the result of the deal is to guarantee that Iran doesn’t become a nuclear weapons state, then it makes it more viable that the zone will be created,” Egyptian Foreign MinisterSameh Shoukry said in an interview here. “There is only one state [in the region] that continues to be outside of the nuclear nonproliferation regime.”

Israel is the sole Mideast country believed to possess a nuclear weapons arsenal.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/egypt-says-iran-deal-provides-new-opening-for-a-nuclear-weapons-free-mideast-1454975799

 

EGYPT’S MYTH OF STABILITY: GROSS ABUSES DON’T DELIVER SECURITY

Today, Ahmed is on the run. He dodged arrest by the thinnest of margins on January 9, after plainclothes police in Cairo raided his regular coffee shop. The NGO which he chairs, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, had recently exposed a surge in enforced disappearances, which has seen hundreds vanish at the hands of state security forces over the last year alone.

He is not the only one whose activism has put him at risk. In recent weeks, security forces have been rounding up activists linked to protests and journalists critical of the government’s record.

Egypt’s Myth Of Stability: Gross Abuses Don’t Deliver Security

Islamic State affiliate in Egypt claims responsibility for attack on hotel near Giza Pyramids

An Islamic State affiliate in Egypt has claimed responsibility for an attack on a hotel near the Giza Pyramids the previous day that authorities said had left no casualties, according to a statement circulated Friday by sympathizers of the militant group.

Egypt’s Interior Ministry said no one was hurt in Thursday’s incident at the Three Pyramids Hotel, but the attack damaged the hotel’s facade and also a bus parked in front of the building. A group of about 15 attackers fired birdshot and flares at the hotel’s security post. A suspect was arrested and police were still searching for the rest of the group, the ministry said.

Arab Israeli tourists staying at the hotel said the attackers used flares and live bullets. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said no Israelis were hurt.

But a statement carried Friday by IS sympathizers on Twitter claimed there were dead and wounded among the tourists and security officers protecting the hotel.

Egypt author says authorities pressed venue to ban gathering

Egypt’s best-selling author Alaa al-Aswany said Sunday that authorities have pressured a cultural center to cancel an event where he was scheduled to talk about how the government manipulates the public with theories that the world is conspiring against Egypt.

Al-Aswany said the cancellation of his gathering last Thursday in Alexandria follows other measures in the past year, which have prevented him from appearing on TV channels or getting published in Egyptian newspapers.

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=235&sid=37749033&title=egypt-author-says-authorities-pressed-venue-to-ban-gathering&s_cid=queue-8

Most Gulf carriers re-route flights over Sinai after Russian crash

Related: WORLD, RUSSIA, AEROSPACE & DEFENSE, EGYPT

Most Gulf airlines said on Sunday they were re-routing flights to avoid Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, where a Russian aircraft carrying 224 passengers crashed on Saturday.

Carriers from United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait said they would re-route flights as a security precaution until there was more clarity. Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways said it would continue to fly over Sinai but avoid certain areas on the advice of Egyptian authorities.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/01/us-egypt-crash-gulf-airlines-idUSKCN0SQ1OS20151101

Russian jet broke up in mid air but too early draw conclusions, official says

 A Russian airliner that crashed in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula broke up in mid-air, an official of a Moscow-based aviation agency said on Sunday after visiting the disaster site, but stressed it was too early to draw conclusions from this.

Related: WORLD, RUSSIA, AEROSPACE & DEFENSE, EGYPT

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/01/us-egypt-crash-idUSKCN0SQ1H120151101

Russian authorities also ordered Kogalymavia airline, operator of the Airbus A321 which came down on Saturday killing all 224 people on board, not to fly its jets of the same model until the causes of the crash are known.

The jet, which Kogalymavia flew under the brand name Metrojet, was carrying holidaymakers from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg when it crashed into a mountainous area of central Sinai shortly after losing radar contact near cruising altitude.