Are We on the Way to a New “Sykes-Picot” Convention?

Arab leaders did not understand the content of Condoleezza Rice’s statements when she was secretary of state about the overwhelming chaos that would prevail in the Middle East and create a new one. Neither did they realize that this overwhelming chaos would reach them sooner or later.

There is no doubt that those statements were then a clear indication that the U.S. had abandoned its support for the traditional Arab ally leaders and wished to substitute them as well as their governments. However, these American leaders adhere to the same corrupt practices of illegally accumulating extreme wealth, which has blinded them from thinking about initiating reforms and changing their policies, believing that they will perpetually stay in power by bequeathing it to their progeny. Thus, they have continued the policy of ruling with an iron fist and oppressing opponents who attempt to voice opposition, or try to talk about reforms. Mighty police forces employed for this purpose continue to play repressive roles against their own people, despite the fact that all indicators suggest that these people have lost patience and ability to endure; that they rise up against the status quo in their countries; that they are successful in doing so. This, with the U.S. administration’s inactivity to support and protect their allied leaders, who they repudiated after accomplishing whatever mission was set for them in the interest of the United States.

The degree of disregard these Arab leaders have shown for their peoples reached the extent of fully, blatantly and publicly falsifying legislative and presidential election results in their countries, continuing to be engaged in financial, political, moral and social corruption, and continuing the policy of bequeathing to their progeny, which has increased peoples’ subjugation and brought them closer to uprising. It has also prompted the Arab youth to make use of modern technology such as Facebook, Twitter and email to express their views and communicate among themselves to launch campaigns to promote and organize popular revolts against their governments and leaders. The police forces were incapable of halting this communication, which often took place under fictitious names and pseudonyms.

After Tunisians successfully rose in revolt against their former president and his government, the rest of the Arab heads believed that the situation in Tunisia was different from that in their own countries; as such, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stated that Egypt was not Tunisia. Also, Gadhafi stated that Libya was not Tunisia or Egypt, and so said the former Yemeni president and the Syrian president, and these are the most corrupt countries with regards to the governance of their leaders.

But what happened after that was Mubarak’s fall from power, as well as his aides and government, as was the case in Libya and Yemen. Syria and other states are following on the same path.

It is strange and striking to those who do not understand U.S. policy, which fluctuates in accordance with U.S. interests, that the U.S. administration led countries that supported popular revolutions, especially Egypt. This country is seen as being the greatest Arab country, and the success of its revolution is a paramount issue; it paves the way to the success of the rest of the Arab revolutions against America's traditional allies.

Here, we should recall U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s statement on the first day of the Egyptian revolution and before the fall of Mubarak, that he had to step down “now, now,” and Mubarak ultimately fell. The administration was successful in making NATO take militarily action to overthrow Gadhafi and his aides, it took part in toppling former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, and is currently supporting the Syrian opposition and others to overthrow president Bashar al-Assad, not to mention its conspiracies in the Arab world, namely in Bahrain, Iraq, part of Sudan, and other Arab countries it is targeting to blackmail.

There is no doubt that the U.S. administration supports the revolutions of the Arab peoples not out of love for success in their gaining of freedom, justice and democracy, as these revolutions are intended to achieve stability and security for the people rebelling against the corrupt rulers. Rather, it intends to invest in these revolutions to achieve the goal Condoleezza Rice revealed years ago relative to the overwhelming chaos in the Middle East, wherein, after the complete success of these revolutions in every Arab country, the administration will seek to create serious divisions among the revolutionaries, the leaders, and others, as is currently taking place in Egypt, in particular, and in Sudan, Iraq and Libya. The divisions among the opposition in Syria were even prior to the success of the revolution.

There is no doubt, either, that these divisions will ultimately lead to the U.S. taking advantage of the chaos in the Arab world, which will lead to the division of each Arab country into several small states divided against themselves, and to problems and civil wars that will kill any hopes of Arabs founding a strong Arab world that enjoys weight in the international arena, as the EU, China, Russia and the countries of East Asia do. These small states will run out of resources and remain economically dependent on U.S. support, and will carry out U.S. policy in the region, especially the absolute support for Israel. The U.S. administration may even put pressure on these states to recognize Israel and establish diplomatic relations with it, as has happened in South Sudan recently.

Hence, the U.S. administration will be successful in implementing a new Sykes-Picot agreement in the region, and hence the sense of belonging to Arabism and Islam will come to an end, which is what the U.S. administration and some European allies wish to achieve.

It is regrettable that all the leadership of the Arab revolutions, whether those that have been successful or those that are still rebellious, are inclined to implement this accursed U.S. scheme. They do not realize that they will do so because of a sense of division against themselves.

Here, we have to ask: Will the leaders of the Arab revolutions wake up and transcend their differences and divisions in their countries to foil this imperialist plan that will cause the Arab nations’ will to break?!

I do not mean that they definitely will not wake up, but that I'm afraid they will not.

Thus, all we can say is: “We beg no one but the Almighty Creator for power.”