The Fireball

Egypt is the one who stopped the great fireball that was rolling toward the Gulf states. The West’s plan, supported by the United States, to change the ruling regimes of the Middle East, including those in the Gulf region, was swiftly and severely set back when Egypt returned to the political scene and rose up against Western-backed religious government. This was a possibility that Washington had never taken into account.

Thus, America’s official position on Egypt today is somewhat vague. America does not express support for the post-presidential election, pre-parliamentary election phase. The reason is that the regime Washington was depending on to launch the Greater Middle East project, the regime for which it quickly abandoned Mubarak’s regime (a strategic ally of the Cooperation Council countries), fell too. The Egyptian people disposed of it after a single year of government.

Had this massive development in Egypt’s political landscape not occurred, had the Egyptian people and their elected president, General al-Sisi, not prevailed, the fireball would have reached and damaged the Gulf countries. How could it not have when those countries are totally surrounded by danger, be it from Yemen, Syria or Iraq? The fall of Mubarak’s regime in Egypt was a most dangerous development in the Gulf countries’ neighborhood. On one hand, it exposed them to the “Arab Spring” contagion. On the other hand, it made them vulnerable to Iran and its desire to pounce on them.

Now that Egypt has returned to the Gulf’s embrace and adopted its position on the “Arab Spring” conspiracy, Washington can do nothing other than bring its palm to its face. It has lost its allies, who trusted America before its role in the plot against them emerged, and its meddling has backfired in Cairo too.