Bridges over Seas and Deserts

By Volkhard Windfuhr    

Egypt builds and fortifies a new power block of international weight: The Mediterranean, Mid Eastern Afro-Asian Block.

This denomination delimits by this provisory name the vast geographical area which – under the active sponsorship of Egypt – is giving birth to the geopolitical structure of a new block which reminds observers of the non aligned “block free” countries under the soft guidance of the “Bandung States” mainly Egypt, India, China, Indonesia, Ghana, Guinea, Cameroun and Yugoslavia in the fifties and sixties of the 20^th century. They were committed to fight imperialism and colonialism   in all forms and shapes and avoided to  join any of the  two antagonistic world blocks the US led NATO and its pro western allies on one hand and the communist East Block under the supervision of the Soviet Union on the other hand which both divided and dominated the globe at their time.

The iron curtain dividing   Europe and Germany in particular, as well  as Vietnam and Korea, and the hardships of the Cold war – the consequences of which  were felt everywhere and sometimes nourished the threat of a disastrous nuclear third and probably final world war – seemed to remain for ever.

However, the non aligned states managed to keep independent from both sides to an astonishing degree.

Their far sighted views and dreams of their leading figures like Jawaharlal Nehru, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Chu En Lai, Ahmed Seokarno, Josip Broz Tito, Kwame Nkrumah, Ahmed Sékou Touré and Ahmedu Ahidjo, were proven right in the last end.

The cold war ended, the USSR collapsed and quite  a number of  new completely independent states sprang up into existence. Germany re-united, the iron curtain broke up and a  new world era arose on the horizon. But the wished-for problem free new world of equality and pure friendship among peoples and  countries did not replace  the tough two block world.

NATO continued to exist and interfered in recent years in the open with the  evident aim of  supporting the ever increasing world wide ambitions of the United States of America, whose leadership enjoyed to direct the globe as the only super power in the world after the break up of the Soviet Union. Washington’s intentions were no longer hidden: To start with US decision makers’ priority consisted and still consists in a multi level effort to prevent Russia – which replaced the former Soviet Union –  from  any attempt of regaining internal and external power by whatsoever means: The build up of a Western anti Russian front, creating and  exploiting so-called Russian ‘expansionist aggression’ in “Eastern Ukraine” – which was the industrial center of Czarist Russia and which – after the defeat of Russia in spring 1918 and the humiliating separate peace treaty between the victorious  imperial  Germany and the  German supported new Bolshevik leadership under the Lenin government  – was unilaterally made part of Germany’s new vassal  state Ukraine. The Kaiser’s army “protected” the frontiers of that German controlled buffer state including the Russian Donetz  district until November 1918 when Germany herself was defeated by  Britain , France and the US.

However, the present American scheme to weaken Russia by the so called “East Ukraine” problem failed. In spite of intentionally misleading press reports and “analysis”, the  truth gained ground. The anti Putin / Russia campaign did not work out. Nearly all US sponsored military and  political interventions in the Middle East were grossly miscalculated. The Americans were unable to get a convincing foothold neither in Iraq nor in Syria and Libya. The strong ties between Russia and Syria even increased – a severe blow to the international image and credibility of the  United States and growing economic, commercial and financial problems.

The Trump administration  was even forced to ask Peking for financial assistance.  A series of political blunder make things worse. A glance at Trumps North Korean debacle  is one more proof of the fact that USA 2018 is loosing weight. Anti American frustration is spreading from the Arab world to Islamic countries and other parts of the globe. Even Turkey whose erratic president is no longer a reliable friend. Not just because of the unwise and illegal  translocation of the US embassy to Arab East Jerusalem and the expected American recognition of Israel’s occupation and annexation  of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

“The world is ripe for a new non American dominated world order”. This attest by a commentator of the Cypriot state TV reflects the increasing mood of disenchantment of  the new world order Washington tried to impose.

Egypt after serious socio political experiences of a would-be revolution January 2011 and a people’s uprising against an American supported islamist theocracy and economic problems, did not join the US camp, although caring for good relations on all levels.

But President Sisi’s Egypt is by no means member of a US controlled political pact system, nor  did  Cairo join a Russian controlled political camp, although Sisi shares the view of Russian president Putin in specific fields and believes  for example in the absolute  necessity of a political  solution in Syria and Libya with full integrity of the Syrian and Libyan territories.

Another common conviction is the commitment to eliminate all forms of terrorism.

Excellent economic and cultural  relations with Germany and Japan and many other countries are signals of Cairo’s block free world view.  Egypt shares with Algeria and Tunisia a political and   security related agenda for pacifying Libya and assist her  in eradicating  the  strongholds of Daesh and similar terrorist gangs. Both countries were prominent members of the bloc of non-aligned nations and share with Egypt a specific Mediterranean identity. Egypt’s recent  re-activation of  the ancient cultural symbiosis with Greece and Cyprus culminated in economic, cultural and political treaties and promising economic   joint ventures linked to the exploitation of rich underwater gas fields in the Mediterranean. Strong ties with Sudan and South Sudan, Uganda, Eritrea, Kenyia and Nigeria and many other African trans Saharan nations are bearing fruit. Cairo’s ties with India and China are of   “exemplary value” according to the leading Egyptian daily “El Ahram”. The same goes with Indonesia. Contrary to the expectations of sensation hungry media Egypt handles the dispute over Ethiopa’s Renaissance (Nahda) highdam on the Blue Nile at the Sudanese frontier with  “open hearts and minds”, as the Ethiopian State TV lately found out. President Sisi spoke of “the brotherly people of Ethiopia” and agreed with the decision makers in Addis Ababa on a new effort to solve the question of the distribution of the Blue Nile waters “in good friendship and in accordance with African brotherhood.”  “There will be no war over the Nile waters” shouted a delighted member of the mixed Egyptian-Ethiopian high commission after the last meeting of that body. “We are all in the same boat” was the swift comment of Egypt’s foreign minister Sameh Shukry.

The new affinities between Egypt and her European and African and Asian partners show the way. The Suez Canal, the world’s most important water way is an example of the new block free world: The newly created economic zone on both sides of the isthmus is an ideal centrally located industrial and commercial future oriented area. China profits  right from the start from the enormous facilities and tax free status and produces and exports an increasing number of products, Russia is following suit, the German industrial giant Siemens joined,  and Japan, France and Italy consider to consolidate their commercial and technological presence as well in that area. The Greek daily “Eleleftheria” called that zone “the super Hongkong of tomorrow’s world.” Africa started profiting from the closer bonds with Egypt and the Suez canal cross point , too.

A prominent staff member of the two centuries old “Madrasat al Alsun” (“Language College”) created by Egypt’s progressive ruler Mohamed Ali felt the approach of a new era and asked: “Which African, Asian and additional European languages should we concentrate  on in  our new world?”.

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