Israel, US seek to exploit Arab unrest

- 29. Jan, 2011

Mark Glenn, author and journalist in an Interview with Press TV

Mark Glenn offers his analysis on the recent unprecedented uprising in Tunisia, Egypt and the region. He expresses his concerns about why Israel and America don’t seem panicked about this situation.

The transcript of the interview follows.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/162410.html

Israel and the United States consider the current unrest in the Arab world as an opportunity to impose their new preferred leaders in order to hold control in the Middle East.

Press TV: Now that these unprecedented protests for the region, which are not just in Egypt but also in Tunisia, Yemen etc., why is it that the amount of coverage being given by mainstream media does not reflect this fact?

Glenn: To be honest, I have been troubled getting the reason why Israel and America did not appear to be panicked over this. If these revolts that are taking place were truly what they appeared to be and it really looked as if Tunisians, Egyptians and Yemenis were about to replace this autocratic leaders with leaders who are more sympathetic towards the interests of their own people, then Israel and America would be panicked over this, but according to the news coverage that we are watching, they did not appear to be panicked and this has made me and other people who also watched the news troubled, because we have this question whether or not these revolts are taking place with least approval of Israel and America who draw attention on purpose to make up their show of getting rid of these old autocrats with the intention of bringing a new one. This is what makes me troubled because I think in the end, what is going on here is Israel and America are going to exploit these protests that are taking place, in order to bring in new leaders who are going to keep things as they have been before. Well of course there would be a few small changes that will take place but in general, Israel will remain the sole power in the Middle East and no Arab countries will challenge that. That is my concern for everything that is taking place.

Press TV: As we have seen in Tunisia, the protesters and the people in general are not happy with the government in power and they are trying to see this to the end, will we see that in Egypt too?

Glenn: I think it is very possible. Let me make this clear, I think that the rage we see among the Egyptian and Tunisian people is a genuine rage. As we know Israel and America have a history of taking rages genuine to a rage like that and then take it into their own interest and I do believe that the Tunisians and Egyptians are intent to take this to the end and as I said the end of this rage leads to a younger Mubarak or a younger Ben Ali who will basically keep the same policies. Ahmadinejad in Iran, even though they do not enjoy the kind of popularity, among the Arab leaders who are firmly dependent on Israel and America, but among the Arab people themselves, they look up to men such as Ahmadinejad. So when we see these things taking place in Tunisia and Egypt we have to ask the question whether or not this is being allowed to take place so that these new leaders would be brought in, in order to overshadow the popularity of men such as Ahmadinejad in the Middle East.

Press TV: US continuously stresses upon the stability in Egypt and also Egypt’s exemplary ties with Israel. What democracy and freer society undermine the stability that the US prefers?

Glenn: Absolutely. If the people on the streets, whether in Tunisia, whether in Egypt, whether in Jordan or Saudi Arabia, were able to dictate policy for their countries, especially with regards to Israel and America’s position in the Middle East, we would see a radically different shift in the relationship that exists between these countries and the United States and Israel. If the people could speak, so yes, there is no question about the fact that bringing power to the people would be better for the region, but it would obviously not be better for Israel and America.
AE/AKM

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