ACIPSS_nl_2011-05

Islamic Brotherhood, as well as groups close to it, such as Hamas and
Hezbollah.
If such contacts have not already been developed, it is almost certain that
US intelligence agencies are frantically trying to establish them right
now, so they can at least provide moderately tolerable assessments of the
unfolding situation on the ground. Anything past that would probably be
unfeasible at the current stage, according to Stein’s analysis. As Richard
K. Betts, an academic with close contacts with US intelligence agencies
puts it, “the priority [right now] is collection and analysis about what’s
going on”.
http://intelligencenews.wordpress.com/2011/01/28/01-646/
0381/11 ---------------------------------------------------------------
Israel shocked by Obama's "betrayal" of Mubarak
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Reuters) If Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak is toppled, Israel will lose
one of its very few friends in a hostile neighborhood and President Barack
Obama will bear a large share of the blame, Israeli pundits said on Monday.
Political commentators expressed shock at how the United States as well as
its major European allies appeared to be ready to dump a staunch strategic
ally of three decades, simply to conform to the current ideology of
political correctness. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told ministers
of the Jewish state to make no comment on the political cliffhanger in
Cairo, to avoid inflaming an already explosive situation. But Israel's
President Shimon Peres is not a minister.
"We always have had and still have great respect for President Mubarak," he
said on Monday. He then switched to the past tense. "I don't say everything
that he did was right, but he did one thing which all of us are thankful to
him for: he kept the peace in the Middle East."
Newspaper columnists were far more blunt.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/31/us-egypt-israel-usaidUSTRE70U53720110131
0382/11 ---------------------------------------------------------------
Der private Kanal der Amerikaner zu Mubarak
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Standard) Frank Wisner junior war da bereits ein erfolgreicher Diplomat.
Nachdem er 1961 in Princeton sein Studium abgeschlossen hatte, nahm er
seinen ersten Posten in Algier an. Seine Karriere spannt sich über vier
Jahrzehnte und acht Präsidenten. Er war nicht nur am Höhepunkt des Kriegs
in Vietnam, sondern auch in Indien, auf den Philippinen, in Sambia. 1986
schickte ihn Ronald Reagan als Botschafter nach Ägypten. Aus dieser Zeit
stammen auch Wisners gute Beziehungen zu Hosni Mubarak und anderen
ägyptischen Granden.
Als die Amerikaner nun nach einem "privaten Kanal" zum ägyptischen
Präsidenten suchten, um diesem klarzumachen, dass seine Zeit abgelaufen
sei, fiel US-Außenministerin Hillary Clinton Frank Wisner ein. Dieser flog
am Dienstag nach Kairo und überbrachte seinem alten Freund die heikle
Botschaft.
ACIPSS-Newsletter 05/2011 - 7 -