How Egypt is armed (thanks to Germany)
It is bizarre that Germany presents itself as a mediator, like France, on the Libyan question and at the same time arms Egypt. Angela Merkel should avoid giving moral lessons to other European countries. Giuseppe Gagliano's analysis
As history illustrates very well, and in particular the history of the military industry, when there are situations of high political instability or even more so when real wars are in progress on a regional or global scale, rearmament becomes a fundamental priority. for states regardless of their specific legal and political characteristics.
This is the case of Egypt which, through its naval company Alexandria Shipyard, has announced that in partnership with the German ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems it will produce the first Egyptian frigate . This partnership is the result of the agreement signed in 2018 between Germany and Egypt for the production of six frigates for a total turnover of 2 billion euros.
However, the partnership between Egypt and Germany should not raise any surprise as a whole because it has also materialized in the oil and gas production sector in the Nile Delta region and in particular in relation to the Damanhour exploration block. Well, this cooperation took place on 10 February 2020 between the Egyptian Oil Minister Tarek al-Molla – specifically the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co and the German company Wintershall DEA – for an investment of 43 million dollars. 11 million of which will be used for drilling 8 wells. Now, beyond the need to satisfy internal needs, the final objective of Egypt in the context of economic foreign policy is to be able to become a relevant regional pole for trade and for the export of gas to Europe, as demonstrated the role that the Zohr field will play .
Up to here the naked news stories. But it becomes inevitable to formulate some considerations on the reasons for this choice. In the first place, this agreement is the result of the great importance that the military caste in Egypt had – and still has .
Secondly, this agreement confirms an established fact, namely that Egypt remains the largest German arms importer among the Arab countries.
Thirdly, the strengthening of sea power should make it possible to discourage attacks by enemy ships, that is, to discourage terrorist initiatives that use ships to transport terrorists from one country to another.
Fourthly, Egypt must on the one hand consolidate its security on both the Mediterranean and the Red Sea chessboards. In fact, the current Libyan instability such as that of the Sinai but above all the need to defend its vital economic interests in the Mediterranean – namely the Zohr gas field – in an anti-Turkish function imply an overall strengthening of the military both maritime and terrestrial. In fact, it is no coincidence that Egypt put in place the Qader 202 0 exercise precisely with the aim of safeguarding its both in the Mediterranean and in the Red Sea.
In fact, there are two purposes of this air-naval exercise: firstly that of limiting and / or containing the policy of projection of Turkish power in Libya, and secondly that of safeguarding the natural gas fields in Zohr.
However, Egypt is experiencing a situation of serious political instability certainly exploited by the Muslim brotherhood. Indeed, since September 20 there have been large demonstrations in Egypt against a government defined as corrupt because it is held directly responsible for the poor living conditions in which the Egyptian people find themselves. In particular, on 23 September these demonstrations took on a violent character resulting in a head-on clash with the police, who also used tear gas to quell these riots which induced the demonstrators to set fire to and / or damage military vehicles. .
Regardless of the predictable and predictable exploitation by the Muslim brotherhood, the Egyptian people are experiencing a serious economic crisis as they see themselves deprived of their fundamental economic resources to the advantage of strengthening the economic and political power of the military caste.
The question of Muslim brotherhood is, let us not forget, a crucial issue not only for Egypt but above all for the current Egyptian president. In fact, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, after imprisoning his predecessor Mohammed Morsi and arresting and persecuting the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, supports Haftar precisely to prevent Libya from falling under the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Finally, three considerations: the first concerns the fact that the Egyptian president should primarily think about meeting the economic needs of his population rather than those of his military caste. A hungry people sooner or later finds a way to change, also through the use of violence, the political regime that starves and exploits it.
Secondly, Egypt would do well not only to conform to standards in arms production but first of all to Western standards relating to human rights. But considering the history of modern Egypt and its inherent authoritarian nature, it is doubtful that this could happen. In fact, let us not forget that for Egypt, as for all Arab countries, the values of Western culture are only relative and do not have, nor can they have, a universal dimension.
Finally, although on a historical level this may not arouse any surprise, it seems bizarre that Germany presents itself as a mediator, like France, on the Libyan question and at the same time arms Egypt. Angela Merkel should avoid giving moral lessons to other European countries. We reject them to the sender.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/come-si-arma-egitto-anche-grazie-alla-germania/ on Mon, 28 Sep 2020 08:42:12 +0000.