Egyptian Revolution - "The Hidden Hand"

Some excerpts from a great column by Jeff Nyquist Revolution in Egypt and the  hidden hand

Egypt is in the grip of revolutionary violence. The longstanding regime of Hosni Mubarak may be overthrown. If this happens, the consequences will be far-reaching. Egypt has the largest population and the strongest military in the Arab world. If a revolutionary Jihadist regime takes power in Egypt, then Saudi Arabia and the Gulf emirates will probably not survive. In that event, the oil-rich Persian Gulf will fall into the hands of radicals who are likely to use oil as a weapon against Europe, Japan and America. Following the pattern of other revolutionary regimes, the radicals will realign their respective countries with Russia, China, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela.

Some of the most famous terrorists of recent history have been Egyptians. The PLO's longtime terrorist leader, Yasser Arafat, was an Egyptian; and so was 9/11 mastermind and ringleader Mohammed Atta, as well as bin Laden's lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahiri. We also have testimony from former East Bloc intelligence officials that these Egyptian luminaries worked for Moscow, for the KGB and/or its sister agencies. It is no accident that radical Islam's concern for the oppressed underclass resembles liberation theology  ...as it seeks to unify the various sects of Islam by focusing popular rage against the Great Satan (America) and the Little Satan (Israel)...

The rise of terrorism, together with the rise of massive street demonstrations, was integral to the Soviet Bloc pattern of accelerating the "national liberation" struggles of the Third World. According to Finnish historian and researcher Antero Leitzinger, by 1968 Moscow had designated Egypt as its principal base for subverting the entire Arab world. Despite the fact that President Anwar Sadat broke with the Soviet Union and wiped out many KGB agents in Egypt, Sadat was nonetheless assassinated and a new subversive movement was developed. The KGB turned to political Islam "as the most promising basis for winning Arab hearts" in Egypt.

Meanwhile, the Iranian Revolution served as a guidepost. "Among the closest associates of Khomeini there were many Communists who had conveniently grown beards," noted Leitzinger. "Mustafa Ali Chamran had studied in California and Egypt before he founded a Red Shi'ite secret society. His pupils included later foreign minister Ibrahim Yazdi, oil minister Mohammed Gharazi, and a Lebanese fellow student [at] Berkeley University, Hussein Shaikh al-Islam, who led the occupation of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran."..

But aren't the Islamists the enemies of Russia? Didn't they defeat Russia in the Afghan War? Readers should set aside the popular mythology of Soviet defeat in Afghanistan, and take a look at the facts. Afghanistan was a Soviet laboratory for incubating the perfect Manchurian Islamist. The ancient Russian practice of political provocation was here used to great advantage. Throughout much of the Afghan War the Soviets controlled a significant number of Islamic fighters. According to KGB defector Vasili Mitrokhin there were many false flag operations within Afghanistan. In fact, by January 1983 the KGB had trained 86 "false bands" under KGB officer V. Kikot of the 8th Department of Directorate S. Much of the factional fighting between Muslim groups was KGB or GRU-inspired. All this was possible, wrote Leitzinger, because the CIA merely threw money and supplies into Afghanistan without developing a core group of Afghan experts. Thus, Russia was able to manipulate the country's Islamist groups through its agents, preparing Afghanistan as a "base" (al Qaeda) to be used against America in the future...

The events in Egypt are part of a pattern, and they are part of a sequence. As the Russian exile Pavel Stroilov told Jamie Glazov of FrontpageMag.com in January of 2008, "These and other facts of FSB involvement in international terrorism ... have tremendous implications. Contrary to the view of many in the U.S., Russia is anything but a reliable ally of yours in the 'war on terror.' The Kremlin is playing a treacherous double game: while enjoying the West's support as an ally, it secretly supports and manipulates al Qaeda through FSB agents of influence."

The West will never conquer Islamic extremism until it is willing to confront the problem at its source - not in Mecca, but in Moscow.