#OBAMA KEPT HIS PROMISE TO @NajibRazak ....SEE U IN APRIL

THE WHITE HOUSE

The cancellation of U.S. President Barack Obama’s trip to Southeast Asia earlier this month because of the government shutdown was a “missed opportunity,” Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Thursday.

“It was a missed opportunity for Obama to assert his leadership, particularly in the context of his policy pivot towards Asia,” Najib told Amanpour in London. “I know he regrets it.”

“When he called me he said, ‘By hook or by crook, I will visit Malaysia next year,’” the prime minister said. “So we’re looking forward to receiving him.”

A press statement fromt THE WHITE HOUSE yesterday published on its official website confirming that President Obama will visit Malaysia in this coming April. 

Once considered as a missed opportunity by us but somehow, this made up in April will be received as a looking forward and a warm welcome by all Malaysians.

The most powerful man will be in town and Malaysians should not missed this historical chance and get ourselves prepared to welcome him...

ANTI MORSI ADALAH ANTI PENTABIRAN OBAMA... KENAPA?

Rangkaian media arus perdana telah mendedahkan gelombang penyokong anti-Obama telah bersorak di Mesir di mana penunjuk perasaan menyalahkan White House kerana membantu Mohamed Morsi mendapat kuasa dan pemimpin Ikhawan Muslim akan ditumbangkan.

Protes di Mesir telah dikategorikan secara meluas oleh media sebagai dua pecahan yang besar di antara pro-kerajaan yang menyokong Ikhwan Muslimin dan gerakan anti-Morsi, walaupun pada hakikatnya demonstrasi anti-Morsi adalah jauh lebih besar.

Walau bagaimanapun, salah satu aspek demonstrasi yang telah diabaikan sepenuhnya adalah pada hakikatnya bahawa orang-orang Mesir telah tegas meletakkan kehancuran era pemerintahan Morsi ke atas pentadbiran White House.

Photo di bawah telah menggambarkan rakyat Mesir menyedari sepenuhnya bahawa pentadbiran Obama memainkan peranan penting dalam mencetus revolusi yang menggulingkan bekas Presiden Mubarak. Di antara poster-poster yang dipegang oleh penunjuk perasaan termasuklah, “Wake up America, Obama backs a fascist regime in Egypt,” yang bermaksud "Sedarlah Amerika, Obama menyokong satu regim yang facis (diktator) di Mesir", “Obama Supports Terrorism,” bermaksud "Obama menyokong Keganasan" dan “Obama Your Bitch is Our Dictator” yang bermaksud "Obama, Sundal kamu adalah Diktator kami". Ada di antara poster juga mengutuk peranan Anne Patterson, Duta Amerika ke Mesir.

Revolusi Mesir 2011 pernah digambarkan bahawa ia adalah lebih daripada pemberontakan akar umbi di mana organisasi dibantu oleh NGO seperti Freedom House (dikaitkan dengan CIA) dan National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

Walaupun Amerika telah menyokong Mubarak selama beberapa dekad, namun kali ini telah menyisihkan beliau dan memberi sokongan terhadap Ikhwan Muslimin apabila Mubarak menolak percubaan Amerika Syarikat untuk menubuhkan pangkalan tentera di Mesir dan merampas kawalan rangkaian komunikasi Mesir.

Mohamed Morsi sebenarnya telah meneruskan pemerintahan secara diktator di Mesir di mana telah diwujudkan oleh pesaing-pesaing autokratik sebelumnya. Selepas melaksanakan undang-undang Syariah dalam perlembagaan yang baru digubal, Morsi menggunakan kuasanya sendiri untuk memperkenalkan apa saja undang-undang dan membuat dirinya kebal daripada pengawasan kehakiman. 

"Maka, adakah dia seorang diktator Mesir? Pada masa ini, ya, di atas kertas dia seorang pemimpin Mesir yang paling berkuasa semenjak Firaun," Eric Trager, felo di Institut Washington Dasar Timur Dekat, memberitahu CBC News.

Tidak seperti di Syria, di mana pemberontakan yang dipimpin militan telah dianggap sebagai pemberontakan demokratik, tetapi bantahan terbesar dalam sejarah manusia sejak beberapa hari yang lalu di Mesir, White House telah mendiamkan diri.

Bridget Johnson menekankan bahawa semua hanya suara-suara bingit dari pentadbiran Obama yang  merujuk kepada Mesir datang dari Setiausaha Negara John Kerry, kenyataan yang gagal untuk menangani apa yang sebenarnya berlaku dan bukannya tertumpu kepada keadaan cuaca di Tahrir Square.

Akhbar Al-Ahram yang dikendalikan oleh kerajaan Mesir juga telah melaporkan berkenaan Morsi, "sama ada meletak jawatan atau dipecat daripada jawatan" oleh tentera dalam masa beberapa jam sebagai tarikh akhir bagi penyelesaian politik tamat. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apa yang difikirkan kita?

• Mengapa kali ini penyokong anti-Morsi lebih ramai daripada penyokong pro-Morsi?
• Mengapa Amerika berpihak kepada pentadbiran Morsi?
• Mengapa Al Azhar menyokong tindakan kudeta tentera? 

Apa yang perlu dipelajari sebagai rakyat Malaysia?

• Jangan gadaikan keamanan negara
• Negara kita biarlah acuan kita
• Pentadbiran Obama tidak selalunya benar terutama di dalam krisis rakyat di Mesir
• Sebuah kerajaan yang ditumbangkan secara pemberontakan jalanan akan berterusan di jalan juga
• Ekonomi negara pasti terjejas dan akibatnya rakyat biasa yang akan mengalami peritnya.

Obama avoids calling Morsi ouster a ‘coup’

Financial Times: In a carefully-written statement issued by the White House on Wednesday evening about the ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, one word was conspicuous by its absence – coup. 

President Barack Obama said he was “deeply concerned” about the way the Egyptian military had pushed the country’s first democratically elected president from office. But he studiously avoided putting a label on the events of the day. 

As the Obama administration scrambles to prevent an outbreak of sustained political violence in one of its key Arab allies, the first order of business will be to explain whether the army’s dismissal of Mr Morsi – announced on state television by a general in a beret and khaki uniform – actually constitutes a military coup.

 

Under US law, the government is obliged to suspend all aid to countries where the military takes power in a coup. However, the $1.6bn that the US gives Egypt each year represents its principal leverage in the country, especially with the army leaders who are now calling the shots again only a year after presidential elections. 

The Obama administration’s relationship with the different political forces that are now swirling around Egypt, including the massive protests of recent days against Mr Morsi, will be largely defined by the way it answers this question. 

Even though it has had only limited influence over such fast-moving and febrile events, the US has found itself at the centre of the political crisis, a convenient punchbag for the different political groups in Egypt.

For the anti-Morsi protesters, the Obama administration’s attempts to forge a good relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood made it a co-conspirator with the former president, whose governance over the past year has been savagely criticised. The crowds in Tahrir Square held up posters of Anne Patterson, the US ambassador to Egypt, who has become the subject of particular public ire.

At the same time, the US failed to persuade Mr Morsi to take more decisive steps to meet the demands of the protesters, such as a shake-up of his cabinet that would bring in members of the opposition. And it also did not manage to prevent the military from entering the political fray again, despite warnings that any attempt to depose an elected leader would bring “consequences”. 

More broadly, critics of the Obama administration say that over the past year it fell back into the pattern of US relations with the Mubarak regime, putting little pressure on Mr Morsi to govern in an inclusive manner as long as he respected Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel. 

Until recently, US officials would talk about the relative political sophistication of senior Muslim Brotherhood figures and appear to have been taken aback by the strength of the popular backlash against Mr Morsi. 

“We spent too much time talking about the process of elections, and not enough about the outcome, which should be an inclusive political process that has a variety of voices,” says Jon Alterman, a Middle East expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. 

Perhaps stung by some of these criticisms, Wednesday’s statement from the White House stressed the steps needed to restore democratic legitimacy to Egypt’s government.

Mr Obama called on the military to return power to an elected civilian government “as soon as possible through a transparent process”. He also warned against “arbitrary arrests” of Mr Morsi and his supporters. 

“We expect the military to ensure that the rights of all Egyptian men and women are protected, including the right to peaceful assembly, due process, and free and fair trials in civilian courts,” Mr Obama said. 

Mr Obama said the US would review the implications of Wednesday’s events on its assistance to Egypt – a possible warning to the military that aid would be cut off if it does not move quickly to organise new elections. 

Around $1.3bn of the annual US aid goes to the Egyptian military, which is equivalent to around one fifth of its annual defence budget.

However, it is not clear if Mr Obama has the flexibility to use the aid as leverage. Although the foreign aid law does provide the administration a national security waiver for Egypt under certain circumstances, important members of Congress are already calling for the aid to be suspended. 

“Egypt’s military leaders say they have no intent or desire to govern and I hope they make good on their promise,” said Patrick Leahy, the Democratic senator who chairs the committee that decides the foreign aid budget. “In the meantime, our law is clear: US aid is cut off when a democratically elected government is deposed by a military coup or decree.”