by Orkhan Sattarov, head of the European Bureau of VK
The US State Department is evacuating diplomats and their families from Sudan and Tunisia. US embassies have been attacked in the said states after release of an anti-Islamic film in the US, causing outrage in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Protests started in Egypt and Libya on Tuesday and spread throughout the Islamic world, resulting in at least 7 people dead. European media have given the same response to the case.
Die Welt is analyzing the attack of Islamists on US embassies and murder of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other diplomats in an attack on the US General Consulate in Benghazi (Libya). Washington has ended up in ruins own Middle Eastern policy after the attacks in Egypt, Libya and Yemen. Obviously, the Salafis supported by Qatar and Saudi Arabia are behind the attacks. They are more radical than Muslim Brotherhood and have more contacts with Al Qaeda. The Salafis are the fastest growing group in the Islamic world. They got a quarter of votes during the parliamentary polls in Egypt, losing to a secular party, and failed to gain power. They are trying to take the power by force after failing to take it the diplomatic way. They want some sort of the veto right in the politics and society, containment based on force. The Salafis use anti-Americanism, hostility towards Israel and the Christian West as a means of achieving their goal. The deep reflexes of many Arab states can easily be exploited. This is why Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi spoke out against the disorders in Egypt in a moderate form. The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood fears that the Salafis will gain more popularity than his party, which is equally hostile towards the West.
Barack Obama tried to win sympathy of the Arab world and took the side of democratic revolutions in Arab states, such as Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. Obama knew that he was disappointing his old allies Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egyptian military. Part of free Arab states have turned against the US. According to social polls, anti-Americanism in Arab societies is a lot greater than it was during the rule of George Bush.
It would be naïve to think that changing the tone and showing more respect could neutralize the deep prejudice of the Arab population towards the US. The policy of Obama’s administration in the region was not as modest as it may seem. Americans were more actively involved in the regional processes than passive Europeans. But Washington gave Arab societies an impression of a weakening country. The Salafis and Al Qaeda gaining positions in Northern Africa from Somalia to Mali exploit US weaknesses, Die Welt concludes.
Experts of Focus believe that Mitt Romney is trying to make use of the violence in the Arab world against his opponent Barack Obama. Republicans were surprised with his statements. The rating of Obama rises. US foreign policy has played no significant role in the presidential campaign. Attacks on US diplomatic missions caused adjustments in the US agenda. Barack Obama said responded as an incumbent president, rather than a candidate for president. His republican opponent remains in the electoral mode, provoking heavy criticism. Romney expressed criticism of Obama on the night of the attacks on embassies in Libya and Egypt. He condemned Obama’s compassion towards theattackers shameful. Romney’s supporters reproach the White House for distancing itself from the statements made at the US embassy in Egypt, which express regret over offenses of religious feelings of Muslims caused by the film about Prophet Muhammad. Romney criticizes Obama for expressing compassion to Islamists attacking the embassies. The republican candidate said that apologies for US values will never be the right path. But the verbal shot of Romney turned out badly: the statement of the US embassy in Egypt was made to prevent escalation before the attack on the US embassy in Egypt. Mitt Romney ended up being criticized himself. Obama’s team accused the republican of instrumentalizing the political attack. A viewer asked Romney why he used the tragedy in Libya in the electoral campaign in Florida. Romney ignored the question and continued the speech. The republican is criticized by own party members. Senator John McCain, an opponent of Obama in 2008, urged Romney to see a big picture of the Middle East and criticize Obama at a wider angle.
