Is Syria about to become Austria to Egypt's Germany

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Report: Egypt's Morsy ready to intervene in Syria

By JPOST.COM STAFF

LAST UPDATED: 09/30/2012 21:27


Adviser to Egypt's president Mohammed Morsy, Seif Abdel-Fattah stated on Sunday that Morsy is ready to participate in an Arab military intervention in Syria to end the crisis.

 Abdel Fattah told Turkish news agency Anatolia that "Egypt is considering the proposed country on Arab military intervention in Syria, and will be in contact with Doha and Ankara shortly regarding this proposal," Al-Arabiya reported.

The Morsy adviser commented that "Cairo could push Turkey to support Arab intervention in Syria."

He added that the matter will be discussed during Morsy's private meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan later on Sunday.

http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=286170&R=R101

[franksolich]

You know, way back when--I think the late 1950s, the early 1960s--Egypt and Syria actually were united, under the monicker of the "United Arab Republic."

I dunno how it worked, but it lasted only a short time, as there was a supreme egoist in Cairo and another supreme egoist in Damascus.

[franksolich]

I just nadined it.

The United Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية المتحدة‎ Al-Gumhuriyah Al-Arabiyah Al-Muttahidah, Al-Jumhuriyah Al-Arabiyah Al-Muttahidah), often abbreviated as the U.A.R., was a sovereign union between Egypt and Syria. The union began in 1958 and existed until 1961, when Syria seceded from the union. Egypt continued to be known officially as the "United Arab Republic" until 1971. The President was Gamal Abdel Nasser. During most of its existence (1958–1961), it was a member of the United Arab States, a confederation with North Yemen.

Beginning in 1957, Syria was close to a communist takeover of political power; it had a highly organized Communist Party and the army's chief of staff, Afif al-Bizri, was a Communist sympathizer. Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser told a Syrian delegation, including President Shukri al-Quwatli and Prime Minister Khaled al-Azem, that they needed to rid their government of communists, but the delegation countered and warned him that only total union with Egypt would end the "communist threat". According to Abdel Latif Boghdadi, Nasser resisted a total union with Syria, favoring instead a federal union. However, Nasser was "more afraid of a Communist takeover" and agreed on a total merger.

Despite the economic difficulties, what truly produced the demise of the UAR was Nasser's inability to find a suitable political system for the new regime. Given his socialist agenda in Egypt, the Ba'ath should have been his natural ally, but Nasser was hesitant to share power. Though Amer allowed some liberalization of the economy in order to appease Syrian businessmen, his decision to rig the elections of the National Union (the single party which replaced the Ba'ath), with the help of Colonel Abdul Hamid Sarraj (a Syrian army official and Nasser sympathizer), sent Ba'ath leaders into a frenzy.

The Ba'ath won only five percent of the seats on the higher committees, while the more traditional conservative parties “won” a significant majority. Sarraj was appointed head of the National Union in Syria, and by the spring of 1960 had replaced Amer as the chair of the Syrian Executive Council. Under Sarraj Syria was ruled by a brutal security force designed to suppress all opposition to the regime.

The immense increases in public sector control were accompanied by a push for centralization. Nasser abolished regional governments in favor of one central authority, which operated from Damascus February through May and Cairo the rest of the year.

As a part of this centralization, Sarraj was relocated to Cairo, where he found himself with little real power. On September 15, 1961 Sarraj returned to Syria and resigned his post on September 26. Without any close allies to watch over Syria, Nasser was blind to the growing unrest of the military. On September 28 a group of officers staged a coup and declared Syria's independence from the UAR.

Though the coup leaders were willing to renegotiate a union under terms they felt would put Syria on an equal footing with Egypt, Nasser refused such a compromise. He initially considered sending troops to overthrow the new regime, but chose not to once he was informed that the last of his allies in Syria had been defeated. In speeches that followed the coup, Nasser declared he would never give up his goal of an ultimate Arab union, though he would never again achieve such a tangible victory toward this goal.

[Ptarmigan]

Egypt and Syria were Pan-Arabist, not Islamists. Pan-Arabism is nationalism mixed with socialism. They were enemies at the time. They were more inclusive of other religions outside of Islam. It lost out to Islamists.

[DumbAss Tanker]

It was a stupid idea then, it's an even stupider idea now.

[marv]

Just a guess, but I think it more likely that Syria would become Iran's Austria.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Just a guess, but I think it more likely that Syria would become Iran's Austria.

I'll wager the Egyptians would prefer their brother Arabs in Syria be in their sphere...not tied to those accursed Persians.