Dotting the I’S & Crossing the T’S   

Cairo, Putin, and a new ambassador in Damascus

Written by Nasser Kandil,

Historically, the Egyptian-Syrian relationship was the bridge which the Arab attitude based on, and the recovery of this bridge was an indication of the Arab recovery, and vice versa, from the days of Salah Al Deen Al-Yaoubi to the days of Mohammed Ali Basha, and Gamal Abdel Nasser in the time of unity, and Hafez Al-Assad in October War. There was no real serious project for the Arab neither in Cairo nor in Damascus, only if it was towards the twin countries in order to complete the elements of power, moreover the Arabs’ words were no longer audible, when the bonds of the Egyptian – Syrian relationship have been weakened, even the Egyptian Syrian Saudi triangle was an expression of the weakness and an attempt of renovation as a compensation of the weakness of Egypt through imposing its traditional opponent as a partner in its share in the Arab resolution. So the stage of the triplicity becomes a sign of the crisis, and not a sign of rising, and its outcomes were settlements of Arab inter crises, and not solutions for the crisis of the weakness and the decline in the Arab situation

The worse Arab stages are when the relation between Egypt and Syria aggravated, and the worst is when Saudi Arabia was a party in a bilateral agreement with one against the other. The beginnings of the détente after the worst are when the Egyptian and Syrian relationships start living in a state of warmth, confidence, and a cooperation outside the equations of admonition and through the certainty of the interest and the need.

In the time before the Arab Spring, Egypt and Saudi Arabia were in one side and Syria was in another side, two sides are imposed by the attitudes from the two Israeli wars on Lebanon and Gaza, the Saudi-Egyptian description of the resistance and the Syrian support of it as an adventure , the Saudi-Egyptian involvement security since 2002 in Sharm Al Sheikh front which was led by Gondalisa Rice to chase the resisters, and the involvement in the war against Iraq and the two Israeli wars against the resistance in Lebanon and Gaza.

In the time of the Arab Spring the Egyptian-Syrian relationship has passed in three stages, the first one was the Muslim Brotherhood’s phase, where Egypt was under the Qatari Turkish banner announcing the hostility towards Syria, it behaves in a malice manner towards Saudi Arabia within the same alliance under the mantle of Washington. The second one was the stage of the revolution against the Muslim Brotherhood, where the Egyptian army was a pillar of this revolution; it tried to be close from the Syrian one, and restored the spirit of cooperation against the Muslim Brotherhood and the terror of the extremism. The third stage, was after the arrival of the President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to the rule as a representative of the army with a distinctive relation with Saudi Arabia, so the communication was continuing but in less warmth, then the tension becomes inside the decision- center in Cairo between the option of taking into account the Saudi satisfaction towards the being behind the limits of relationship with Syria, that are determined to Cairo by Riyadh, and the aspiration of Egypt to play its private distinguished role with the adherence of a special relationship with Saudi Arabia, but under an Egyptian control. This aspiration was aware of the importance and the centrality of the relationship with Syria and the requirements of the national security, which affects Egypt with terrorism which Syria is fighting on behalf of all the Arabs, including Saudi Arabia which has taken over its sending, funding, and arming it with artifice, hatred, and conspiracy according to the speech of the American Vice President.

The Russian-Egyptian relation is a factor of weighting the options, Egypt which is looking for itself, it  recognizes that its position in the world is not summarized with the size of the remained crumbs of Saudi Arabia, while in the eyes of the world are towards it since it is ( the mother of the world ), so the special Russian care was to encourage the Egyptian leadership to absorb the opportunity of playing a role in the political solution in Syria, thus, Moscow has insisted on a regional quad agreement to look after the solution that includes Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia because they involved in the Syrian conflict, and Egypt because of the importance of its role in the solution.

An Egyptian role in the solution is seen by Russia through a Syrian-Egyptian match of the same attitudes towards the Muslim Brotherhood, and the different formations of Al –Qaeda. It is an attitude that has no place for dodge like the Saudi manner, (one foot here and one foot there), and it is not a hypocrite marketing attitude like the Turkish Qatari manner. This allows Egypt to be in a trust position when it conducts the participation in looking after the Syrian Syrian dialogue, where these two dangerous components will be outside the quotation principally, except for omission and error. The Egyptian role is an assuring element supposed by Saudi Arabia in the moment where Riyadh is handling the fate of the settlements, and the inability to continue the war, but the Egyptian role requires a renovation of the Egyptian relationship with Syria that does not abide by the Saudi timing.

The President Vladimir Putin will visit Cairo in the begging of the next year, he has a lot of the presents to Egypt and its leadership, but he is waiting for an Egyptian resolution of raising the Egyptian representation in Syria to a level of ambassador, and the return of Syrian-Egyptian work to the public, serious, consulting level starting from the level of the two foreign ministries towards the exchange of presidential envoys,

Very soon, an Egyptian ambassador in Syria, before Kuwait and Tunisia antecede.

Translated by Lina Shehadeh 

2014-12-30 | عدد القراءات 1890