The head of the Western-backed military junta that has ruled Egypt for the past year, Gen. Tantawi, is not known for either his intelligence or independence, in fact just the opposite.
Having been put in his post by “The Silent Hand” of Omar Suleiman, the “Secret Minister,” the real power in the Mubarak regime, Tantawi knows full well who is the trusted insider with his masters at the CIA. Who can call the Israeli PM 24/7. Tantawi knows that Omar Suleiman is “The Silent Hand” and is disobeyed at one’s own peril.
When Egyptian blood flows in the streets, whether from “Ultra” football cadre or Coptic Christian, or both together, there is a silent hand behind it all, pulling the strings needed to create just enough murder and mayhem so as to legitimize continued military rule.
Muslim Brotherhood chairing the Egyptian parliament or not, political power grows from the barrel of a gun and the army in Egypt still has all the guns.
With “The Silent Hand” of Omar Suleiman still free in the country he once ruled with a very silent iron fist, anything can happen, with the one thing you can count on is the military junta, as all such rarely hesitate to do, spilling as much blood as it takes.
The Suez Canal along with the Bab al-Mandeb have grown to be the most strategically critical potential choke points in the world and the day the USA loses control of either is the day marking the beginning of the end of Pax Americana.
The USA has chosen to go with what they know, so let’s not forget that it is still “The Silent Hand” of Omar Suleiman that guides the increasingly brutal steps of the military junta that today rules post-Mubarak Egypt.
Thomas C. Mountain is the only independent Western journalist in the Horn of Africa, living and reporting from Eritrea since 2006. He can be reached at thomascmountain at yahoo dot com.
