Hot off the Arab press 394491

Has John Kerry Gone Mad?

Al-Sharq al-Awsat, London, March 17

I can’t get my head around what US Secretary of State John Kerry said earlier this week: that [Syrian President] Bashar Al-Assad might be considered a legitimate leader because the West needs him in the fight against the Islamic State. Does Kerry understand that his insane words push millions of people into the hands of the Islamic State? If he thinks that he can legitimize Assad in order to delegitimize the Islamic State, then millions of Arabs will prove him wrong by legitimizing the Islamic State out of hatred for Assad.

Assad is a vicious killer. He is supported by Iran and Hezbollah, who aided him in his cleansing of close to a quarter of a million Syrians so far. Does Kerry actually believe that millions of Arabs, let alone Syrians, will remain quiet in light of his legitimization of a mass murderer? Obama’s administration is already perceived negatively in the region for its lack of intervention in Syria. Kerry made some pretty embarrassing remarks in the past, but this one is simply not comprehensible.

The United States’ blind support of genocide is simply something no one in the region can keep up with. Has Kerry gone mad?! – Abd al-Rahman al-Rashid

Solar River in Beirut

Dar al-Hayat, London, March 16

The first phase of the “Beirut River Solar Snake Project” was successfully completed this week after the first solar receptors were installed above the Beirut River. Close to 4,000 receptors were installed so far, in this phase of the program. The project aims at building a solar field 6 kilometers long – all stretched above the River’s channel like a suspension bridge. Until 2020, it is expected that the river’s solar farm will provide some 10,000 households with green electricity. Pierre al-Khoury, the general-director of the Lebanese Association for Green Energy, claimed that this is just the beginning. The government is planning on building a green lung that will surround the river for recreation and for use by the general public. The idea is to raise awareness in Lebanon of green renewable energy. “If this project succeeds,” he claimed, “Lebanon will be seeing many more solar farms throughout the country.” – Raghda Hadad

New Egyptian ‘Capital’ for $45 Million

Al-Arabiya, Saudi Arabia, March 14

The citizens of Cairo are fed up with the overpopulation of their city. The Egyptian government announced a plan to build a new administrative capital east of Cairo which will extend all the way to the Red Sea. The aim, according to the Ministry of Housing, is to alleviate problems of congestion and overpopulation in Cairo. So far, the Egyptian government has received pledges for donations from several Emirati countries. The project is expected to require nearly 50 years, and will cost as much as $45 million. It will include dozens of hospitals, hundreds of schools, several universities, a new state-of-the-art international airport, and millions of houses. This project comes just several months after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi launched a national project to expand the Suez Canal in order to increase its capacity and revenues coming from it. – Ashraf Abd al-Hamid

The British ‘Brotherhood’ flies under the radar

Al-Masry al-Youm, Egypt, March 8

A Times (London) report published last week revealed the extent of activity of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United Kingdom. It examined the increasing spread of the Islamist movement and how its popularity might influence Britain’s relations with Arab countries. It suggested that if the government cracks down on the Muslim Brotherhood, London’s relations with Middle Eastern leaders will be “jeopardized.”

Now the real question is whether any of this will be translated into actions on the ground? Will the authorities actually take action against the Muslim Brotherhood in Britain, or will they turn a blind eye? Will they accept the Brotherhood’s activity in Britain while rejecting it in Egypt? What I am suspecting will happen is that the authorities will try to legitimize the Brotherhood despite its outspoken support for terror. Britain will continue preaching about the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, but accept its local affiliate on its own soil. It will delegitimize the Brotherhood rule in Cairo, but overlook it in the streets of London. All of this in the name of being politically correct and avoiding confrontation. So far, notable leaders of the Brotherhood have been monitored.

But we all know this is hardly enough. – Abd al-Latif al-Manawi

Themedialine.org is an American nonprofit news agency covering the Middle East.

What citizens of other countries are reading about the Middle East.