Is he a Nasserist?

Submitted by dhimmi no more, Sep 21, 2018 at 09:22

Dr Pipes,

You wrote

>It sounds like you consider him a Nasserist.

I believe he is a Nasserist (Egyptian nationalist) minus the discredited socialism of Nasser

Let us examine the stance of both Nasser and el-Sisi in regard to Israel and the US. And the following is a very short introduction to the topic.

The stance of Nasser in regard to Israel, Britain, France and the US is very interesting. In 1954 Nasser had secret negotiations with Israel. His aim was to settle the Palestinian issue once and for all and to recognize Israel as a state. He was hoping that Britain and France will help him. Nasser had very high regards for America and for what it stands for under Eisenhower.

However, the Gaza attack in 1955 on the Egyptian troops in Gaza led him to believe that the leadership in Israel was not ready for peace. And the 1956 war made him believe that both Britain and France were his enemies. He also correctly believed that both Britain and France are dying empires and their days of influence in the Middle East are coming to an end

So a golden chance for achieving peace between Israel and Egypt was lost

Now, we move to 2013 and el-Sisi is in power. Britain and France lost their power in the Middle East. Egypt has "cold peace" with Israel. And America's influence in the Middle East is on the decline.

However, the Egyptian leadership still has hopes that America would help solve the multiple problems faced by Egypt including the economy, Islamic terrorism, the Muslim Brotherhood, Daesh and al-Qa'ida. Egyptians also realized that Obama, and therefore Hillary Clinton, are not trustworthy allies. I suspect that el-Sisi was, and still is, hoping that Trump, with his stance against Islamic terrorism, will be more understanding of Egypt's problems. It is interesting to know that el-Sisi called Trump to congratulate him on winning the elections a few minutes after the results of the election were declared. However, many Egyptians are saying: The US is not a trustworthy ally. This is indeed very disconcerting

el-Sisi is following the footpath of Nasser and this is only one example

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".