Journalism of the Absurd: Thomas Friedman Fantasizes About "ISIS and SISI"!!

In an op-ed article in the New York Times of June 25, 2014, Thomas Friedman writes about "ISIS and SISI."  That play on words, for which Friedman is known, shows how low on fact and high on fiction that editorialist can be bracketed.  There is nothing in that Friedman column that I find either constructive or conducive to objective understanding of today's turbulent Middle East.

To describe, as Friedman does, ISIS and SISI as "the two dominant Arab governing models: ISIS and SISI" strikes me as simply outlandish.  ISIS is a terrorist and murderous cabal; SISI is an Egyptian president whose ascendancy to power was propelled by the victory of secularists over the Islamists.  ISIS is a Sunni transient phenomenon with some roots in Syrian and Iraqi sectarianism; SISI is a feature of post-revolutionary Egypt whose cosmopolitanism is rooted in a history of 5000 years.

Where does Friedman find in this reverse of name-spelling "Arab governing models?"  Unless he is a seer or a tarot card reader, the "governing  model's" thesis is to be found only in the zone of fantasy.  The plain logic is that ISIS is on a huge collision course with SISI through the Egyptian/Gulf new axis of stability.

I can understand Friedman's chagrin over the imprisonment in Egypt of three of Al Jazeera journalists.  Freedom of the press is an essential ingredient of progress towards democracy.  But Friedman does not seem to grasp the following basic facts about the Egyptian Revolution.

It is a work in progress; it embodies the aspirations of the majority of its 90 million inhabitants for dignity and development; it is committed to secularism as the vehicle for the protection of its Coptic minority and for the preservation of its cosmopolitanism; it is the target of Islamic jihadi terrorism; it is opposed to any hint of foreign interference in its internal affairs; it is surrounded by unstable neighbors to the east (the Gaza mess); to the south (the troubled Sudan), and to the west (the Libyan State of militias).

Taking these factors into account, one should feel the pain of an Egyptian society trying to find its way out of 60 years of dictatorship.  In the process, the Egyptian judicial over-reaction in the case of Al Jazeera can at least be comprehended, if not condoned.  The entire Egyptian judicial process is now under review.

This brings me to discussing the nature of Al Jazeera as a TV channel or channels which is totally funded by Qatar -the mouse that roars.  Though patterned along the lines of the BBC, Al Jazeera cannot be weaned away from Qatari influence, and Qatar has been one of the primary supporters of a terrorist organization called the "Muslim Brotherhood."  The guru of Al Jazeera is Sheikh Youssef Al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian with a Qatari passport, who has been the oracle of sectarianism in the Muslim world in terms of the persecution of the Shia.  That explains in part why Egypt and Qatar today maintain no diplomatic relations, especially after the revelations about Qatari support for Hamas.

Thus talking about the right of Al Jazeera to freely function on Egyptian soil is like allowing a Cuban information medium to function openly in Miami with Castro's funding while Cuba is under U.S. sanctions.  It should also be noted here that the U.S., after 9/11, has claimed for security reasons the right to subject Guantanamo inmates to undetermined periods of incarceration without either being charged or be transferred to civilian U.S. courts.

Without any regard to balanced editorial analysis, Mr. Friedman pontificates as follows: "The Arab World needs to finally puncture the twin myths of the military State (SISI) or the Islamic State (ISIS) that will bring prosperity, stability and dignity."  Words of superficial gold, but substance of rusty junk.  The SISI era has just begun; so judging it after only one month of existence as a "military State" is nothing but animus without reason.  By the same token, Friedman's anticipation of the longevity of ISIS as an "Islamic State" is nothing but ignorance and unthinking alarmism.  ISIS is a bubble which shall be "punctured," not only by the Arab world, but also by the weight of its murderous overreach.

Friedman offers no credible facts or analysis as to "Why two Arab governing models are doomed."  I am on board with him as regards ISIS, but must rebut his non-warranted prediction as regards the El-Sisi regime.  From the Egyptian street, I marshal my rebuttal:

• There is no sectarianism in Egypt.  The fight against the Muslim Brotherhood is not sectarianism by any stretch of imagination;
• Egypt's present economic decline is, by all measures, a temporary paralysis due to the marginalization of the population in Sinai and Nubia, the high rate of unemployment, and the need for more time to have the development projects produce their intended results;
• Egypt's preoccupation with containing its internal Islamic terrorism, which is largely imported from Gaza, undoubtedly has its retarding effects, which is also the case of several other countries facing the same dilemma.  Both Nigeria and Algeria are prime examples;
• Emulating President El-Sisi example of forgoing a part of his salary and other property for the national cause of recovery, other Egyptian notables did the same.  These included the heads of the Wafd party (El-Sayed Belawi), and of the National Front (General Ahmed Shafiq).  So did important businessman (Muhammed Al-Amin and Mansour Amer).  In regard to Mansour Amer, he pledged to pay all the costs of construction of the new Cairo University.
• Tourism to Egypt is back; and the new Egypt is gearing up to holding parliamentary elections this summer.  The central focus is on inclusiveness and enhancing the representativeness of the previously marginalized groups in Sinai, in Nubia, and in the western desert.  Youth, women, and the Copts are expected to win a greater number of parliamentary seats than before.
• Egypt is again rising to see in which ways she and her partners in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, and the Emirates might further contain ISIS, Hamas, and a possible third "Palestinian Intifada."

The list of signs of an enduring post-revolutionary Egypt goes on and on, including the re-admission of Egypt to the membership of the African Union.  Above all, Egypt has not been subjected to civil war.  Its solidity is, in many ways, similar to the solidity of its iconic Giza pyramids.

Mr. Friedman: You may go on with your theoretical fantasies.  I sense from your recent commencement speech at the University of Erbil, Iraq; Kurdistan, that you are in hot pursuit of peripheral news items.  Now with ISIS calling itself IS (the Islamic State), your little game of words is in danger.  That of course unless you try to find a new fictitious resonance between "IS" and "SI."

In my view, major issues of stability and historical transitions should be immunized from your addiction to playing with words.  More importantly, it behooves you, as a student of the troubled Middle East, not to proceed from that word play to the slippery slope of fictitious, conclusions.  ISIS is not a government model, nor is El-Sisi regime doomed to extinction which you seem to predict.