16 November 2015

By Abdulrahman Al-Rashed

The verbal campaign undertaken by the authorities and the media in Egypt against the western governments, in response to the precautionary measures taken by them such as stopping tourist flights and bringing back their citizens from Sharm el-Sheikh will not change their decisions and will weaken the main argument in dealing with the Russian plane crash crisis.

These governments are forced to take steps to remove the political and legal responsibility in their countries and in front of their electors. If they did not do this and another incident occurred, they would be held to account in a harsh manner. Resorting to stopping flights as a precautionary measure, warning citizens against travel or urging them to leave the country has become customary in this region since the spread of terrorism , and is not directed at the Egyptian government or the result of hostile activity by the Muslim Brotherhood. Western governments are therefore forced to issue warnings to their citizens and companies even if these warnings are based on weak reasons such as false telephone calls or security reports with weak sources. These governments also have political concerns when they consider the scale of chaos, the prevalence of wars and the knowledge that their citizens and interests are targeted.

Scientifically speaking, it is not yet known whether this incident was a result of a deliberate act or not and it is a matter of time before the complete truth will come to light. Other countries do not have time to wait for the results of the investigation and fear that the incident was terrorism related; and they will not accept the assurances of the Egyptian government at this stage, whatever they may be.

Looking at the bigger picture of the Russian plane crash crisis, if the supposed terrorist act is true, then the entire MENA region is continuously at threat and terrorist organizations are deliberately targeting foreign interests, the main forms of transport and tourist resorts in order to hit Arab governments in the pocket and to destroy their images which would lead to chaos and eventually the overthrowing of regimes.

Al Rashed is the general manager of Al -Arabiya television. He is also the former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al- Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly magazine, Al Majalla. He is also a senior Columnist in the daily newspapers of Al Madina and Al Bilad. He is a US post-graduate degree in mass communications. He has been a guest on many TV current affairs programs. He is currently based in Dubai. 

©  EsinIslam.Com

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