Breaking the Sound Barrier

 

A well-known method of terrorising the enemy is by using jet fighters to break the sound barrier, while overflying highly populated areas. It is a gimmick exploited for decades by the Israeli air force against its Arab neighbours. Although rather ineffective in terms of military gains, it does have a strong demoralising influence and always generates plenty of fear and anxiety. It usually leaves general consternation in its wake.

 

In some cases, when the ruling junta has trouble identifying the enemy, the sound-barrier weapon is used within national borders against the same population that paid for the fighter jets. During the eighteen days it took to convince Mr Mubarak to pack, a couple of them attempted to scatter the Tahrir Square crowds, with the outcome producing the reverse effect; the crowds, contemptuous of the cowardly tactics being used by the regime, already in an irreversible revolutionary trance, only became more resolved. The fighter jets episode succeeded only in increasing the number of protesters, harbouring an additional dose of derision, to add to the fury directed at the murderous regime.

 

In the last few days the sound-barrier practise has resumed over several cities in Egypt. Various incidents of frightening bangs have been reported and one is left wondering how such decisions are made and to what end. Again, immersed in a cauldron of official opacity, speculation is the only channel available for an analyst trying to formulate a rational argument.

 

Has Mr Morsy assumed full control of the army and is he now in a position to send F-16s on an infantile mission of that nature? In that case, does Mr Morsy regard his people the way Mr Mubarak used to? Actually, apart from the jet fighters, everything else appears to confirm that he does.

 

The other possibility, the more likely one, is that the jets were ordered to fly by the military command, which is still well outside the sphere of influence of Mr Morsy. In that case, was the intimidation attempt directed at the people or at the Islamists beginning to get on the nerves of the ruling generals?

 

With the public still being treated like schoolchildren by a regime that fails to fathom the basic rules in dealing with a population far ahead in its awareness and vision over how it should be governed than anything its current rulers can appreciate, it appears that a collision course has been set. A labyrinth of confusion and obscurity looms over the entire country, with the Islamists and their military lords appearing the most confused of all. Every decision made, every action taken, every appointment announced only add to the mayhem and to a more complicated picture of the future.

How can such a situation end without the people rising in droves? Is it remotely plausible that the millions who rose before, resign themselves meekly and allow the tyrants to commit one blunder after another until the crimes can no longer be concealed?

 

What is unclear is what will happen once the country is cleansed of its current oppressors. Apprehension over recovering from the mess the rulers have dragged us into is not as difficult as many believe it will be. Once the religious baboons and their military barons do us the courtesy of departing, the ensuing atmosphere will encourage a quick recovery.

 

What is clear is that the people are not being fooled and will not be coerced into submissiveness. They are building up their cohesiveness and determination to realise their goals of freedom and dignity.

 

They will not be deterred.

 

30 October, 2012