Sic Semper Tyrannis

Egyptian economy collapsing.

 

"Protesters that helped bring down the old government adopted the slogan: “Bread, freedom and social justice!” So when Mohammed Morsi came to power in June on promises of economic and political reform, as well as and help for the poorest, many thought their lot would improve. But instead of getting better, the economy has stagnated, the country’s currency lost much of its value and inflation bumped up food prices. While the government subsidizes basic types of bread, other staples are becoming more expensive: Kidney bean prices grew by nearly 24 percent in the year to March, onions were up 12 percent, and tomatoes 10.1 percent, according to Egypt Independent newspaper."  NBC News

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Happy days on the Nile!

The hated dictator is gone.  No?  well, no matter he is back on trial and he can be tried however many times required to achieve an execution.

The Egyptian ecomonmy is usually invisible in part.   This results from a total lack of civic mindednaess on the part of many Egyptians when it come to things like paying taxes and doing business "transparently."  I used to do business in Egypt and I have some idea of what I write, but this level of negative "progress" is unusual.

We are still subsidizing Egypt?  Why?

Mursi is loading up his cabinet with yet more Islamists of the various "tribes."  He seeks to "reform" the judiciary to make it more compatible with his notions of Islamicness.  Tourism has gone down the drain from foreign fear of violence. Foreign investment is a nearly forgotten mempry of the bad old days of semi-secular government.

What happened to the Mursi that we were assured, was basically an American living in Egypt?     Why is the US propping this man up?  Do we think he is our friend? Surely not even the naif Kerry thinks that.  What?  He does?  Oh, sorry? pl 

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/71136/Business/Economy/Decline-and-fall-of-Egypts-credit-ratings-A-histor.aspx

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/05/18001075-there-is-no-food-post-revolutionary-economic-turmoil-dashes-hopes-in-egypt?lite

 

 

The End of Egyptianism

 

"... a significant peril to the Egyptian society. The more secluded and diluted the Egyptian Christian presence becomes, the poorer – politically, economically, and culturally – Egyptian society is. The brightest moment is modern Egyptian history was when the country managed to turn a lagging, lethargic agricultural state (from the 15th to the early 19th century) into a tolerant society and a destination for creative and ambitious immigrants from across the Mediterranean. This was the foundation upon which the Egyptian liberal experiment (from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century) was founded, a period when Egypt was truly a regional political and cultural powerhouse. Increasing sectarianism will slowly eat Egyptianism, denying the society the diversity and richness that have made it unique, beautiful, and rich."  Ahram on Line

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I'll just toss this topic out for discussion and then come back to pick on those who comment.  pl  

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/4/68871/Opinion/Understanding-sectarianism-in-Egypt.aspx

Rioters trash the Semiramis Hotel in Cairo

"Violence has been ongoing in cities across Egypt since Friday, starting with clashes that broke out on the 25 January anniversary, when mass protests took place denouncing the Muslim Brotherhood's monopolization of power. Nine people were killed, mainly in Suez, where the army has been deployed. The 6 October Bridge was blocked off intermittently Saturday evening and the fighting also reached the Garden City Corniche near the Qasr al-Nil entrance and the Semiramis Hotel, all the way down to Simon Bolivar Square. Tear gas was heavy in the whole area. A security source said that the management of the three nearby hotels -- the Semiramis and Shepherd hotels on one side, as well as the Hilton Ramsis overlooking Abdel Moneim Riad Square -- were asked to close the gates and not allow anyone to enter or exit. A fire that broke out late Saturday at the Lycee School on Sheikh Rihan Street had been contained, the same street where clashes had been taking place throughout the day. A security source told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the fire ravaged three classrooms and the school's basement. There were also reports of a fire at the Misr Insurance office in Talaat Harb Square. "  Al Ahram on-line

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The Semiramis Intercontinental is one of Cairo's finest hotels.  I have stayed there many times although I prefer the Marriott out on the Gezira.

The Semiramis was the scene many years ago of a massacre of Swedish tourists by Islamists.  They were killed like sheep as they stood in line at the Reception Desk in the ground floor lobby.  The hotel put in metal detectors after that.

The new Shepherd's and Ramses Hilton are also five star hotels.

These buildings are all in central Cairo, near Tahrir Square.  The Semiramis is two or three blocks from the US Embassy.

These looters do not appear to have been Islamists.  They wanted to burglarize the hotel.

The US is the sponsor of Egypt's "democracy."

Enjoy!    pl 

http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/clashes-around-downtown-cairo-spill-early-hours-sunday

"Egypt army chief warns of 'state collapse' amid crisis" BBC

"The continuing conflict between political forces and their differences concerning the management of the country could lead to a collapse of the state and threaten future generations," Gen Sisi, who is also Egypt's defence minister, said. He said the economic, political and social challenges facing Egypt represented "a real threat to the security of Egypt and the cohesiveness of the Egyptian state". The military deployment along the Suez Canal was meant only to protect the key shipping route, one of Egypt's main sources of foreign revenue, and described the army as "a pillar of the state's foundations", he added."   BBC

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In the ME, such a public statement by the Defense Minister of a country is a clear warning to the head of state that the army will intervene politically if unrest does not end.

Mursi has proven ineffective in managing Egypt's internal political processes and seeks to consolidate his hold on power through the use of declarations of martial law and violent police action in the streets.

His secular opponents are unlikely to desist from their own street action against him and the stage looks increasingly set for a coup d'etat,  or inkilab askari in Arabic.  pl 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21241753

"Form, not content" Baradei

"More deaths on Monday mean that between 50 and 60 people are now believed to have been killed in violent clashes with security forces since Thursday. Earlier, state news agency Mena reported six deaths in Port Said during daylight hours on Monday, when funerals were held for three people killed on Sunday. After nightfall, groups attacked police stations and one man was killed, according to medical sources."  BBC

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The US is backing Mursi and the MB.  They won an election by  a point or two and so America accepts their right to revolutionize Egypt into a Sharia law state.  So long as Egypt stays in the treaty with Israel, all is forgiven.   The Egyptian generals also want American money so they will stand aside and watch their liberal, secular countrymen be brutalised by the Islamists.  pl 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21240604

"Egypt’s climate of intimidation" Washpost

"Foremost among them is the increasing pressure being brought to bear on critical journalists. In recent months at least half a dozen prominent editors, writers and cartoonists have been the targets of criminal investigations, many of them launched by a prosecutor appointed by Mr. Morsi following complaints from the president’s office. The charges range from reporting false news to blasphemy; a cartoonist for the independent Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper was accused of the latter after she published a cartoon depicting Adam and Eve. "  Washpost editorial

-----------------------------------

Even the naifs and appeasers of Islamic authoritarianism in Egypt at the Post are forced to admit now that Mursi's Islamist government is seeking to shut down criticism of his government in the press and broadcast media.  The neocons in the Post editorial board are still trying to make excuses for him but that becomes more difficult all the time.

Leopards do not change their spots.  Mursi and his MB pals as well as their Salafist competition have the same goals as all political Islamists:

1 - Gain absolute power and retain it permanently.

2 - Create a sharia law state, a state in which non-Muslims are tolerated only as second class people and secularists are treated as apostates.

Mursi's government is moving steadily in that direction.  He knows that so long as he does not overtly menace Israel and "makes nice" with naive diplomats, he is safe.

The Mursi definition of "democracy" appears to me to be very like the definition of free will taught to me by a variety of nuns and brothers.  In that semantic world, free will was defined as the freedom to choose to do what the Catholic Church told you to do.  In  Mursi's world view the press is free to support his Islamist program.  pl 

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/egypts-climate-of-intimidation/2013/01/13/3221daa4-5b6b-11e2-9fa9-5fbdc9530eb9_story.html

Al-Azhar and "modern" Egypt

"The charter states that the principles of sharia, Islamic law, are the main source of legislation and that Islamic authorities will be consulted on sharia - a source of concern to the Christian minority and others. Mursi's government, which has accused opponents of damaging the economy by prolonging the political upheaval, now faces the tough task of building a broad consensus as it prepares to impose hugely unpopular austerity measures."  Daily Star

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Someone wrote here on SST that the provision in this constitution that gives the 'ulema of Al-Azhar a decisive voice in legislation to ensure that law conforms to their view of sharia is similar to the political influence of the Catholic Conference of Bishops in the US.

That is incorrect.  The conference of bishops may have influence but they have no legal power at all.

Under this new Egyptian constitution, Islamic law will "color" everything that happens in the country.  Egypt largely lives on tourism.  What will Al-Azhar have to say about tourists drinking in the hotels and cruise boats?  What will al-Azhar say about mixed sex bathing in hotel swimming pools as well as women's attire  in public?

What will Al-Azhar have to say about current commercial law in Egypt?  This law code is largely European and it allows for commercial finance that allows the use of contracts that pay interest.  Such interest is considered usury in sharia law.  Will Al-Azhar demand a revision of Egyptian commercial law?  Saud Arabia has a non-Western commercial banking system, but the change would be a mghty "wrench" on the Egyptian economy.

This is all foolishness.  pl  

http://dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Dec-26/199831-egypt-adopts-new-constitution-as-opposition-cries-foul.ashx#axzz2GGTmrlEd

Geopolitical malignancy by de Borchgrave

"Will Egypt's new Pharaoh Mohamed Morsi use his dictatorial powers to turn his country of 80 million into the next Iran? Anything is possible in the Middle East in particular and the Arab world in general. What seems impossible as far as any crystal ball can see is the Israeli-occupied West Bank becoming an independent Palestinian state. Hamas' influence is spreading from Gaza to the West Bank. And its idea of a Western frontier is the Mediterranean."

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Analysis/de-Borchgrave/2012/12/19/Commentary-Geopolitical-malignancy/UPI-84251355894400/#ixzz2FdfB34k3

 

57% voted for the Middle Ages in Egypt

"The social division in Egypt was made clear by the breakdown of the votes. In Cairo, by far Egypt's biggest urban centre, the constitution was opposed by 57 per cent to 43 per cent, according to the Brotherhood's own figures. However, the "yes" campaign won by proportionally much larger majorities in less populated but more conservative areas of Upper Egypt and the Sinai. This urban-rural split has played into the deeply divisive propaganda of both sides. Opposition figures and newspaper editors allege that the Brotherhood relies for support on a less well-educated, more narrow-minded base easily manipulated by local clerics, while Islamists claim the "no" vote is led by a corrupt and wealthy elite, often with ties to the old regime, out of touch with the "real Egypt". "  The Telegraph

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Even in relatively "modern" Cairo nearly half of voters cast their ballots in favor of Mursi's political Islam as a basis for running Egyptians' lives.  Outside the capital the MB/salafi written constitution carried the day everywhere.  Can we doubt that this will not be repeated in the next round of voting.

Once the new constitution becomes the law of the land there will be a gradual process of abrogation of human rights as Egypt becomes a country much like Iran.  In the end there won't be a dime's worth of difference  between Shia Iran and Sunni Egypt. 

Christians, modern women, Shia (there are a few), secularists, all these should look to their exit routes.

The Army?  vendu, and likely to remain that way so long as the institution 's autonomy is not threatened.

William Pitt said that the map of Europe  could be put away because Bonaparte had prevailed and the map would not be needed.

It will be the same for Egypt.  pl  

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/9748820/Egypt-constitution-vote-sees-both-sides-claim-victory.html

 

The Brothers and the Others - Kieran Wanduragala

 

The opposition to Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood was, until last week, fragmented. 

The ‘revolutionaries’. Savvy, networked activists, graffiti artists, hardened leftists, football hooligans, democratic idealists, frustrated people with nothing to lose. The unifying element is a rejection of both the old regime and political Islam, and a willingness to go into the streets, protest, clash, and risk one’s life in the cause of radically transforming society. They are revolutionaries all too painfully aware that what has happened in Egypt since January 2011 is not a revolution (it is those who do not want to see a revolution, who insist that it has already happened). This is the street force that set Mubarak wobbling, spearheaded resistance to SCAF in running battles in places like Mohammed Mahmoud St., and is now taking on Mursi and his supporters in the streets. They are at once the most influential and most powerless element: influential in their ability and determination to instigate crises and set the agenda; but losers in the post-Mubarak struggle for legitimate power in the new political system. They are a vanguard, with quality and energy, but not yet numbers and organization, on their side - hence a leading role in events, along with complete failure at the ballot box. 

The ‘remnants’. In this category fall, firstly, the decapitated leftovers of Mubarak’s National Democratic Party. These remnants visible in political life, however (capturing perhaps 7% of the vote in parliamentary elections) are complemented by business interests, long-established systems of patronage, and a large slice of traditional officialdom, particularly the police. ‘Remnants’ networks were popularly believed to be engineering crises such as fuel shortages and violent incidents with the aim of destabilizing the country and returning to power. At the grassroots level, there are very many ordinary people who have started to feel that things were better under Mubarak. This started out as mere grumbling, but culminated in the surprise entry of Ahmad Shafiq, a ‘remnant’ if there ever was one, into the presidential runoff. This result can be seen as, firstly, discontent with the economic consequences of the ‘revolution’, secondly, fear of the Brotherhood, and thirdly, the continuing efficacy of NDP networks. 

The ‘liberals’. The people we like to call ‘liberals’ in the Middle East are often not very liberal at all. Indeed, to impose liberal ideas in Egypt would require a very illiberal dictatorship. ‘Liberal’ in this context is better understood as secular and capitalist. In this category you will find Western-educated intellectuals, re-branded old-regime billionaires, Christians fearful of Islamist domination, as well as professionals and businesspeople preoccupied with the dire state of the economy. Some parties in this category are distinctly ‘Western oriented’; others, like the Wafd, have more of a nationalist aftertaste. They have considerable means at their disposal and a strong media presence. Nonetheless, ‘liberal’ parties did not receive more than around 20% of the vote in parliamentary elections. 

Mursi’s actions are molding these disparate forces into an increasingly coherent secular opposition. The frontline street activists, the old-regime patronage networks, and the ‘liberal’ money and media are making common cause against the threat of MB domination. 

The MB - "fascist thugs?" Ahram on line

"On Wednesday, thousands of Muslim Brotherhood thugs, armed with rifles, shotguns, knives, chains, bludgeons and remarkably, tear-gas were bussed into the vicinity of the presidential palace to attack the few hundred peaceful protesters that had staged a symbolic sit-in before the palace following Tuesday march.

As the footage and testimonies of protesters, bystanders and journalists kept coming onto the airwaves and the social media, we seemed to have been hurled back in time and space, to the rise of Nazism in Germany, Fascism in Italy, Francism in Spain.

The mutation of the Muslim Brotherhood into its ugliest caricature: a gang of fascist thugs was complete.

No pasaran!

They shall not pass!"   Ahram on line.

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"No pasaran!"  This kind of language is so directly evocative of the Spanish Civil War with its bloody trail of battles, foreign interventions and massacres of civilians that we should hesitate to use such speech.

In those days the revolutionaries fighting and killing under the republican flag decorated whole streets in many cities and towns with the corpses of priests and nuns hanging from lamp posts.

Is that where Egypt is going?  Is this the fruit of the Arab Spring?

Chuck Todd, who leaves little doubt of the depth of his feelings for Israel, today on "Morning Joe" chided a Republican congressman from Florida for sponsoring a bill to withdraw foreign aid from Egypt.  The congressman's agenda was altogether about a sense of betrayal over the received wisdom involving the Jeffersonian transformation of Egypt and Mursi's supposed betrayal of the ideals of the revolution.  IMO Mursi never believed in that idea system and always saw the revolution as a vehicle to be used to trick the West and establish an Islamist state.  The congressman is a fool.  Nevertheless, Todd's reaction was intense and completely centered on adverse effects that a withdrawal of US sid to Egypt might have on Israel, nothing else, just that.  pl 

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/4/59933/Opinion/The-decline-and-fall-of-the-Muslim-Brotherhood.aspx

Reading the Egyptian constitution - by Chibli Mallat

"Rather than enshrine the democratic aspirations of the Egyptian revolution, the draft Constitution to be put to referendum in mid Dec. is faulty in execution, lacking in legitimacy and a set-back in terms of rights and liberties."  Mallat 

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/4/59606/Opinion/Reading-the-Draft-Constitution-of-Egypt-Setbacks-i.aspx

Fearless Forecast on Egypt

 
 

"Egypt's high court is indefinitely suspending all its sessions, after supporters of President Mohamed Morsy surrounded the building and blocked judges from entering. Calling Sunday a "dismal, black day" in the history of the country's judiciary, the court said in a statement that its judges will not return to work until they can do their jobs "without any psychological or physical pressures." "The judges of the Supreme Constitutional Court have no choice but to declare to the great Egyptian people that they are unable to perform their sacred mission in light of the current charged situation," the statement said, according to the state-run MENA news agency "  CNN

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Mursi is a skilled player.  He is much more skilled that his opponents in Egypt and his foolish backers in official Washington.

Prediction:  His constitution will be approved handily in the 15 December, 2012 referendum.  Anyone who speaks Arabic and who has wandered through Egypt from the Cairo slums to the Nile Delta knows that the majority of Egyptians are already Islamists.  pl  

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/02/world/meast/egypt-protests/?hpt=hp_t3

SST Potpourri - 28 november, 2012

"Despite  official U.S. assessments that al Qaeda leadership has been  “decimated,” some experts are insisting that the U.S. maintain a heavy  military footprint in Afghanistan — a strategy that will cost billions of dollars each year. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta recently addressed the success of U.S. efforts against al Qaeda, saying “al-Qaeda has been significantly weakened in Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Its most effective leaders are gone. Its command, and control have been degraded, and its safe haven is shrinking….we have decimated core al-Qaeda.” The U.S. must still “finish the job” in Afghanistan, Secretary Panetta added, calling for continued commitment on both military and diplomatic fronts. "  Afghanistan Study Group

http://www.afghanistanstudygroup.org/2012/11/26/al-qaeda-decimated-but-us-considers-heavy-military-footprint-in-afghanistan/

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This is all nonsense.  The Afghans are not going to agree to a SOFA that gives US forces legal immunity in their  country and that will be the end of it.  The Pentagon should start preparing for that event.  pl

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William Hague has said today Britain will back the Palestinian bid for United Nations observer status if they agree to peace talks with Israel.  The UK will abstain from debating the issue at the UN General Assembly as there are no guarantees Palestine president Mahmoud Abbas will negotiate.   Express.coDespite official U.S. assessments that al Qaeda leadership has been “decimated,” some experts are insisting that the U.S. maintain a heavy military footprint in Afghanistan — a strategy that will cost billions

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So, the US and Israel will vote against non-member 0bserver status for the PA?  Why does the US continue with the farce of pretending to be an "honest broker" in this dispute?  The soon to be disunited Britain will abstain unless the Palestinians give up a right to press charges against Israel in the international courts?  The Palestinians will win the vote in the General assembly and then prefer charges against such as Natanyahu, Barak and Avigdor Lieberman.  This will expose these Israelis to extradition action by various member states.  Then Israel can be a prison for them in much the same way that Gaza is for the Palestinians.  pl

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthority/9708521/Britain-will-abstain-on-Palestinian-bid-without-assurances-says-William-Hague.html

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"Fresh clashes broke out in Cairo on Wednesday near Tahrir Square, as riot police fired tear gas and charged at Egyptian protesters angry about a move by President Mohamed Morsy to extend his powers." CNN International

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Egypt is on fire again.  There were 100,000 anti-Mursi demonstrators in Tahrir square yesterday.  The US media is obviously avoiding the subject of the imposition of a tyranny in Egypt.  It seems that the revelation of their own naivete two years ago is too much  for them to cope with.  And then there are the naifs and neocons in the governmenr who still cling to their hopes.  pl

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/28/world/meast/egypt-protests/?hpt=hp_t2

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"About 14 percent of the 1.4 million troops in the active-duty military are women. About 280,000 women were deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. About 150 women died in those two conflicts. Although there may be growing support in the military to opening some jobs in combat units to women, there remains stiff opposition from the infantry, where the physical demands — like walking long distances carrying heavy loads and handling bulky weapons — are most demanding. In a widely circulated article, a female Marine Corps captain who served in Iraq and Afghanistan wrote in the Marine Corps Gazette this year that seven months in Afghanistan left her physically broken, with muscle atrophy in her leg and an ovarian condition that left her infertile. “I am confident that should the Marine Corps attempt to fully integrate women into the infantry, we as an institution are going to experience a colossal increase in crippling and career-ending medical conditions for females,” the article’s author, Capt. Katie Petronio, wrote. "  NY Times

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If I recall correctly there is a provision in law aganst womens' service in certain combat specialties in the infantry, armor and SF.  If that is so, then congressional repeal of that provision would also be necessary, but since the Congress can be expected to do anything "catchy" that appears popular, well...  I think that since these women see this as a civil rights jobs program issue they should be given the chance to "try it on." My only hope about this is that physical standards are not lowered to make this easier.  War is an equal opportunity employer.  It would be most unfortunate if some of these job seekers literally have to be carried.  pl  

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/28/us/servicewomen-file-suit-over-direct-combat-ban.html?_r=0

 

 

"Tell Old Pharaoh..."

22 November declaration

• All investigations into the killing of protesters or the use of violence
  against them will be re-conducted; trials of those accused will be re-held
• All constitutional declarations, laws and decrees made since Mr Mursi
  assumed power cannot be appealed or cancelled by any individual, or political or governmental body
• The public prosecutor will be appointed by the president for a fixed term of
  four years, and must be aged at least 40
• The constituent assembly's timeline for drafting the new constitution has
  been extended by two months
• No judicial authority can dissolve the constituent assembly or the upper
  house of parliament (Shura Council)
• The president is authorised to take any measures he sees fit in order to
  preserve the revolution, to preserve national unity or to safeguard national
  security.

 ------------------------------------------ 

"Go Down Moses. Tell Old Pharaoh to let my people go..." An African American Hymn.

Mursi has "cracked the code." So long as he assists the "Israel friendly community" with its insoluble Palestinian problem, he can do whatever he likes in Egypt or anywhere else.. The military subvention from the US? Don't worry about it. It's "in the bag." Mursi's assumption of power marks the end of Egypt's recent experiment with the possibility of actual representative democracy in a country with little demonstrated talent for that form of government.  With Mursi's apparent success at mediation over Gaza, Egypt resumes her natural place as one of the grand arbiters of political life in the Middle East.  The US created this situation by its abandonment of Mubarak.  Now Mubarak et al will be tried again. Expect a flight out of Egypt by secularists and Chhristians as the import of this naked assumption of dictatorial power sinks in.  pl

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20451208

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/58950/Egypt/Politics-/Morsi-declaration-hailed-by-supporters,-deemed-cou.aspx

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20458148

 

 

Egypt Secularists and Christians Abandon Constitutional Planning

"Members who threatened to leave the assembly also included former Arab League chief and one-time presidential candidate Amr Moussa, assembly spokesman Wahid Abdel-Meguid, liberal politician Ayman Nour, and constitutional law professor Gaber Gad Nassar. On Saturday, the Liberal Wafd party and representatives of Egypt's churches also withdrew from the assembly. The assembly has already suffered a number of withdrawals since 11 June, when the Egyptian Bloc parties – including the Free Egyptians, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party and the leftist Tagammu Party – initiated a walk-out, followed by the Karama Party, the Socialist Popular Alliance Party and the Democratic Front Party, to allow greater representation for women, young people and Coptic Christians, while also registering their objection to "Islamist monopolisation" of the assembly. "  Ahram Online

---------------------------------------------

The Obama administration is well on its way to realization of their apparent goal of creating an "authentic" Islamist government in Egypt. 

This is on a par with the Obama Administration drive to destroy secularism in Syria and any number of other countries from Afghanistan to Morocco.

Well, when you are advised by neocons and kids still wet behind the ears, what should you expect?  pl  

PS -  TWV.  Yes, I voted for him, but not for his foreign policy. 

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/58501/Egypt/Politics-/Revolutionary-youth-group-leader-quits-Constituent.aspx

Rice reveals that Hizbullah helps Syria

 

"U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice told the U.N. Security Council's monthly meeting on the Mideast that Hezbollah leaders are also continuing to plot new measures with Iran to keep Assad in power.       

Rice's comments — and those of Israel's U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor — gave the clearest indication that Hezbollah, which fought a war against Israel in 2006 and is a major political and military force in Lebanon, is sending an increasing number of fighters to help the embattled Syrian regime.       

Syria's ruling Alawite minority is an offshoot of Shiite Islam and has had close ties to Iran and Hezbollah which are Shiite-dominated. Assad has long helped Iran aid Hezbollah and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, in destabilizing Lebanon and threatening Israel's security and U.S. interests in the Middle East. "  NY Times

-----------------------------------------

This is truly comic.  Susan "Meet the Press" Rice is still riding high.

Hizbullah is a major component of a stable government in Lebanon.  It was elected to the number of seats in parliament that give it that power a number of years ago and the political science seminar crowd that makes up the US foreign policy establishment has resolutely opposed the Lebanese government ever since.  BTW, when did Hizbullah last fire rockets or anything else into Israel?  If memory serves, it was in 2006.

In Syria the US seeks regime change without UN authority.   The allies of the US in this endeavor are; Turkey (Sunni ruled), Egypt (Sunni ruled), Saudi Arabia (Sunni ruled), Qatar (Sunni ruled) Al-Qa'ida (Sunni fanatics) and NATO.

On the other side, the government of Syria (Alawi, Druze, Shia, Sunni and Christian in orientation), Iran (Shia ruled), Iraq (Shia ruled) and now apparently Hizbullah (a Shia militia)

So, the US has become the ally of Al-Qa'ida and the Wahhabi Saudis against a multi-confessional government and its Shia allies.

How clever we are!  pl

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/10/15/world/middleeast/ap-un-un-mideast.html?ref=world&_r=0

There's a place for Copts today - America

"Bishoy Kameel, a Coptic teacher in Sohag, was sentenced to six years in prison for insulting Islam and defaming President Morsi on his Facebook page. This sentence was confirmed by an appeal court in Sohag, and the whole process happened in a matter of days.

Nageeb Gibrial, Bishoy’s lawyer, told me that the conditions of a fair trial did not exist because of intimidation by Salafists surrounding the court and inside it. Gibrial got permission from the Minister of Justice to transfer the trial to a court in Cairo but it was not implemented by the chairman of the appeal court in Sohag.

Bishoy was put in prison in July 2012. His lawyer presented evidence that the materials on his defendant’s Facebook page were not his, but the court did not consider this evidence.

The Salafists gathered outside the court building tried to attack Bishoy and shouted slogans such as "death to the infidel." They also threatened to burn Coptic houses and kill Bishoy's family if he was released. It is very difficult to expect justice in this intimidating atmosphere."  Said Shahata

--------------------------------------

Does this require comment?  I think not.  pl

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/4/54512/Opinion/The-misery-of-Copts-in-Egypt--.aspx

"Mohamed Morsi and Hassan El-Banna: Two peas in a pod" by Said Shehata

Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan El-Banna died before Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi was born, but both men share the same vision for Egypt.  Said Shehata

------------------------------

Mursi is here now for the UN General Assembly.  Listen to these Egyptian liberals.  pl

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/4/53549/Opinion/Mohamed-Morsi-and-Hassan-ElBanna-Two-peas-in-a-pod.aspx

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/53446/Egypt/Politics-/War-of-principles-Can-free-speech-exist--.aspx

The fruits of the Arab Spring

Fouad Ajami  wrote "The Dream Palace of the Arabs" a couple of years back.  Bernard Lewis is the author of "What went Wrong." 

The central thesis of both books is the same.  This is the notion that Muslims generally and Arabs in particular suffer from a collective belief that the material and financial superiority of the West is unnatural, ungodly and fated to disappear with the emergence of a world wide human condition that represents the will of God.

This viewpoint is often crudely represented by the endless power point presentations sold by contracters to governments on the subject of the jihadi obsession with the establishment of a world-wide "caliphate."

The events of the past week, events stimulated by the TV trailer disgrace, tend to support Lewis and Ajami in their view. 

The reaction of the mobs across the world, even unto the Antipodes, is grossly exagerated, disproportionate and obviously fueled by a boundless hatred for America that makes a mockery of all the social science gibberish about deprivation, oppression, etc. 

Last year it was generally assumed in the West that removal of authoritarian governments in the Arab World would result in accession to power of westernized elites who hold dear the political philosophy of the post Enlightenment West.

That has not happened.  In the last century (20th) the liberals failed miserably at the polls in Iraq.  In Egypt the liberals are  a political joke and not enough of a factor to be worth discussing.  In Tunisia, possibly the most Westernised of all Arab countries, it is necessary to withdraw most of our diplomatic mission from fear of their safety.

Nevertheless, the Washington Post persists in the jacobin doctrine of the neocon "freedom agenda."  According to the Post all we have to do is "stick with" the westernized liberals and all will be well.  This is the triumph of theory over experience.

The Arab Spring has revealed that the Arab masses have a substantial inclination toward political Islamism in government.  Western media and governments, and particularly the USA helped and continue to help in the release of forces in the Arab World that consider the West to be "the other," the enemies of God, this god being the very special god of their dreams.

Is Mubarak still alive?  Did the inquisitors ever find the vast sums that the Mubaraks supposedy stole from the people with rocks in their hands outside the US Embassy in Cairo.  Perhaps we will remember the Mubaraks et al fondly in the depths of the Arab Winter.  pl

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/in-the-arab-world-why-a-movie-trailer-can-lead-to-violencewhy-cant-the-arab-world-accept-offenses-without-violence/2012/09/14/d2b65d2e-fdc8-11e1-8adc-499661afe377_story.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/washingtons-role-as-mideast-countries-struggle-for-power/2012/09/14/08343bd2-fe83-11e1-b153-218509a954e1_story.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/16/us-withdraws-diplomats-tunisia-sudan?newsfeed=true

We have Nuland. Why do we need Obama?

Victoria Nuland is the politically appointed spokeswoman for the State Department.  She is the daughter of Sherwin Nuland a bioethics professor.  She is married to Robert Kagan, the neocon historian.  Kagan was, of course, a mainstay of the Bush Administration's "crusade" to make the ME safe for....  It may seem strange to some this woman would have been appointed to be the State department's spokesperson in the Obama Administration.  Such a doubt would betray the questioner's lack of understanding of the limits of personnel availablity in the United States.

In case there is any doubt, Hillary Clinton and therefore Victoria Nuland work for Barack Obama.  His policy is the State Department's policy and therefor their policy He can fire either or both at any time.  The US is not a parliamentary democracy like the "sprigs" of the old British Empire; Canada, the UK, etc.  The president is not "one of the guys"  in the cabinet.  He is not "first among equals."  He is THE BOSS in the Executive Branch. 

The other night he chose to say that "Egypt is not an ally."  The most challenged should be able to see that this is simple truth.  See my earlier post.  In any event, his word must be "law" for the State Department.

The following day Nuland chose to tell the media that Egypt IS effectively a US ally.  Now, perhaps the NSC told the State Department to say that.  If they did, then I have no problem with her statement.

There appears to be a pattern of friends of Israel arguing for a lenient attitude toward Egypt.  Can that be because they want Egypt kept in the treaty with Israel.

Who told Nuland to correct the president?  pl

Of allies, foreign aid and statecraft

The US was a witness to the Egypt-Israel Treaty of Peace.  To make that treaty "stick" we have given Egypt around 2 billion dollars a year ever since.  This subvention is a bribe by another name.  The Israelis receive even larger sums.  Why we need to "bribe" the Israelis is a mystery.  These charitable contributions have become a tradition in both those countries.  Neither party can deal with the thought that our charity might come to an end.  Egypt has never done anything of importance for the US.  They sent two ground divisions to the First Gulf War.  They stated in advance that they would not fight and they did not.  Syria sent a division and they did not fight either.  Egypt interrogated some AQ people for us.  These "services"  sum up Egypt's contributions to US welfare.  There are bi-lateral agreements with Egypt with regard to equipment sales and traing.  None of these obligate either party to go to war for the other.  Such relationships are not alliances.  NATO is an alliance.  Our relationship with Egypt is nothing like the NATO alliance or any other real alliance. 

BHO was correct.  Egypt is not an ally of the US.  The most that can be said of Egypt post Mubarak is, as the president said, that the country id not yet our enemy as Nasser's Egypt was our enemy.  BTW, international relationships among countries are not limited to manichaean dualities of "ally" and "enemy."  Most countries in the world should properly be described as "out there,"  IOW neither friend nor foe.

In political international studies-speak, countries, "out there" are routinely described as "allies."  How stupid this is.

What BHO did by declining to call Mursi's Egypt an ally was to put Egypt on notice of the simple fact that the US is not obligated to give Egypt anything.  The NB's retreat from confrontation is the result.  pl

 

Some Updated Information on the Innocence of Muslims Affair

Adam L. Silverman, PhD*

The Innocence of Muslims affair (incident?  incidents?) has become a fast moving story that seems to get more fantastical the more that gets reported.  It is now pretty clear that Sam Bacile is not an Israeli, Israeli American, or even Jewish.  Bacile is, apparently, a pseudonym for a Nakoula Basselly Nakoula - who appears to be an Egyptian emigre and was involved in this project with a number of naturalized American Copts and native born American Evangelicals.  Members of the cast have clearly indicated that the film was supposed to be/originally about Coptic persecution and was overdubbed in both English and Arabic with the anti-Islamic dialogue that has led to some serious problems in Egypt, Libya, and Yemen including the death of four American foreign service personnel.  The thirteen minute clip, posted to You Tube in July, began to gather interest over the past several days due to its being promoted by both Quran burning advocate Terry Jones and Egyptian-American Copt Morris Sadek.  The fatal anti-American violence in Libya may have partially been the result of various media and extremist movement sources claiming that the video had been produced for the 9-11 remembrances and was being widely shown on American TV on that day. 

While the story will continue to undergo change over the next several days as more facts come to light, the real issues are how does the US adjust its strategies and policies in the Middle East in response to these activities.  It also demonstrates very clearly that no matter what America's official positions, messaging, and actions are they can all be overcome by events regardless of whether they are unofficial messaging being transmitted by Americans - official or otherwise or the activities of the actual actors on the ground in the Middle East.

*Adam L. Silverman, PhD is the Culture and Foreign Language Advisor at the US Army War College (USAWC).  The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of USAWC and/or the US Army.

The Real Action will be on Friday in Cairo

The US Embassy is in the lower left corner of the map.  Tahrir Square is the big rectangular space just below the Egyptian Museum.

Mursi has not  done very much to insure the embassy's safety.  He has made vague statements and has not condemned the attack on the embassy.  He has not apologized for his government's failure to protect the embassy.

His brothers in MB have called for a million people to assemble in Tahrir Square tomorrow to protest the film.  The embassy is vulnerable to those numbers.  The procedure for destruction of classified papers and evacuation of the premises should be underway NOW.

The longer this crisis continues the more the whole thing smells like an attampt to cause difficulty for BHO in the American election.  Now, who would want to do that?  pl

Mursi as "rational actor."

Mursi and the MB are riding a tiger in Egypt and throughout the Muslim world.  They were elected to create a Salafist (larger sense) sharia law state.  There are still many people who are against this kind of thing in Egypt.  The US did everything it could to deter such people from revolt but they are still there.  Mursi needs to keep burnishing his salafist credentials with his base.  This means defiance of the West, particularly America, and the norms of Western behavior such as; our belief in freedom of speech and the international law involved in the Vienna Convention of 1961 0n diplomatic missions.  A confrontation with the US just fits the bill for Mursi.  He has been to Riyadh and Teheran recently.  Who knows how much money he has been promised in support of such a crisis with the US?  Don'r forget.  The Saudis play it both ways, always.  Mursi and company also understand very well how delicate BHO's position is when operating this close to a very nearly tied election.  Last and by no means least, Mursi is not a "rational choice" kind of guy, in the sense that "rational choice" is understood in Western international relations studies.  Does that means that Mursi does not make rational choices?  No.  It does not mean that.  He makes rational choices.  He is a believer and he chooses Allah first, last and always.  That is the same choice he made when he chose to leave his teaching job in California..  pl

Egyptian mob attacks US embassy in Cairo. US Ambassador apologizes for free speech in the USA.

"Egyptian protesters scaled the walls of the U.S. embassy in Cairo on Tuesday and pulled down the American flag during a protest over what they said was a film being produced in the United States that insulted Prophet Mohammad, witnesses said. In place of the U.S. flag, the protesters tried to raise a black flag with the words "There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is his messenger", a Reuters reporter said. Once the U.S. flag was hauled down, protesters tore it up, with some showing off small pieces to television cameras. Then others burned remains. "This movie must be banned immediately and an apology should be made ... This is a disgrace," said 19-year-old, Ismail Mahmoud, a member of the so-called "ultras" soccer supporters who played a big role in the uprising that brought down Hosni Mubarak last year. Many Muslims consider any depiction of the Prophet to be offensive. Mahmoud called on President Mohamed Mursi, Egypt's first civilian president and an Islamist, to take action. Many others were supporters of Islamist groups. About 20 people stood on top of the embassy wall in central Cairo, where about 2,000 protesters had gathered. "There is no god but Allah, Mohammad is Allah's messenger. We will sacrifice ourselves for you, Allah's messenger," they chanted, with many waving religious flags. "  al-Ahram

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Cut off their money.  Wthdraw the embassy.  Having done this once and gotten away with it, they will be back for more as in Teheran long ago.  It is not a coincidence that this happened on the anniversary of 9/11.  pl

 

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/1/52569/Egypt/BREAKING-Egyptian-protesters-scale-US-embassy-wall.aspx

"Writers and artists protest 'Brotherhoodisation' of Egypt's constitution " Al-Ahram

"Writers Bahaa Taher, Mohamed Salmawy, Saad Hagras, Nabil Abdel Fattah Salwa Bakr, visual artist Mohamed Abla, and publisher Mohamed Hashem were among the protesters. The protesters argue that the members of the current Assembly are not elected and do not represent the wide range of Egyptian society. The protesters said that the Assembly is part of the Brotherhoodisation of the country, as its members only reflect the views of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood, they charge, is consolidating its grip and monopolise the next constitution to conform to their views. The first leaked draft of the articles on freedoms show signs that the new constitution might hold onto the times of censorship and actually put new constraints on freedoms of creativity and expression. "  al-Ahram.

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Those who think the trial and prison sentences of the women's band in Russia were justified will probably be on the side of the constitution drafters in Egypt.  After all, free speech is a "seamless garment."  If it is not sacred, then it is nothing.

in Egypt free speech is well on its way to "free speech=nothing important."  pl

 

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/5/51867/Arts--Culture/Writers-and-artists-protest-Brotherhoodisation-of-.aspx

TV Anchor to be tried in Egypt

"The trial of Egyptian TV anchor Tawfiq Okasha on charges of inciting violence against the country's president will begin at Cairo Criminal Court on Saturday.

On 10 August, Egyptian authorities accused Okasha, a presenter and head of the Faraeen satellite channel, of calling for the violent overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi, following complaints against the anchor from a number of lawyers and revolutionary figures.

Authorities ordered that the Faraeen channel cease transmission for at least a month."  al-Ahram

-------------------------

This is a little something special for any naifs in the crowd who still think Mursi is about democracy and free speech.  If this does not work they can try him for "material support of terrorism."  That works here.  pl

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/51719/Egypt/Politics-/Trial-of-controversial-Egypt-TV-anchor-starts-Satu.aspx

The US reaps what it has sown in the ME

That's me in a blog writing posture.

The Islamist cause prospers in Egypt, not so much in Syria.  

In Egypt Air Marshal Shafik, Mursi's principal opponent in the late election is placed on a "watch list" at the ports of departure from Ehypt.  This is obviously a prelude to prosecution.  A suitable charge will be found.  Shafik nearly won.  That can't happen again according to the Islamist playbook.  "One man, one vote, one time" is their formula.  The Islamist dominated parliament and constitution drafting committee will put religious freedom to a vote as well as provisions to allow the parliament and president to imprison minister who displease them.  "Progress" is being made in Egypt and the US applauds it.

In Syria even the Washington Post admits that the Islamist rebels are losing. Wherever they try to hold ground, they lose.  They shoud read something like "People's War, People's Army" by Giap.  Nevertheless, Syrian government forces are still described in the Post as "pro-regime" forces  In Turkey the MB related Erdogan pushes for an attack on the Syrian Air Force.  What is left of the Turkish General Staff resists this.  

All in all, this is a mixed "bag" for the neo-Wilsonians in the Obama Administration. What will he do to "up the ante" if he is re-elected?  What will the neocon tool Romney do if he wins?

"Is a puzzlement."  pl

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/bomb-injures-several-during-damascus-funeral-for-other-blast-victims/2012/08/28/aeba88aa-f116-11e1-adc6-87dfa8eff430_story.html

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/51550/Egypt/Politics-/President-Morsi-attempts-foreign-policy-balancing-.aspx

"Islamists clinch lion's share of Egyptian president's advisory team" Al-Ahram

"Members of President Morsi's new team include six from Muslim Brotherhood, three from Salafist Nour Party, and two Islamist-leaning independents"  Al-Ahram

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Smilin' Sam.  pl 

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/140/51417/Egypt/First--days/Islamists-clinch-lions-share-of-Egyptian-president.aspx

Syrian Shoot down, Taliban kill party goers. Cairo garbage

- The Syrian jihadi rebels say they shot down a government helicopter over Damascus .  They might as well take credit for this one.  The government has at least 175 more.  Wiki

- Taliban "party-poopers" beheaded 17 men gathered for traditional singing and dancing in Helmand Province where the marines have spent so much time on COIN in the last couple of years.  Taliban Islam does not tolerate such frivolity as music and dancing.  Hmmm.  Cotton Mather wasn't this much of a prude.

- Garbage in Cairo is collected by Coptic Christians who feed the edible parts to pigs.  President Mursi's relations with the whole Coptic "thing" is still rather indeterminate.  Last year htere was a Muslim inspired general round-up and wasted slaughter of the swine and as a result the Cairene population is faced with a crisis of garbage accumulation.

You couldn't make this stuff up if you were writing fiction nobody would believe it.  pl

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/afghan-officials-insurgents-behead-17-civilians-17084685

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/syrian-rebels-shoot-down-military-helicopter-over-damascus/2012/08/27/7a380314-f030-11e1-892d-bc92fee603a7_story.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/egypts-garbage-crisis-bedevils-morsi/2012/08/26/6fdfad1e-ec6a-11e1-866f-60a00f604425_story.html

 

 

"Morsi's rule: A chip off the old Mubarak block?" A-Ahram Online

"Protestors insist that Morsi's affiliation to the Muslim Brotherhood and his selection of largely Islamist aides promises to undermine the "civil nature" of Egypt. The call for demonstrations 24 August did not garner much support from established political groups and activists who, including some liberal figures, insisted that Morsi is a legitimately elected president and that the democratic choice of people had to be respected. "We have to make sure that the civil nature of Egypt is not undermined, but we also have to show respect for the choice that Egyptian voters made through the ballot box. Morsi is a freely and legitimately elected president," said Amr Hamzawi, a prominent liberal. "  Al-Ahram

---------------------------------

As I was saying, this is like stroking sheep before the knife cuts.  pl

 

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/51215/Egypt/Politics-/Morsis-rule-A-chip-off-the-old-Mubarak-block.aspx

Is there a US policy in the Islamic World?

I think that is a valid question:

- In Egypt we support consolidation of power by an obviously Muslim Brotherhood run government.  To that end, HC and her deputy, Bill Burns,  have traveled to Cairo to threaten and cajole the Egyptian military into accepting what the Egyptians know will become an Islamist state with all that promises for women, Christians, homosexuals, etc.

- In Afghanistan we are engaged in a very long, very costly war against an Islamist guerrilla army that has the support of many in that country.  It is claimed that the Afghan soldiers and police who are killing our men are merely "disaffected." Yes, but their disaffection is largely the result of their anti-kaffir xenophobia.  We are now in the process of abandoning the failed COIN strategy in favor of a CT based strategy that I advocated three years ago, but that was then.  This is now.  The time has probaby passed.

-In Iraq, we created a government that rejected any real strategic relationship with us and now conspires with Iran to halp Iran evade the sanctions regime.  But, we still say we love them.

- In Tunisia, the Islamist element in the new government is seeking to erase French culture in the country.  We look fondly upon them.

- In Yemen we directly assist the new Yemeni government in seeking the annhilation of the small Sunni Wahhabi insurgent movement.  In so doing we align ourselves with the Sunni majority of the former PDRY against the Fiver Shia population of the North who are thought to be somehow related to Iran.  They are not.

- Iran.  Well, I won't even try to deal with that here.  We await Israel's initiative.

- Saudi Arabia.  We await their desires as well.

- Syria.  We support a Sunni Wahhabi led, financed and armed insurgency against a government that has traditionally been hostile to Islamist groups.

What's the connecting thread here?

Don't embarrass yourself by saying oil and Israel.

"It is a tale told by an ifdiot."  pl

islamist progress in Syria and Egypt.

"Jabhat al-Nusra’s growing visibility on the streets of Syrian cities highlights one of the reasons the United States and its allies have been reluctant to arm Syrian rebels even as Obama administration officials repeatedly insist that Assad must go. Fears are widespread among Western governments that weapons sent to the rebels could wind up in the hands of extremists and be turned against their benefactors in a region already taut with sectarian and geopolitical rivalries.

In an interview at the mosque that serves as his headquarters in the Shaar neighborhood of Aleppo, Jabhat al-Nusra commander Abu Ibrahim said he has 300 men under his control. About 50 of his fighters were seen milling around the mosque, many wearing the baggy, calf-length pants and long beards associated with devout Islamists. Others were inside."  Washpost

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The rebels have been dominated by Sunni jihadis from the beginning of the civil war.  Their influence has now become so evident that not even the Washington Post can ignore it.  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/in-syria-group-suspected-of-al-qaeda-links-gaining-prominence-in-war-to-topple-assad/2012/08/19/c7cffd66-ea22-11e1-9ddc-340d5efb1e9c_story.html

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"Given some of the other moves that Morsi and those around him have made, there is reason to be concerned. Morsi has appointed a new minister of information, Salah Abdul Maqsud; he, too, comes from the Muslim Brotherhood and actively supports the move to replace 50 leading editors and journalists. Charges have been filed against the editor of the independent opposition newspaperal-Dustour for insulting the president. It is probably no accident that the state media’s tone has changed markedly in the past week — and is far more favorable toward Morsi." Dennis Ross

------------------------------

You heard it here first.  pl

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dennis-ross-egypts-new-leaders-must-accept-reality/2012/08/19/46e60810-e8ad-11e1-936a-b801f1abab19_story.html

Mursi's next moves - Al-Ahram

"Egyptian talk show host Tawfiq Okasha will face trial on 1 September on charges of calling for the murder of President Mohamed Morsi, the official MENA news agency reported on Thursday.  

The editor of the small independent newspaper Al-Dustour, Islam Afifi, will also face trial on 23 August on charges of spreading false news and inciting disorder." Al- Ahram

-----------------------

(irony alert) What can you say?  They must be guilty.  It's a bit like the girlie band in Russia.  Maybe this will teach people a lesson.  pl

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/50618/Egypt/Politics-/Egypt-to-try-antiMorsi-talk-show-host-in-September.aspx

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"With an Islamist prime minister, whose cabinet would be freed from SCAF supported ministers, either in the next two weeks, some sources argue, or after parliamentary elections, and with an Islamist head of the military, an Islamist vice president and an Islamist parliament, along with the predominantly Islamist drafting body for the constitution, the Islamist current, and president, is fully in control."  Al-Ahram

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(irony alert) There might be a new editorial staff at Al-Ahram soon.  They should stop "bitching."  The people voted and this is what they wanted, most of them.  pl

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/140/50576/Egypt/First--days/Morsis-next-move.aspx

Egypt's President Has Powers That Rival Mubarak's - ABC News

 

"Morsi, according to insiders, is expected to press ahead with efforts to expand the Brotherhood's control. He plans to soon replace many of Egypt's 27 provincial governors with Brotherhood members or sympathizers of the group and purge the judiciary of judges known to be opposed to its policies, according to the insiders familiar with deliberations in Morsi's inner circle. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution. "We are now rid of a state run by the military. What is left for us to do is to rid ourselves from the state of the Brotherhood," wrote columnist Mohammed Amin in the independent Al-Masry Al-Youm daily" ABC News

-----------------------------------

Is this a better government for the Egyptian people?  Will Mursi consolidate power in Islamist hands and change social and commercial law to suit that end?  At present he has both executive and legislative power.  Were the attacks at Rafah real or a carefully staged pretext for removal of seculat leaders in the Egyptian military and intelligence service??

The new defense miister wa a student at the US Army War College a few years back.  His master's thesis there was a "confection" of  anti-American tropes.  In this document he wrote  o the need for full integration of Islam into every aspect of the Egyptian state.  There will be another post on his thesis.

Mursi has gone to Saudi Arabia to speak at the OIC meeting there.  To leave Egypt at a time like this is a strange move. i suppose he has gone to the meeting for the purpose of de-legitimizing the Syrian government in favor of the Sunni rebels.  pl

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/egypts-president-powers-rival-mubaraks-17005286

Mursi moves to purge the army.

 

"Taking advantage of the Sinai crisis to oust his rivals in the military, Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi fired Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi and the Egyptian chief of staff Sami Anan on Sunday, in a move that sent shock waves throughout Egypt and beyond.

A spokesman for the Islamist president announced on Egyptian television that the ejection of top military figures associated with the old regime represent the completion of the Egyptian revolution.

The spokesman added that a constitutional declaration passed by the Supreme Council of the Armed Force (SCAF), which forbade the president from being able to make military appointments, was cancelled."  jpost

--------------------------------------------------

As I thought he would soon, Mursi has taken heart from the encouragement of the US government and the American professariat to begin the general purge of the Egyptian officer corps.  Erdogan in Turkey has been more gradual in the process but he is headed for the same destination.  That  end state will  be armed forces run by men who are now majors or some such thing and who will be more than happy to grow beards in order to wear a general's insignia.

So far, Mursi has fired the secular head of GID, Field Marshal tantawi, Anan, the chief of staff of the army and has assumed the power to abrogate decisions of the Egyptian constitutional court. 

Bravo!  BHO Administration!  Bravo!  You are well on your way to your unspoken goal of the total Islamst dominaation of the Middle East.  Stay focused on those elections.  Stay focused.  pl

 

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=280968

Umar Suleiman - dead at 76.

"Suleiman was born in Qena in southern Egypt and graduated from the country's  military academy as an infantry officer in 1955. He rose through the ranks and  was appointed deputy head of military intelligence in 1987. He became military  intelligence chief in 1991 during the Gulf War, when Egyptians fought alongside  other Arab forces in the U.S.-led coalition that drove Saddam Hussein's military  out of Kuwait.

Suleiman also indirectly saved Mubarak's life when he advised the former  president to take an armored Mercedes with him on a state visit to Ethiopia in  1995. Mubarak survived an Islamist ambush of his convoy.

But in post-2011 Egypt, Suleiman was seen as tainted by his connections to a  president who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for failing to  stop the killing of protesters during the uprising. Many other key regime  figures are now imprisoned pending trials over a catalogue of corruption  charges, or have fled the country and sought exile in Arab countries, Europe or  the United States."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/07/19/egypt-former-vice-president-omar-suleiman-dies-in-us/#ixzz214XYJBXL

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/48146/Egypt/Politics-/Egypts-exspy-chief-Omar-Suleiman-dies,-military-fu.aspx

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There will be no comments.  pl

A Ramble on Egypt

By Richard T. Sale, author of Traitors.

Islam is on the march in the Middle East.  For the past few years, in every
Mideast election, the Islamic parties have won: in the Gaza Strip in 2006, in Iraq
and Tunisia in 2010. In 2011, they won again in Turkey and Morocco, and in
Egypt the Islamist parties confirmed an overwhelming victory in the first
parliamentary elections since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt represents the new reality. In February 2011, its youth, liberals, and leftists at last gave voice to theirlong-suppressed outrage over the economic and social injustice of Mubarak’s regime. Within a few weeks, a senior U.S. official passed the word to Egypt’s military that Mubarak had to step down. “It is time for him to go,” the U.S.
official said, and Mubarak did, ending a thirty-year rule.

This was a hardly a revolution, however. It was a revolt, with a dictator being removed, but leaving in place the old military structure that continued to run the country. To the leftists, the youth, and the liberals, who had fully expected that their democratic idealism would own the future of the country, the recent Islamic victory left them stunned and dismayed. Like many in the U.S. media, they were the prisoner of
words like, “democracy,” “liberty,” “the future,” and “the needs of the
individual,” phrases that have been used by so many countries in so many parts
of the world and in so many different ways, that they have become weak,
hackneyed, and dangerously vague. 

Be grateful for Libya

In Egypt the brave boys and girls of the State Department lead the fight for consolidation of  political Islamist rule.  In Afghanistan the kleptocrats, Afghan and American, are finishing up the construction of their fortunes in Dubai and the Cayman Islands.  In Pakistan the mobs are harangued against the United States and new, even greater nastiness against the US is planned.  In Tunisia the Islamists sidle steadly toward power.  The Washington Post demands active military support for Islamist rebels in Syria.  Their paper has a story today that features video of Islamist rebels smashing a truck full of Scotch while chanting "God is Great!"  In Lebanon Sunni preachers are much more active in demanding punishment of the Shia.  Are they not encouraged by US support of people like Mursi?

We released 1.3 billion dollars to the Egyptian military to keep them in line while Mursi sharpens his knife. 

Would Romnay do better in managing US interests in the greater Middle East?  No!  He would simply surrender to AEI/AIPAC and the Likud.

In Libya a secular leader seems to have won election.

God is Great!  pl

"Egypt’s Top Court Affirms Ruling to Disband Parliament" NY Times

"...the Supreme Constitutional Court, after discussing Mr. Morsi's order, refused to reconsider its decision, saying it was final and binding, news agencies reported, and paving the way for a possible showdown between the new president and the judiciary.       

Earlier in the day, Mr. Morsi attended a military graduation ceremony and was shown on television sitting next to Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, the leader of the military council. The two men chatted with one another, and Mr. Morsi smiled as he watched a karate demonstration by the cadets."  NY Times

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Mursi (the MB leadership) intends to abolish the present court system after they obtain the Islamic constitution that they want, so the opinion of the Supreme Constitutional Court means nothing to them.

Here we have a photo of Bill Burns, the most senior person in the State Department who really knows the Middle East.  He is performing the "kowtow" for Mursi.  Pictures are more valuable than words.  pl

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/10/world/middleeast/egypt-tension-after-order-to-reconvene-parliament.html?pagewanted=all

"Islamic Scholar See Tensions in Egypt on the Rise"

"An Islamic scholar has warned Egyptians will soon witness a series of confrontations between President Mohammed Morsi and the Military Council after the new leader ordered the dissolved Islamist-led parliament to reconvene.

Tawfik Hamid, senior fellow and chair for the Study of Islamic Radicalism at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, said Morsi’s decree will sharply increase tension in Egypt.

Morsi’s order sharply contravenes the military's dismissal of the assembly based on last month’s Supreme Court ruling.

“It’s the beginning of a serious confrontation and the situation is very volatile now because the military will not allow this to happen,” said Hamid."  VOA

---------------------------------------------

Yes.  The Egyptian military will either respond to the re-installation of a parliament of dubious legality, installed without the sanction of a constitution or they will be brought to heel by the Islamists.

The ongoing love affair betweem Islamist forces and the US State Department naifs now faces a crisis.  They may not realize it yet but they will.  pl

http://www.voanews.com/content/islamic_scholar_see_tensions_in_egypt_on_the_rise/1365242.html

Ignatius on the "Arab Spring"

"Most officials think that relations with the Arabs are gradually going to get
worse, perhaps for decades, before democracy really takes root and the Arab
public, perhaps, will be ready to accept the Jewish state. The challenge for
Israel is how to avoid inflaming Arab public opinion, a newly important factor,
while protecting the country. "  Ignatius

-------------------------------------

Ignatius' Israeli friends are right to be fearful of revolutions that seem to unleash Islamist forces that have as their "raison d'etre" the elimination of Israel as an insult to Islam and the 'Umma.  The game has not been played out in Libya but Libya is a special case in terms of smallness of population and percentage of people educated abroad.

Al-Ahram has a story on-line that government receipts will be much smaller this year than they were under Mubarak "the terrible."  Let's see, how does that relate to all the billions that the Mubaraks stole from Egypt?  Hmmm!  That's the way to cover the government deficit!  They could torture the Mubaraks to find the people's money.

The Israelis prefer Bashar Assad?  How can that be?  Perhaps HC can fly by Tel Aviv to explain why they are wrong. 

Now Mursi has reinstated the Islamist parliament.  There must be great satisfaction in Foggy Bottom about how well things are going in Cairo. pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-israels-arab-spring-problem/2012/07/05/gJQAV5JrRW_story.html

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/47075/Business/Economy/Egyptian-state-revenues-are-overestimated,-a-blast.aspx

 

Mursi and the blind sheik.

"Egypt's president-elect has vowed to win the release of an Egyptian cleric jailed by the U.S. for planning the first attack on New York's World Trade Center.

Omar Abdel-Rahman, "the blind sheikh," is serving a life sentence in a federal prison for his role in the 1993 bombing that killed six people in lower Manhattan. The attack on the World Trade Center launched by al Qaeda eight years later on Sept. 11, 2001, killed nearly 3,000 people.

""I see banners for Omar Abdel Rahman's family, and for prisoners arrested according to martial rulings and detainees from the beginning of the revolution," said Egyptian president-elect Mohammed Morsi to a buoyant crowd of Islamist supporters in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday. "It is my duty to make every effort, and I will beginning tomorrow, to secure their release, among them Omar Abdel Rahman."

Rahman, 74, a veteran of Egypt's Islamist movement, was jailed in Egypt for allegedly helping to inspire the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. He entered the U.S. in 1990. One of his followers was convicted of gun possession, though acquitted of murder, after the assassination of Jewish leader Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York in 1990."  Yahoo News

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Soooo, AIPAC/Israel pesters the US for release of Pollard the convicted spy and now Mursi and the new Egypt fostered by the US is going to pester us for the release of this lunatic mullah.

BTW, there is no "O" sound in Arabic.  His name is Mursi.  The Cairenes may say it otherwise but that is incorrect.  His name is spelled in Arabic "mursii."

pl

 

http://news.yahoo.com/egypts-president-vows-win-release-world-trade-center-183711438--abc-news-topstories.html

The terror of the Copts

"Everyone at the church seemed to have friends and relatives who were trying
to leave Egypt. Parents picking up their kids said they were bracing for an
Islamic takeover of their homeland. Church officials said there had been a
steady stream of newcomers seeking help or coming to Arabic Masses. One man who
arrived from Cairo three weeks ago, reached by a church counselor on a cell
phone, nervously told his story through an Arabic translator.

“I am going to apply for asylum and get my family out as soon as I can,” said
the man, 34, who gave his name only as Zekry. “The Islamists are taking over,
and disaster is coming very soon.”

In the past several months, he said, he had been threatened for sheltering
Muslims who converted to Christianity, and his wife had been harassed for not
wearing a veil when she went to pay their Internet bill. “The clerk told her,
‘Next time come back with your head covered. Your time is over,’ ” he said."  Washpost

---------------------------------

Ahh!  What do these Copts know about this!  The State Department and NSC know what they are doing,  don't they?  This reminds me of Larry Wilkerson telling me (through a mutual acquaintance) that I should shut up and trust the Bush administration about Iraq.  That was in 2002.  He and Powell knew best (he said).

Well, the government does not know best.  It is infected with the idea of "progress" in human relations, the idea that all the world wants to be like us Western people.  Well, they don't.

Christians in the Arab world come in marvelous varities.  Prince Hassan of Jordan did a great job of describing them in his small but learned book, "Christianity in the Arab World." 

These Middle Eastern Christians are the remnant of peoples who inhabited and dominated the region before the coming of Islam in the 7th Century AD.  Most of the present Muslim population in the Arab countries are descended from Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians who gradually (over centuries) yielded to; social pressure, discriminatory taxation, inferior status before the law, etc. and converted to Islam.  Islam treats any conversion from Islam to be apostasy and this usually is thought to be a capital offense under sharia law.

Gradually over the centuries accomodations were reached that allowed Muslims and their dhimmi (religious minority) neighbors to live in peace together so long as the dhimmis understood that they were second class citizens without whatever political power might be enjoyed by Muslims.  There were some advantages to "dhimmitude."  The minoritues had their own religious courts and were not subject to sharia.  they were not subject to military service requirements.  In fact it was not allowed until European influence began to seep into these regions.  Christians and Jews sometimes had specialized financial service occupations or were advisers to rulers.  The king of Morroco is still so advised.

The Ottoman tanziimaat in the 182os and the spread of colonialism introduced the idea of an equality of humans across sectarian lines.  In Egypt, the Coptic Christian minority (10%) tended to become Westernized quite rapidly and were advantaged in business and government by the Muhammad Ali dynasty and their British "advisers."  Their status and that of the Jews is reflected in literature by the "Alexandria Quartet."

But, always in the background there lurked a deep resentment on the part of the Muslim majority, a feeling that the Copts ahould be put in their place as the kuffar that they were and are.  Now the time has come.

This kind of ethno-religious division is commonplace across the contact "line" between Muslims and Christians.  It was reflected in the Balkans in the recent past.  It is reflected in the never ending sporadic attacks on churches in Pakistan.

The percentage of Christians in the population is steadily falling across the Islamic World.  It will continue to do so.  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/coptic-christian-emigres-fear-for-egypts-future/2012/07/01/gJQAjOEpGW_story.html

The new Egyptian first lady

Above -Mursi's Wife

And this is Husni Mubarak's wife.

----------------------------------------------

 "...to some in the westernized elite, she (naglaa) stands for a backwardness and provincialism that they fear from the Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood.       

“I can’t call her a first lady under any circumstances,” complained Ahmed Salah, 29, a banker having coffee with his friends on the Nile island of Zamalek. “She can’t be an image for the ‘ladies’ of Egypt.”       

Her image has become the subject of a rancorous debate on Web sites and in newspapers. A column in the newspaper El Fagr asked incredulously: How could she receive world leaders and still adhere to her traditional Islamic standards of modesty? “Don’t look at her. Don’t shake hands with her,” the paper suggested, calling it a “comic scenario.”  NY Times

-----------------------------------------

"Never judge a book by it cover."  "Still waters run deep."  "It's a lifestyle choice." 

Sure! Sure it is!  They left LA for a return to this lifestyle.  Well, maybe that is understandable.  pl 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/world/middleeast/naglaa-ali-mahmoud-an-egyptian-everywoman-in-the-presidential-palace.html?pagewanted=all  

 

National Journal Blog 26 June, 2012

Col. W. Patrick Lang Responds to How Should the U.S. Respond to Egypt Elections??.

 

pl

Islam is now the answer in Egypt

"Mursi's win in Egypt's first-ever genuine multi-candidate presidential elections puts an end to a 60-year military monopoly of the position. His predecessors Mohamed Naguib, Gamal Abdel-Nasser, Anwar El-Sadat and Hosni Mubarak, who ruled tthe country since the 1952 Free Officers' Coup, all came from the army's ranks."  Ahram

------------------------

I post this now so that you can "ventilate."  I will give my opinion later.  pl

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/36/122/46027/Presidential-elections-/Presidential-elections-news/BREAKING-Brotherhoods-Mursi-beats-Mubaraks-last-pr.aspx

Avnery on the Brotherhood (FB Ali)

Uri Avnery, the former Irgun terrorist who is now Israel’s foremost ‘peacenik’ (founder of the Gush Shalom peace movement), has on his website today (23 June) an article on some basic realities underlying the situation in the region that is worth reading. Of special note are the views he expresses in the piece on the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Below are some extracts on this subject:

The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1928, is an old established party which has earned much respect with its steadfastness in the face of recurrent persecution, torture, mass arrests and occasional executions. Its leaders are untainted by the prevalent corruption, and admired for their commitment to social work.

The West is haunted by medieval ideas about the horrible Saracens. The Muslim Brotherhood inspires terror. It is conceived as a fearsome, murderous, secret sect, out to destroy Israel and the West. Of course, practically no one has taken the trouble to study the history of this movement in Egypt and elsewhere. Actually, it could not be further removed from this parody.

The Brotherhood has always been a moderate party, though they almost always had a more extreme wing........The Brotherhood is first and foremost an Arab and Egyptian party, deeply embedded in Egyptian history. Though they would probably deny it, I would say – judging from their history – that they are more Arab and more Egyptian than fundamentalist. They certainly have never been fanatical.

During their 84 years, they have seen many ups and downs. But mostly, their outstanding quality has been pragmatism, coupled with adherence to the principles of their religion. It is this pragmatism that also characterizes their behavior during the last year and a half, which – so its seems – caused quite a number of voters who are not particularly religious to prefer them to the secular candidate who is tainted by his connection with the corrupt and repressive former regime.

This also determines their attitude towards Israel. Palestine is constantly on their mind – but that is true of all Egyptians.........Throughout the heated election campaigns – four in a year – the Brotherhood has not demanded the abrogation of the peace agreement with Israel. Their attitude seems to be as pragmatic as ever.

"Egyptian ex-president Mubarak on life support" Reuters

"...three sources in the military and security services, which retain control
following the revolt, said Mubarak was being kept alive and said they would not
use the expression "clinically dead" to describe his condition.

General Said Abbas, a member of the ruling military council, told Reuters,
that Mubarak had suffered a stroke but added: "Any talk of him being clinically
dead is nonsense."

Another military source said: "He is completely unconscious. He is using
artificial respiration."

A security source also gave the same account and said: "It is still early to
say that he is clinically dead.""  Reuters

----------------------------------

IMO, he is dead.  His death will be announced as it is convenient.  Rejoice all you friends of freedom and progress!  (irony alert).

For all the believers in the social evolution of mankind, this is a case of "prison influenza." This has been quite common on the Arab World.

BTW, I never liked him personally.   pl

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/19/us-egypt-mubarak-death-idUSBRE85I1ME20120619