Gosh... Who Would Have Seen This Coming In Egypt?


Michael Stuart Kelly

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Gosh... Who Would Have Seen This Coming In Egypt?

This just came out on the news. Morsi is pulling a Hugo Chavez.

I bet he studied what Hugo did and how he did it. Morsi's carbon-copy is almost an exact replication.

Egypt's Morsi grants himself far-reaching powers

By Hamza Hendawi

Associated Press

Nov. 22, 2012

From the article:

Egypt's Islamist president unilaterally decreed greater authorities for himself Thursday and effectively neutralized a judicial system that had emerged as a key opponent by declaring that the courts are barred from challenging his decisions.

Riding high on U.S. and international praise for mediating a Gaza cease-fire, Mohammed Morsi put himself above oversight and gave protection to the Islamist-led assembly writing a new constitution from a looming threat of dissolution by court order.

But the move is likely to fuel growing public anger that he and his Muslim Brotherhood are seizing too much power.

Oh... there will be anger, all right. But who cares? Morli doesn't. If he studied Hugo well, he's got that covered.

I bet Obama is looking on with envy.,

Michael

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Tear gas reported being used in Alexandria according to Al Jazeera English...

"I am for all Egyptians. I will not be biased against any son of Egypt," Morsi said on a stage outside the presidential palace on Friday, adding that he was working for social and economic stability and the rotation of power. 20121123135957246734_20.jpg

Opponents of President Mohamed Morsi broke into the offices

of the Freedom and Justice Party, setting it on fire [AFP]

Thousands of chanting protesters packed Cairo's Tahrir Square, the heart of the 2011 anti-Mubarak uprising, on Friday, demanding Morsi quit and accusing him of launching a "coup".

There were also violent protests in Alexandria, Port Said and Suez.

Fifteen people were injured in clashes between supporters and opponents of the president.

The headquarters of Morsi's Freedom and Justice Party headquarters in Alexandria was set on fire by protesters on Friday afternoon.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/11/201211235363344636.html

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Tear gas reported being used in Alexandria according to Al Jazeera English...

"I am for all Egyptians. I will not be biased against any son of Egypt," Morsi said on a stage outside the presidential palace on Friday, adding that he was working for social and economic stability and the rotation of power. 20121123135957246734_20.jpg

Opponents of President Mohamed Morsi broke into the offices

of the Freedom and Justice Party, setting it on fire [AFP]

Thousands of chanting protesters packed Cairo's Tahrir Square, the heart of the 2011 anti-Mubarak uprising, on Friday, demanding Morsi quit and accusing him of launching a "coup".

There were also violent protests in Alexandria, Port Said and Suez.

Fifteen people were injured in clashes between supporters and opponents of the president.

The headquarters of Morsi's Freedom and Justice Party headquarters in Alexandria was set on fire by protesters on Friday afternoon.

http://www.aljazeera...5363344636.html

"I am for all Egyptians. I am not biased against any son of Egypt."

When asked to respond, the 10% of the Egyptian population known as Christian Copts were too busy hiding in their attics and cellars or trying to sneak out of the country to comment.

Groundhog Day, 2012. They should make a movie about it, or something.

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Well, the Adam Smith part was my embellishment. I'm refering to Mr Scherk's postings about how the Muslim Brotherhood were going to be a step forward for free trade in Egypt.

So much for progressive predictions...they always end up in death camps...

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Well, the Adam Smith part was my embellishment. I'm refering to Mr Scherk's postings about how the Muslim Brotherhood were going to be a step forward for free trade in Egypt.

So much for progressive predictions...they always end up in death camps...

I recall writng several times (with links to news/analysis) on perceptions of the FJP and the free market. Richard does not accurately represent those posts, which were previously summed up with links and which can be found here.

It's hard to respond to the 'progressive predictions ... always ... death camps' line. It's a pithy epigram, but hardly holds truth.

I think Morsi made a serious mistake in issuing his constitutional decree, and I hope some sense comes to the parties.

I hope against hope that this chapter in post-Mubarak history ends with the least damage to Egypt's polity. For those who knew how everything would and will turn out, give yourself a gold star and issue fresh predictions, progressive or not.

-- I know, I know that all my posts on the Middle East/North Africa have dried up. There is just so much information, so many details, and I cannot do events justice for readers here.

Edited by william.scherk
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So much for progressive predictions...they always end up in death camps...

I think Morsi made a serious mistake in issuing his constitutional decree, and I hope some sense comes to the parties.

I hope against hope that this chapter in post-Mubarak history ends with the least damage to Egypt's polity.

Here I add a few paragraphs from the New York Times story today, one that suggests my hope may not be mere Pollyanna Party wishful thinking. I include only the explanatory paragraphs that do a fair job of laying out the chain of events behind the sloppy assertion and usurpation of authority. The title of the Times piece is "Seeming Retreat by Egypt Leader on New Powers."

The presidential spokesman, Yasser Ali, said for the first time that Mr. Morsi had sought only to assert pre-existing powers already approved by the courts under previous precedents, not to free himself from judicial oversight.

He said that the president meant all along to follow an established Egyptian legal doctrine suspending judicial scrutiny of presidential “acts of sovereignty” that work “to protect the main institutions of the state.” The judicial council had said Sunday that it could bless aspects of the decree deemed to qualify under the doctrine.

Mr. Morsi had maintained from the start that his purpose was to empower himself to prevent judges appointed by former President Hosni Mubarak from dissolving the constituent assembly, which is led by his fellow Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party. The courts have already dissolved the Islamist-led Parliament and an earlier constituent assembly, and the Supreme Constitutional Court was widely expected to rule against this one next week.

[ . . . ]

Moataz Abdel Fattah, a political scientist at Cairo University, said Mr. Morsi was saving face during a strategic retreat. “He is trying to simply say, ‘I am not a new pharaoh; I am just trying to stabilize the institutions that we already have,’ ” he said. “But for the liberals, this is now their moment, and for sure they are not going to waste it, because he has given them an excellent opportunity to score.”

The attempt to qualify Mr. Morsi’s position follows four days of rising tensions and flashes of violence set off by his edict. He argued that he was forced to act because of indications that the Mubarak-appointed judges of Egypt’s top courts were poised to dissolve the constitutional assembly as soon as next week. The courts had already shuttered the democratically elected Parliament and an earlier constitutional assembly — both dominated by Islamists — and the courts had also rejected an earlier decree he issued to try to reopen Parliament.

[ . . . ]

But infringement on the courts touched a nerve. Under Mr. Mubarak’s authoritarian rule, the Egyptians had grown cynical about corrupt and politicized judges but still cherished their courts as the source of at least the promise of impartial justice and some check on power. And over the past decade, a judges’ campaign for judicial independence had helped lay the groundwork for the 2011 revolt.

That summarizes the situation: a Constituent Assembly (dominated by a majority, but not a super-majority of Islamists) whose job is to get a new Constitution in place to allow for fresh Parliamentary elections. The Parliament from the free elections was dissolved by the (Mubarak-appointed) courts. If the Constituent Assembly is dissolved, then there is actually nobody in a position to govern except Morsi -- without a functioning parliament to challenge and supervise his Cabinet. This dissolution would start the whole thing over again.

Maybe some of these details are well-known to those with the self-administered Gold Stars on their prediction books. I wish we could talk about the details and express our hopes and nightmares without assuming we already know the full contours what is going to happen.

Otherwise, as Adam might say, otherwise we are on a progressive march to the death camps of reasoning.

Gold-Star.jpg

Edited by william.scherk
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The new leader can, seemingly retreat, but the Jihad will not. We are talking about a movement that is more than willing to murder its opponents to advance its agenda, and it shows no signs of waning. How long before opponents in Egypt are being assassinated. It will be nice if there's enough people in Egypt, or anywhere in the Middle East for that matter, who could bring about a true revolution for freedom. But where exactly is it? Some say it was possible in Iran. But I don't know. Even in Iran there were a lot of cries of allah hu akbar. When I hear that it doesn't fill me with confidence that freedom is in the wind.

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For those who want an excellent resource for following verified news in the Middle East (primarily, Syria and Egypt, I recommend following the blog at http://www.enduringamerica.com/ . This is run by two westerners (a Brit and a Yank) and contains the best curated news. Massive amounts of reports from the ground (along with rumours) are culled and particularly indicative reports are presented.

NbNy.png

Edited by william.scherk
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  • 2 weeks later...

Mohamed Morsi cancels decree that gave him sweeping powers

The Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, has scrapped a decree that had generated widespread unrest by awarding him near-absolute powers. But he insisted a referendum on a new constitution would go ahead as planned this week.

The announcement, which is unlikely to placate Morsi's opponents, came after Egypt's military warned that failure to resolve a crisis over the drafting of the constitution would result in "disastrous consequences" that could drag the country into a "dark tunnel".

Selim al-Awa, an official who attended a "national dialogue meeting" called by Morsi at the presidential palace in Cairo but boycotted by his opponents, said the Islamist-dominated discussion recommended removing articles that granted the president powers to declare emergency laws and shield him from judicial oversight.

Earlier Egypt's military had issued a statement saying: "Dialogue is the best and only way to reach consensus. The opposite of that will bring us to a dark tunnel that will result in catastrophe and that is something we will not allow." Failing to reach a consensus was "in the interest of neither side. The nation as a whole will pay the price," it added.

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Funnily, I think that might work in the Brotherhoods favour. They thought they had it in their hands, but they didn't. Now they'll work on eliminating their opposition in a more gradual way before trying their hand again. Good to see them back down though. That opposition needs to be supported and strengthened.

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