The army has been given the power to arrest civilians and try them before military courts. That is a very slippery slope and certainly not a step towards a democratic government in Egypt.
It will be interesting to see how events unfold in Egypt. Basically the West has allowed this so called "democracy" to transpire in Egypt because they feel, in the long run, they can control the situation more effectively through a democracy than through a monarchy. Through the use of capital, they can economically castrate, though sanctions, a democratically elected regime that is not to their liking. With money they can fund an opposition to crush the undesirable regime politically and with violence if necessary. Much harder to do with a monarchy, though not impossible. Over and above that, the best system of control is one in which people are under the illusion that they are in control. A so called "democracy" is suitable for such a purpose. However the strategy in Egypt does have it's risks. I speculate that at the end of the day, the powers of the West have made some sort of arrangement with the military such that if things get too out of hand, e.g. the emergence of a hostile theocracy such as Iran, that the military will step in and take over things. Stay tuned!
The West is with the MB and not the opposition because they know that the opposition is not united, has many problems and many characters have their own agenda, has big links to the ex regime and they know the people will never tolerate the going back to filool days and the most important thing for the West is that they know that the MB are the only ones to guarantee the Palestine-Hamas-Fatah/Israeli situation is stable. They know the MB is not only in Egypt but throughout the ME and they are the ONLY ones with influence and huge backing to negotiate any country to country deals with. That last part is why they will not support the opposition in any way. It's all about ME strength and influence and that is all the West care about. Who can bring that to the table and the only one is MB and they know that. They are not going to back El Baradei since they know he has little support from Egyptians before or since the revolution.
This man is living in the same Egypt I am living in. A Coptic Christian who is seeing the real situation as it is. Worth bookmarking
Egypt's Religious Endowments Ministry that is responsible for the mosques, what is preached in them and the imams. Today it has announced that all Imams have to tell Muslims that Voting and who you vote for is not anything to do with heaven and hell. All Imams who are found preaching about the referendum have to be reported to the Ministry. No imam is to preach about an Egyptian going to heaven or hell depending on what they vote in the referendum.
Carrying on from what the Coptic Christian said above, last night buses filled with MB were attacked and people injured by opposition thugs on the Belbays to Cairo Desert Road. The drivers were forced to stop on the road and the passengers attacked.
People are not recognizing that Egypt is a crumbling economy- Food Shortages, Rampant youth unemployment and dwindling water resources from the Nile. Their future looks bleak. Geopolitically- It's important in the context of protecting Israel, but not in the broader context of Resources. Sure it sits on the strategically pivotal Suez Canal, but transit through that is more vital to Europe than the United States. We've shifted our focus from Northern Africa to East Africa. That's where our interest is going forward.
There are no food shortages and youth unemployment in the US of AIPAC ? Where is your ' interest ' going forward to ?
Anti Morsi protesters calling for civil disobedience are throwing rocks onto the rail lines in Sadat Metro Station the Tahrir Sq station halting the trains. Second time these 'peaceful' protesters of El Baradei have targeted this Metro and today's is very dangerous situation now with throwing rocks onto the tracks!
Army are covering the referendum. Voting has started outside Egypt for ex pats. Military has called for opposition to attend dialogue with Morsi. I guess. They either stop the protests or SCAF will be back because we cannot go on like this. What will El B do now? we should have a statement from Al Asisi Military Spokesman tonight after todays meeting
Latest El B party decided now to go to referendum!!!! Calling on protesters to vote no I guess talk of a SCAF meeting scared them!! This is before the meeting
All the opposition vowing to boycott instead of vote are now deciding whether to go ahead and keep to their word and boycott referendum. I think they are all backing down now and will vote and go to the referendum now. What a complete waste of time and lives and blood!!!!! They never learn!
Latest Yaaaaaraaaaaaaaab!!! So the opposition who called on the judges to boycott the referendum are NOW!!!! demanding that they will not go to referendum UNLESS the judges man the ballots!!! Because they called on them not to attend referendum it was going to have to be spread over 2 days. NOW!!!! they want it in one day!!! I swear they are all lunatics!!! and have no idea what they want.................................
I think the opposition will be trying to book buses and to get volunteers and will be buying maps now to see where these villagers and peasants of Egypt, their maids and drivers and bawabs live, so they can sit with them in the cafes tonight and tomorrow night telling them how to vote ! Cairo will be OPPOSITION PROTESTER FREE till Saturday!
Will the Mubarak Shafik ex regime felool opposition voters choose stability of Egypt over their hatred for MB? That is the next question................
You are right about the Muslim Brotherhood. They put Morsi forward as a champion of the Palestinian through the negotiation of the recent ceasefire in Gaza. It is nothing more than a control mechanism.
The opposition have little support outside and inside Egypt. The MB are stuck between two extremists. The filool and the salafists. The West sees MB as the moderates. I don't underestimate the filool though. They are very dangerous to Egypt. Just as dangerous as the salafists. If I was a magician I would send all the filool to jail and give all the salafists jobs with the vice police in Kabul and Riyadh shopping malls. Get both out of the picture so we can move on
