It may take a while:
"Egypt delays declaring winner in presidential election" June 21, 2012
CAIRO — Authorities delayed Thursday’s planned announcement of the winner of Egypt’s presidential election, probably for several days, hiking tension as allegations of fraud swirled and each candidate declared he was the victor.
See: Egyptian Army Annuls Elections
Amid the atmosphere of political confusion, the Muslim Brotherhood claimed there was an organized campaign of allegations against it to mar the election and keep its candidate, Mohammed Morsi, out of the presidency. The accusation raises temperatures and the possibility of a backlash from the Brotherhood if its rival — former prime minister Ahmed Shafik — is declared the winner.
The delay came as Egyptians were still grappling with confusion over the health of the imprisoned former president, Hosni Mubarak. Egyptian officials and state media had reported him near death on Tuesday, which was denied on Wednesday by his lawyer, who said he had merely fallen in the bathroom.
Precise details on the condition of Mubarak, 84, the onetime leader whose loss of power last year came to symbolize the Arab Spring revolutions, remained contradictory, and the silence of Egypt’s military rulers on the subject amplified the intrigue....
See: AmeriKan Media Eulogizes Egyptian Mubarak
He's as good as dead.
The ambiguity over his condition has fueled skepticism among the public. Many people already suspect that reports of his condition are a pretext by security and military officials sympathetic to Mubarak to get him out of prison to a more comfortable facility....
Or to an island.
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"The Brotherhood sent its supporters to the streets for the fourth consecutive day to protest the military’s power grab. On Friday, it was the biggest such rally....
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"Egypt rejoices as Islamist wins vote" June 25, 2012
CAIRO — Mohammed Morsi, 60, an American-trained engineer and former lawmaker, stands ready to become the first nonmilitary figure to lead Egypt in generations....
Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians crowded into Tahrir Square, the epicenter of last year’s uprising, to celebrate the news. They generally conceded that Morsi’s recognition as president does little to resolve the larger standoff between the generals and the Brotherhood over control of the government and the future constitution.
And the military actually tried to steal the thing?
After a week of doubt, delays, and fears of a coup since a public ballot count showed Morsi ahead, the generals have shown a measure of respect for at least some core elements of electoral democracy. They have accepted a political opponent over their ally, former general Ahmed Shafiq, after a vote that international monitors said was credible.
Oh, yes, isn't it wonderful the generals accepted that they couldn't get away with a fraud? What a victory for democracy!
But with just days to go until their promised exit from power by June 30, the generals shut down the democratically elected and Islamist-led Parliament; took over its powers to make laws and set budgets; decreed an interim constitution stripping the new president of most of his power; and reimposed martial law by authorizing soldiers to arrest civilians. And the generals gave themselves an effective veto over provisions of a planned permanent constitution as well.
Translation: they made the election and post of president meaningless and powerless.
In his first televised speech, Morsi on Sunday steered clear of the political confrontation, and called for unity among Egyptians. He tried to reassure minority Christians, who mostly backed Shafiq because they feared Islamic rule.
Morsi said he carries ‘‘a message of peace’’ to the world and pledged to preserve Egypt’s international accords, a reference to the peace deal with Israel.
He also paid tribute to the nearly 900 protesters killed in the uprising. ‘‘I wouldn’t have been here between your hands as the first elected president without . . . the blood, the tears, and sacrifices of the martyrs,’’ he said.
As recently as Sunday morning the capital was tense with fears that the panel of Mubarak-appointed judges overseeing the vote would declare Shafiq president, completing a full military coup. Banks, schools and government offices closed early for fear of violence in the streets.
Protesters massed in Tahrir Square for a sixth day of a sit-in demanding the military roll back its power grab. The throngs hushed as transistor radios in the square began broadcasting the election commissioner’s announcement of the official results. The square erupted as the numbers came through: Morsi had won 51.7 percent of the runoff vote.
Which means he probably won about 65%.
‘’Morsi, Morsi!’’ the crowd chanted. ‘‘Down, down with military rule!’’ Small fireworks went off over the crowd, beaming Brotherhood supporters streamed in, swelling the crowd to perhaps 100,000 by nightfall.
Cut from printed piece:
"In a carnival atmosphere, vendors hawked candy or threw pieces of fruit into the laughing crowd."
Why would "Islamists" having fun need to get the snip?
Israel congratulated Egypt on its election, but official reaction there was subdued.
Yeah, they wanted Shafiq.
And what's this about him not answering Netanyahu's phone calls?
In Gaza, however, where the Brotherhood-allied Hamas faction is predominant, wild celebrations broke out.
President Obama called Morsi to congratulate him and offer continued US support for Egypt’s transition to democracy, the White House said.
He took that call (smile).
Senator John Kerry praised Egyptians for following through with their first free presidential election since the ouster of Mubarak.
“This is an historic moment for them in their postrevolutionary period, and it’s an Egyptian moment just as it’s been an Egyptian revolution,’’ the Massachusetts Democrat said in a statement.
Kerry, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, was among the first in Washington to call for Mubarak to step down during protests last spring.
Kerry said he recently met twice with Morsi in Cairo and they discussed Egypt’s economic woes. According to Kerry, the new president also had vowed to protect the rights of minorities and women and pledged to maintain his country’s special relationship with the United States.
After 84 years as an often outlawed secret society struggling in the prisons and shadows of monarchs and dictators, the Brotherhood is now closer than ever to its stated goal of building an Islamist democracy in Egypt.
But the Brotherhood’s leaders immediately pledged to continue the sit-in, and fight on in the courts and in the streets to restore the Parliament....
Fulfilling a campaign pledge to represent all Egyptians, Morsi resigned from the Brotherhood and its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party. State news media reported Sunday morning that the prime minister and Cabinet would resign immediately, making way for Morsi to appoint his own team.
Another cut?:
"As the Brotherhood has reached out to rebuild alliances with liberal and other secular activists for its contest with the generals"
Now WHY would ANYONE want to EDIT THAT OUT, huh?
Morsi has pledged to name a prime minister and other officials from outside the Brotherhood as part of a unity government.
At the same time, however, Morsi has campaigned not as an individual with a vision of his own but rather as an executor of the Brotherhood’s platform.
Morsi has vowed to carry out the program that Khairat al-Shater, the Brotherhood’s political strategist, spent more than a year devising to reform and remake Egypt’s government ministries. Morsi and Shater have never effectively dispelled assertions that Shater would wield the true power in a Morsi government.
Shater behind the scenes like AIPAC?
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I feel like I'm really getting to know this guy:
"Egypt’s new leader well seasoned by experience; Must balance supporters’ call, Brotherhood" by Maggie Michael | Associated Press, June 25, 2012
CAIRO — He spent time in jail during the Hosni Mubarak regime, but not as long as some fellow Islamists. He is well educated, having studied at the University of Southern California, yet still betrays his rural roots. He rose through the ranks of the once-banned Muslim Brotherhood as a lackluster but loyal foot soldier.
Now, Mohammed Morsi has made history in breathtaking fashion, becoming the first Islamist to rise to the presidency of the most populous Arab nation....
The US-trained engineer who rode some improbable twists and turns in Egypt’s 16-month transition to democracy is an enigma: Despite his education, he sometimes struggles to communicate in public and can be off-putting to some secular elites.
We failed to recruit him, didn't we?
Morsi squeaked to victory in the freest election in Egypt’s history, and now the 60-year-old university professor must prove his mettle by standing up to the ruling generals who in recent days have stripped the presidency of real power.
Look at the MSM whitewashing the obviously too-close rig job while heaping a monumental -- and impossible -- task upon him.
Morsi says he wants to overhaul Egypt’s corrupt and inefficient government agencies and repair the economy.
But the Brotherhood may have little chance to implement anything from its agenda because the military council has disbanded the Islamist-dominated Parliament and grabbed sweeping powers that leave the president with little authority over important policy.
The question now is whether he will play a leading role in taking on the generals and reversing these decrees, as supporters demand.
For 35 years, Morsi obediently followed the Muslim Brotherhood’s strict rules, abiding by the principle of unquestioned obedience to its supreme leader — a position that changed hands five times during that period and is currently held by Mohammed Badei.
Morsi has dutifully mirrored the group’s strategy of couching a hard-line doctrine with short-term pragmatism. In an example that looms large now that he has been elected, Morsi is anti-Israel but he does not call for annulling Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty.
His history makes clear he will not be the comfortable interlocutor for Israel that Mubarak was.
His first active role in the Brotherhood was through membership in an ‘‘anti-Zionist’’ committee in his Nile Delta province of Sharkiya in the late 1980s, promoting rejection of normalization with the Jewish state.
Brotherhood officials have said he will not meet with Israelis, but also will not prevent other officials from doing so.
And he won't take their phone calls!!
And now I find out he is a 9/11 Truther?
"Egypt’s likely next president has long called for the U.S. to hold a “scientific conference” to determine the real culprits of the Sept. 11 attacks, having cast doubt on al Qaeda’s role in 9/11 for years. “The U.S. administration has never presented any evidences on the identity of those who committed that incident,” longtime Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi is quoted as saying in a 2007 posting on Ikhwanweb, the Islamist group’s official English website."
I'm STARTING TO REALLY LIKE THIS GUY!
Morsi comes from Edwa, an impoverished village in the Nile Delta province of Sharqiya, where his home is built of simple, unpainted red brick.
He excelled in primary and secondary schools and then joined the school of engineering and quickly became a member of teaching staff of Zaqaziq University in his home province.
Morsi went to the United States where he obtained a doctorate at USC. Unlike many, he chose to return to Egypt....
We lost him?
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Looks like he might have been one we couldn't buy, Americans.
And now there is talk of another "backroom deal?"
"After the generals stripped the presidency of most of its major powers in recent weeks, Morsi has taken office without a clear picture of his authority or what he can do to resolve Egypt’s most pressing issues, including restoring stability and security, and improving the struggling economy....
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"An Egyptian court suspended on Tuesday a government decision allowing military police and intelligence to arrest civilians, a setback for the country’s military rulers after the decree drew an outcry from opponents who accused them of trying to impose martial law....
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"In Egypt, a vow of accountability" June 30, 2012
CAIRO — Egypt’s newly elected Islamist president took a symbolic oath of office Friday afternoon in a packed Tahrir Square and delivered a rousing, defiant speech on the eve of an official ceremony at which the country’s ruling generals are set to nominally relinquish power.
Displaying uncharacteristic swagger, Mohamed Morsi, the long-shot Muslim Brotherhood politician who won the country’s first fair presidential vote, promised the ecstatic crowd that he would treat all Egyptians equally and remain accountable to those who elected him. His words underlined the sharp contrast between the low-key Islamist and ousted president Hosni Mubarak, whose autocratic style sparked a revolt in early 2011.
‘‘You are the source of power,’’ Morsi told the supporters who had stood for hours under a searing sun to catch a glimpse of him. ‘‘You grant it, and you withdraw it.’’
I APPLAUD YOU, the people of EGYPT!!
The message appeared designed to catch the attention of the generals, who will continue to wield vast authority even after Morsi assumes office on Saturday, by virtue of a constitutional decree the junta issued recently. His speech strongly suggested that he intends to leverage his popular mandate against the military’s entrenched authority.
In his first address before a large crowd since he was elected president, Morsi struck populist themes and engaged in theatrics.
Translation: my agenda-pushing organ of Jewish propaganda doesn't like him.
In one crowd-pleasing gesture that will probably displease Washington but come to nothing, Morsi promised to fight for the release of Omar Abdul Rahman, an Egyptian serving a life sentence in the United States for his role in the 1992 World Trade Center bombing in New York.
Oh, so MORSI KNOWS about the FBI SET-UP!!!!
And the FBI even used a former EGYPTIAN GENERAL as the INSTIGATOR?
He also paid homage to the protesters shot to death in and near Tahrir Square during the violent phases of the revolt.
At one point, the president-elect opened his jacket to show the crowd that he was not wearing a bulletproof vest, a dramatic gesture in a country where many remember the public assassination in 1981 of Mubarak’s predecessor, Anwar Sadat.
Because he is counting on the people to be his vest.
See: Truth and secrets: The Sadat assassination trial 24 years on
Cui bono?
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"Mohammed Morsi takes office, vows Egypt will move forward" by David D. Kirkpatrick | New York Times, July 01, 2012
CAIRO — Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood was formally sworn in on Saturday as the first democratically elected president of Egypt, signaling a new stage in an ever murkier struggle to define the future of the nation after six decades of military-backed autocracy....
Uh-oh. Anytime my covert intelligence operation known as a newspaper uses the word murky it means they are obfuscating.
His inauguration begins a through-the-looking-glass period of government at war with itself....
And through you go, readers!
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Related: Student murder stokes fears of Egypt's Islamists
Egypt police deny Islamists behind student murder
Gee, who would want to make the Islamists look bad?
"Netanyahu reaffirms security stance" June 25, 2012
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel is prepared to use as much force as necessary to maintain security in the country’s south....
The Muslim Brotherhood victory in the Egyptian presidential elections, announced Sunday, prompted celebrations in the Gaza Strip, where ecstatic residents flocked into the streets, fired guns in the air, and handed out candy.
The new president, Mohammed Morsi, has not yet said what plans he has for dealing with Gaza, which shares a 9-mile border with Egypt, which ruled Gaza from 1948 to 1967.
The Egyptian election raised fears in Israel that its 1979 peace agreement with its southern neighbor could be in danger.
He said he would abide by it.
The agreement, a cornerstone of Israeli security, ended decades of hostilities between the two countries and thousands of deaths.
That does seem to be the cornerstone of the Zionist state's policy.
Btw, anyone remember the USS Liberty, and how Israel tried to trick us into a war with Egypt?
Although relations have never been warm, Egypt has upheld the deal, keeping its bordering Sinai peninsula largely demilitarized, allowing the Israeli military to focus on hostile borders with the Palestinians, Syria, and Lebanon....
That means Mubarak gave them a free hand to butcher other Arabs.
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Also see: Israel Intends to Seize Sinai Again
Egyptian comic Bassem Youssef uses laughs, education
I dunno; I'm not finding much funny these days.
Update:
"Egypt: President orders dissolved parliament back" by Hamza Hendawi | Associated Press, July 08, 2012
CAIRO — Egypt’s president on Sunday ordered the Islamist-dominated parliament to reconvene in defiance of a military decree dissolving the legislature last month on the basis of a ruling by the country’s top court, the state news agency reported.
The surprise move by President Mohammed Morsi, himself an Islamist, will almost certainly lead to a clash with the powerful generals....
Yeah, that's a real ballsy move!
Open confrontation between the two sides is certain to plunge the country into a new bout of political instability, adding to the many woes Egypt has experienced since Mubarak’s ouster by a popular uprising in 2011. Already, the country has been beset by a surge of crime, a faltering economy, a seemingly endless series of strikes, sit-ins and demonstrations.
Yeah, it almost makes one nostalgic for the days of theft and torture.
Honestly, guys, the Zionist spin really has to stop.
In the first sign of an imminent crisis, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the formal name of the body grouping the nation’s top generals, held an ‘‘emergency meeting’’ shortly after Morsi’s decree was announced.
The official Middle East News Agency said the generals met to ‘‘review and discuss the consequences’’ of Morsi’s decision. The council has yet to publicly comment on the president’s decision....
A conservative Islamist, Morsi may have made his move inspired in large part by a desire to assert his authority in the face of the military, which has been the country’s de facto ruler since army officers seized power in a 1952 coup that toppled the monarchy.
Oh, this guy is treading dangerously near JFK territory!
But Morsi’s defiance of a ruling by the country’s highest court could backfire, leading to charges that he has no respect for the judiciary.
Morsi’s decree came only hours after he met with a senior US official who gave him a message from President Barack Obama that assured him of America’s commitment to a ‘‘new partnership’’ with Egypt.
US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns told reporters after the meeting that Egyptians could rely on US support as they try to realize their aspirations....
Washington, he said, was looking to see a democratically elected parliament in Egypt, a constitution that protects ‘‘universal rights’’ and an inclusive government that ‘‘embraces all of Egypt’s faiths and respects the rights of women and secular members of society.’’
Burns is the highest ranking US official to meet Morsi since he succeeded Hosni Mubarak, a close US ally whose regime was toppled in a popular uprising last year.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s is also due to travel to Egypt later this month.
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Next Day Update:
"According to Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar, Morsi may have created an opening for a solution that would serve both parties.
Reseating the old Parliament would give Morsi an invaluable legislative boost as he struggles to form his government. At the same time, ensuring relatively quick elections would give the military the new Parliament it craves for the longer term.
The two sides could be dancing toward some kind of settlement, Hamid said. ‘‘The Brotherhood makes an aggressive move, the military reacts, and then they sit down and negotiate something,’’ he said. ‘‘I think it was a good first move. At least something is going to happen now.’’
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Okay, WaPo.
