The Jewish-AmeriKan press treatment of Morsi has been unflattering to say the least, leading me to believe he and the Muslim Brotherhood are not in favor with current western regimes despite having been founded by them over 100 years ago as a subversion to the then crumbling Ottoman Empire. As we saw with Israel's creation of Hamas to balance off Arafat and the PLO, just because intel agencies create these groups doesn't mean they will always be subservient or follow orders.
The other factor is the protesters are often from the groups the CIA has traditionally used for such things: secularists, liberals, and college students.
Also in the mix -- incredibly -- are former Mubarak regime members, a red flag right there. The institutions that undermined Morsi (police strike, lawyers and courts, military) were still stocked with former Mubarak officials. When he did remove some and replace them it caused unrest, although it was the same generals he appointed that took this latest action.
Then there are those who say the Brotherhood is still a tool, and a case can definitely be made. The positions on Israel, Iran, and Syria were in line with the whole neo-con agenda. He stepped out of line in Gaza and was protested, but this is all within the house-of-mirrors of my western press. Some say he was an agent to quell the flare-up in the conflict.
One must remember that all this time the IMF was being used to pressure the Egyptian economy as they drained their currency reserves because of Morsi's refusal to accept the terms of the international bankers (strange how those guys always seem to get removed one way or the other) or submit to US leverage. That can not have been lost on the Egyptian people. Nor was the sentencing of AmeriKan intelligence agents called "prodemocracy workers" lost on the U.S.(?)
Related:
"In another assertion of his independence, Morsi will travel to Tehran this week for a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement. He will be the first Egyptian leader to visit Iran since the nations ended diplomatic relations in the 1980s after Egypt recognized Israel. Morsi’s decision to go to Iran reflects a major foreign policy shift for Egypt, which has been deferential to Washington."
That couldn't have helped matters for him.
"Egypt’s new president, Mohammed Morsi, assigned himself the heavyweight’s role in the Middle East on Wednesday, declaring in his first speech to the United Nations that the civil war raging in Syria is the ‘‘tragedy of the age’’ and must be brought to an end. In a wide-ranging address that touched on many major issues confronting the region, Morsi also decried Israeli settlement-building on territory Palestinians claim for a future state and condemned a film produced in the United States that denigrates Islam’s prophet Mohammed. Morsi then quickly inserted himself into the thorniest issues in the Middle East, demanding that the United Nations grant membership to the Palestinians, with or without a peace agreement with Israel. In his bid to end the violence in Syria, Morsi has invited Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia to join a contact group. While Morsi wants Assad to step aside, the Egyptian leader said Wednesday that he opposes any foreign military intervention."
Again, not making certain people happy.
Also see: Egypt’s president skirts court, frees editor
No bid deal back then. It wasn't until Morsi sided with Gaza that the criticism and protests came.
What may have in fact precipitated Morsi's removal was the recent news that he was going to commit troops to a Syrian mission, and that is what prompted the people to revolt and the military to step in. My newspapers make no mention of it, but that is of no matter.
The other enigma is how far back and what articles do I post from these past months? What do I ignore and what is important? Where do I begin? What will prove my points without these posts becoming extended pages and a book?
I suppose the here and now is the best place....
"Egypt’s generals oust Morsi, create interim government" by David D. Kirkpatrick | New York Times, July 04, 2013
CAIRO — Egypt’s military officers removed the country’s first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, on Wednesday, suspended the constitution, and installed an interim government presided over by a senior jurist.
Tahrir Square, where tens of thousands of opponents of the government had gathered each night since Sunday to demand Morsi’s removal, erupted in fireworks and jubilation at news of the ouster. At a square near the presidential palace where Morsi’s Islamist supporters had gathered, men broke into tears and vowed to stay until Morsi was reinstated or they were forcibly removed.
“The dogs have done it and made a coup against us,” they chanted. “Dying for the sake of God is more sublime than anything,” a speaker declared. Morsi rejected the generals’ actions as a “complete military coup.”
***********************
By the end of the night, Morsi was in military custody and blocked from all communications, one of his advisers said, and many of his senior aides were under house arrest. Egyptian security forces had arrested at least 38 senior leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, including Saad el-Katatni, the chief of the group’s political party, and others were being rounded up, security officials said. No immediate reasons were given for the detentions.
For Morsi, it was a bitter and ignominious end to a tumultuous year of bruising political battles that ultimately alienated millions of Egyptians. Having won a narrow victory, his critics say, he broke his promises of an inclusive government and repeatedly demonized his opposition as traitors. With the economy crumbling, and with shortages of electricity and fuel, anger at the government mounted.
The generals built their case for intervention in a carefully orchestrated series of maneuvers, calling their actions an effort at a national reconciliation and refusing to call the takeover a coup. At a televised news conference Wednesday, General Abdul-Fattah el-Sissi said the military had no interest in politics and was ousting Morsi because he had failed to fulfill the hope for a national consensus.
The general stood on a broad stage, flanked by Egypt’s top Muslim and Christian clerics and a spectrum of political leaders, including Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel laureate and liberal icon, and Galal Morra, a prominent Islamist ultraconservative, all of whom endorsed the takeover.
The move plunged the generals back to the center of political power for the second time in less than three years, following their ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Their return threatened to cast a long shadow over future efforts to fulfill that revolution’s promise of a credible civilian democracy. But Sissi sought to present a different image from the anonymous numbered communiqués from the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that were solemnly read over state television to announce Mubarak’s exit, and the general emphasized that the military had no desire to rule.
“The armed forces was the one to first announce that it is out of politics,” Sissi said at the start. “It still is, and it will remain away from politics.”
Under a “road map” for a post-Morsi government devised by a meeting of civilian political and religious leaders, the general said, the constitution would be suspended, the chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adli Mansour, would become acting president and plans would be expedited for new parliamentary and presidential elections under an interim government.
At the White House, President Obama urged the Egyptian military to move quickly to return the nation to a democratically elected government.
“We are deeply concerned by the decision of the Egyptian armed forces to remove President Morsi and suspend the Egyptian constitution,” he said.
The president did not refer to the military’s takeover as a coup, a phrase that would have implications for the $1.3 billion a year in US military aid to Egypt. Still, there was no mistaking the threat of force and signs of a crackdown. Armored military vehicles rolled through the capital, surrounded the presidential palace, and ringed in the Islamists. The intelligence services put travel bans on Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood leaders.
And in a sign of how little Morsi managed to control the Mubarak bureaucracy he took over, the officers of the Presidential Guard who had been assigned to protect him burst into celebration, waving flags from the roof of the palace.
He never had a chance, folks, and the U.S. reaction almost confirms an approved coup.
Although the tacit control of the generals over Egyptian politics is now unmistakable, Sissi laid out a more detailed and faster plan for a return to civilian governance than the now-retired generals who deposed Mubarak did two years ago. Sissi made no mention of any period of military rule and granted the acting president, Mansour, the power to issue constitutional decrees during the transition.
The same reason the people were allegedly angry at Morsi.
Mansour was named to the bench by Mubarak two decades ago, before Mubarak sought to pack the court with more overtly political loyalists or anti-Islamists. Mansour ascended to the post of chief only a few days ago and, while he is said to be highly regarded, not much is known of his views or how much authority he will truly wield.
Sissi called for the formation of a “technocratic government” to administer affairs during the transition and also a politically diverse committee of experts to draft constitutional amendments. It was not clear who would form the government or the committee. The general said that the constitutional court would set the rules for the parliamentary and presidential elections, and that the court would also “put forward a code of ethics to guarantee freedom of the press and achieve professionalism and credibility” in the news media.
Related: New Tunisia constitution viewed as potential model
Also see: Turmoil in Tunisia
Last I saw.
The general’s plan bore a close resemblance to one proposed by the ultraconservative Islamist Nour Party and suggested that he was seeking to bring in at least some Islamists as well as liberals and leftists to support the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood....
This WAS a COUP!
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Also see: Deadly violence ahead of protests in Egypt
Muslim Brotherhood offices torched and attacked while the U.S. advises people to get out of the country? And the American stabbed and killed?
"Andrew D. Pochter, 21, a student at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, was killed in Alexandria in clashes between supporters and opponents of Morsi, the college said. Security officials in Egypt said he was fatally stabbed near headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, which had been set on fire.
Pochter of Chevy Chase, Md., was to enter his junior year at Kenyon in the fall. He worked as an intern at Amideast, a nonprofit. Pochter’s family said in a statement that he planned to return to the Middle East for a semester abroad.“Our beloved 21-year-old son and brother Andrew Driscoll Pochter went to Alexandria for the summer, to teach English to 7- and 8-year-old Egyptian children and to improve his Arabic,” the statement said.
At Kenyon, Pochter was active in Hillel, the campus’s center for Jewish life, according to The Kenyon Collegian, the student newspaper. He went to high school at the Blue Ridge School, an all-boys boarding school outside Charlottesville, Va., where he won the foreign language award his senior year and played lacrosse.
On Saturday, Egyptian prosecutors ordered the arrest of several suspects in the killing, but gave no information on the number of suspects or their identities. US Embassy officials did not release any details about the circumstances of Pochter’s death....
He was a U.S. intelligence agent, folks!
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"Millions in Egypt demand removal of president; Protests’ scale exceeds uprising ousting Mubarak" by David D. Kirkpatrick and Ben Hubbard | New York Times, July 01, 2013
CAIRO — Millions of Egyptians streamed into the streets of cities across the country Sunday to demand the ouster of their first elected head of state, President Mohammed Morsi, in an outpouring of anger at the political dominance of his Islamist backers in the Muslim Brotherhood.
The scale of the demonstrations, coming just one year after crowds in Tahrir Square cheered Morsi’s inauguration, appeared to exceed even the massive street protests in the heady final days of the uprising that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
At a moment when Morsi is still struggling to control the bureaucracy and just beginning to build public support for disruptive economic reforms, the protests have raised new hurdles to his ability to lead the country as well as new questions about Egypt’s path to stability.
Clashes between Morsi’s opponents and supporters broke out in several cities around the country, killing at least 10 people — one in Beni Suef, four in Assiut and five in Cairo — and injuring hundreds.
In Cairo, a mob of hundreds set fire to the almost-empty Brotherhood headquarters, pelting it with stones, Molotov cocktails, and fireworks for hours.
Where's the western condemnation?
A handful of members hiding inside the darkened building fired bursts of birdshot at the attackers, but police and security forces did nothing to stop them. The Associated Press reported that five anti-Morsi protesters were killed at the site.
Demonstrators said they were angry about the near-absence of public security, the desperate state of the Egyptian economy, and an increase in sectarian tensions.
But the common denominator across the country was the conviction that Morsi had failed to transcend his roots in the Brotherhood, an insular Islamist group officially outlawed under Mubarak that is now considered Egypt’s most formidable political force.
The scale of the protests across the country delivered a sharp rebuke to the group’s assertion that its victories in Egypt’s newly open parliamentary and presidential elections gave it a mandate to speak for most Egyptians....
Shadi Hamid, a researcher at the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar who studies the Muslim Brotherhood closely, said: “The Brotherhood underestimated its opposition. The crowds are bigger than they expected and most people expected, and this is going to be a real moment of truth for the Brotherhood.”
Morsi and Brotherhood leaders have often ascribed much of the opposition in the streets to a conspiracy led by Mubarak-era political and financial elites determined to bring them down, and they have resisted concessions in fear that the opposition’s only real motive is the Brotherhood’s defeat.
Except they have made concessions, but hey, what's one more distortion and lie in a paper full of them?
But by Sunday night, the crowds were enormous, and many analysts said they were likely to send a message to other Islamist groups around the region in the aftermath of the Arab Spring.
“It is a cautionary note: Don’t be too eager for power, and try to think how you do it,” Hamid said, noting that the Egyptian Brotherhood had sought to take most of the power for itself all at once. “I hear concern from Islamists around the region about how the Brotherhood is tainting Islamism.”
Morsi’s administration appeared caught by surprise. “There are protests; this is a reality,” Omar Amer, a spokesman for the president, said at a midnight news conference. “We don’t underestimate the scale of the protests, and we don’t underestimate the scale of the demands.” He said the administration was open to discussing any demands consistent with the Constitution, but he also seemed exasperated, sputtering questions back at the journalists. “Do you have a better idea? Do you have an initiative?” he asked. “Suggest a solution and we’re willing to consider it seriously.”
That's a good point, and goes to show that it wasn't about these things at all. It was about regime change.
Many vowed to stay in the streets until Morsi resigned. Some joked that it should be comparatively easy: Just two years ago, Egyptian protesters toppled a more powerful president, even though he controlled a fearsome police state.
But there is no legal mechanism to remove Morsi until the election of a new Parliament, expected later this year, and even some critics acknowledge that forcing the first democratically elected president from power would set a precedent for future instability.
Some protesters called for another intervention by the military, which seized power from Mubarak and held onto it for more than a year. Chants were directed to the defense minister, General Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi: “Come on Sisi, make a decision!”
Sisi has stayed carefully neutral.
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"Egypt’s army gives ultimatum to Mohammed Morsi; Respond to foes, leader is told, or face intervention" by David D. Kirkpatrick and Kareem Fahim | New York Times, July 02, 2013
CAIRO — Egypt’s top generals on Monday gave President Mohammed Morsi 48 hours to respond to a wave of mass protests demanding his ouster, declaring that if he did not, the military leaders would impose their own “road map” to resolve the political crisis.
The ultimatum prompted vows from the president’s Islamist allies to take to the streets to stop what they called “a military coup.”
The military communiqué, read over state television, echoed the announcement that preceded the toppling of President Hosni Mubarak two chaotic years ago. But instead of soothing the volatile standoff between Morsi’s opponents and his supporters, the generals seemed to add to the uncertainty that has paralyzed the state, decimated the economy, and brought millions into the streets Sunday demanding the president step down. It was not clear what the military meant when it said Morsi must satisfy the public’s demands, what it might do if that vague standard were not met, and who would be able to unite this badly fractured nation.
The generals did, however, open a new confrontation with Morsi’s allies in the Muslim Brotherhood with its threat to impose a political “road map” on the president. The Brotherhood members rallied in half a dozen cities to denounce the threat of a military takeover, a reminder that the group remains a potent force unwilling to give up the power it has waited 80 years to wield.
“We understand it as a military coup,” one adviser to Morsi said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential negotiations. “What form that will take remains to be seen.”
Morsi and the military’s top officer, General Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, entered a delicate negotiation Monday, one fraught with risks for both men, and for the nation. Facing fuel shortages, dwindling hard currency reserves, and worries about its wheat supplies, Egypt urgently needs a government stable and credible enough to manage difficult and disruptive economic reforms. A move by the military to force the Brotherhood from power, despite its electoral victories, could trigger an Islamist backlash in the streets that would make stability and economic growth even more elusive.
President Obama called his Egyptian counterpart late Monday, Morsi aides said. They described Obama’s message as a confirmation that the White House was continuing to deal with Morsi as Egypt’s elected president and to support the country’s transition to civilian democracy. Obama administration officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Not for long.
In a sternly worded statement issued after 1 a.m. Tuesday, Morsi’s office said it was continuing with its plans for dialogue and reconciliation with its opponents. Noting that it was not consulted before the military made its statement, Morsi’s office asserted that “some of its phrases have connotations that may cause confusion in the complicated national scene” and suggested it “deepens the division between the people” and “may threaten the social peace no matter what the motivation.”
Earlier, speaking to a crowd of Islamists armed with makeshift clubs and hard hats at a rally in Cairo, a senior Brotherhood leader, Mohamed Beltagy, called on the crowd to defend Morsi’s “legitimacy” as the elected president. “No coup against legitimacy of any kind will pass except over our dead bodies,” he said, dismissing the latest protests as “remnants” of the Mubarak elite.
At a late night rally for Morsi across the Nile in Giza, Mohamed Fadala, a financial manager, argued that Sisi appeared to have considered only the non-Islamist half of Egypt. “Sisi ignored half the people!”
The generals have shown little enthusiasm for returning to politics, especially after their own prestige was badly tarnished by the year of street violence and economic catastrophe they oversaw after ousting Mubarak. But as the protests against Morsi grew larger than those that pushed out Mubarak, it became clear that Morsi had lost the support of much of the population and has never fully controlled the security services or other institutions of the state.
Protesters faulted him and his Brotherhood allies for what they called a rush to monopolize political power. And in public squares that just a year ago echoed with chants demanding an end to military rule, cheers rose up again Monday welcoming the generals’ help in pressuring Morsi.
Citing “the historic circumstance,” the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces said in its statement Monday that “if the demands of the people have not been met” within 48 hours then the generals would “announce a road map” to be “enforced under the military’s supervision.” But the generals insisted that under its auspices “all political factions” would participate in settling the crisis.
The “demands of the people” appeared to refer to the rallying cry of the wave of protests: a call for Morsi’s immediate departure. The generals, however, did not elaborate, leaving open the possibility that they might accept another power-sharing arrangement. “The wasting of more time will only create more division and conflict,” the statement warned.
Still, the generals were also eager to disavow any eagerness to return to political power. “The armed forces will not be party to the circle of politics or ruling, and the military refuses to deviate from its assigned role in the original democratic vision,” the generals insisted.
They had made a similar pledge when they took power two years ago, but as the Islamist pressure grew Monday night the generals issued a second statement specifically denying that they planned a “military coup.”
“The conviction and culture of the Egyptian armed forces doesn’t allow following the policy of ‘military coups,’ ” the statement declared, though it was a military coup that brought Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser to power 60 years ago. “The armed forces’ statement was intended to push all political parties in the nation to find solutions to the current crisis quickly.”
Frikkin' word games!
The Interior Ministry, whose police officers have been in open revolt against Morsi, issued its own statement endorsing the military’s intervention — another reminder of the breakdown in authority over the holdover institutions of the Mubarak government.
“The security apparatus announces its full solidarity with the armed forces’ statement out of keenness on the national security and the higher interests of Egypt and its great people,” the Interior Ministry statement declared.
Egypt had been bracing for weeks for Sunday’s day of protests against Morsi on the anniversary of his inauguration. But the turnout surprised almost everyone: The crowds were far larger — running into the millions — and less violent than expected. The result not only underscored the depth of the animosity against Morsi but also dispelled Brotherhood arguments that a conspiracy of Mubarak “remnants” accounted for most of the opposition in the streets.
Oh, did it?
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Related: Morsi defies ultimatum set by Egypt’s military
"Egyptian military’s alliance with president short-lived; General insists army does not wish to govern" by Ben Hubbard | New York Times, July 04, 2013
CAIRO — For most of their year in power, President Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood thought they had tamed Egypt’s military, forcing out top generals and reaching a deal with their successors that protected the armed forces from civilian oversight.
See: Egyptian leader, head of military meet to show unity
That deal collapsed this week.
With tanks and soldiers in the streets and around the presidential palace, the military’s top officer, General Abdul-Fattah El-Sissi, did not even utter Morsi’s name as he announced that the president had been deposed and the constitution suspended.
And suddenly Morsi, like his immediate predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, discovered the enduring fact that the military looks out for itself above all else. It is not ideological, but it is intensely politicized.
“Egypt’s military leaders are not ideologically committed to one thing or the other,’’ said Steven A. Cook, a Middle East expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. “They believe in their place in the political order. They are willing to make a deal with virtually anyone, and this one didn’t work out, clearly.”
While justifying its intervention in politics as serving the will of the people, the military has never been a force for democracy. It has one primary objective, analysts said: preserving national stability and its untouchable realm of privilege within the Egyptian state.
But with millions in the street opposing the president, and the Muslim Brotherhood consistently trying to consolidate its authority, the military decided that time was up on the Morsi presidency.
“We were disciplined, and we have the weapons,” one ranking officer said Wednesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment. “That’s what’s on the market right now. Do you see any other solid institution on the scene?”
The face of that military was Sissi, a rakish officer, his chest full of medals, a beret pulled tight over his forehead, as he grasped a lectern with both hands and addressed his nation, insisting that the goal was to restore national unity. He played down the military’s dominance as he installed a caretaker leader.
But his words of reconciliation and healing could not alter the cold reality of the moment.
The military, for the second time in two and a half years, was ousting the nation’s civilian leader, but this time that leader had been elected, freely and fairly. The removal underlined the armed forces’ status as Egypt’s most powerful institution since the coup six decades ago that toppled King Farouq....
Related: Princess Fawzia, 92, member of Egypt’s last royal family
Egypt has the largest standing military in the Arab world, estimated at 450,000 troops. Most are conscripts and low-ranking officers who have little opportunity for advancement.
For decades, however, its tens of thousands of elite officers have jealously guarded their privileged station. They live as a class apart, with their own social clubs, hotels, hospitals, parks, and other benefits financed by the state.
Many have also grown wealthy through government contracts and business deals facilitated by their positions. It is, in some respects, a hereditary Brahmin caste, in which sons follows their fathers’ careers and they all live inside a closed social circle.
They didn't do this for the people; they did this for themselves.
“It is a tightly knit group,” said Robert Springborg, a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., and an expert on the Egyptian military. “They tend to think alike, and they are a force to be reckoned with because, besides the brotherhood, they are the only really cohesive institution in the country.”
When he addressed the nation Wednesday night, Sissi said the military had reached out to the president for months to try to defuse the crisis but had been repeatedly rebuffed....
Despite all the concessions and power-sharing?
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And who was the military's go-between with Washington?
"Diplomat is now target for both sides; Ambassador seen as a sinister force" by Mark Landler | New York Times, July 04, 2013
WASHINGTON — Her image has been plastered on banners in Tahrir Square, crossed out with a blood-red X or distorted and smeared with insults. She is too cozy with Egypt’s deposed president and the Muslim Brotherhood, the signs say, and should leave the country.
Anne W. Patterson, a press-shy career diplomat who has been the US ambassador in Cairo since 2011, suddenly finds herself a target in a dangerous political upheaval, a symbol for angry young Egyptians of America’s role in their country’s affairs.
With the Egyptian military ousting President Mohammed Morsi on Wednesday, Patterson will have to navigate a perilous course between Morsi’s opponents and his enraged Islamist supporters, both of whom have grievances with the United States. That she has become such a lightning rod for US policy speaks to the legacy of US involvement in Egypt and to the comparatively low level of attention Egypt has received from the Obama administration since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in 2011 — at least until this week’s turmoil.
As her bosses in Washington struggle to exert even modest influence over the events in Cairo, Patterson, 63, has been portrayed as a sinister force by protesters and supporters of the government, a defender of the status quo as well as a troublemaker who schemes with the opposition.
The same shenanigans she was up to when she was CIA station chief, I mean, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan.
“She’s being lambasted because she’s the face of America,” said Vali Nasr, a former State Department official who worked with Patterson when she was ambassador to Pakistan. “But the fact that she’s being excoriated instead of the president only represents the fact that the rest of the American administration is absent.”
In his first reaction to Morsi’s ouster, Obama warned of the dangers of violence and tried to steer Egypt’s military toward a prompt resumption of democratic rule. But the flurry of meetings and phone calls Wednesday served to underscore the lack of leverage the United States has over Egypt.
Yeah, right.
Patterson’s problems started on June 18, when she was invited, at a time of mushrooming demonstrations against Morsi’s government, to speak to an audience in Cairo about the US relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood.
While the United States supported Egypt’s democratic development, it still had to deal with those in power, Patterson said, adding, “I don’t think the elected nature of this government is seriously in doubt.”
Even as Patterson sought to distance the United States from the Muslim Brotherhood, those words marked her as an enemy of the crowds in Tahrir Square, reviving memories of Obama’s early reluctance to cut loose Mubarak, a longtime US ally.
“She manipulates people and secretly governs the country,” Mona Mohammed, 52, a bank employee said of Patterson at an antigovernment rally.
“The ambassador is part of a conspiracy against Egypt and its people,” Mohammed added.
At a pro-Morsi demonstration across town, Mohammed Amr-Alla, a professor at Al-Azhar University, said: “The ambassador meets with the opposition and supports them. She should not interfere. She needs to watch from a distance.”
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Another enigma is the rewritten and reedited articles:
"Mubarak-era figures reemerging in Egypt; Backers of Morsi urge protests today" by Ben Hubbard and David D. Kirkpatrick | New York Times, July 05, 2013
CAIRO — Remnants of Egypt’s old autocratic government reasserted themselves on Thursday within hours of the military’s ouster of the country’s first freely elected president, in a crackdown that left scores of his Muslim Brotherhood backers under arrest, their television stations closed, and former officials restored to powerful posts.
The actions provided the first indications of what Egypt’s new political order could look like after Mohammed Morsi, the Islamist president in power for only a year, was deposed by Egypt’s military commanders on Wednesday evening.
The commanders, who installed an interim civilian leader, said they had acted to bring the country back together after millions of Egyptians demonstrated against Morsi, claiming he had arrogated power, polarized society, and pushed the country into a steep economic crisis.
But Morsi’s downfall and the swift effort that followed to repress the Muslim Brotherhood deeply angered many of its constituents. They called for demonstrations nationwide on Friday, which could provide a telling test of tolerance by the interim government and its claims of wanting to represent all segments of Egypt’s population.
By late Thursday, it was already clear that the forced change of power, which had the trappings of a military coup wrapped in a popular revolt, had only aggravated the most seething division — that between the Muslim Brotherhood and the security apparatus built up by Hosni Mubarak, the president toppled in Egypt’s 2011 revolution.
The divisions belied a stately ceremony in the country’s highest court, where a little-known judge was sworn in as the new acting head of state. The interim president, the chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mansour, said he looked forward to parliamentary and presidential elections that would express the “true will of the people.” Mansour praised the military’s intervention so that Egypt could “correct the path of its glorious revolution.”
The "true will of the people," meaning the WRONG GUY WON LAST TIME!
Fighter jets screamed through the Cairo skies, and fireworks burst over huge celebrations in Tahrir Square.
At the same time, security forces held Morsi incommunicado in an undisclosed location, Islamist broadcast outlets were closed, and prosecutors sought the arrest of hundreds of Morsi’s Brotherhood colleagues, in a sign that they had the most to lose in Egypt’s latest political convulsion.
“What kind of national reconciliation starts with arresting people?” said Ebrahem el-Erian after security officials came to his family home before dawn to try to arrest his father, Essam el-Erian, a Brotherhood official. “This is complete exclusion.”
Many of the most significant political shifts pointed to the reassertion of the “deep state,” a term often used for the powerful branches of the Mubarak-era government that remained in place after he had been deposed.
Oh, I was told that had been dispelled!
Much of that state apparatus has always shown deep distrust of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, despite their clear victories in parliamentary and presidential elections.
Morsi never succeeded in asserting his control over the military, the security services, the judiciary, or the sprawling state bureaucracy. Nor did he succeed in dismantling the support network that Mubarak and his National Democratic Party cultivated through nearly 30 years in power.
Gee, my newspapers made it seem like he had done those things this past year. WTF?
So once the military removed Morsi, many of these elements set their sights on him and his group.
“What do you call it when the police, state security, old members of the National Democratic Party, the media all rally to bring down the regime?” asked Emad Shahin, a political science professor at the American University in Cairo. “Is that a revolution? If this is the revolution, so be it.”
In his swearing-in address, Mansour offered an olive branch to the Islamists, saying they were part of Egyptian society and deserved to participate in the political process. The National Salvation Front, an umbrella opposition group that had pushed for Morsi’s ouster, also called for an inclusive political process.
PFFFFFFFFTTT!!!
But in less than 24 hours after the military’s intervention, prosecutors issued arrest warrants for at least 200 Islamists, most of them members of the Muslim Brotherhood. All were wanted on accusations of incitement to kill demonstrators.
Dozens were arrested, including Mohammed Badie, the group’s supreme guide; his deputy, Rashad Bayoumi; and the head of its political wing, Saad el-Katatni. Also on the wanted list was Khairat el-Shater, the group’s powerful financier.
The arrest campaign recalled the Muslim Brotherhood’s decades as a banned organization under autocratic rulers.
“This is a police state back in action, and the same faces that were ousted with the Mubarak regime are now appearing on talk shows as analysts,” said a Brotherhood spokesman, Gehad el-Haddad, during an interview with Al-Jazeera’s English satellite channel.
He repeated a conspiracy theory often cited by Islamists: What appeared to be an easing of electricity cuts and petrol shortages in recent days indicated that the shortfalls had been artificially created to feed discontent.
Then it is likely true.
“Did someone push a magic button, or was this all part of a plot?” el-Haddad asked.
Looks that way now.
In a statement, the Brotherhood denounced “the military coup against the elected president and the will of the nation” and said it would refuse to deal with any resulting authority. Morsi’s supporters said their protests Friday would be meant to “denounce the military coup against legitimacy and in support of the legitimacy of President Morsi.”
Much remains unclear about the new political structure that will emerge, though Mohammed ElBaradei, the Nobel Prize-winning diplomat, has been chosen to represent the liberal opposition.
In a phone interview, ElBaradei sought to justify the military’s intervention, calling it a chance to fix the transition to democracy that he said had gone off track after the ouster of Mr. Mubarak.
“We just lost 2½ years,” he said. “As Yogi Berra said, ‘It is déjà vu all over again,’ but hopefully this time we will get it right.”
Many of those who are poised to exercise power in the emerging authority first got their jobs from Mubarak.
What more is there to type, really?
A Mubarak-appointed prosecutor general, Abdel Meguid Mahmoud, returned to his office after a court ruling pushed out the man appointed by Morsi to replace him.
Mahmoud, who was equally detested by critics of both Mubarak and Morsi, called his return to office “a message for every ruler: You must respect your judiciary, and you must respect your judges.”
The pre-Morsi foreign minister, Mohamed Kamel Amr, was also back in the post on Thursday. Amr had continued to serve under Morsi but had been sidelined as Morsi sent other aides to meetings with President Obama and other officials, and he resigned during Morsi’s final days, a major blow.
Amr held meetings with the foreign news media on Thursday aimed at refuting the idea Egypt had undergone a military coup.
Even the police force, much despised by Mubarak’s opponents for trying to quash the protests that pushed him from power, has sought to portray itself as standing with the people in the new era.
Fahmy Bahgat, an officer who often speaks for the security services, said in a television interview that the generals’ move “returned the police to the arms of the people once more.”
He also threatened those who challenged the new order.
“Whoever tries to show any support for the ousted president will be met with the utmost resolve,” he said.
So much for reconciliation.
--more--"
"Morsi’s ouster draws a divided response" by Alan Cowell | New York Times, July 05, 2013
LONDON — As Egyptians contemplated a new and uncertain political landscape after the military ouster of Mohammed Morsi as president, the country’s partners, neighbors, and supporters seemed divided in their response on Thursday, largely reflecting their own perceptions of the threats they face at home from either militant Islam or their armed forces.
In Damascus, President Bashar Assad of Syria, facing a bloody insurgency that has drawn in radical Muslim fighters opposed to him, praised the Egyptian protesters and said in an interview with a state-run newspaper that the overthrow of Morsi meant the end of “political Islam.”
The United Arab Emirates, too, expressed “satisfaction” at Morsi’s downfall.
For Western nations, the response to the rapid-fire events in Cairo seemed to touch a vein of realpolitik, pitting concern about military takeovers in principle against a little-disguised unease at the ascendancy of political Islam under Morsi.
As the British foreign secretary, William Hague, put it in London: “We will always be clear that we don’t support military intervention, but we will work with people in authority in Egypt. That is the practical reality of foreign policy.
“It is the problem with a military intervention, of course, that it is a precedent for the future. If this can happen to one elected president, it can happen to another,” Hague said.
“That’s why it is so important to entrench democratic institutions and for political leaders — for all their sakes and the sake of their country — to work on this together to find the compromises they haven’t been able to make in Egypt over the last year.”
Britain, like the United States, has revised its advice to its nationals traveling to Egypt but has not gone as far as officials in Washington, where the State Department has warned US citizens to “defer travel to Egypt and US citizens living in Egypt to depart at this time because of the continuing political and social unrest.”
Translation: the U.S. was IN ON THE COUP!
***************************
In the Middle East, the military ouster evoked deep sensitivities, largely rooted in the region’s perennial political conflict between secularism and Islam, and in an ambivalent view of military power as both a stabilizing force and a usurper of democracy.
In Turkey, which has a long history of military intervention in political life and whose government is Islamist-led, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Thursday that the generals’ action in Cairo was a “military coup” and “unacceptable.”
President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, by contrast, sent official congratulations to Adly Mansour, Egypt’s interim president, on what he called “this transitional phase of its history,” according to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency.
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"US officials decline to take sides in conflict" by Josh Lederman | Associated Press, July 05, 2013
WASHINGTON — President Obama and his national security team tread delicately Thursday in the aftermath of the ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, urging the restive nation to quickly return authority to a democratically elected civilian government and avoid violence.
The administration still declined to take sides in the volatile developments as Egypt’s military installed an interim government leader.
This is the standard reaction even when they are supporting or behind the coup, and I'm not fooled.
Ahead of Washington’s Fourth of July fireworks, Obama met with his national security team in the White House situation room for briefings on their calls to Egyptian leaders and other partners in the region, National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in a statement.
The carefully worded messages conveyed ‘‘the importance of a quick and responsible return of full authority to a democratically elected civilian government as soon as possible,’’ Meehan said.
The series of calls by Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, and national security adviser Susan Rice went to officials from Egypt, Israel, Qatar, Turkey, and Norway.
The US officials also urged a transparent political process in Egypt and the avoidance of ‘‘any arbitrary arrests of President Morsi and his supporters,’’ Meehan said.
The delicate diplomacy highlights difficult policy choices for the administration.
If it denounces the ouster of Morsi outright, the United States could be accused of propping up a ruler who’s lost the public’s support. It’s a prospect with eerie echoes of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, whom the United States supported for decades before the 2011 revolution that cleared the path to power for Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood.
If it looks the other way, the United States could be accused of fomenting dissent or lose credibility on its commitment to the democratic process.
The administration is acting as if it accepts what happened in Egypt — and actually believes it could turn out for the best. At the same time, officials are attempting to keep their distance.
Sorry, folks, but they were behind this.
But the White House may also be concerned that in the short term, the situation could spiral out of hand, with the military using the clamoring in the streets as an excuse to confront the Muslim Brotherhood with excessive force. In bringing up US aid in conversations with Egyptians without cutting it off, the United States leaves itself room to escalate the situation if need be, but also to work with Egypt’s new government if it moves in the right direction.
After Morsi was forcibly removed from office, Obama said the United States would ‘‘not support particular individuals or political parties,’’ acknowledging the ‘‘legitimate grievances of the Egyptian people’’ while also observing that Morsi, an Islamist, won his office in a legitimate election.
‘‘We believe that ultimately the future of Egypt can only be determined by the Egyptian people,’’ Obama said in a statement late Wednesday. ‘‘Nevertheless, we are deeply concerned by the decision of the Egyptian armed forces to remove President Morsi and suspend the Egyptian constitution.’’
He notably stopped short of labeling Morsi’s ouster a coup, leaving himself some wiggle room to navigate a US law that says the government must suspend foreign aid to any nation whose elected leader is ousted in a coup d’etat. But Obama did say he was ordering the government to assess what the developments portended for aid to Cairo. The United States considers the $1.5 billion a year it sends Egypt to be a critical US national security priority.
Because it is LEVERAGE!
--more--"
"Noted Egyptian liberal says ouster was only option; Says he discussed action with Kerry" by David D. Kirkpatrick | New York Times, July 05, 2013
CAIRO — Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel Prize-winning diplomat and Egypt’s most prominent liberal, said Thursday he worked hard to convince Western powers of what he called the necessity of forcibly ousting President Mohammed Morsi, contending that the leader had bungled the country’s transition to an inclusive democracy.
He signed off on Iraq, and now this!
ElBaradei also defended the widening arrests of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood allies and the shutdown of Islamist television networks that followed the removal of Morsi on Wednesday by Egypt’s generals....
Some democrat, huh?
On the day of the takeover, ElBaradei said, he had spoken at length with Secretary of State John Kerry and Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s top foreign policy official, to help convince them of the necessity of removing Morsi in order to restart Egypt’s transition to a democratic government.
He insisted that supporters of the military takeover were “sending a message of reconciliation and an inclusive approach” and that he believed the Muslim Brotherhood should be welcomed back to participate in parliamentary elections and the political process.
Will that be after they get out of jail?
Muslim Brotherhood officials have so far rejected any suggestion of working with what they called the “usurper authorities.”
Who can blame them?
With so many millions in the streets demanding Morsi’s exit and the president intransigent, ElBaradei argued, a military takeover was “the least painful option. We did not have a recall process. People ask for the recall process with their feet.”
--more--"
And the reaction from the "Islamists":
"Islamists demand reinstatement of Morsi amid clashes" by Maggie Michael, Sarah El Deeb and Lee Keath | Associated Press, July 05, 2013
CAIRO (AP) — Enraged Islamists pushed back against the toppling of President Mohammed Morsi, as tens of thousands of his supporters marched in Cairo on Friday to demand his reinstatement and attacked his opponents. Nighttime clashes raged with stone-throwing, firecrackers and gunfire, and military armored vehicles raced across a Nile River bridge in a counterassault on Morsi’s supporters.
Mayhem nationwide left at least 10 people dead and 210 wounded as Morsi supporters stormed government buildings, vowing to reverse the military’s removal of the country’s first freely elected president. Among the dead were four killed when troops opened fire on a peaceful march by Islamists on the Republican Guard headquarters....
After nightfall, a large crowed of Islamists surged across 6th October Bridge over the Nile toward Tahrir Square, where a giant crowd of Morsi’s opponents had been massed all day. Battles broke out there at near the neighboring state TV building with gunfire and stone throwing and burning car barricade at an exit ramp.
‘‘They are firing at us, sons of dogs, where is the army,’’ one Morsi opponent shouted, as another was brought to medics with his jeans soaked in blood from wounds in his legs. Army troops deployed on another Nile bridge leading into Tahrir, sealing it off with barbed wire and armored vehicles.
Later at least seven armored personnel carriers moved across the bridge, chasing away the Morsi supporters. Young civilians jumped onto the roofs of the APCs, shouting insults at the Islamists and chanting, ‘‘The people and army are one hand.’’
In cities across the country, clashes erupted as Morsi supporters tried to storm local government buildings or military facilities, battling police or Morsi opponents. At least 10 people were killed throughout the day — at least one in the battle on the bridge, and five elsewhere in the country, with at least 210 wounded, Health Ministry official Khaled el-Khatib told The Associated Press.
Amid the clashes, an umbrella group of opponents of Egypt’s ousted president — including the National Salvation Front and youth groups — called on the public to take to the streets immediately ‘‘to defend popular legitimacy’’ against what they called a ‘‘malicious plot’’ by the Brotherhood. They said in a statement the Islamists were trying ‘‘to portray a false image’’ to the world that they have popular backing and to spark foreign intervention.
Foreign intervention? By who? Israel?
As for false images, I'm reading something that presents them all the time.
Islamists vowed to show by their numbers and the turmoil that the military had made a mistake in ousting Morsi on Wednesday night after millions of Egyptians poured into streets around the country for four days this week demanding the Islamist president go in the biggest rallies the country has seen.
‘‘The military got itself in a trap by siding by one side. Now they see the masses in the streets and now they realized that there are two peoples,’’ Hamada Nassar, a figure from the hard-line former militant group, Gamaa Islamiya, told AP.
The day’s turmoil began in the afternoon when army troops opened fire as hundreds of Morsi supporters marched on the Republican Guard building in Cairo, where Morsi was staying at the time of his ouster before being taken into military custody at an unknown location.
The crowd approached a barbed wire barrier where troops were standing guard around the building. When one person hung a sign of Morsi on the barrier, the troops tore it down and told the crowd to stay back. A protester put up a second sign, and the soldiers opened fire, according to an Associated Press photographer.
They opened fire because someone put up a sign?
One protester was killed, with a gaping, bleeding wound in the back of his head, while others fell bloodied and wounded. Witnesses told to AP Television News at the scene that men in plainclothes fired the lethal shots.
Protesters pelted the line of troops with stones, and the soldiers responded with volleys of tear gas. Many of those injured had the pockmark wounds typical of birdshot....
Fears have been high over a major Islamist backlash to the military’s move. The Brotherhood has said it will not work with the new military-backed leadership. Morsi supporters say the military has wrecked Egypt’s democracy by carrying out a coup against an elected president. They accuse Mubarak loyalists and liberal and secular opposition parties of turning to the army for help because they lost at the polls to Islamists. Many supporters have equally seen it as a conspiracy against Islam.
I can see why they would see it that way.
Extremist Islamist groups that gained considerable freedom to operate during Morsi’s year in office have already vowed violence in retaliation.
Don't do that. Then you make the protesters the vandals and the oppressors the law.
The first major Islamic militant attack came before dawn Friday in the tumultuous Sinai Peninsula, killing at least one soldier. Masked assailants launched a coordinated attack with rockets, rocket-propelled grenades and anti-aircraft guns on the airport in the northern Sinai city of el-Arish, where military aircraft are located, as well as a security forces camp in Rafah on the border with Gaza and five other military and police posts, sparking nearly four hours of clashes.
One of military’s top commanders, Gen. Ahmed Wasfi arrived at el-Arish on Friday to lead operations there as the army declared a ‘‘war on terrorism’’ in Sinai. A crowd of Morsi supporters tried to storm the governor’s office in the city but were dispersed by security forces.
The night of Morsi’s ouster, jihadi groups held a rally in el-Arish attended by hundreds, vowing to fight. ‘‘War council, war council,’’ a speaker shouted, according to online video of the rally. ‘‘No peacefulness after today.’’
Islamic militants hold a powerful sway in the lawless and chaotic northern Sinai. They are heavily armed with weapons smuggled from Libya and have links with militants in the neighboring Gaza Strip, run by Hamas. After the attack, Egypt indefinitely closed its border crossing into Gaza, sending 200 Palestinians back into the territory, said Gen. Sami Metwali, director of Rafah passage.
Related: A Second For the Sinai
At the Rabia al-Adawiya rally earlier in the day, the crowd filled much of a broad boulevard, vowing to remain in place until Morsi is restored. The protesters railed against what they called the return of the regime of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, ousted in early 2011.
‘‘The old regime has come back ... worse than before,’’ said Ismail Abdel-Mohsen, an 18-year old student among the crowds outside the Rabia al-Adawiya Mosque. He dismissed the new interim head of state sworn in a day earlier, senior judge Adly Mansour, as ‘‘the military puppet.’’
*************************
Many held copies of the Quran in the air, and much of the crowd had the long beards of ultraconservative men or encompassing black robes and veils worn by women, leaving only the eyes visible. One protester shouted that the sheik of Al-Azhar — Egypt’s top Muslim cleric who backed the military’s move — was ‘‘an agent of the Christians’’ — reflecting a sentiment that the Christian minority was behind Morsi’s ouster.
See: Copting Out on This Post
In southern Egypt, Islamists attacked the main church in the city of Qena on Friday. In the town of Dabaiya near the city of Luxor, a mob torched houses of Christians, sending dozens of Christians seeking shelter in a police station. Clashes broke out Friday in at least two cities in the Nile Delta between pro- and anti-Morsi demonstrators.
The first steps for creating a post-Morsi government were taken Thursday, when Mansour, the 67-year-old chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court, was sworn in by fellow judges as interim president. A Cabinet of technocrats is to be formed to run the country for an interim period until new elections can be held — though officials have not said how long that will be. In the meantime, the Islamist-written constitution has been suspended.
On Friday, Mansour dissolved the country’s interim parliament — the upper house of the legislature, which was overwhelmingly dominated by Islamists and Morsi allies. The Shura Council, which normally does not legislate, held legislative powers under Morsi’s presidency because the lower house had been dissolved.
Mansour also named the head of General Intelligence, Rafaat Shehata, as his security adviser.
--more--"
The enigma of decoding the AmeriKan media continues:
"Violence returns to Cairo’s Tahrir Square; Sparked by anger on Brotherhood; More than 100 are hurt in clash" by Aya Batrawy and Maggie Michael | Associated Press, October 13, 2012
CAIRO — Thousands of supporters and opponents of Egypt’s new Islamist president clashed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square Friday in the first such violence since Mohammed Morsi took office more than three months ago, as liberal and secular activists erupted with anger over accusations the Muslim Brotherhood was trying to take over the country.
The two sides hurled stones and chunks of concrete and beat each other with sticks for several hours, leaving more than 100 injured, according to the state news agency.
Two buses used by the Brotherhood to bring in supporters were set aflame behind the Egyptian Museum, the repository of the country’s pharaonic antiquities, and thick black smoke billowed into the sky in scenes reminiscent of last year’s clashes between protesters against the regime of then-leader Hosni Mubarak and his backers.
The melee erupted amid two competing rallies in Tahrir. One was by liberal and secular activists to criticize Morsi’s failure to fulfill promises he had made for his first 100 days in power, the other had been called by Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood.
The clashes occurred as criticism among leftists, liberals, and secularists against Morsi has been growing since he was inaugurated more than three months ago as Egypt’s first freely elected president. Opponents accuse Morsi, the Brotherhood, and other Islamists of trying to impose their dominance and Islamize the state, including through the writing of a new constitution.
Some Egyptians are also frustrated that Morsi, a longtime Brotherhood figure, has not done more to resolve the multiple problems facing the country — from a faltering economy and fuel shortages to tenuous security and uncollected piles of garbage in the streets.
See: Egypt's Traveling Travails
Morsi boasted earlier this week in a nationally televised speech that he had carried out much of what he had promised for his first 100 days, and his supporters say he needs time in the face of overwhelming difficulties inherited from Mubarak’s authoritarian and corruption-riddled rule.
One anti-Brotherhood protester in Tahrir, Abdullah Waleed, said he had voted for Morsi in this year’s election to prevent his opponent — a longtime Mubarak loyalist — from winning.
‘‘Now I regret it because they are just two faces of the same coin,’’ Waleed said. ‘‘Morsi has done nothing for the revolution. I want to say I am so sorry for bringing in another repressive regime.’’
Violence also broke out in the industrial city of Mahalla el-Kobra, a hotbed of regime opponents and labor activists in the Nile Delta renowned for its history of revolts against Mubarak.
Protesters torched headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in the city and set fire to Morsi posters.
Days ago, liberal and leftist groups had called for Friday’s protest in Tahrir to demand accountability over Morsi’s three-month rule. They also demanded greater diversity on the panel tasked with writing Egypt’s new constitution, which is packed with Brotherhood members and other Islamists who have proposed provisions opponents say greatly suppress civil liberties.
The Brotherhood called for a separate rally to denounce the acquittals earlier this week of 24 former senior figures from Mubarak’s regime who had been accused of organizing a deadly attack on protesters during last year’s Jan. 25-Feb.11 wave of protests that led to Mubarak’s ouster.
The Brotherhood rally was to call for judicial reforms and to support a move by Morsi on Thursday to remove the prosecutor-general, who has been widely criticized for preparing shoddy cases against Mubarak-era politicians and police. Buses organized by the Brotherhood had brought in supporters from the provinces for the rally.
But the secular camp accused the Brotherhood of holding the gathering to ‘‘hijack’’ the square from their anti-Morsi protest.
The violence erupted when Morsi supporters stormed a stage set up by the rival camp, angered by chants they perceived as insults to the president. The Islamist backers smashed loudspeakers and tore the wooden stage down, witnesses said.
The uproar ensued as more supporters of the liberal-secular rally poured into the square. Young men from both sides tore up chunks of concrete and paving stones to hurl while others hit each other with sticks.
Gunshots were heard. Youths making V-for-victory signs with their hands set fire to two empty buses of the Brotherhood.
‘‘My conclusion here is that Morsi is just the president of the Brotherhood, that’s all. We are back to square one,’’ since Mubarak’s fall, said Sayed al-Hawari, who carried a plank of wood as a shield against the volleys of stones.
A liberal protester, Rania Mohsen, said, ‘‘We are here against turning the state to a Brotherhood state. . . . We do not want to replace the old regime with a new like the old one.’’
A Morsi supporter, in turn, accused the other camp of being ‘‘thugs’’ who chanted against the leader of the Brotherhood and harassed the Islamists during noon prayers in Tahrir.
‘‘We have to give Morsi a chance,’’ 19-year-old Moez Naggar said. ‘‘The more protests we have, the less we can expect from him.’’
--more--"
Also see: Egypt’s Morsi grants himself far-reaching powers
"Egypt erupts over fear of edicts; President asks for trust after taking absolute authority" by Kareem Fahim | New York Times, November 24, 2012
The two sides hurled stones and chunks of concrete and beat each other with sticks for several hours, leaving more than 100 injured, according to the state news agency.
Two buses used by the Brotherhood to bring in supporters were set aflame behind the Egyptian Museum, the repository of the country’s pharaonic antiquities, and thick black smoke billowed into the sky in scenes reminiscent of last year’s clashes between protesters against the regime of then-leader Hosni Mubarak and his backers.
The melee erupted amid two competing rallies in Tahrir. One was by liberal and secular activists to criticize Morsi’s failure to fulfill promises he had made for his first 100 days in power, the other had been called by Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood.
The clashes occurred as criticism among leftists, liberals, and secularists against Morsi has been growing since he was inaugurated more than three months ago as Egypt’s first freely elected president. Opponents accuse Morsi, the Brotherhood, and other Islamists of trying to impose their dominance and Islamize the state, including through the writing of a new constitution.
Some Egyptians are also frustrated that Morsi, a longtime Brotherhood figure, has not done more to resolve the multiple problems facing the country — from a faltering economy and fuel shortages to tenuous security and uncollected piles of garbage in the streets.
See: Egypt's Traveling Travails
Morsi boasted earlier this week in a nationally televised speech that he had carried out much of what he had promised for his first 100 days, and his supporters say he needs time in the face of overwhelming difficulties inherited from Mubarak’s authoritarian and corruption-riddled rule.
One anti-Brotherhood protester in Tahrir, Abdullah Waleed, said he had voted for Morsi in this year’s election to prevent his opponent — a longtime Mubarak loyalist — from winning.
‘‘Now I regret it because they are just two faces of the same coin,’’ Waleed said. ‘‘Morsi has done nothing for the revolution. I want to say I am so sorry for bringing in another repressive regime.’’
Violence also broke out in the industrial city of Mahalla el-Kobra, a hotbed of regime opponents and labor activists in the Nile Delta renowned for its history of revolts against Mubarak.
Protesters torched headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in the city and set fire to Morsi posters.
Days ago, liberal and leftist groups had called for Friday’s protest in Tahrir to demand accountability over Morsi’s three-month rule. They also demanded greater diversity on the panel tasked with writing Egypt’s new constitution, which is packed with Brotherhood members and other Islamists who have proposed provisions opponents say greatly suppress civil liberties.
The Brotherhood called for a separate rally to denounce the acquittals earlier this week of 24 former senior figures from Mubarak’s regime who had been accused of organizing a deadly attack on protesters during last year’s Jan. 25-Feb.11 wave of protests that led to Mubarak’s ouster.
The Brotherhood rally was to call for judicial reforms and to support a move by Morsi on Thursday to remove the prosecutor-general, who has been widely criticized for preparing shoddy cases against Mubarak-era politicians and police. Buses organized by the Brotherhood had brought in supporters from the provinces for the rally.
But the secular camp accused the Brotherhood of holding the gathering to ‘‘hijack’’ the square from their anti-Morsi protest.
The violence erupted when Morsi supporters stormed a stage set up by the rival camp, angered by chants they perceived as insults to the president. The Islamist backers smashed loudspeakers and tore the wooden stage down, witnesses said.
The uproar ensued as more supporters of the liberal-secular rally poured into the square. Young men from both sides tore up chunks of concrete and paving stones to hurl while others hit each other with sticks.
Gunshots were heard. Youths making V-for-victory signs with their hands set fire to two empty buses of the Brotherhood.
‘‘My conclusion here is that Morsi is just the president of the Brotherhood, that’s all. We are back to square one,’’ since Mubarak’s fall, said Sayed al-Hawari, who carried a plank of wood as a shield against the volleys of stones.
A liberal protester, Rania Mohsen, said, ‘‘We are here against turning the state to a Brotherhood state. . . . We do not want to replace the old regime with a new like the old one.’’
A Morsi supporter, in turn, accused the other camp of being ‘‘thugs’’ who chanted against the leader of the Brotherhood and harassed the Islamists during noon prayers in Tahrir.
‘‘We have to give Morsi a chance,’’ 19-year-old Moez Naggar said. ‘‘The more protests we have, the less we can expect from him.’’
--more--"
Also see: Egypt’s Morsi grants himself far-reaching powers
"Egypt erupts over fear of edicts; President asks for trust after taking absolute authority" by Kareem Fahim | New York Times, November 24, 2012
CAIRO — Protests erupted across Egypt on Friday, as opponents of President Mohammed Morsi clashed with his supporters on a presidential edict that gave him unchecked authority and polarized a divided nation while raising a specter, the president’s critics charged, of a return to autocracy.
In an echo of the uprising 22 months ago, thousands of protesters chanted for the downfall of Morsi’s government in Cairo, while others ransacked the offices of the president’s former party in Suez, Alexandria, and other cities.
Morsi spoke to his supporters in front of the presidential palace here, imploring the public to trust his intentions as he cast himself as a protector of the revolution and a fledgling democracy.
In a speech that was by turns defensive and conciliatory, he ultimately gave no ground to the critics who now were describing him as a pharaoh, in another echo of the insult once reserved for the deposed president, Hosni Mubarak.
“God’s will and elections made me the captain of this ship,’’ Morsi said.
The battles that raged Friday — over power, legitimacy, and the mantle of the revolution — posed a sharp challenge not only to Morsi but also to his opponents, members of secular, leftist, and liberal groups whose crippling divisions have stifled their agenda and left them unable to confront the more popular Islamist movement led by the Muslim Brotherhood.
The crisis over his power grab came just days after the Islamist leader won international praise, including from the United States, for his pragmatism for brokering a truce between Hamas and Israel.
On Friday, the State Department expressed muted concern over Morsi’s decision.
“One of the aspirations of the revolution was to ensure that power would not be overly concentrated in the hands of any one person or institution,’’ said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
‘‘The current constitutional vacuum in Egypt can only be resolved by the adoption of a constitution that includes checks and balances, and respects fundamental freedoms, individual rights and the rule of law consistent with Egypt’s international commitments,” she said.
But the White House was notably silent after it had extolled the emerging relationship between President Obama and Morsi earlier this week and credited a series of phone calls between the two men with helping to mediate the cease-fire in Gaza.
That was before they decided to cut him loose.
For Morsi, who seemed to be saying to the nation that it needed to surrender the last checks on his power in order to save democracy from Mubarak-era judges, the challenge was to convince Egyptians that the ends justified his means.
But even as he tried, thousands of protesters marched to condemn his decision. Clashes broke out between the president’s supporters and his critics, and near Tahrir Square, the riot police fired tear gas and bird shot as protesters hurled stones and set fires.
Since Thursday, when Morsi issued the decree, the president and his supporters have argued that he acted precisely to gain the power to address the complaints of his critics, including the families of protesters killed during the uprising and its aftermath.
By placing his decisions above judicial review, the decree enabled him to replace a public prosecutor who had failed to win convictions against senior officers implicated in the killings of protesters.
The president and his supporters also argued that the decree insulated the Constituent Assembly, which is drafting the constitution, from meddling by Mubarak-era judges.
Since Mubarak’s ouster, the courts have dissolved Parliament, kept a Mubarak loyalist as top prosecutor, and disbanded the first Assembly.
But by ending legal appeals, the decree also removed a safety valve for critics who say the Islamist majority is dominating the drafting of the constitution.
Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement he once helped lead, both frustrated with their inability to build consensus, have been accused of conveniently dismissing critics of all types as loyalists of the former government.
In an interview this month, Essam el-Erian, the vice chairman of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, said as much, asserting that the ‘‘the majority’’ of secular or liberal opposition figures were in fact Mubarak loyalists.
Morsi was more forgiving of the opposition Friday, saying he wanted a ‘‘real opposition with awareness’’ while raising the specter of meddling by foreign enemies and a ‘‘few’’ Mubarak loyalists.
Another article in Morsi’s decree, that gives him broad powers to confront unspecified threats — including to ‘‘the revolution’’ — has played into decades-old fears of the Brotherhood as an insular, authoritarian movement shaped by decades as an underground secret society.
But Morsi may have miscalculated the public’s support for the courts, which include judges seen as independent and who have taken stands against both Mubarak and the Muslim Brotherhood.
In Tahrir Square on Friday, derision for the Brotherhood and Morsi’s edicts was widespread. The Brotherhoods’ members were called US agents by one group of chanters, and fundamentalists bent on turning Egypt into Afghanistan by another.
I don't believe that.
One sign melded Morsi’s face with a youthful picture of Mubarak. “Mohammed Morsi Mubarak,’’ it said....
It's the same old cast of characters, too.
In an echo of the uprising 22 months ago, thousands of protesters chanted for the downfall of Morsi’s government in Cairo, while others ransacked the offices of the president’s former party in Suez, Alexandria, and other cities.
Morsi spoke to his supporters in front of the presidential palace here, imploring the public to trust his intentions as he cast himself as a protector of the revolution and a fledgling democracy.
In a speech that was by turns defensive and conciliatory, he ultimately gave no ground to the critics who now were describing him as a pharaoh, in another echo of the insult once reserved for the deposed president, Hosni Mubarak.
“God’s will and elections made me the captain of this ship,’’ Morsi said.
The battles that raged Friday — over power, legitimacy, and the mantle of the revolution — posed a sharp challenge not only to Morsi but also to his opponents, members of secular, leftist, and liberal groups whose crippling divisions have stifled their agenda and left them unable to confront the more popular Islamist movement led by the Muslim Brotherhood.
The crisis over his power grab came just days after the Islamist leader won international praise, including from the United States, for his pragmatism for brokering a truce between Hamas and Israel.
On Friday, the State Department expressed muted concern over Morsi’s decision.
“One of the aspirations of the revolution was to ensure that power would not be overly concentrated in the hands of any one person or institution,’’ said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
‘‘The current constitutional vacuum in Egypt can only be resolved by the adoption of a constitution that includes checks and balances, and respects fundamental freedoms, individual rights and the rule of law consistent with Egypt’s international commitments,” she said.
But the White House was notably silent after it had extolled the emerging relationship between President Obama and Morsi earlier this week and credited a series of phone calls between the two men with helping to mediate the cease-fire in Gaza.
That was before they decided to cut him loose.
For Morsi, who seemed to be saying to the nation that it needed to surrender the last checks on his power in order to save democracy from Mubarak-era judges, the challenge was to convince Egyptians that the ends justified his means.
But even as he tried, thousands of protesters marched to condemn his decision. Clashes broke out between the president’s supporters and his critics, and near Tahrir Square, the riot police fired tear gas and bird shot as protesters hurled stones and set fires.
Since Thursday, when Morsi issued the decree, the president and his supporters have argued that he acted precisely to gain the power to address the complaints of his critics, including the families of protesters killed during the uprising and its aftermath.
By placing his decisions above judicial review, the decree enabled him to replace a public prosecutor who had failed to win convictions against senior officers implicated in the killings of protesters.
The president and his supporters also argued that the decree insulated the Constituent Assembly, which is drafting the constitution, from meddling by Mubarak-era judges.
Since Mubarak’s ouster, the courts have dissolved Parliament, kept a Mubarak loyalist as top prosecutor, and disbanded the first Assembly.
But by ending legal appeals, the decree also removed a safety valve for critics who say the Islamist majority is dominating the drafting of the constitution.
Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement he once helped lead, both frustrated with their inability to build consensus, have been accused of conveniently dismissing critics of all types as loyalists of the former government.
In an interview this month, Essam el-Erian, the vice chairman of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, said as much, asserting that the ‘‘the majority’’ of secular or liberal opposition figures were in fact Mubarak loyalists.
Morsi was more forgiving of the opposition Friday, saying he wanted a ‘‘real opposition with awareness’’ while raising the specter of meddling by foreign enemies and a ‘‘few’’ Mubarak loyalists.
Another article in Morsi’s decree, that gives him broad powers to confront unspecified threats — including to ‘‘the revolution’’ — has played into decades-old fears of the Brotherhood as an insular, authoritarian movement shaped by decades as an underground secret society.
But Morsi may have miscalculated the public’s support for the courts, which include judges seen as independent and who have taken stands against both Mubarak and the Muslim Brotherhood.
In Tahrir Square on Friday, derision for the Brotherhood and Morsi’s edicts was widespread. The Brotherhoods’ members were called US agents by one group of chanters, and fundamentalists bent on turning Egypt into Afghanistan by another.
I don't believe that.
One sign melded Morsi’s face with a youthful picture of Mubarak. “Mohammed Morsi Mubarak,’’ it said....
It's the same old cast of characters, too.
-more--"
Egypt’s government shows rift over Morsi decree
Egypt’s president appears to retreat on power edict
Still not good enough.
200,000 protest Mohammed Morsi in Egypt
Tuesday’s turnout was an unprecedented show of strength by the mainly liberal and secular opposition, which has been divided and uncertain amid the rise to power of the Brotherhood over the past year. The crowds were of all stripes, including many first-time protesters."
Agenda-pushing press just glowing about these protests!
Chaos in Egypt as courts strike
The dueling marked an escalation in a two-front war pitting Egypt’s Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, against the country’s courts on one side against a galvanized opposition in the streets and on the other that drew hundreds of thousands of Egyptians to Tahrir Square a day earlier in the biggest demonstration against Morsi since his election in June. The uproar was set off by Morsi’s attempt six days ago to declare his own edicts above judicial scrutiny and thus eliminate the last check on his power until the approval of a new constitution."
The dueling marked an escalation in a two-front war pitting Egypt’s Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, against the country’s courts on one side against a galvanized opposition in the streets and on the other that drew hundreds of thousands of Egyptians to Tahrir Square a day earlier in the biggest demonstration against Morsi since his election in June. The uproar was set off by Morsi’s attempt six days ago to declare his own edicts above judicial scrutiny and thus eliminate the last check on his power until the approval of a new constitution."
Mohammed Morsi hails start of new republic in Egypt
Hussein Abdel-Ghani, a leading figure in the National Salvation Front, said Morsi was aiming to assuage the United States.
Hussein Abdel-Ghani, a leading figure in the National Salvation Front, said Morsi was aiming to assuage the United States.
Egypt to investigate top critics on treason claims
They would include Mohammed ElBaradei, Amr Moussa, and Hamdeen Sabahi.
They would include Mohammed ElBaradei, Amr Moussa, and Hamdeen Sabahi.
Cairo activist may have been targeted
"Inquiry launched against popular Egypt TV host; Accused of jabs at Morsi in case testing freedoms" by Aya Batrawy | Associated Press, January 02, 2013
"Inquiry launched against popular Egypt TV host; Accused of jabs at Morsi in case testing freedoms" by Aya Batrawy | Associated Press, January 02, 2013
CAIRO — Egyptian prosecutors launched an investigation on Tuesday against a popular television satirist for allegedly insulting the president in the latest case raised by Islamist lawyers against outspoken media personalities.
A lawyer, Ramadan Abdel-Hamid al-Oqsori, accused Bassem Youssef, a TV host, of insulting President Mohammed Morsi by putting the Islamist leader’s image on a pillow and parodying his speeches.
The case against Youssef comes as opposition media and independent journalists are increasingly worried about press freedoms under a new constitution widely supported by Morsi and his Islamist allies.
Other cases have been brought against media personalities who have criticized the president. Some of the cases have ended with charges being dropped. Morsi’s office maintains that the president has nothing to do with legal procedures against media critics.
On Tuesday, the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, one of Egypt’s most widely circulated newspapers, said Morsi’s office filed a complaint accusing it of ‘‘circulating false news likely to disturb public peace and public security and affect the administration.’’
The paper had published a report earlier this week attributed to sources saying that Morsi was due to visit the hospital where the ousted president, Hosni Mubarak, is receiving treatment after being injured in prison. Mubarak is serving a life sentence for failing to stop the killing of nearly 900 protesters during the uprising against him.
A visit by Morsi would have inflamed public anger. The paper later updated the story to say that Morsi’s wife had visited a relative in that hospital. The paper said a reporter and an editor were interrogated.
A local committee of journalists and editors has called for stronger guarantees of press freedoms and a rejection of the current constitution, fearing it allows for jailing journalists under broadly-worded articles regarding media offenses.
Authorities ordered the closure of TV station ‘‘Al-Fareen’’ last summer after bringing its owner, Tawfiq Okasha, to trial for scathing attacks against Morsi and his Brotherhood group. Okasha had emerged as one of the most popular TV personalities of post-Mubarak Egypt by railing against the uprising that toppled Mubarak’s 29-year rule in February 2011.
Another prominent case was directed at the editor of a prominent opposition newspaper, al-Dustour, who has since stepped down. He went on trial briefly on charges of ‘‘spreading lies’’ and fabricating news.
That's what AmeriKan newspapers do.
That's what AmeriKan newspapers do.
Youssef, a doctor, catapulted to fame when his video blogs mocking politics received hundreds of thousands of hits shortly after the 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak.
Youssef’s program is modeled after Jon Stewart’s ‘‘The Daily Show,’’ where he has appeared as a guest.
Unlike other local TV hosts, Youssef uses satire to mock fiery comments made by ultraconservative clerics and politicians, garnering him a legion of fans among the country’s revolutionaries and liberals.
And cut for the web version?
"Also Tuesday, police said they arrested a suspect in a shooting that seriously wounded a protester in Cairo's central Tahrir Square, where an open-ended sit-in protesting the Morsi regime is taking place.
According to witnesses, before dawn on Monday, gunmen shot and wounded 19-year-old Muhanad Samir, who has said he was jailed and tortured under Egypt's former ruling military council after he witnessed the killing of another activist.
What else I found:
Lawyers say the attacked appeared to target Samir, who is battling for his life with pellets embedded in his head.
Security officials dismiss allegations Samir was the victim of a political assassination. On Tuesday, they said they arrested the owner of a cafe in downtown Cairo who told police that he fired on the square after people manning makeshift checkpoints there searched his car and shot at him."
Related: Popular Egyptian satirist released after questioning
Maybe it was Morsi's mouth that got him in trouble:
"US rebukes Morsi for ’10 comments on Jews" Associated Press, January 16, 2013
"US rebukes Morsi for ’10 comments on Jews" Associated Press, January 16, 2013
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration gave a blistering review Tuesday of remarks that President Mohammed Morsi of Egypt made almost three years ago about Jews and called for him to repudiate what it called unacceptable rhetoric.
In blunt comments, the White House and State Department said Morsi’s statements were ‘‘deeply offensive’’ and ran counter to the goal of peace in the region. The State Department, noting that a senior congressional delegation is now visiting Egypt, said the remarks complicated efforts to provide economic and military aid to Egypt.
‘‘We believe that President Morsi should make clear that he respects people of all faiths and that this type of rhetoric is unacceptable in a democratic Egypt,’’ White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
Wow, my government really is a slave for Israel.
So free speech is unacceptable in a democracy, 'eh?
Wow, my government really is a slave for Israel.
So free speech is unacceptable in a democracy, 'eh?
Morsi was a leader in the Muslim Brotherhood in 2010 when, according to video broadcast last week on Egyptian television, he asked Egyptians to ‘‘nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred.’’ Months later, in a television interview, Morsi referred to Zionists as bloodsuckers who attack Palestinians, describing Zionists as ‘‘the descendants of apes and pigs.’’
Are you sure it was translated right because we have had that problem before.
Are you sure it was translated right because we have had that problem before.
‘‘We completely reject these statements as we do any language that espouses religious hatred,’’ State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. ‘‘This kind of rhetoric has been used in this region for far too long. It’s counter to the goals of peace.’’
A group of senators, including John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, and Christopher Coons of Delaware, is in Cairo. Nuland said she expected they would make their views known to Egypt’s leadership.
Morsi’s remarks and the Obama administration’s rebuke marked a new point of tension in the complex relationship between the United States and Egypt’s fledgling democracy.
Since being elected in June 2012 in the aftermath of the revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak, Morsi has promised to abide by Egypt’s decades-old peace treaty with Israel.
That's why USrael put up with him for so long.
Morsi was also instrumental in facilitating a cease-fire in November between Israel and Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip, despite his refusal to speak directly with Israeli officials.
That's why USrael put up with him for so long.
Morsi was also instrumental in facilitating a cease-fire in November between Israel and Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip, despite his refusal to speak directly with Israeli officials.
--more--"
"Spokesman for Morsi explains Egypt leader’s remarks" by David D. Kirkpatrick | New York Times, January 17, 2013
CAIRO — A spokesman for President Mohammed Morsi said Wednesday that inflammatory comments that he made about Jews before taking office had been intended as criticism of Israeli policies toward the Palestinians but had been taken out of context. The spokesman said that Morsi respected all monotheistic religions and religious freedom.
I'm not surprised.
I'm not surprised.
It was Morsi’s first public response to reports that as a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood he had made anti-Semitic statements about Jews and Zionists.
So what? Zionists are assholes.
A recently resurfaced video of a speech that Morsi gave at a rally in his hometown in the Nile Delta nearly three years ago shows him urging his listeners ‘‘to nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred for them: for Zionists, for Jews.’’ Ina television interview he gave the same year, Morsi criticized Zionists in recognizably anti-Semitic terms, as ‘‘these bloodsuckers who attack the Palestinians, these warmongers, the descendants of apes and pigs.’’
So what? Zionists are assholes.
A recently resurfaced video of a speech that Morsi gave at a rally in his hometown in the Nile Delta nearly three years ago shows him urging his listeners ‘‘to nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred for them: for Zionists, for Jews.’’ Ina television interview he gave the same year, Morsi criticized Zionists in recognizably anti-Semitic terms, as ‘‘these bloodsuckers who attack the Palestinians, these warmongers, the descendants of apes and pigs.’’
Both sets of comments were reported this week in The New York Times....
I guess this is when they turned on him.
I guess this is when they turned on him.
On Wednesday, Morsi was confronted about the remarks by a visiting delegation of six US senators led by John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island.
Yasser Ali, the Morsi spokesman, said Wednesday night that Morsi had told the delegation that the comments were meant as criticism of the ‘‘racist’’ policies of the Israeli government, not as insults to Jews.
“President Morsi assured the delegation that the broadcast comments were taken out of an address against the Israeli aggression against Gaza,’’ Ali said....
After the meeting, the senators declined to characterize Morsi’s response, but they appeared to feel he had addressed the issue. The senators emphasized their support for Egypt’s transition to democracy and will press Congress to provide financial aid and urge US businesses to invest in Egypt.
‘‘The Egyptian people are going to have to showcase your best behavior,’’ said another senator, Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina.
Like they are children?
It's an ancient country and civilization. Talk about CONDESCENDING!
Like they are children?
It's an ancient country and civilization. Talk about CONDESCENDING!
"Egypt’s president dismisses early vote; Headquarters of group opposing Morsi is torched" by Maggie Michael and Tony G. Gabriel | Associated Press, June 08, 2013
CAIRO — Clashes erupted Friday evening in downtown Cairo between security forces and members of the Black Bloc, a group of young masked men opposed to president Morsi’s rule. Protesters hurled stones at the Central Security forces who fired back tear gas, according to the MENA State news agency.
Black Bloc = Mossad
Sorry.
Violence has become a common feature of politics in Egypt....
West doesn't like Morsi.
In a four-page interview with the state-run Al-Ahram daily ahead of the anniversary, Morsi said demands for an early presidential vote are both ‘‘absurd and illegal.’’ He also warned against violence during upcoming demonstrations, which the opposition plans for the anniversary to demand his ouster.
‘‘Violating the law, the use of violence, or inciting for it are unacceptable and will not be permitted,’’ Morsi told the paper on Friday. ‘‘We are in a country with a constitution and law. We had free and fair elections and the talk about early presidential elections is absurd and illegal.’’
The lengthy interview was a throwback to Mubarak’s era when the paper served as a government mouthpiece, glorifying the regime’s perceived successes and never challenging authorities.
I'm so sick of pot-hollering-kettle crap media.
Related:
Six Zionist Companies Own 96% of the World's Media
Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed
Operation Mockingbird
Why Am I No Longer Reading the Newspaper?
And now you see why I think the way I do when reading an AmeriKan jewspaper.
Before dawn Friday, attackers stormed and partially torched the downtown Cairo headquarters of a volunteer youth group running a petition calling for Morsi’s removal from power.
The drive, known as ‘‘Tamarod’’ or ‘‘Rebel’’ in Arabic, is helping galvanize an opposition that has long been in disarray and demoralized....
The hallmark of an INTEL OPERATION!
--more--"
"Riot police and protesters clash in Egypt; As ex security chief faces trial, violence erupts" by Aya Batrawy | Associated Press, January 20, 2013
CAIRO — Riot police fired tear gas Saturday to disperse dozens of demonstrators throwing rocks outside an Alexandria courthouse where the city’s former security director and other officers are on trial for killing protesters during Egypt’s 2011 uprising.
The confrontation comes a week before the country marks the second anniversary of the revolt that ousted longtime autocratic ruler, Hosni Mubarak, and highlights the frustration expressed by many about the pace of reform.
Alexandria’s former security director Mohammed Ibrahim is on trial along with five police officers accused of using excessive violence to put down the 18-day revolt. In Alexandria, as elsewhere in Egypt, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets during the past two years to demand ‘‘qisas’’ — Arabic for retribution — for those killed in clashes with security forces.
Relatives of those killed say they have little confidence in the justice system or police inquiries.
‘‘It is one long chain of corruption,’’ said Ramadan Ahmed, whose 16-year-old son Mohammed was fatally shot in clashes outside an Alexandria police station.
Since Mubarak was ousted Feb. 11, 2011, nearly 100 police officers have been brought to trial on charges of killing and wounding protesters, although all were acquitted or received suspended sentences.
Ahmed said he thinks the judiciary and security forces remain loyal to the former regime.
It's pretty damn obvious.
It's pretty damn obvious.
‘‘No one alive will get their rights until these people who died do,’’ he said
The clashes Saturday erupted as human rights activists and relatives of those killed in Alexandria protested outside the courtroom. Most of their slogans focused on the police but it was not immediately clear how the violence began. At least three protesters and three riot police required medical care for tear gas inhalation and injuries from flying rocks, witnesses and state media said.
Later in the day, clashes erupted again....
Out of around 900 people killed nationwide in the anti-Mubarak protests, some 300 were reportedly killed in Alexandria during the revolt. Mubarak and the former interior minister were sentenced to life in prison for failing to stop the killings, and were granted a retrial this month.
Related: Sunday Globe Specials: Mubarak Makes an Appearance
Related: Sunday Globe Specials: Mubarak Makes an Appearance
Ahmed said the loss of his son still shocks the family and has taken a toll on him.
‘‘Imagine spending 18 years wanting a son and finally having Mohammed,’’ said the retired naval officer.
Like others who lost loved ones during the uprising, Ahmed said he voted for President Mohammed Morsi, who had been imprisoned under Mubarak for his activities with the then-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group. Ahmed said he met with Morsi after he was elected last summer in the nation’s first free presidential vote.
‘‘I told him there must be justice for my son. He took the picture of Mohammed and another boy from Suez and kissed it. He asked to keep the pictures and was clearly affected.’’
In another case involving protesters, an Egyptian criminal court on Saturday invoked a presidential amnesty and dismissed charges against 379 people accused of taking part in deadly clashes with police.
The charges stem from nearly two weeks of street fighting on downtown Cairo’s Mohammed Mahmoud street in November 2011 that left 42 people dead.
Young protesters, mostly die-hard soccer fans known as Ultras, led demonstrations against police near the Interior Ministry and Tahrir Square, the hub of Cairo’s activist movement. They were demanding a timetable for the military officers who were then ruling the country to hand over power and hold presidential elections.
Since the revolt, security lapses and a weakening of police powers has left many feeling more vulnerable, particularly the country’s Coptic Christian minority.
Web adder:
On Saturday, police said they arrested seven suspected of attacking stores owned by Christians in the southern village of Marashda, in Qena province. Several shops were torched early Friday when word spread that a Christian villager had sexually assaulted a 6-year-old girl. State prosecutors ordered the young girl to be given a physical examination as part of the investigation.
--more--"
"Clashes in Egypt on eve of uprising anniversary" by MAGGIE MICHAEL | Associated Press, January 25, 2013
CAIRO — Egyptian riot police fired tear gas and clashed all day Thursday with dozens of protesters as they tried to tear down a concrete wall built to prevent demonstrators from reaching the Parliament and the Cabinet building in central Cairo. Some in the crowd threw rocks and Molotov cocktails.
The violence came on the eve of the second anniversary of Egypt’s uprising that toppled longtime authoritarian President Hosni Mubarak. Three weeks of mass protests that erupted on Jan. 25, 2011, eventually forced Mubarak out of office.
Since then, Egypt has under gone a tumultuous transition under the interim leadership of military generals until the election last June of Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood group. His first six months in office were marked by political tensions, street clashes, and an economic crunch that sapped his popularity.
Thursday’s clashes, which left dozens injured, may foreshadow a violent anniversary on Friday, when youth activists and opposition groups have called for large rallies in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and in front of the presidential palace in the upscale Heliopolis suburb.
Die-hard fans of Egypt’s most popular soccer team, Ahly, took part in the clashes, warned in a statement, ‘‘the price of blood is blood,’’ in reference to the deaths of many of their friends last year in a violent rampage at a soccer game that left 74 dead.
The group is also calling for mass protests on Jan. 26, the day a court is expected to rule in a trial of security officials related to the soccer deaths, one of the world’s bloodiest instances of violence at a sports event.
On Tuesday, in an attempt to assuage anger, Morsi said the victims will be considered ‘‘martyrs,’’ which meant that their families will receive compensations like those killed in the uprising against Mubarak.
The same day, Egypt’s prosecutor general, a Morsi appointee, asked the court to give more time for the prosecutor to introduce new findings and new defendants before issuing its verdict, in what was seen as another move to postpone the verdict and avoid street violence by the soccer fans.
On Wednesday, the fans held a sit-in in front of Egypt’s stock market, briefly blocked a highway, and set up tents in Tahrir Square. The group has been at odds with police, and it played a key role in the uprising.
"Egypt orders crackdown after weekend’s turmoil; Curfew, state of emergency for Suez Canal area" by Hamza Hendawi | Associated Press, January 28, 2013
CAIRO — President Mohammed Morsi declared a state of emergency and curfew on Sunday in three Suez Canal provinces hit hardest by a weekend wave of unrest that left more than 50 people dead.
Adopting tactics used by of the ousted regime of Hosni Mubarak, Morsi vowed to end the violent protests over his Islamist policies and the slow pace of change.
Angry and almost screaming, Morsi said in a televised address Sunday night that he would not hesitate to take even more action to stem the latest eruption of violence across much of the country. But at the same time, he sought to reassure Egyptians that his latest moves would not plunge the country back into authoritarianism....
Before Morsi’s announcement, a prominent Islamist leader delivered a thinly veiled warning Sunday that Islamist groups would set up militia-like vigilante groups to protect public and state property against attacks.
Speaking at a news conference, Tareq el-Zomr of the once-jihadist Gamaa Islamiya, said: ‘‘If security forces don’t achieve security, it will be the right of the Egyptian people and we at the forefront to set up popular committees to protect private and public property and counter the aggression on innocent citizens.’’
The threat by Zomr was accompanied by his charge that the mostly secular and liberal opposition was responsible for the deadly violence of the past few days, setting the stage for possible bloody clashes between protesters and Islamist militiamen. The opposition denies the charge.
In his address Sunday night, Morsi also invited the nation’s political forces to a dialogue starting Monday to resolve the country’s latest crisis. A statement issued later by his office said that among those invited were the country’s top reform leader, Nobel peace Laureate Mohammed ElBaradei; former Arab League chief Amr Moussa; and Hamdeen Sabahi, a leftist politician who finished third in last year’s presidential race.
The three are leaders of the National Salvation Front, an umbrella for the main opposition parties.
Khaled Dawoud, the group’s spokesman, said Morsi’s invitation was meaningless unless he clearly states what is on the agenda. That, he added, must include amending a disputed constitution hurriedly drafted by the president’s Islamist allies and rejected by the opposition.
Related: This Constitutes a Post About Egypt
He also faulted the president for not acknowledging his political responsibility for the latest bout of political violence. ‘‘It is all too little too late,’’ he said.
It is getting late, yeah.
In many ways, Morsi’s decree and his call for a dialogue betrayed his despair in the face of wave after wave of political unrest, violence, and man-made disasters that, at times, made the country look like it was about to come unglued.
Morsi, who has been in office since June, was a relative unknown until his Muslim Brotherhood nominated him to run for president last year.
He is widely criticized for having offered no vision for the country’s future after nearly 30 years of dictatorship under Mubarak and no coherent policy to tackle seemingly endless problems, from a free-falling economy and deeply entrenched social injustices to surging crime and chaos on the streets....
Hard to when you don't control anything.
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Related:
"Representatives from across Egypt’s political spectrum held a rare meeting Thursday to denounce violence, hours before a fresh call for a new wave of mass protests across the country aimed at pressuring President Mohammed Morsi, an Islamist, to accept opposition demands to form a national government and amend the constitution....
The meeting sparked angry reaction from activists and youth groups who accused the liberal opposition of making political compromises despite bloodshed. Security forces continued to clash with rock-throwing protesters in downtown Cairo for an eighth day. And Egyptian authorities continued a wave of arrests and kidnappings of protesters, including members of the Black Bloc who wear black masks and vow to ‘‘defend the revolution’’ from Islamists. Hundreds of protesters were arrested during the past week....
Well, we know whose interests they represent.
--more--"
Related:
Protesters and police clash at gates to palace in Egypt
Egypt’s security police and protesters clash
Islamists rally in Cairo against opposition
Sure are a lot of them.
"Egyptian opposition denounces elections; Morsi sets vote to begin in April" by Aya Batrawy and Sara El Deeb | Associated Press, February 23, 2013
CAIRO — Egypt’s president set parliamentary elections to begin in April — a decision that an opposition leader denounced Friday as “a recipe for disaster” because of the ongoing political turmoil in the country.
About 15,000 people took to the streets in the Suez Canal city of Port Said to demonstrate against President Mohammed Morsi, hanging effigies of him in the main square. Residents have been on a general strike for six days, demanding punishment for what they considered a heavy-handed police crackdown during unrest in the city....
Related:
Egypt soccer protests hit restive Suez Canal city
Egyptian protesters demand answers on civilian deaths
Morsi's "heavy hand."
The upheaval has scared foreign investors and dried up tourism, both crucial foreign currency earners that helped the government pay for subsidized goods needed by the poor for survival.
That's why they got rid of him, not any of these other bullshit reasons they trot out.
But Mohamed ElBaradei, who leads one of the main opposition groups, the National Salvation Front, wrote on his Twitter account Friday....
Tool who I once thought was good man, but he allowed Iraq to happen and now he's involved in this.
The National Salvation Front accuses Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood supporters of monopolizing power and reneging on promises to set up an inclusive government that brings far-reaching reforms.
The opposition has called for amending articles in a new constitution that passed in a nationwide referendum. It also demands the resignation of the current technocrat Cabinet appointed by Morsi that includes eight Brotherhood ministers and other Islamists.
Morsi took over as president in June 2012 with the help of opposition groups and Islamists who voted against his rival, a former Mubarak-era prime minister. Morsi’s popularity haseroded due to power-grabbing decrees issued last year that allowed supporters to rush the constitution to a vote before a high court packed with Mubarak appointees could disband the process.
The vote took place during massive street protests against Morsi and the Islamist-led body that drafted the charter. It passed by 64 percent amid low turnout and a boycott by thousands of overseeing judges.
On the second anniversary of the Jan. 25 uprising, anger spilled out onto the streets and violence again engulfed the nation....
Staged.
Factory workers, activists, and laborers have held street rallies that brought Port Said, on the northern tip of the Suez Canal, to a halt, although shipping in the international waterway has not been affected....
If it ever is there WILL be an INVASION!
In Cairo, the opposition party led by former Mubarak rival Ayman Nour said its offices were torched and stormed by masked gunmen Friday. Speaking to the state-run Ahram Arabic website, the group said the men stole documents and videotapes before setting it ablaze.
Are you sure it wasn't the Black Bloc?
The Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party was undeterred by criticism of Morsi’s election announcement. The party’s deputy, Essam el-Erian, was quoted on the group’s Facebook page as saying that he hopes the upcoming Parliament will be diverse and include Islamists, liberals, and leftists.
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Related:
Egypt opposition leader calls for election boycott
"Political analysts and opposition leaders have speculated that the liberals’ chances of making significant gains at the ballot box were already slim; opposition leaders have been unable to overcome deep internal divisions over policies and goals or remedy poor organization. Without the liberals on the ballot, analysts said, Islamists from Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood and more hard-line Salafist political parties will sweep the elections."
Won't have to worry about it:
Egyptian court suspends April parliamentary elections
"Islamist backers, supporters clash in Cairo streets; Rally centers on protest of courts" by Sarah el Deeb and Maggie Michael | Associated Press, April 20, 2013
CAIRO — Supporters and opponents of Egypt’s Islamist president battled in the streets near Tahrir Square on Friday as an Islamist rally demanding a purge of the judiciary devolved into violence.
The rally centered on a contentious aspect of the country’s deep political polarization — the courts. Islamist backers of President Mohammed Morsi say the judiciary is infused with former regime loyalists who are blocking his policies, while opponents fear Islamists want to take over the courts and get rid of secular-minded judges to consolidate the Muslim Brotherhood’s power.
Related: Egypt court deals blow to government
Related: Egypt court deals blow to government
But beyond the specific issues, the scenes of youths from both sides waving homemade pistols and beating one another with sticks illustrated how entrenched violence has become in Egypt’s political crisis. In recent weeks, several marches and rallies by the country’s various camps have devolved into street battles, fueling the bitterness on all sides.
Thousands of Morsi supporters — mostly backers of the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist hard-liners — held rallies Friday outside the High Court building in Cairo and in the coastal city of Alexandria, demanding the ‘‘cleansing of the judiciary.’’
The marches appeared aimed at presenting Islamists’ actions on the courts as a popular ‘‘demand of the revolution.’’ Islamist lawmakers who dominate the legislature have announced plans to begin debating a bill regulating the judiciary, presenting it as aimed at ensuring the independence of courts they contend are dominated by supporters of ousted leader Hosni Mubarak.
But opponents believe the Islamists aim to remove judges and install new ones who support their agenda....
Well, they did win election.
Well, they did win election.
‘‘Go for it Morsi and we are behind you. Cleanse the judiciary,’’ thousands of Islamists chanted outside the High Court building. Some, mainly followers of ultraconservative cleric Hazem Abu Ismail, waved black Islamic flags.
As some Islamists moved toward Cairo’s Tahrir Square, they were met by anti-Morsi youths a few blocks from the square, some of them in black masks.
Black Bloc!
It was not clear who started the clashes, but it led to both sides pelting each other with stones and firing gunshots. One bus was set on fire. The sound of birdshot cracked through the air in the clashes, and tear gas was fired — even though there were no police nearby.
Black Bloc!
It was not clear who started the clashes, but it led to both sides pelting each other with stones and firing gunshots. One bus was set on fire. The sound of birdshot cracked through the air in the clashes, and tear gas was fired — even though there were no police nearby.
Some of the masked youths and Islamists were seen with homemade pistols. Others wielded iron bars and tree branches and broke up street pavements to throw the chunks of asphalt and concrete. More than 80 people were injured, according to the state news agency MENA.
Amid the battles, Islamists were seen dragging rivals to the ground and beating them.
Ahmed Hamdi, a Muslim Brotherhood supporter at the scene, blamed the anti-Morsi protesters for the violence, calling them ‘‘thugs’’ and saying they set the bus on fire.
‘‘The whole story is they see that Islamists are now in power. They can’t swallow this, that Islamists rule them. It’s a battle with the old regime,’’ he said....
Related: Mohammed Morsi warns opponents after violence
Of course, Morsi backs off without getting credit because "the courts are the sole branch of government not under the dominance of Morsi's Islamist allies."
Yeah, right, them and "the police force, once a frightening and powerful underpinning of Mubarak’s rule, has been accused by rights activists of carrying out the same brutal tactics under Morsi."
Of course, the opposition won't discuss reconciliation, and does that ever smell like the Syrian insurgents.
As for the military:
"Egypt investigates military rulers in protest deaths" by Sarah el Deeb | Associated Press, October 16, 2012
CAIRO — Egypt launched an investigation Monday of the country’s former military rulers and their alleged role in the killing of protesters during their 18 months in power, an unprecedented civilian probe into the affairs of an army that has traditionally shielded itself from outside scrutiny.
International and local rights groups have pressed Egypt’s newly elected president to hold to account the council of military officers who ruled the country from the February 2011 overthrow of Hosni Mubarak to this summer. At least 120 protesters died in clashes with security forces and soldiers during this time.
A court official said Judge Tharwat Hamad is leading the investigation of accusations against Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, and the other generals who sat on the body that ran Egypt during the 18-month transitional period. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
But investigation is up against what rights groups call the military’s culture of impunity, as well as a decree passed by the military council before giving up power that protects members from civilian investigation even after they are out of service.
Some lawyers have questioned whether civilian investigators will be able to take key steps like summoning the generals for questioning.
Hamad might be able to find a legal way around the ban, for example, summoning the generals in their capacity as political leaders at the time. But lawyers like Basma Zahran — who represented the families of some of the 26 Coptic Christian protesters killed in an October 2011 march — are skeptical that he will do so....
--more--"
International and local rights groups have pressed Egypt’s newly elected president to hold to account the council of military officers who ruled the country from the February 2011 overthrow of Hosni Mubarak to this summer. At least 120 protesters died in clashes with security forces and soldiers during this time.
A court official said Judge Tharwat Hamad is leading the investigation of accusations against Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, and the other generals who sat on the body that ran Egypt during the 18-month transitional period. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
But investigation is up against what rights groups call the military’s culture of impunity, as well as a decree passed by the military council before giving up power that protects members from civilian investigation even after they are out of service.
Some lawyers have questioned whether civilian investigators will be able to take key steps like summoning the generals for questioning.
Hamad might be able to find a legal way around the ban, for example, summoning the generals in their capacity as political leaders at the time. But lawyers like Basma Zahran — who represented the families of some of the 26 Coptic Christian protesters killed in an October 2011 march — are skeptical that he will do so....
--more--"
"Video of police beating stokes anger in Egypt; 1 protester killed, 90 are injured as thousands march" by Aya Batrawy | Associated Press, February 03, 2013
CAIRO — Egypt’s interior minister vowed Saturday to investigate the beating of a near-naked man by riot police, an attack that threatened to further inflame popular anger against security forces, but suggested that initial results absolve the police of direct abuse.
These are the same folks the protesters are now cheering?
The beating was caught on camera and broadcast on television late Friday as protests raged in the streets outside the presidential palace. Video showed police trying to bundle the naked man into a police van after beating him.
Less than 24 hours after the incident, several thousand antigovernment demonstrators marched again on the palace Saturday, denouncing the police and Islamist President Mohammed Morsi after a week of violent protests that claimed more than 60 lives nationwide.
Speaking to reporters after Friday’s beating, Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim said that initial results from the public prosecutor’s investigation show that 48-year-old Hamada Saber was undressed by ‘‘rioters’’ during skirmishes between police and protesters.
He was then hit in the foot by birdshot, the interior minister said, stopping short of saying if the injury was a result of police firing into the crowds.
‘‘The central security forces then found him lying on the ground and tried to put him in an armored vehicle, though the way in which they did that was excessive,’’ said Ibrahim.
In the footage from Friday, at least seven black-clad riot police beat Saber, whose pants are down around his ankles, with sticks before dragging him along the muddy pavement and tossing him into a police van.
The beating occurred as thousands of protesters chanted against Morsi, throwing firebombs and firing flares at the presidential palace as police pumped volleys of tear gas and birdshot into the crowd, killing one protester and wounding more than 90.
The Interior Ministry said in a rare statement that it ‘‘regrets’’ the beating, and that it, too, is investigating.
But it also sought to distance itself — and the police in general — from the abuse, saying that ‘‘what took place was carried out by individuals that do not represent in any way the doctrine of all policemen who direct their efforts to protecting the security and stability of the nation and sacrifice their lives to protect civilians.’’
Despite decades of such behavior.
Is there any group in power in this world that does NOT lie?
A statement by Morsi’s office called the incident ‘‘shocking,’’ but stressed that violence and vandalism of government property is unacceptable.
Ibrahim said nearly 400 policemen have been wounded this past week, warning that the disintegration of police strength would lead to widespread chaos in the Arab world’s most populous nation.
‘‘The collapse of police will affect Egypt and transform it into a militia state like some neighboring nations,’’ Ibrahim said, eluding to Libya, where militias comprise most of the security after that nation’s uprising.
Or like a state that just suffered a coup.
Already, some Islamists have warned they could set up militias to protect their interests, while a group calling itself Black Bloc, whose followers wear black masks, claims to defend protesters opposed to the Islamist president’s rule.
There they are again!
Ibrahim is the fifth interior minister to head the security force in the past two years. Distraught police officers heckled him earlier in the week when he showed up for the funeral of two officers killed last weekend, angry over attacks against them and investigations into their use of power after decades of near impunity under ousted leader Hosni Mubarak.
Rights groups have accused Morsi of not taking steps to reform the Interior Ministry, which was long the backbone of Mubarak’s regime.
Why is it his fault when all he met was resistance?
--more--"
"Egyptian police blamed in protester deaths" by Hamza Hendawi | Associated Press, March 14, 2013
CAIRO — The highest-level inquiry into the deaths of nearly 900 protesters in Egypt’s uprising concluded that police were behind nearly all the killings and used snipers on rooftops over Cairo’s Tahrir Square to shoot into the huge crowds.
As reported at the time.
The report, parts of which were obtained by the Associated Press, is the most authoritative account of the killings and determines that the deadly force could only have been authorized by Hosni Mubarak’s security chief, with the ousted president’s full knowledge.
The report of the fact-finding commission, created by President Mohammed Morsi, an Islamist, could weigh heavily in the upcoming retrial of Mubarak, as well as his security chief, former Interior minister Habib el-Adly, and six top police commanders. It is likely to also fuel calls for reforming the powerful security forces and lead to prosecutions of members of the police force.
The findings were leaked at a sensitive time for the country’s police. Hated by most Egyptians, the force is in upheaval, with segments on strike and its chief, Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim, pleading not to drag it into politics. The force also faces a challenge from Islamist groups threatening to set up “popular committees” to fill a security vacuum created by the police strike.
I guess they aren't hated anymore.
I guess they aren't hated anymore.
Part of the force also is protesting what some see as an attempt by Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood to control the force. The Brotherhood denies the charge.
The Interior Ministry, which controls the police, has repeatedly rejected charges that it bore responsibility for the killings in Cairo and other cities during the 18-day uprising that began on Jan. 25, 2011, and ended with Mubarak stepping down. In contrast, the prodemocracy activists behind the uprising have long maintained that police were to blame....
Police brutality during Mubarak’s 29 years in office was a key cause of the uprising, but the army generals who took over, and Morsi, who followed, have failed to reform the force.
The 16-member fact-finding panel included rights activists, lawyers, judges, and a representative from the military prosecutor’s office. It conducted about 400 interviews.
The report went into extensive detail, citing police logs of the issuing of assault rifles and ammunition, and listing the officers who received them.
Most of the victims were shot in the head or chest, suggesting the use of snipers, and bystanders were also killed.
--more--"
"Egyptians rampage over court verdicts" by Hamza Hendawi | Associated Press, March 10, 2013
CAIRO — Egyptian soccer fans rampaged through the heart of Cairo on Saturday, furious about the acquittal of seven police officers while death sentences against 21 alleged rioters were confirmed in a trial over a stadium melee that left 74 people dead....
The remnants of the Mubarak regime!
The case of the Feb. 1, 2012 stadium riot in the city of Port Said at the northern tip of the Suez Canal has taken on political undertones not just because police faced allegations of negligence in the tragedy but also because the verdicts were announced at a time when Egypt is in the grip of the latest and most serious bout of political turmoil in the two years since Hosni Mubarak’s ouster....
Saturday’s verdicts were handed down against the backdrop of an unprecedented wave of strikes by the nation’s police force over demands for better working conditions and anger over what many believe are attempts by President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood to take control of the police force.
They are making Morsi look bad on purpose!
Tensions over the riot — which began when supporters of Port Said’s Al-Masry club set upon fans of Cairo’s Al-Ahly club after the final whistle of a league game that the home team won — have fueled some of the deadliest street violence in months.
Police guarding the stadium, meanwhile, faced allegations ranging from not searching people entering the stadium to failing to intervene to stop the bloodshed.
--more--"
"Egyptians rampage over court verdicts" by Hamza Hendawi | Associated Press, March 10, 2013
CAIRO — Egyptian soccer fans rampaged through the heart of Cairo on Saturday, furious about the acquittal of seven police officers while death sentences against 21 alleged rioters were confirmed in a trial over a stadium melee that left 74 people dead....
The remnants of the Mubarak regime!
The case of the Feb. 1, 2012 stadium riot in the city of Port Said at the northern tip of the Suez Canal has taken on political undertones not just because police faced allegations of negligence in the tragedy but also because the verdicts were announced at a time when Egypt is in the grip of the latest and most serious bout of political turmoil in the two years since Hosni Mubarak’s ouster....
Saturday’s verdicts were handed down against the backdrop of an unprecedented wave of strikes by the nation’s police force over demands for better working conditions and anger over what many believe are attempts by President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood to take control of the police force.
They are making Morsi look bad on purpose!
Tensions over the riot — which began when supporters of Port Said’s Al-Masry club set upon fans of Cairo’s Al-Ahly club after the final whistle of a league game that the home team won — have fueled some of the deadliest street violence in months.
Police guarding the stadium, meanwhile, faced allegations ranging from not searching people entering the stadium to failing to intervene to stop the bloodshed.
--more--"
Related:
Egypt: 4 top police cleared of killing protesters
Egypt court upholds acquittals of Mubarak allies
And it's not only all of that, readers. It's that and the constant articles about arrests of activists (and Morsi has a temper), bloggers (an intelligence asset even though he was freed), citizens (at a time when a large segment of the country’s police force is on an unprecedented strike, lawlessness and political turmoil appear to be deepening, and a rapidly worsening economy is fueling a potential explosive situation), and torture (looks like the same old Egypt to me):
"Two Muslim Brotherhood officials in the northern Egyptian city of Damanhour have been ordered to stand trial for allegedly kidnapping and torturing three men at the group’s headquarters there, according to the city prosecutor’s office. The referral followed a two-day sit-in by the three and their supporters outside the city’s prosecution office to protest against what they perceived as stalling over referring the case to trial."
The pressure stays on despite the shuffle, they are unhappy with his picks for governor because they are allegedly terrorists, or embassy staff is being stabbed, and not even busting Al-CIA-Duh is good enough.
Yup, Morsi failed the test!
"Crowd in Egypt attacks reporter
PARIS — A correspondent for France 24 TV was ‘‘savagely attacked’’ near Cairo’s Tahrir Square after being seized by a crowd, the network said Saturday. It was the latest case of violence against women at the epicenter of Egypt’s restive protests. The news channel said in a statement that Sonia Dridi was attacked about 10:30 p.m. Friday after a live broadcast on a protest at the square and was later rescued by a colleague and other witnesses. At the height of the uprising against Hosni Mubarak, Lara Logan, a correspondent for CBS, was sexually assaulted and beaten in Tahrir Square (AP)."
Yeah, except that was a LIE!
Yeah, except that was a LIE!
While on the subject of women, the Islamists put a new face on power, you just can't hear it.
Related:
Girls’ hair cut for not wearing headscarves
Egypt prosecutor orders ban on online pornography
Suspected ‘honor’ killings claim 3
Egypt considers ban on sale of duty-free alcohol
Egyptian clerics spreading fear
In secret tally, clerics select top Islamic jurist for Egypt
They even blocked JouTube, I mean, YouTube.
Can't get any worse than that.
Related:
Girls’ hair cut for not wearing headscarves
Egypt prosecutor orders ban on online pornography
Suspected ‘honor’ killings claim 3
Egypt considers ban on sale of duty-free alcohol
Egyptian clerics spreading fear
In secret tally, clerics select top Islamic jurist for Egypt
They even blocked JouTube, I mean, YouTube.
Can't get any worse than that.
