Our lives will never be "normal" again because of the false flag of 9/11 and other events, and yet the agenda-pu$hing, special intere$t, $tatu$ quo paper wishes you to think everything is just fine because it has all been done before.
My guess is the Egyptians have seen this before:
"Egypt’s security establishment reasserting its dominance.... reconstituting a state security agency that under Mubarak was responsible for monitoring Islamists and known for carrying out torture and forced disappearances.... the clearest sign yet that the old Egyptian police state was re-emerging in full force, the declaration returned Egypt to the state of virtual martial law that prevailed for three decades under former president Hosni Mubarak.... the interim government has brought back not only prominent faces of the Mubarak era but signature elements of his authoritarian state"
Ah, the good old days of "normalcy."
"Separate trials begin against Mubarak, key Islamists; Both regimes charged with killing civilians" by Maggie Michael | Associated Press, August 26, 2013
CAIRO — Egyptian courts on Sunday heard separate criminal cases against the former president, Hosni Mubarak, and top leaders of his archrival, the Muslim Brotherhood, both over allegations of killing protesters.
Egyptian media portrayed the prosecution of longtime foes as “trials of the two regimes,” an attempt to show that both Islamists and secular-leaning Mubarak authoritarian regimes are alike after a July 3 military coup toppled President Mohammed Morsi, a Brotherhood member....
So when does the military government go on trial for being even worse and killing even more?
Weeks of mass rallies by Muslim Brotherhood supporters over Morsi’s ouster have weakened during the past few days as security forces have detained many Brotherhood leaders. The military-backed government has responded by relaxing curfew hours, trying to signal a return to normalcy across the country.
“We have crossed the swamps and muddy pools, and now we are on the safe side,’’ Ahmed el-Musalamani, a spokesman for interim President Adly Mansour, said Sunday. He added: “We have overcome the tough phase.’’
Related: Egyptian Army Ends Morsi Protests
*************************
Rights groups, however, say Islamist groups have incited violence against Christians, who have been blamed collectively for Morsi’s overthrow.
The Egyptian Initiative For Personal Rights issued a report on Sunday documenting what it said was an ‘‘unprecedented spike in scale of sectarian violence and reprisals’’ against Coptic Christians over a four-day period in August.
I don't believe it is Brotherhood Muslims, folks. It's Mubarak thugs, government agent provocateurs, and all the rest. I've read to many newspapers and seen to many things for it to be otherwise. Sectarianism has become a code word to advance covert intelligence operations and agenda-pushing false flags.
At least 45 churches came under attack and a total of seven citizens were killed, the initiative said. It blamed security forces for failing to intervene and Islamist groups for helping to ‘‘feed the current wave of sectarian attacks.’’
Yes, authorities standing idly by and letting things happen is often good enough. We saw that with the Egyptian soccer protests earlier.
Islamists, in a statement, issued renewed calls Sunday for demonstrations. Arrests and killings appear to have weakened the Brotherhood’s ability to mobilize its following. Calls for rallies fizzled out on Saturday as the government eased up the curfew hours affecting much of the country.
The military-backed interim government meanwhile is pursuing a fast-tract transition plan that it says will return the country to democracy.
(Blog editor snorts in incredulity)
On Sunday, a 10-member panel of experts handed a first draft of proposed constitutional amendments to the interim president, a first step toward amending the now-suspended charter drafted last year under Morsi. A second panel of 50 members will work on the amendments before finalizing them and putting them for public vote.
Once the constitution is adopted, the plan calls for presidential and parliamentary elections early next year.
As the crackdown against the Brotherhood takes hold, the streets of Cairo show signs of normal life.
Can anything ever be "normal" again for the Egyptians?
The traffic jams have returned, and the stores and cafes are busy, now that police have thwarted demonstrations by the opponents of the transitional government.
I was told the protesters were responsible for the traffic jams.
On Saturday, the government announced that a nighttime curfew, in force for the past 10 days, would be shortened by two hours, beginning instead at 9 p.m., welcome news in a country where people are accustomed to doing business, socializing, and shopping late into the night.
Yeah, life was great and grand before the Brotherhood took over.
Hazem el-Beblawi, the interim prime minister, said Saturday that restoring security is his government’s main priority. If the price of adopting less harsh tactics ‘‘is that people don’t feel secure, we won’t accept that,’’ he said, according to comments reported by the local media.
He said it was important also to pursue a political process aimed at restoring democracy, but he emphasized that it should not include ‘‘those who don’t accept the principles of no use of violence, no religion in politics, no attacks against minorities, and no discrimination.’’
There go those pharaohs again.
--more--"
"Egyptian court orders Mubarak’s release as violence persists; Timing unclear, but act hints at shift in Egypt" by David D. Kirkpatrick | New York Times, August 20, 2013
CAIRO — A court on Monday ordered the release of former president Hosni Mubarak, a measure of how far the tumult now shaking Egypt has rolled back the sweeping changes and soaring hopes that followed his exit two and a half years ago.
Few legal analysts thought a release was likely, at least in coming weeks. But under the new government installed last month by General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, they say, it is no longer a foregone conclusion that prosecutors will continue to find reasons to detain the former autocrat, who was arrested after the uprising against his rule in 2011.
Even the possibility of Mubarak’s release, previously unthinkable, provided another sign of the potential return of his authoritarian style of government.
So when does he resume the presidency?
Since the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, the interim government has brought back not only prominent faces of the Mubarak era but signature elements of his authoritarian state, including an “emergency law” removing the right to a trial and other curbs on police abuse, the appointment of generals as governors across the provinces, and moves to once again outlaw the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist threat.
State news media reported early Tuesday morning that the Brotherhood’s spiritual leader, Mohamed Badie, had been arrested, and a private television network that supports Sissi broadcast footage of what appeared to be Badie in custody.
Meanwhile, the police scarcely bothered to offer a credible explanation for the deaths of three dozen Morsi supporters who died in custody and were seen by their families at a morgue Monday — at least two were badly burned from the shoulders up and others had evidence of torture. After shifting stories, the police ultimately said the detainees suffocated from tear gas during a failed escape attempt.
Ah, yes, everything is back to normal!
Security officers have a new bounce in their step.
Wouldn't you if you were a sadistic fuck and could act with impunity?
They are once again pulling men from their cars at checkpoints for interrogation because they wear beards or dealing out arbitrary beatings with a sense of impunity — Mubarak-era hallmarks that had receded in recent years.
Receded under the Brotherhoo.... sigh.
Among civilians, even those outside the Muslin Brotherhood, fear of the police has returned.
Maybe you kids should have been careful what you wished for when you helped out the CIA.
Badr Abdelatty, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, denied any resemblance between the new government and Mubarak’s.
“The emergency law is just for one month and for one objective: fighting terrorism,” he said, using the term that the new government applies to both civil disobedience and acts of violence by Islamist opponents of the military takeover. “The only way to fight terrorism is to apply the rule of law and some emergency measures for just one month,” Abdelatty said.
Ever notice that when you have heard and read so much bulls*** you eventually stop paying attention to it?
More than 1,000 Brotherhood members and other supporters of Morsi have died since last Wednesday in a police crackdown, and his ouster has set off a wave of retaliatory violence from his supporters. Many attacks targeted churches around the country and security forces in the relatively lawless northern Sinai.
I'm not sure about the retaliation, but those 1,000 supporters were KILLED! They didn't just DIE, you s***bag excuse for a newspaper.
In the latest episode there, militants killed 25 police officers and wounded three others Monday in an attack on their minibuses. Officials said the bodies were found face down with bound hands, evidently assassinated.
It's called getting a taste of your own medicine (if true, and I have my doubts given my source).
Egyptian state and private television networks, all pro-government now, broadcast images of the bodies’ return to Cairo, sometimes under a heading about Egypt’s fight against terrorism.
Hmmmm! Why am I now thinking staged and scripted hoax?
The Muslim Brotherhood, which has denounced those killings, held protests and marches by thousands of its supporters in Cairo and across the country, as it has every day for the six weeks since Morsi’s ouster.
They did what we are told we are supposed to do to stop the unstoppable wars.
Some analysts said Monday that the new government was arguably more authoritarian than Mubarak’s.
“The Mubarak state was actually less repressive than what we are seeing now,” said Shadi Hamid, research director for the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar. “In terms of sheer number of people killed, what we are seeing is unprecedented for Egypt.”
I feel so bad for the people of Egypt.
But Hamid said, while Mubarak’s supporters were diffident or self-serving, Sissi “has the fervent backing of millions of ordinary Egyptians, many of whom think the army has not been sufficiently brutal against the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Does he?
Many of the charges originally brought against Mubarak, including directing the killing of protesters, have been dismissed. But the previous post-Mubarak governments always made clear that they would keep finding new allegations to keep him behind bars.
The council of generals that succeeded Mubarak was too desperate to placate the public and preserve their own legitimacy to release him, and Morsi, an Islamist jailed under Mubarak for his political opposition, campaigned on promises to keep him locked up.
But the Sissi government has no such insecurity about its power or hostility to Mubarak. Some members of political factions that had previously joined rallies for Mubarak’s incarceration or even execution said they believed the public did not care so much anymore.
It's hard for me to believe the Egyptian people no longer care what happens to that monster despite the stress they are now under.
“I don’t think people are paying the slightest attention,” said Hussein Gohar, a spokesman for the Social Democratic Party.
That's because they are busy with basic survival strategies.
“And if it happens, it will not have anything close to the impact it would have had a year ago,” he said of Mubarak’s release, in part “because people have moved on” and in part “because of the paradigm shift to support for the army.”
Even though they are now locking up the very people who supported and encouraged them?
Besides, Gohar said, he did not think the authorities would allow massive protests against Mubarak, once an air force general. “At the end of the day, Mubarak is part of the military,” Gohar said. “He is one of them.”
--more--"
"Mubarak leaves prison, in house arrest at hospital; Islamists protest as overhaul set on constitution" by David D. Kirkpatrick and Rod Nordland | New York Times, August 23, 2013
CAIRO — On the question of rights, freedoms, women’s equality, or decentralization, the proposed overhaul provides little or no improvement, legal analysts said. It still leaves broad and ill-defined loopholes for limiting freedoms of speech and assembly. On those questions, “it is essentially the same,” said Zaid al-Ali, a researcher at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.
The overhaul is expected to be rushed through a government-dominated committee of 50, and then a national referendum — a blistering pace compared with international norms for such debates.
A rigged rubber stamp!
Until then, the government’s flagship state newspaper, Al Ahram, said Thursday that the limits and duration of Mubarak’s house arrest would be set entirely by the military-appointed government, under the state of emergency and suspension of due process that it has declared. It also stressed repeatedly that while under house arrest Mubarak would be unable to vote or enter politics.
They will lift that so he can run in the next "election."
He won because of nostalgia, we will be told.
A rigged rubber stamp!
Until then, the government’s flagship state newspaper, Al Ahram, said Thursday that the limits and duration of Mubarak’s house arrest would be set entirely by the military-appointed government, under the state of emergency and suspension of due process that it has declared. It also stressed repeatedly that while under house arrest Mubarak would be unable to vote or enter politics.
They will lift that so he can run in the next "election."
He won because of nostalgia, we will be told.
--more--"
It truly is back to normal as divide and conquer wins out again:
"Islamist groups offer to end protests in Egypt; Truce linked to military easing its crackdown" by Maggie Michael | Associated Press, August 27, 2013
CAIRO — Two former militant groups offered to call off street protests if the government agrees to ease its pressure on Islamists, a move that underscores how a onetime-strong movement is now bowing to an unprecedented crackdown by security authorities.
The proposed truce on demonstrations is being viewed as a sign of cracks within the Islamist alliance led by the Muslim Brotherhood, with much of its leadership either imprisoned or on the run.
‘‘They want to lift pressure on their groups and jump off the Muslim Brotherhood boat that is sinking right now,’’ said veteran journalist Makram Mohammed Ahmed. ‘‘Everyone is searching for a way out.’’
The truce proposal comes after the military rounded up hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood leaders and other Islamists....
Islamic Jihad leader Mohammed Abu Samra said the proposed truce offered Monday has no ‘‘red lines.’’
Those are in Syria and Iran.
‘‘We are paving the way for talks,’’ Abu Samra said by telephone. ‘‘We can’t hold talks while we are at the points of swords in the midst of killings and crackdowns.’’ He said the groups were ‘‘extending their hands’’ to avoid a bloodier confrontation with the military, which he accuses of ‘‘defaming’’ the Brotherhood in the media and mosques....
Meaning the military does indeed have the upper hand.
Brotherhood negotiator Amr Darrag also said his group is open to talks but needs ‘‘confidence-building measures,’’ such as an investigation into the killings of hundreds of Morsi supporters over the past month. However, he added, ‘‘the other side didn’t show a single gesture or any sign that it is ready for dialogue. It only talks about it.’’
The interim president’s office could not immediately be reached for comment. But on Saturday, Egypt’s interim prime minister, Hazem el-Beblawi, told reporters that security measures will not be enough on their own and that Egypt ‘‘must go down the political path’’ to work out a democratic transition through reconciliation.
He ruled out talks with anyone who had committed acts of violence, however.
Members of the Brotherhood lashed out after Morsi’s July 3 ouster in a military coup....
Who can blame them for "lashing out?"
In the largely lawless northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, security forces have been attacked almost daily as towns near the border with Israel and the Gaza Strip have become hideouts and strongholds of Islamic extremists.
All the more reason for Israel to take that back, huh?
The current bout of violence was set off when security forces backed by snipers and armored vehicles broke up two sprawling pro-Morsi protest camps on Aug. 14. More than 1,000 people, most Morsi supporters, were killed in the raids and other violence over the next several days. Morsi’s supporters retaliated by attacking dozens of police stations, churches, and government buildings.
Maybe they did, maybe they did, but who can blame them?
Authorities declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew in Cairo and other areas to try to quell the violence.
It's the government that is responsible for the violence, but why let that get in the way of the narrative?
The crackdown continued Monday, as the state news agency announced the arrest of former youth minister and senior Brotherhood member Osama Yassin. Several of the group’s leaders are still on the run, including Mohammed el-Beltagy, and one of Gamaa Islamiyah’s leaders, Assem Abdel-Maged.
Meanwhile, scattered antigovernment protests took place across the country.
Oh, they are OUT THERE AGAIN -- and ONLY GET ONE SENTENCE!!
The Brotherhood has lost much public support and is now largely resented by the general population. Its offices and Brotherhood-owned businesses have been attacked, while Egypt’s media — almost uniformly against it since the closure of Islamist TV stations — describes it as ‘‘terrorist.’’
Oh, Egyptians are only getting one side of the story like us!
--more--"
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"Egyptian panel calls for ban on religious-based parties; Some see limit as crucial to restore stability in Egypt" by Howard Schneider | Washington Post, August 28, 2013
CAIRO — Egypt is considering a new constitution that will ban religious-based political parties, reverting to the type of restrictions used by former leader Hosni Mubarak and now viewed by authorities as critical for stability after the military’s removal of an Islamist government sparked weeks of violence.
The constitution is taking shape at a rapid clip, as the country’s military-backed leaders try to satisfy Western demands and their own promises of a prompt return to civilian rule.
Oh, right, I forgot, they mad promises.
But the effort also threatens to leave the country’s basic division unresolved, with supporters of Mohammed Morsi, the ousted president backed by the Muslim Brotherhood, still squared off against Muslims, Christians, and secular Egyptians who felt deeply disappointed by his rule.
Are you guys happy now?
A presidentially appointed 10-member panel has completed work on a draft constitution, and key elements have been reported in state-affiliated media in recent days....
While Egypt’s second-largest Islamist organization, the Salafist Nour Party, has agreed to participate on the panel, the Muslim Brotherhood has not been included. Much of its leadership has been imprisoned and is facing criminal charges for inciting violence — accusations the group describes as politically motivated.
Egypt has struggled for decades to find a formula that balances the role of Islam with the rights of its Christian minority and a strong secular current. As details of a proposed new constitution emerge, it is far from certain that this round of the process will be any more successful than the others.
Even supporters of the process acknowledge that it is unlikely to produce a national consensus, given the summer’s tumult. But it may, they argue, win enough backing for the country to move forward.
Yeah, just FORGET ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED and MOVE FORWARD! I guess if it isn't the Holohoax™or some other agenda-dividing division or conventional myth promotion then it's not worth looking back on in my jewspaper.
‘‘We are in a very sensitive and critical state right now,’’ said Ahmed Saeed, head of the Free Egyptians Party, one of the groups invited to nominate members to the constitutional advisory panel. ‘‘If we really work on women’s rights and children’s rights and press rights, our sector of society — civil Egypt — will be happy.’’
Well, there is either little or no improvement according to what was reported above, so.... that make you happy?
******************************
In a stark exchange on Tuesday, fugitive Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Beltagy, in hiding for weeks, claimed in a statement aired by Al Jazeera television that the group was acting ‘‘for God first,’’ and he accused the current leaders of resurrecting Mubarak’s regime. Interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi said the Brotherhood needed to understand Egypt’s ‘‘new reality.’’
I saw that because Al-Jewzeera is now my home for money media. Feels a looks a lot like ZNN to me, right down to the anchors and channel theme music.
‘‘Ordinary citizens are afraid of reconciliation with people who were violent and who they think lack good intentions,’’ he said.
Some points of agreement have emerged, but the flash points have become quickly apparent.
Under Mubarak, political parties of all sorts were tightly controlled by a strict licensing procedure that chafed both religious and secular groups. The procedure was eased substantially after Mubarak’s departure.
But under the draft constitution, Egypt would return to a Mubarak-era provision banning political parties organized ‘‘within any religious frame of reference or on any religious basis or on the basis of gender or origin.’’
Translation: They will ban anyone they want to ban.
After portions of the draft were published by the state-affiliated al-Ahram news organization, a Brotherhood-affiliated newspaper wrote that the new constitution will ‘‘insult Islam and spread immorality.’’
The fate of ‘‘Article 219’’ is also being closely watched. That provision, enacted with the Muslim Brotherhood’s backing, specified that Egyptian law would be based on Sunni Muslim ‘‘jurisprudence’’ and practice.
The Egyptian constitution has long nodded to Islam in a generic way, but the Morsi-backed provision pointed to a more intense application of Islamic law, known as sharia. The more general language, a compromise that dates to the era of former president Anwar Sadat, will be retained, while Morsi’s expansion will be repealed, according to the draft....
That's the GREAT CHANGE you coup-supporting protesters are going to get?
THAT'S IT?
--more--"
DAY AFTER NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"Egypt arrests Brotherhood members’ relatives" by Aya Batrawy | Associated Press, August 29, 2013
CAIRO — Egyptian authorities detained more than 60 people associated with the Muslim Brotherhood in less than 24 hours, including relatives of the group’s leaders, officials said Wednesday.
The crackdown on the group, of which ousted President Mohammed Morsi was a leader, started shortly after the July 3 coup. It intensified this month after security forces cleared out two of the group’s sit-ins, killing hundreds and sparking unrest that killed more than 1,000 people in a few days. The Interior Ministry says more than 100 policemen and soldiers have also been killed since mid-August.
The local media, in close step with the new leadership after Morsi, repeatedly describe the actions of the Brotherhood and its supporters as acts of terrorism. Many have been charged with inciting violence. Security forces have arrested much of the Brotherhood’s senior and midlevel leadership, while others remain in hiding.
Some in Egypt fear the Brotherhood’s once powerful political party and its allies could be barred from politics and be forced underground again....
In a widening campaign, police have started going after members’ relatives....
The security clampdown appears to have weakened the Brotherhood-led protests, which have been much smaller across the country this past week. There are planned protests Friday and calls for civil disobedience.
--more--"
It truly is back to normal as divide and conquer wins out again:
"Islamist groups offer to end protests in Egypt; Truce linked to military easing its crackdown" by Maggie Michael | Associated Press, August 27, 2013
CAIRO — Two former militant groups offered to call off street protests if the government agrees to ease its pressure on Islamists, a move that underscores how a onetime-strong movement is now bowing to an unprecedented crackdown by security authorities.
The proposed truce on demonstrations is being viewed as a sign of cracks within the Islamist alliance led by the Muslim Brotherhood, with much of its leadership either imprisoned or on the run.
‘‘They want to lift pressure on their groups and jump off the Muslim Brotherhood boat that is sinking right now,’’ said veteran journalist Makram Mohammed Ahmed. ‘‘Everyone is searching for a way out.’’
The truce proposal comes after the military rounded up hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood leaders and other Islamists....
Islamic Jihad leader Mohammed Abu Samra said the proposed truce offered Monday has no ‘‘red lines.’’
Those are in Syria and Iran.
‘‘We are paving the way for talks,’’ Abu Samra said by telephone. ‘‘We can’t hold talks while we are at the points of swords in the midst of killings and crackdowns.’’ He said the groups were ‘‘extending their hands’’ to avoid a bloodier confrontation with the military, which he accuses of ‘‘defaming’’ the Brotherhood in the media and mosques....
Meaning the military does indeed have the upper hand.
Brotherhood negotiator Amr Darrag also said his group is open to talks but needs ‘‘confidence-building measures,’’ such as an investigation into the killings of hundreds of Morsi supporters over the past month. However, he added, ‘‘the other side didn’t show a single gesture or any sign that it is ready for dialogue. It only talks about it.’’
The interim president’s office could not immediately be reached for comment. But on Saturday, Egypt’s interim prime minister, Hazem el-Beblawi, told reporters that security measures will not be enough on their own and that Egypt ‘‘must go down the political path’’ to work out a democratic transition through reconciliation.
He ruled out talks with anyone who had committed acts of violence, however.
Members of the Brotherhood lashed out after Morsi’s July 3 ouster in a military coup....
Who can blame them for "lashing out?"
In the largely lawless northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, security forces have been attacked almost daily as towns near the border with Israel and the Gaza Strip have become hideouts and strongholds of Islamic extremists.
All the more reason for Israel to take that back, huh?
The current bout of violence was set off when security forces backed by snipers and armored vehicles broke up two sprawling pro-Morsi protest camps on Aug. 14. More than 1,000 people, most Morsi supporters, were killed in the raids and other violence over the next several days. Morsi’s supporters retaliated by attacking dozens of police stations, churches, and government buildings.
Maybe they did, maybe they did, but who can blame them?
Authorities declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew in Cairo and other areas to try to quell the violence.
It's the government that is responsible for the violence, but why let that get in the way of the narrative?
The crackdown continued Monday, as the state news agency announced the arrest of former youth minister and senior Brotherhood member Osama Yassin. Several of the group’s leaders are still on the run, including Mohammed el-Beltagy, and one of Gamaa Islamiyah’s leaders, Assem Abdel-Maged.
Meanwhile, scattered antigovernment protests took place across the country.
Oh, they are OUT THERE AGAIN -- and ONLY GET ONE SENTENCE!!
The Brotherhood has lost much public support and is now largely resented by the general population. Its offices and Brotherhood-owned businesses have been attacked, while Egypt’s media — almost uniformly against it since the closure of Islamist TV stations — describes it as ‘‘terrorist.’’
Oh, Egyptians are only getting one side of the story like us!
--more--"
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"Egyptian panel calls for ban on religious-based parties; Some see limit as crucial to restore stability in Egypt" by Howard Schneider | Washington Post, August 28, 2013
CAIRO — Egypt is considering a new constitution that will ban religious-based political parties, reverting to the type of restrictions used by former leader Hosni Mubarak and now viewed by authorities as critical for stability after the military’s removal of an Islamist government sparked weeks of violence.
The constitution is taking shape at a rapid clip, as the country’s military-backed leaders try to satisfy Western demands and their own promises of a prompt return to civilian rule.
Oh, right, I forgot, they mad promises.
But the effort also threatens to leave the country’s basic division unresolved, with supporters of Mohammed Morsi, the ousted president backed by the Muslim Brotherhood, still squared off against Muslims, Christians, and secular Egyptians who felt deeply disappointed by his rule.
Are you guys happy now?
A presidentially appointed 10-member panel has completed work on a draft constitution, and key elements have been reported in state-affiliated media in recent days....
While Egypt’s second-largest Islamist organization, the Salafist Nour Party, has agreed to participate on the panel, the Muslim Brotherhood has not been included. Much of its leadership has been imprisoned and is facing criminal charges for inciting violence — accusations the group describes as politically motivated.
Egypt has struggled for decades to find a formula that balances the role of Islam with the rights of its Christian minority and a strong secular current. As details of a proposed new constitution emerge, it is far from certain that this round of the process will be any more successful than the others.
Even supporters of the process acknowledge that it is unlikely to produce a national consensus, given the summer’s tumult. But it may, they argue, win enough backing for the country to move forward.
Yeah, just FORGET ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED and MOVE FORWARD! I guess if it isn't the Holohoax™or some other agenda-dividing division or conventional myth promotion then it's not worth looking back on in my jewspaper.
‘‘We are in a very sensitive and critical state right now,’’ said Ahmed Saeed, head of the Free Egyptians Party, one of the groups invited to nominate members to the constitutional advisory panel. ‘‘If we really work on women’s rights and children’s rights and press rights, our sector of society — civil Egypt — will be happy.’’
Well, there is either little or no improvement according to what was reported above, so.... that make you happy?
******************************
In a stark exchange on Tuesday, fugitive Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Beltagy, in hiding for weeks, claimed in a statement aired by Al Jazeera television that the group was acting ‘‘for God first,’’ and he accused the current leaders of resurrecting Mubarak’s regime. Interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi said the Brotherhood needed to understand Egypt’s ‘‘new reality.’’
I saw that because Al-Jewzeera is now my home for money media. Feels a looks a lot like ZNN to me, right down to the anchors and channel theme music.
‘‘Ordinary citizens are afraid of reconciliation with people who were violent and who they think lack good intentions,’’ he said.
Some points of agreement have emerged, but the flash points have become quickly apparent.
Under Mubarak, political parties of all sorts were tightly controlled by a strict licensing procedure that chafed both religious and secular groups. The procedure was eased substantially after Mubarak’s departure.
But under the draft constitution, Egypt would return to a Mubarak-era provision banning political parties organized ‘‘within any religious frame of reference or on any religious basis or on the basis of gender or origin.’’
Translation: They will ban anyone they want to ban.
After portions of the draft were published by the state-affiliated al-Ahram news organization, a Brotherhood-affiliated newspaper wrote that the new constitution will ‘‘insult Islam and spread immorality.’’
The fate of ‘‘Article 219’’ is also being closely watched. That provision, enacted with the Muslim Brotherhood’s backing, specified that Egyptian law would be based on Sunni Muslim ‘‘jurisprudence’’ and practice.
The Egyptian constitution has long nodded to Islam in a generic way, but the Morsi-backed provision pointed to a more intense application of Islamic law, known as sharia. The more general language, a compromise that dates to the era of former president Anwar Sadat, will be retained, while Morsi’s expansion will be repealed, according to the draft....
That's the GREAT CHANGE you coup-supporting protesters are going to get?
THAT'S IT?
--more--"
DAY AFTER NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"Egypt arrests Brotherhood members’ relatives" by Aya Batrawy | Associated Press, August 29, 2013
CAIRO — Egyptian authorities detained more than 60 people associated with the Muslim Brotherhood in less than 24 hours, including relatives of the group’s leaders, officials said Wednesday.
The crackdown on the group, of which ousted President Mohammed Morsi was a leader, started shortly after the July 3 coup. It intensified this month after security forces cleared out two of the group’s sit-ins, killing hundreds and sparking unrest that killed more than 1,000 people in a few days. The Interior Ministry says more than 100 policemen and soldiers have also been killed since mid-August.
The local media, in close step with the new leadership after Morsi, repeatedly describe the actions of the Brotherhood and its supporters as acts of terrorism. Many have been charged with inciting violence. Security forces have arrested much of the Brotherhood’s senior and midlevel leadership, while others remain in hiding.
Some in Egypt fear the Brotherhood’s once powerful political party and its allies could be barred from politics and be forced underground again....
In a widening campaign, police have started going after members’ relatives....
The security clampdown appears to have weakened the Brotherhood-led protests, which have been much smaller across the country this past week. There are planned protests Friday and calls for civil disobedience.
--more--"
