Egypt. Again. What's next?

[Dan and Judy 614]

put a career military man with no combat experience in charge of an army and you are asking for trouble

[MyLittlePony 340]

I wish America would grow some balls and do the same to Obama.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Be sure of one thing. The Egyptian Army has always and will continue to control Egypt from the back rooms until a stable democratic society matures, flourishes and grows further from needing them.

[Dan and Judy 614]

Be sure of one thing. The Egyptian Army has always and will continue to control Egypt from the back rooms

I think right now they are controlling Egypt from their tanks

[Dan and Judy 614]

I wish America would grow some balls and do the same to Obama.

He'll be leaving in 3 years without the military escort

[MyLittlePony 340]

Obama can do lot more damage in 3 years much worst then he already has now.

[Dan and Judy 614]

Obama can do lot more damage in 3 years much worst then he already has now.

With the republicans in charge of congress he won't be doing a whole lot, If republicans loose congress in the midterm then the conservatives will have something to cry about. I don't think Obama is allowed to just desolve congress.

[dalegg 143]

Is there a new Pharoah yet? Morsi, let my people go!

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Be sure of one thing. The Egyptian Army has always and will continue to control Egypt from the back rooms until a stable democratic society matures, flourishes and grows further from needing them.

It's not quite so simple and rosy as that.

The Egyptian army is essentially the most powerful political party in Egypt, although, as you mentioned, it operates mostly behind the scenes.

But it has no intention of relinquishing its power, or the money that comes along with it. The army wants one of their own in the president's seat, as they have effectively managed it for the last 40 years. And if any president tries to challenge their power, they will remove him - as they have done twice in the last 3 years.

Their own interests are dictating their strategic moves. Stability is something the army wants. But a democratic society ? Only when it serves their purposes. Otherwise, a military coup is always on the table.

Since Mubarak's ouster, the military has portrayed itself as a guarantor of national integrity and as a neutral defender of the people's hard-won freedom. This week, hordes of protesters are hailing the military as guardians of the revolution.

But the military's rise to its current outsized role has been far from straightforward, its historic relationship with Egypt's civil society a complex tango of patriotism and self-interest, victory and defeat.

....

After Mubarak, a former general, took power following Sadat's assassination in 1981, the military, backed by American aid, modernized and expanded its force. And when Mubarak launched economic liberalization in the 1990s, the military discovered something even better than American largesse: capitalism.

"The military became an economic company, if you will," says Al-Sayyed. "It became an enterprise."

Equipped with valuable and vast real estate and a conscript, low-paid workforce, the military began to insinuate itself into civil society through business, its holdings ranging from bread factories to chemical plants to hotels.

The armed forces' public-private enterprises may account for up to 15 to 20 percent of GDP, according to Al-Sayyed, and the military took very good care of its officers with the wealth it accrued. As the military's economic tentacles spread throughout society, its civil clout expanded, too.

And yet despite its burgeoning business portfolio, the military's senior officers actively avoided the political limelight.

Since 1973 the military "has kept largely out of political sight, tacitly guaranteeing the rule of successive, unpopular rulers, while not being visibly connected to them," says Steven Simon, Executive Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Washington, DC.

That dichotomy—aggressive economic expansion without the visible political clout that could have come with it—allowed the military to cloak itself in a neutral patriotism while advancing its own self-interests, says Joel Beinin of Stanford University.

.....

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/07/130705-egypt-morsi-government-overthrow-military-revolution-independence-history/

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

US coverage of this has been pathetic - if they even mention it at all, they are still reporting "6" dead from clashes with "Islamists."

In fact, at least 35 people have been killed, more than 1000 wounded in the violence that was sparked when the military opened fire on unarmed Morsi supporters protesting the coup, killing 3 of them.

Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei has just been named interim PM. If you followed the events, you will remember that ElBaradei dropped out of the presidential election when he realized he did not have the popular support to win. ElBaradei was sitting next to the army chief, General Abdel al-Sisi, when the coup was announced on television. (al-Sisi is the same guy who wanted female protestors to undergo virginity tests to "protect the army from allegations of rape.")

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/07/2013767313227438.html

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/07/201376165715352978.html

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/07/201373112752442652.html

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

US coverage of this has been pathetic - if they even mention it at all, they are still reporting "6" dead from clashes with "Islamists."

In fact, at least 35 people have been killed, more than 1000 wounded in the violence that was sparked when the military opened fire on unarmed Morsi supporters protesting the coup, killing 3 of them.

Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei has just been named interim PM. If you followed the events, you will remember that ElBaradei dropped out of the presidential election when he realized he did not have the popular support to win. ElBaradei was sitting next to the army chief, General Abdel al-Sisi, when the coup was announced on television. (al-Sisi is the same guy who wanted female protestors to undergo virginity tests to "protect the army from allegations of rape.")

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/07/2013767313227438.html

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/07/201376165715352978.html

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/07/201373112752442652.html

Meanwhile, supporters of the deposed Morsi again gathered in large numbers Saturday, a day after clashes with security forces and anti-Morsi protesters left 36 dead and more than 1,000 injured.

NBC News: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/06/19316011-mohamed-elbaradei-to-be-named-egypts-interim-prime-minister?lite

At least 26 people were killed and more than 850 were injured in clashes across the country that at times pitted Morsy supporters against his opponents and the military, state-run media reported, citing the Ministry of Health and medical officials.

CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/05/world/meast/egypt-coup/index.html?hpt=wo_c1

Clashes erupt between Egyptian military, supporters of deposed president; At least 30 dead

CBS News: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57592395/clashes-erupt-between-egyptian-military-supporters-of-deposed-president-at-least-30-dead/

Edited July 6, 2013 by Mr. Big Dog

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

al-Sisi is the same guy who wanted female protestors to undergo virginity tests to "protect the army from allegations of rape."

I see a glorious career in the Republican Party in al-Sisi's future. Republicans love this kind of stuff.

[Karee 4,190]

Politics and religion is a bad mixture.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Acquit George Zimmerman and send him to Egypt. He'll straighten their a$$es out.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

About time they caught up. As I said, this morning they were still reporting "6 dead."

Politics and religion is a bad mixture.

This fight doesn't really have anything to do with religion, as there are seculars and "Islamists" on both sides.