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Egypt Tag

1) Debating the coup at the New York Times

Much of the editorial opinion and some of the reporting in the mainstream media has opposed the Egyptian military's forcible removal of Mohammed Morsi as President of Egypt. Actually, surprisingly, there's a debate about it on the opinion pages of the New York Times. It's surprising because the reporting of the New York Times has been skeptical of the Tamarod, the protest movement that sought Morsi's resignation. It's doubly surprising because the New York Times isn't usually known for offering a diversity of opinion. On the one side there's an unsigned editorial, and an op-ed by Shadi Hamid. But perhaps the clearest anti-protest expression came from Samer Shehata, In Egypt, Democrats vs. Liberals.
Egypt has a dilemma: its politics are dominated by democrats who are not liberals and liberals who are not democrats.
In this case, the favored democrats are defined narrowly as the group that has won an election, but ignoring how it behaved once it achieved power. On the other side are Roger Cohen and David Brooks. But the clearest anti-Morsi sentiment came from Sara Khorshid, A Coup, but Backed by the People.
Make no mistake: there is no democracy under military rule. Yet I supported the June 30 protests knowing that military rule was imminent, because Mr. Morsi’s rule had not been democratic, either. Throughout the year of his presidency, protesters who opposed him were violently crushed by the police and by Muslim Brotherhood members. He supported the Interior Ministry in its violent tactics against demonstrators and failed to investigate incidents in which protesters were killed. Journalists and activists were arrested, and the president issued an edict giving him immunity from judicial review. The presidential election, conducted without a clear legal framework, was not enough to make Mr. Morsi’s rule democratic. Despite Mr. Morsi’s constant claims that someone was undermining his efforts, his actions always seemed aimed at extending the Muslim Brotherhood’s domination of state institutions. He was in constant conflict with the judiciary, most recently with a proposal to lower the retirement age to clear the way for the appointment of his allies.
The nature of the Muslim Brotherhood seems to have been grasped by David Brooks, but not Roger Cohen.

A Health Ministry official indicated that ten people have been killed in clashes between Morsi supporters and opponents as demonstrations continued across Egypt today, according to the Associated Press. A Health Ministry official says 10 people have been killed and 210 wounded in clashes around the...

(Live video and Twitter feeds at Muslim Brotherhood “Day of Rejection” in Egypt.) Kind of back to the future, considering how Mubarak cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood for decades. There may be elections in the future, but the military seems intend on weakening the MB in the interim, via NBC News:
A crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood movement got underway in Egypt Thursday with the arrest of several leading members following the military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and his replacement by a top judge. A leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood warned ouster of Morsi, a member of the movement, could prompt some groups to resort to violence, though he said the Brotherhood would not do so. The deposed president was under house arrest at the Republican Guard Club and that most members of presidential team had also been placed under house arrest, a Brotherhood spokesman said. Judge Tharwat Hammad said Thursday that judicial authorities had opened an investigation into accusations Morsi and eight other senior leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood had defamed the judiciary. A travel ban was imposed on all of them. The prosecutor expects to question Morsi some time next week. A prosecutor also ordered the arrest of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie, and a top deputy, Khairat el-Shater, for allegedly ordering the killing of protesters outside of the Brotherhood’s headquarters on Sunday, judicial sources said.
https://twitter.com/Steiner1776/status/352819060058238976 Al-Jazeera's offices were shut, as it was seen as sympathetic to Morsi: https://twitter.com/leloveluck/status/352818178017083396 Other MB television and media channels have been shut as well. According to the Iranians, Morsi's biggest mistake was not taking full control of the military and security services, via Fox News:
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Iranian parliament's Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy, said Morsi "mistakenly" failed to reshape Egypt's powerful military and other security agencies. "The first mistake by the ... Brotherhood was that they thought they would be able to conclude the revolution only by toppling Hosni Mubarak," he said, adding that Morsi also failed to solve key economic problems in Egypt.
It remains to be seen whether the MB will try to exert itself on the streets. Consider it likely. https://twitter.com/Bazramit/status/352818569714741248

I'm glad the Muslim Brotherhood is out of power in Egypt. From the inception of the 2011 protests against Hosni Mubarak, we warned that western media, particularly the NY Times and its writer Roger Cohen, misunderstood the threat of Islamist supremacy in the revolution. We were right, although the ability of the opposition to coalesce over a year later was a surprise, as was the military's willingness to get involved. It was the economy, stupid, and the MB's overreaching. That said, you can't ignore the fact that Mohamed Morsi was the duly elected President of Egypt. Call it a coup d'état or whatever you want, at least admit what just happened even if you like the result. Around the time Morsi was removed yesterday, I sent out a tweet listing respective percentage wins of Morsi and Obama in the 2012 elections which placed each of them in their presidencies. https://twitter.com/LegInsurrection/status/352522811920756737 The reactions are below, but first, a quick poll, Was that an anti-Obama Tweet? (Poll closes midnight Pacific time tonight) There were some humorous reactions: https://twitter.com/BrettLoGiurato/status/352523874384089088 https://twitter.com/trentmwhite/status/352523298816540672

Live Video and Twitter feeds at Egypt Countdown LIVE. Although it's been obvious this would happen, it now is official. https://twitter.com/AP/status/352504542937620480 https://twitter.com/AFP/status/352505032471613440 Fireworks at Tahrir Square: Via NBC News: “We swear to God to sacrifice with our blood for Egypt and its people against any terrorist, extremist or ignoramus,” the military...

Update No. 2 -- Morsi removed from power by military in Egypt ------------------------- The military's ultimatum to Mohamed Morsi expires soon. We will keep you updated throughout the day, with live video and Twitter feeds, and updates at the bottom of the post Video livestreams:
Watch live streaming video from ontveglive at livestream.com
  On Twitter: Follow the #Egypt and #June30 hashtags: Updates: https://twitter.com/AJELive/status/352500284909563904 https://twitter.com/AP/status/352485661980372992 https://twitter.com/AP/status/352466710470737921 https://twitter.com/DerekStoffelCBC/status/352482790891196417

Not recognizing the Muslim Brotherhood's nature Two and a half years ago, the New York Times ran an editorial, Mr. Mubarak is put on notice, in which it hailed the opposition to Mubarak's rule and scolded him for failing to heed the public's will. What if, inspired...

Egypt LIVE Updates Today was the deadline set by the Egyptian military for President Mohammed Morsi to reach an accommodation with the opposition and protesters. Morsi just rejected the ultimatum, via BBC:

Egypt's president has rejected an army ultimatum that the country's crisis be resolved by Wednesday, amid deadly protests across the capital.

Mohammed Morsi insisted on his constitutional legitimacy as president and said he would not be dictated to. It is clear he expects the military to depose him in the coming hours, says the BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Cairo
Says in speech:
"I am prepared to sacrifice my blood."
https://twitter.com/AJELive/statuses/352179761214271488 https://twitter.com/AJELive/statuses/352182086142140416 https://twitter.com/AlArabiya_Eng/status/352186952835014657 https://twitter.com/AlArabiya_Eng/status/352186290290180096

Update -- live video feed and updates moved to Egypt Countdown LIVE. Via BBC:

Opponents and supporters of Egypt's president have gathered in the capital, Cairo, as the deadline set by a protest group for him to leave power passed.

Tamarod (Rebel) had given Mohammed Morsi until 17:00 (15:00 GMT) to resign or face a civil disobedience campaign. The ultimatum was issued on Monday, hours before the military itself warned it would intervene unless he reached an agreement with the opposition. Mr Morsi criticised the statement, saying it "might cause confusion". The president met the head of the armed forces, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, for the second day in a row on Tuesday. They did not give any details of the talks, which also included Prime Minister Hisham Kandil.
Via NY Times:
Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr resigned on Tuesday, bringing to six the number of ministers to leave the cabinet since the outbreak of mass anti-Morsi protests on Sunday. The cabinet spokesman, Alaa al-Hadidi, also quit, state media reported. Other state institutions also undermined Mr. Morsi’s grip on the state, with a court ruling ordering the removal of the Morsi-appointed prosecutor general, Talaat Abdallah, and moving to reinstate a prosecutor first appointed by President Hosni Mubarak before his ouster. Also on Tuesday, Egypt’s largest ultraconservative Islamist group and its political arm, the Nour party, joined the call for early presidential elections and the formation of a caretaker cabinet.
UPDATES: https://twitter.com/RT_com/statuses/352091470825668609 https://twitter.com/AhmedMorsy_/statuses/352096805015662593

Egypt's military chief has issued an ultimatum of sorts - the army will intervene with its own solution if the country's leaders don't answer the demands of the people within 48 hours.  Since protesters are demanding that Morsi resign, it's unclear precisely what this means...

1) Egyptian plagues Last week Zvi Mazel wrote in the Jerusalem Post (h/t Leslie Eastman) In a remarkable and enduring show of unity, non-Islamic opposition parties under the banner of the National Salvation Front are boycotting the regime until their demands – canceling the Islamic constitution...

1) The language of concessions The Washington Post reports Kerry presses Israel and Palestinians for concessions to pave way for peace talks: Kerry first visited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has resisted new talks for most of the past four years. His government had sought to file...

Comedian Bassem Youssef has been called Egypt's Jon Stewart. While Stewart doesn't always endear himself to those he aims his political satire at, there aren't many who would seek to put him in jail for his jokes. Yet as the world embarks on the first days of...

It's time for the person most consistently wrong about the Muslim Brotherhood to admit that just about everything he said about the Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt's Arab Spring was wrong, including: Already we hear the predictable warnings from Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu: This could be Iran...