EgyptRevolution: Counter-Revolutionary Morsi: From President to Dictator

We have to look over the pattern/s in Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi's activities in the last several days to figure out on our own, as much as we can, what Prez Morsi is now up to.  First of all, he didn't need to go to Gaza when it was shelling Israeli communities trying to hide under their Iron Dome, and the Israeli Defence Forces were bombing Gaza City, especially its points of shielding for their hidden strike missles against Israel.  But Morsi went to Gaza.  Why?  He saw his opportunity to become the intervening broker of a temporary peace.  He succeeded, and back in Egypt, US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton was there to praise him.  So, he brokered a peace rather easily, I woud think.  Let me air my "unfounded" suspicions that the Gazans and Hamas received Prez Morsi's argument for their endorsement and permission to play his own role of Arab Islamacist leadership.  What he offered them was a victory in Egypt itself, but to accomplish that he had to wring an endorsement out of the USA.  This woud position himself to win, as the counter-revolutionary leader of Egypt against that country's authentic revolutionaries (who had been swept aside as the Prez's Muslim Brotherhood took over).  He wanted Hamas's support by joining in the ceasefire (so easily obtained, I repeat).  In exchange, what?  Much — for starters, no destruction of the arms-smuggling tunnels under the Egypt/Gaza border, and no real policing for the near future, as Hamas rebuilds its supply of rockets.  So, winning the war of diplomacy with Hamas in Gaza (and receiving their support in turning out the crowds to acclaim him as Top Dog), he went on to duplicitly "pull the wool over" Hilary's eyes.  She was delighted by the quick settlement that Morsi the Bargaineer exacted so promptly from the Hamas leadership and Gazan masses.  So, Morsi guaranteed the USA funds in the billions for this year alone, and at the same time established his creds.  So he probably confided to Secretarty Clinton that he woud use some of the arts of statecraft he had learned from Egypt's previous dictator, Hosni Mubarak, who was also on the receiving end of USA largesse.

Then, having forwarned Clinto, Morsi went home to Egypt to announce rather promptly that he woud constitute himself as a veritable dictator (like Mubarak) in order to "protect the gains of the revolution." But the authentic revolutionaries, plus the judges who wanted an independent judiciary, refused to go along with his well-planned gambit.  Thus, Prez Mubarak's call of the Brothers into the streets and the public square in Cairo and other cities of Egypt.

— Albert Gedraitis

The Independent London, UK (Nov25,2k12)

Embattled Morsi 

calls out his backers

Both sides of Egypt's political divide take to the streets as judges join protest against President's controversial decree

PAUL GALLAGHER

SUNDAY 25 NOVEMBER 2012

The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has called for a mass demonstration in Cairo this week to show support for the embattled President, Mohamed Morsi, who is facing widespread protests over his controversial decree granting him extensive new powers.

In a statement published on its website, the Brotherhood also called for demonstrations in public squares across the country after early evening prayers today.

The latest blow to Mr Morsi came yesterday when the Supreme Judicial Council, Egypt's highest body of judges, called the move by the President to grant himself near-absolute power an "unprecedented assault" on the judiciary.

Through their statement, the judges joined a growing list of leaders and activists from Egypt's political factions, including some Islamists, who have denounced the decree Mr Morsi says is necessary to "protect the revolution". The council's move reflects the anger within the judiciary.

Mr Morsi has accused pro-Mubarak elements in the judiciary, many of whom were appointed by the former president, of blocking political progress. In the past year, courts have dissolved the lower house of parliament as well as the first panel drafting the constitution, both led by the Muslim Brotherhood.

The council's stand against the President sets the ground for an uneasy alliance between former regime officials and activist groups that helped to topple Mubarak's regime and have in the past derided those officials as "felool", or remnants.

The Presidents' opponents see the judiciary as the only civilian branch of government with a degree of independence, as Mr Morsi holds both executive power and legislative authority.

The judges released their statement following an emergency meeting yesterday. They described Mr Morsi's decree as an "unprecedented assault on the judiciary and its rulings" and called on the President to "distance himself from the declaration and all things that touch judicial authority, its specifications or interference in its members or its rulings."

The primary court and the judges' club in Alexandria announced that they and public prosecutors have suspended all work until the declaration is withdrawn, according to the state news agency, MENA.

Parties opposed to the decree have called for a protest on Tuesday in Cairo, though in a different square from the one where the Brotherhood called on its supporters to gather.