Gen. Hussein Tantawi, left, and President Mohammed Mursi Photo: Sherif Abd El Minoem, AP
Breaking news: Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi has ordered the retirement of Egypt’s entire military leadership, the SCAF (the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces), including Defense Minister Mohamad Hussein Tantawi and commanders of the navy, air defense and air force.
Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi today sacked the powerful Army chief and his No 2 and annulled a constitutional amendment issued by the generals, in a drastic move by the new-to-power Islamists to shuffle the top brass of the entrenched military.
Mursi packed off Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi as well as the second-in-command General Sami Anan into “retirement” and appointed both of them as ‘advisers’ to the president. Both of them were also given Egypt’s highest state honour—the Nile Medal.
The shock announcement over state television came amid an ongoing military operation in Sinai, where 16 soldiers were killed in an attack by militants last week.
Mr. Morsi has been in a power struggle with the military since he came to power on June 30. Shortly before he was announced the winner of elections, the ruling military council that took power after Hosni Mubarak’s ouster stripped the presidency of many of its key powers.
Mr. Morsi also appointed a senior judge, Mahmoud Mekki, as vice president. All decisions are effective immediately.
Outgoing Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi headed the ruling military council for 17 months after Mubarak’s ouster in February 2011. Before that, he was defense minister for nearly two decades under Mr. Mubarak. The military council’s No. 2, Chief of Staff Sami Annan, was also ordered to retire. But both men were appointed advisers to Mr. Morsi, according to state television.
Presidential spokesman Yasser Ali said told a news conference aired on state TV that Mr. Morsi named a career army officer, Lt. Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, to replace Tantawi and Lt. Gen. Sidki Sayed Ahmed to replace Annan.
Mr. Morsi also ordered the retirement of the commanders of the navy, air defense and air force. The retired navy commander, Lt. Gen. Mohan Mameesh, was named as chairman of the Suez Canal, the strategic waterway linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean and a major source of revenues for the country.
BBC:
Field Marshal Tantawi – ….- has not yet indicated whether he accepts the moves.
…..
The BBC’s Yolande Knell in Cairo says the president’s intervention is clearly an attempt to take decisive action in his tug of war for control with the armed forces.Under the interim constitutional declaration issued before Mr Mursi was sworn in, the president cannot rule on matters related to the military – including appointing its leaders.
Who knows what the intentions are plans are…but what we know for sure is that the pre-existing apparatus of key decision makers that have ruled the country for decades NEEDS to go (ie: something like Napoleonic exile to an island where they can live the rest of their lives away) for Egypt’s uprising to be set on a successful path, otherwise, it will be tainted at its core.
Removing that high level military structure seems one way to do it… I must say I wonder about the replacement, who is another career general…
more unanswered questions, but probably a step in the right direction.
the pre-existing apparatus of key decision makers that have ruled the country for decades NEEDS to go
i agree. this comes days after Mursi fired the intelligence chief after he disclosed on TV he had pre-warning of the attack that killer 16 egyptian soldiers last week. this latest move indicates there were more people in on this ‘warning’ and none of them informed mursi.
i could be wrong, but they are likely connected.
naturally gazans are asking if the boarder will be reopened. the tweets are flying.
I’m not crying. Tantawi was a 76 year old corrupt geezer who knows very little about war and much more about shady deals.
To have a real democracy, the Army has to take a step down.
Of course, the question is, are the political leaders democratic? And in Egypt that’s far from certain in my view.
Still, interesting optics since just a day ago AP reported that Egypt had eqypt had started to negotiate an aid package from the U.S. to help it secure Sinai.
Maybe America is onto this too, because the old Army elite are all in their 60s and 70s.
Maybe America feels it can influence the direction better by being together with Morsi when he picks new leaders?
My contention is, however, that you’d have to be naive to think you can control the guy who sits quietly and smiles while his party officials are ginning up the crowd at their political mass rallies to ‘March to Jerusalen’ and talks about the ‘Zionist and Western Enemies’.
This is a guy who sat in prison for his beliefs. Nonetheless, he understands that Egypt economy is in the toilet and Islamic leadership rarely leads to economic benefits. Turkey may be the only excemption, but even they are on shaky ground(most of their growth is based on foreign investment, not internal mechanics and their current account is at a -9 % deficit).
Egypt is no longer a net oil exporter and is slowly becomming even more of a third world nation. It’s debt is exploding, it’s becomming liable for IMF help.
Morsi probably understands that the West owns him and his political allies. Without IMF and U.S. help Egypt would go bankrupt tomorrow.
They can gin up the crowd however much they want, they’d still be in the stoneage.
btw, WSJ headline: Egypt President Asserts Power Over Military
Annie, the military, the Salafis, the Brothers, I don’t really see any change happening. Egyptian Christians and the Gazans will continue being in the doghouse. Mursi is caught up in the Saudi-Qatari-Israeli game.
WALID- You may be on to something here. It is too soon to tell whether or not this will fly or, if it does, whether it is substantive or symbolic. Mubarak’s departure was largely symbolic. Uncle Sam may have decided to ease Tantawi aside to create the illusion of civilian control. Future policy as indicated by the facts on the ground will be the best indicator of what is actually happening.
I think Mursi is doing what Erdogan did in Turkey. He knows that with the stranglehold of the military leadership he is impotent. What remains to be seen is how far they will let him go with this.
Another shrewd move on his part (which Obama failed to do in his first 100 days) is to take decisive action immediately following the elections. The longer a newly elected leader waits to enact sweeping moves, the harder it gets.
In Obama’s case, he blew it by not making peace with Iran and putting his foot down and forcing Israel to liberate the Palestinians in his first 100 days, giving the chance to the dark forces to render him worthless in the days that followed.
C&D, Mursi is not doing anything that the Americans are not letting him do. There must have been conditions set that allowed him to become President. He would have never gotten that 2 billion loan from Qatar if the US wouldn’t have okayed it. Now the rest of the US-controlled money guys are also coming in with help for Musrsi so he’ll be on his best behaviour with the US.
I’m not so sure about that Walid. Pepe Escobar has written about the power struggle between Qatar and Saidi Arabia. Qatar are emerging as the new power in the ME and are not singing from the same song sheet as the Saudis.
For example, Qatar want Egypt to parch things up with Iran, so Murso made overture, which was then denied/rebuffed by the Egyptian military.
Keep in mind that until well into this century every last adult Qatari citizen could have been accommodated within a large soccer stadium such as Rio’s Maracanã which has been known to host over 200,000 for key games. The notion that this “gas station” of a state as Tariq Ali contemptuously calls it is a rival to Saudi power (whose own citizen count of 18 million is less than that of the world’s top 10 conurbations) is a bit surreal.
Source please? And it otherwise seems to me that Qatar is singing from the same song sheet the US gave it; if anyone has evidence otherwise I’d be very happy to hear it.
@ Walid
There are enough complicated machinations going on in that region, much of it behind the curtains, that it is hard for me to state with any confidence who is pulling whose strings. If there was ever a reason to believe in conspiracy theories, the ME is rife with conspiracies from day to day. Who knew with any certainty (even today, after the fact) what forces were at play in Libya? Friends today and foes tomorrow, as Sadam Hussein and Bin Ladin would have attested had they been alive.
So, I can only take things at face value based on unfolding events. For now, it seems that Mursi is making some good moves that Obama can only dream of.
Are these illusions? Maybe. I am old enough to realize that there is much I don’t know, and that there really are puppet masters and illusionists and things are rarely how they seem. Otherwise, I would know with certainty that 19 men in a cave brought down the twin towers, even though many of them are still walking around alive today.
I don’t know about illusionists if by that you mean illuminati, but yes, certainly puppet masters. And re 9/11 the “9/11 Missing Links” documentary is a must-see.
@ Cloak&Dagger
‘the first 100 days’……absolutely agree. Obama blew it.
Will he blow it again if reelected?
Yes. But Romney will be worse so in a few months I’m going to get over my gag reflex and vote for Obama even though the guy that belongs in the presidency is the “unelectable” Ron Paul. Cheers to democracy!
@ Roya
I agree with you, but I don’t know if I will get over my identical gag reflex. Last time I was also for Ron Paul, but it did no good then either; I’m still supporting Paul. Mitt seems possibly worse than McCain was. Obama’s nearly no choice at all, still. What to do? Forget pragmatics and vote anybody but either of them? On principle.
Citizen, I know what you mean. To vote on principle, or forgo principles to keep the worse guy from the presidency? We’re on the precipice of another war, which at best would result in higher gas prices and at worst would culminate in nuclear warfare (all options on the table, baby). On the one hand, we have Empty Suit #1, who has by no means kept it a secret that his campaign is being kept afloat by a rabid Jewish fundamentalist (commonly known as a Zionist), and who goes over to a foreign country to promise foreigners and dubious dual citizens that the fate of this country rests solely in their hands. On the other hand we have Empty Suit #2, who immediately afterwards sends his dude (we’ll call him Italian Guy) over to said foreign country to promise them that nuh-uh, he will bend over backwards (or forwards, whichever way you see this dirty love triangle) even more for said foreign country. Then again, rumor has it that behind the scenes Empty Suit #2 is sending his dudes over to said foreign country to beg them, to implore them, not to drag the “Great Superpower” into yet another war that could be disastrous for the kowtowing “superpower.” And at least Empty Suit #2 is intelligent enough to try to pretend that he cares for you, the average American citizen. Empty Suit #1 doesn’t even bother with this formality.
As for me, I’ve decided to go with the latter option because I see this period as a state of emergency, with a lot more at stake than during past election years. I know Ron Paul can’t win (this time, anyway), so I can either futilely vote for him or cut my losses and put my one vote for the man with an actual shot at the presidency and who is slightly less likely to drag us into an apocalypse.
Suddenly lost all your “sharp” analytical skills, Annie? Once again the cruel life in Middle East breaks your theories and insinuations. For example in your previous post, when asking the question who benefits from killings of Egyptian soldiers the obvious answer for you was- Israel of course! Now I see your theory and raise mine- Muslim Brotherhood has planned and coordinated this event in order to kick the chair under the army and cease complete control of Egypt. Try to rebuff this.
For example in your previous post, when asking the question who benefits from killings of Egyptian soldiers the obvious answer for you was- Israel of course!
could you please link to that and blockquote the specific quote you are referencing. thanks.
link to mondoweiss.net
August 8, 2012 at 4:46 pm
“btw, after the MB posted on it’s website “the proof of this is that it gave instructions to its zionist citizens in Sinai to depart immediately a few days ago” israel released the information “Israel had reports of impending attack from Egypt”
link to news.yahoo.com
which helps explains how, if in fact israelis did depart from the sinai a few days before the attack, they were probably warned to leave.”
It doesn’t take too much mental effort to understand that the “proof” of “this” is the alleged Israel involvement in the attack.
wrong link dim:
link to mondoweiss.net
for your review:
For example in your previous post, when asking the question who benefits from killings of Egyptian soldiers the obvious answer for you was- Israel of course!
so, iow, you have no evidence i said what you claim i said. furthermore, you’ve got proof of nothing. if “Israel had reports of impending attack from Egypt” it does explain how and why the israel government warned their citizens to leave. link to news.yahoo.com
you’re really not making any sense. also, note this could happen regardless of who carried out the attack, so whatever ‘proof’ you think you’ve garnered from this information is just not there. in the next comment on the thread, taxi linked to the earlier news report the week before of israel warning about impending kidnappings in the sinai. chances are most people didn’t read those the week before, so it makes sense the news of those reports (warnings) would be republished the day after the attack. especially after the allegations on MB’s website.
you sound like a nut. you can’t extract quotes from me that just are not there. but if you read the thread you can find quotes i did say. like this:
from my perspective the most glaring immediate repercussion is how it slammed shut the border.
pay attention and get a grip.
You’re welcome to your conspiracy theories. However, others are interested in whether Egypt can develop into a country which represents its people, and not the vested interests of the army, America or Israel. In that light I can understand your zioparanoia.
Oh by all means develop as much as you want- just don’t threaten my security while doing that.
Heh heh, your security? Do you mean your stolen land and water? What about Palestinian security from Israeli violence and attack? Maybe you shouldn’t threaten that, and then whine about it.
Yes yes the “stolen” land and water. Feel better now? I don’t give a damn about that- it is about here and now, how both countries will live and progress in future.
You can’t be secure on stolen land. That’s why Israelis are paranoid about security.
Yes yes the “stolen” land and water…. I don’t give a damn about that- it is about here and now
says the thief (clutching the spoils to his chest) to the beggar (owner).
both countries will live and progress in future.
let go!put your money where your mouth is! don’t starve your neighbor while speaking of ‘progress’ for we are not blind and the world is watching.
don’t starve your neighbor while speaking of ‘progress’ for we are not blind and the world is watching.
It seems so endless to keep repeating this, doesn’t it.
@ dimadok
Yes, it is about the here and now, about the on-going, daily immoral, unethical, and illegal Israeli treatment of the natives, and the continued stealing of the natives’ land and natural resources.
The here and now is continuing dispossession, land and water grabs, and brutal discrimination. How can there be ‘both countries’ when you arrogantly block every attempt at the other surviving in any sustainable form, continually diminishing its boundaries and resources, whilst ruling over it with an iron rod? You kill every chance of ‘progress’ with glee.
>> I don’t give a damn about that- it is about here and now, how both countries will live and progress in future.
It’s funny how the issue of both countries living and progressing in the future never seems to involve the supremacist “Jewish State” actually halting its 60+ years, ON-GOING and offensive (i.e., not defensive) campaign of aggression, oppression, theft, colonization, destruction and murder.
The rapist says, “I don’t give a damn about the severe physical, mental and emotional trauma I’ve caused and continue to cause – it is about here and now, how both the victim and I will live and progress in future. Just don’t expect me to set her free, or even to stop beating or raping her.”
@citizen. Treatment of Egypt natives you mean? Haven’t you missed a geography lesson or two? The article and my comment is about Egypt and its policies
Good to know you “don’t give a damn about that…”
But everyone else around you does…tick tock Zionist.
@ dimadok
I was commenting on your response to justicewillprevail, telling us what you don’t care about:
justicewillprevail says:
August 12, 2012 at 7:02 pm
Heh heh, your security? Do you mean your stolen land and water? What about Palestinian security from Israeli violence and attack? Maybe you shouldn’t threaten that, and then whine about it.
REPLY
dimadok says:
August 12, 2012 at 9:39 pm
Yes yes the “stolen” land and water. Feel better now? I don’t give a damn about that- it is about here and now, how both countries will live and progress in future.
Many of us here do care about the land and water Israel has, and is stealing from the natives. And so do the Egyptians, just getting out of three decades of military rule, and thinking about the former Egyptian regime’s policy with Israel, questioning it.
Juan Cole’s thoughts on this below. Cole always said the Egyptian Revolution wasn’t dead or failed. That there were more changes to come. But even he is surprised Musrsi moved so quickly.
link to juancole.com
In Switch, Egypt’s Civilian President Makes Coup against Generals
Posted on 08/12/2012 by Juan
This is BIG.
P.S
People might want to read up on the domestic economic privilages the Egyptian military enjoyed. With not enough military errands to occupy a force of 450,000, soliders were used as employees on private projects, real estate projects and even transport business for consumer goods. Sometimes higher ups in the military got some pay or a slice of ownership for providing this army workforce for projects.
And naturally if the military, already being paid thru the military as a solider was used this way, it threw some Egyptians civilians out of possible jobs.
Maybe that will change too.
workers on private projects
thanks american, definitely worth the read. and i completely agree it is BIG,in fact i even called phil’s house to get the post up fast (very rare for me). the story deservedly knocked the SF savage ads off the front page, so yes..very big story.
Stay on it annie…..there’s probably gonna be a lot twists and turns to come.
yeah, i seriously doubt everyone is gonna just say..okay cool let’s carry on!
this is a huge development. i really hope it doesn’t get bloody.
Annie, the ongoing development worth watching is the growing split between the Saudis backing the Salafists and the Qataris backing the Brotherhood in Egypt and elsewhere. It has already happened in Syria where Saudia and Qatar had been jointly backing the whole resistance movement but now each of these states has opted to sponsor either the Brothers or the Salafis. This split has now reached Egypt where the Saudis turned down Mursi’s call for a $2 billion loan and Qatar gave it to him. The conflict between the Brothers and the Salafists is the next big one in Egypt, but the Brothers outnumber the Salafists. The Christians paper calling for the people to back SCAF against Mursi (in the Juan Cole piece) was very stupid.
thanks walid. appreciated. please keep us informed wrt this kind of info. links are helpful too even if they are in arabic.
this is a huge development. i really hope it doesn’t get bloody
It’s major.
Juan Cole’s thoughts on this below. Cole always said the Egyptian Revolution wasn’t dead or failed. That there were more changes to come. But even he is surprised Musrsi moved so quickly.
US foreign assistance to Egypt still has to pass the statutory anti-military coup hurdles. Senator Patrick Leahy wrote a waiver that Clinton exercised in the run-up to the elections and transition. When the military and Mubarak’s judges subverted the legislative elections and re-wrote the terms of the transition plan to strip the President of power, Leahy signaled that he would put a hold on next years foreign assistance funding. Clinton hopped on a plane to Egypt, where she told the Generals to hand over power and continue supporting democratic reforms.
The various factions in our government care about Egypt’s foreign policy toward Israel, but none of those actors ever had any strong attachments to the individuals Mubrak happened to appoint to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
@American Also along those lines, and suggested by the complete removal of all the service heads in one stroke, the junior staff officer corps probably supported these “retirements” because they want a piece of the benes these older officers have/had. Otherwise the formerly senior officers were never going to leave.
The next gen of Egyptian command might also be more supportive of the democracy trend (by virtue of owing a favor, if not actual predisposition) and a bit more strident wrt Israel, but that’s just speculation on my part.
I think Mursi was smart to move quickly. Take control immediately while his base is pumped…keep the momentum going forward .
Yup.
Not to be too expansive, but it’s fascinating how the difference in the Egyptian leadership “mill” of navigating and surviving decades of repression enabled Morsi to act boldly to enhance Egypt’s democracy experiment. Contrast that with the US leadership “mill” of money-craven subservience and the downward-spiraling political mush we have here.
John L. Lewis and MLK were born of the repression model and it showed. To echo one of your themes here (people are getting fed up…) we’re getting squeezed enough from all directions that a similar leader is going to emerge who will galvanize (and maybe channel) that discontent. If Morsi continues to move in a democratic direction, the Arab Spring will serve as a very specific model, if not a catalyzing influence, for that emergence.
Yeah well, so much for not being too expansive.
Cheers.
Good thinking ritzl…….we need a leader to galvanize our discontent–in the right direction…before one comes along to turn our discontent into disaster and destruction.
This has to be considered good news, I guess. I had no idea that Mursi had the authority to do this. Nor did anyone else in Egypt. The fact that he did it means that he must have the backing of important forces inside the Egyptian military.
I am still struck by Abu-Khali’s (i.e Angry Arab) statement 3 weeks into the Tahrir Square uprisings that it would take a couple of years to see if those events represented a real revolution or just a temporary insurrection. One of the big unknowns at that time (and today) is the position of the junior officer core inside the Egyptian military. It is clear that the senior officers control the economy and benefit greatly because of their position. The question has always been were they willing to spread the goodies downward. Not just that but what about those officers that are motivated by such arcane notions as support for Egyptian nationalism and the general well being of the Egyptian people.
Egypt’s 1% are walking a very unstable tight rope. It looks like the most recent top officers have just fallen off. What happens next? We can only sit back and witness.
I should have read one more comment down. Just posted this above about the junior officer corps. Totally agree.
I hope their more supportive of the move toward civilian control/democracy, though they’re certainly not going to break (entirely) with the past perks. Work in progress…
He doesn’t. According to BBC:
So we’ll have to wait and see if Morsi gets his way. *cross fingers*
yeah, also fromthe bbc and all other sources Field Marshal Tantawi – ….- has not yet indicated whether he accepts the moves.
so it is far from a done deal. he asked, demanded, their resignations. it remains to be seen how they respond.
Would the US allow a military coup in Egypt?
I think maybe not this time.
They’re calling it the “Completion of the Egyptian Revolution” – and this might be the perfect model for post-Assad Syria
Long live the Arab Spring which Israel and her Israeli Lobby in the US have been on a full-court press for over a year desperately trying to squelch – they have failed on a epic, historic scale.
This is not only bigger than what’s going on in Syria but will show the way for the Syrians after they oust Assad – they can use this Egyptian model now that it has finally succeeded.
Let me tell you, Israel is not going to like that either!
Morsi is also saying he will ignore or renegotiate any parts of the Camp David Accords that are NOT in Egypt’s interest, rather catering to the interests of Israel like Mubarak did (for a price)
Morsi says that 1979 Camp David clauses not deemed beneficial to Egyptian interests would have to go. Already Egypt is assuming full security defense of the Sinai with whatever hardware, including tanks and aircraft and soldiers, as it sees fit
Israel, having already abrogated Camp David over and over, is left with nothing to say
Israel has repeatedly lied and failed to live up to any of the Camp David Accords insisting on a Palestinian state – and there’s about a million Egyptians who want to be free to visit Jerusalem, so we can expect LOTS and LOTS of fresh new pressure on the Israelis now that the last of their SCAF-puppets are out of the way
gingershot, that wasn’t really a revolution. What was started by one group of non-violent protestors in Egypt was commandeered after it was over by the Brotherhood that had stood by on the sidelines while the non-violence kids were getting their heads bashed by Mubarak’s goons. So it’s unfair to credit the Brotherhood with anything other than the firing of Tantawi. Both the military and the Brotherhood stood silent while the kids in Tahrir shouted Mubarak out of office and when he left, the army and the Brotherhood moved in with their own agendas. The Brotherhood simply capitalized on the uprising against Mubarak, but they were never a part of it.
The rumbling between Egypt and Israel involves the Israeli restriction that does not allow Egypt to have more than 4000 soldiers, light artillery and unarmed helicopters in the 60,000 sq km Sinai and not more than 700 policemen in the Sharm area carrying nothing more powerful than AK-47s.
Walid – I think what you’re getting at is perhaps similar to what happened in the Iranian Revolution, when the revolution overthrowing the Shah first involved ‘university students’ and secularists and then was co-opted by the Ayatollahs.
The Israeli Lobby commonly cite this as a ‘failure’ of the Iranian Revolution, and now they say the same thing about Egypt with their whole ‘Islamist Winter’ propaganda, as they desperately try to kill/discredit the Arab Spring.
This is not benign on Israel’s part – they want dictators and only dictators throughout the Middle East, that they can then have the US control for them thru bribery etc. This is well known
The last thing Israel wants is democracies that despise Apartheid in Israel and dictators who can be paid or propped up to support that Apartheid (like Mubarak, Abdullah, Assad, etc)
To me the most important thing to do was to successfully overthrow the Shah and his Savak – that the grassroots religious fundamentalists got caught up in the fight (or even co-opted it) might have been a necessary step to successfully accomplish that task. The attacks ever since by the US/Israel have prevented Iranian society from ‘normalizing’ after this incredible fight – perhaps if the US/Israel hadn’t been trying to overthrow or play Iraq, Saudi Arabia, GCC off Iran ever since THAT WOULD ALREADY HAVE HAPPENED.
Israel and the US have every intention of keeping Iran as religious/fanatical as possible, so they can have them as an enemy and prevent the overthrow of regional Israeli/US hegemony
Kind of similiarly (but not identically) the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is part of what made the successful overthrow of Mubarak (and now his henchmen of the old regime) possible.
Without the MB would we be where we are now, free from Mubarak and the military/Tantawi and others as they continued to be propped up by Hillary, the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia, etc?
Revolutions – as the overthrow of Mubarak was – often need ALL the levels of society to be successful and overthrow it – including the religious guys (MB in Egypt or Ayatollahs in Iran). That will NORMALIZE after a decade or so to a natural balance of perhaps the ‘Turkish Model’
Gingershot, appreciate your comment but too many “what ifs’. We have to deal with “what is”. Unfortunately, from my perspective, the current “what is” is the Islamic Republic of Iran. They have to be treated as the legitimate ruling authority.
I agree with you on this in regard to Israel, but not entirely in regard to the US. Excluding the noecons, I don’t think the government has any specific goals of their own for Iran. It seems to me that they don’t care much about foreign policy except to do what is comfortable today, and what is comfortable today is to do what will get them re-elected tomorrow. From where I stand, it looks like the non-neocon members of government just robotically adopt the Iran policy handed to them by the neocons and other members of the Lobby in order to suit their personal and greedy ambitions. “Simple” as that.
A shrewd and risky move on Mursi’s part. He has the revolution and the will of the voters backing him up. The generals would have to stage a coup of one sort or another to maintain their positions which would jeapardize their status in a more serious way by bringing the protesters back to the streets and squandering whatever good will the military had earned by standing down in Tahrir Square and elsewhere.
Washington, America’s founder and perhaps the greatest statesman of the last two thousand years said in his farewell address: “The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible.” Speaking of Europe, but which we may extend to the world he continued: “Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.”
In a better America, the President, State Department, Congress, and intelligence agencies would have no position on the state of Egypt and its internal affairs regarding civilian vs. military government. That America was dead on arrival, but its corpse was decisively laid to rest with the World Wars.
I wish the Egyptian people the best, but it is their own affair. Obama and Clinton should keep out of it, as much as they should abandon their roles as defenders of Israel.
@Ranjit Suresh,
Washington may have been a statesman, but Benjamin Franklin was more astute and pointed, at the time of the adoption of the US Constitution:
An NPR journalist went to the Sinai to investigate the so-called “military operation” and found no evidence of it. Instead, the locals were laughing it off, saying they had seen and heard of no such thing. If that’s the case this may have something to do with Morsi’s firing the military commanders. Maybe he ordered the offensive and they wouldn’t budge and that was the last straw?
NPR: Doubts Emerge Over Egypt’s Offensive in Sinai
I’m still waiting for Mursi to make good on a couple of campaign promises. From al-Ahram and CNN last June:
“Egypt to see first female, Coptic vice-presidents: Morsi team
Morsi plans to appoint the first ever female and Coptic vice-presidents in a bid towards inclusiveness, an advisor said
Sarah Mourad, Tuesday 26 Jun 2012
Ahmed Deif, a policy advisor to Egypt’s president-elect Mohamed Morsi, stressed that Morsi will be a leader for all Egyptians and will appoint Coptic Christian and
“President-elect Morsi is not only backed by people with an Islamic tendency or ideology; he is now backed by all the people of the revolution, and this is definitely a dramatic positive card that he can play while negotiating with the SCAF,” Deif told CNN.
“One of the first decisions will be appointing different vice-presidents. One of them will be a woman, for the first time in Egyptian history – not just modern history, but all Egyptian history, for a woman to take that position.
“Also, he has decided to appoint a Christian vice-president, and they will not just be a vice-president who will represent a certain gender or sect, but a vice-president who is powerful and empowered and will deal with critical files within the presidential cabinet.”
In his last news conference before the presidential runoff vote, Morsi took the opportunity to reiterate his promises to Egypt’s political forces, and said the country would not be run by an autocratic president.
link to english.ahram.org.eg
Mursi’s action does not feel to me to have been the culmination of a carefully laid plan, more like a deft response to something unanticipated. What? Purely from the point of timing one might look to something associated with the border incident. For instance, something of which Mursi acquired sufficient evidence to have ignited mayhem and sent Tantawi in the wake of Mubarak. That could explain the smoothed over solution not uncommon in such circumstances. In that case Mursi may have won a point, even a set, but certainly not the match. I am not looking to involve our friends in Tel Aviv but they do have a tendency to involve themselves in short term purposes that not infrequently backfire.
NickJOCW, under the treaty, Egypt with both hands tied behind its back has to protect Israel’s Sinai borders. Mursi is having problems with that American and Israeli absurdity. Maybe a well-placed few billions by the US would convince him of the wisdom of the concept. It worked with past Egyptian regimes.
Can Egypt be leading the way for the US to get rid of the grip and domination the Israel Lobby has on the American Congress, Presidential Election process, and foreign policy?
Oh I hope so – I really wish it to be…
This overthrown of the Israeli Lobby in the US/Israel stranglehold on Egypt may be in America’s REAL strategic interests in that may be the beginning of loosening the Israeli Lobby’s stranglehold on America.
This would be the beginning of the Second American Revolution to overthrow the Israeli Lobby’s deathgrip on America
It is in America’s REAL strategic interest to overthrow the stranglehood Israel has on us – even it means outlawing AIPAC and their current ability to have bought and control our Congress and presidential elections, as well as our foreign policy throughout the Middle East, towards the Palestinians, towards the Iranians, and throughout the rest of the world to include Pakistan, India, China, and Russia
At least, let’s hope post-Assad Syria can use this fresh Egyptian Model for a nation free of the Israeli Lobby/US same old same old American policy of controlling a dictator of the state.
Egypt broke free from the Israeli Lobby/Israeli agendas – is America next?
gingershot, at the end of the day, the MB hates the US that has been helping past regimes oppress it for over 50 years and Israel that has been oppressing its Hamas brothers in Gaza with the same passion it hates the Shia and the Christians. The US is fooling itself in believing it can coerce it into loving the Zionists. With fundamentalism taking over all over the place, Israel’s joy ride is coming to its end. Israel’s worst nightmare of being drowned in a sea of fundamentalism is starting to take shape; if the Jewish one doesn’t do it first, then the Islamic one surely will.
This via Marc Lynch, Juan Cole, and the Arabist blog on twitter:
link to arabist.net
Turns out that, at least in 2005, Sobhy was relatively pro-democratic, economically liberal, and cautionary about biz as usual with Israel both in the bilateral and regional senses. These appointments seem like a strong move in the right direction by Morsi.
Full pdf of Sobhy’s paper here: link to dtic.mil
Summaries and excerpts at the Arabist site. Very interesting.
Thanks Annie.
Good article. Tantawi, Mubarak’s poodle, steps down. This is huge news.
Looking round for up to date news I came across an article by Gwynne Dyer published by the Cyprus Mail saying that Tantawi wanted only guarantees (which he has got through his new appointment as a Presidential Adviser) that he would not be prosecuted, otherwise was exhausted and ready to go. It’s hard not to think that he was complicit in whatever Mubarak may have got up to.
Tantawi = Military guy = America’s puppet = Israel’s puppet. So why are you happy about this biorabbi?? Surely the Muslim Brotherhood hasn’t been infiltrated enough to make a Zionist happy about a surge in its power…
Whatever your current take on Mursi’s orders, it’s clear investors in Israel are scared:
link to algemeiner.com