Situation in Egypt

[Jeff]

Hooray for the Arab Spring!™

Lawlessness, Blackouts Roil Egypt As U.S. Warns Against Pyramids Tourism

by TheTower.org Staff | 05.31.13 2:53 pm

Lawlessness has become so endemic in Egypt that the U.S. Embassy this week warned Americans away from visiting the country’s famed pyramids. A academic teaching at the American University in Cairo received an email from the embassy warning of “aggressiveness [that] in some cases is closer to criminal conduct… with angry groups of individuals surrounding and pounding on [vehicles]… and in some cases attempting to open the vehicle’s doors.” The warning lined up with the professor’s observations:

So, it’s not like I’m easily scared by anything that happens at the Pyramids, that repository for all of Egypt’s most villainous swindlers (every nation has some). But in recent months it has become almost unbearable. It feels almost like an openly criminal environment now. The problem is not only “lack of visible security,” but in some cases the security are either working with the vendors on their scams, or are sexually harassing female foreigners quite openly, even those who are obviously accompanied by their husbands. In short, if you visit Egypt in the near future, don’t even think of going to the Pyramids unless you’re on a large organized bus tour. Anything else is a big risk, for now.

 

The warning, emailed out over the embassy’s mailing list, was published the same day as a report documenting hundreds of attacks on journalists in Egypt. Most of the attacks, according to human rights adovactes, are being conducted by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood.

 

Security in Egypt has been plummeting amid blackouts that have heightened public anger against the Muslim Brotherhood-linked government of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi:

 

The [energy] crisis is adding to the pressure on President Mohamed Morsi, who had promised to tackle the country’s ubiquitous power and fuel shortages, along with a host of other problems, in his first 100 days in office. Hundreds of residents in Alexandria, Kafr El Sheikh, Aswan and other areas have taken to the streets in recent weeks to voice their displeasure, blocking roads and even railway lines while chanting anti-Morsi slogans, according to the independent daily Al Masry Al Youm. More demonstrations are planned June 30, to mark the first anniversary of Morsi’s presidency.

 

A popular petition calling for Morsi’s removal was declared by a top Muslim Brotherhood figure today to be “null and void.”

 

http://www.thetower.org/lawlessness-blackouts-roil-egypt-as-u-s-warns-against-pyramids-tourism/

[Ivanhoe]

http://www.kcentv.com/story/22647545/riot-control-training

 

(KCEN) -- A group of soldiers are preparing for their deployment to Egypt with riot training on post.

 

They're planning ahead for violent protests or riots and the possibility of protecting the country's border with Israel.

 

 

This is at Fort Hood in Texas. Were I in charge, I don't think I would be thinking about sending US Army MPs into a messy place like Egypt.

[Soren Ras]

This is at Fort Hood in Texas. Were I in charge, I don't think I would be thinking about sending US Army MPs into a messy place like Egypt.

Nonsense. Fort Hood is famous for its commitment to diversity, which has not caused any troubles with islamists at any time. Sure, there is the odd disgruntled worker now and then, but...hey look! A Squirrel!

 

--

Soren

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ivanhoe]

Sending lightly armed American troops into a volatile, urban civil war involving Islamists. Hmm, where have I heard that one before?

[Jeff]

Form a square!

 

[Ivanhoe]

http://freebeacon.com/anti-government-protests-sweep-egypt/

 

Anti-government demonstrators in Egypt expressed anger and contempt for the Obama administration as they took to the streets on Sunday to demand the removal of Muslim Brotherhood-backed President Mohamed Morsi.

The demonstrators maintain Morsi has become a power-hungry autocrat who is intent on making the Muslim Brotherhood Egypt’s permanent ruling party.

 

They also blame the Obama administration and U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson for propping up Morsi and facilitating the Muslim Brotherhood’s power grab.

 

“We are very critical of the Obama administration because they have been supporting the Brotherhood like no one has ever supported them,” Shadi Al Ghazali Harb, a 24-year-old member of Egypt’s Revolutionary Youth Coalition, told the Washington Free Beacon on Friday afternoon during a telephone interview from Cairo.

 

The White House is “the main supporter of the Brotherhood,” he said. “If it wasn’t for the American support this president would have fallen months ago.”

 

Al Ghazali Harb specifically dubbed Patterson “the first enemy of the revolution,” claiming “she is hated even more than Morsi.”

 

Activists hung pictures of Patterson with a red “X” drawn across her face at Egypt’s Defense Ministry during smaller protests Friday afternoon.

 

“She’s done a lot to harm our relations with the United States,” Al Ghazali Harb said.

“The administration believed that it could influence the Brotherhood to act democratically through friendly ‘engagement,’ and this meant not criticizing the Brotherhood too publicly or harshly when it began acting autocratically, including when Brotherhood cadres violently attacked opposition protesters in December,” Eric Trager, an Egypt expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told the Free Beacon.

 

“The opposition thus concluded that the administration was totally supportive of the Brotherhood’s behavior — which it wasn’t,” Trager said. “Ultimately, the administration failed to manage perceptions.”

 

Mohamad Fouad, a former Egyptian parliamentary candidate and political commentator, predicted that the Obama administration would stand by the Muslim Brotherhood during the protests.

 

“The direction that the administration will take will be the same direction” as in the past, Fouad told the Free Beacon. “They have no option but to support the legitimacy of the people who came in” through the elections.

 

“It’s a watch-and-wait situation with the administration,” Fouad said, predicting that team Obama will only comment if mass violence breaks out.

 

The policy is “sit and wait and hope things don’t turn ugly,” he said.

[Kenneth P. Katz]

I love the Middle East. Just a bit more than I love our super-competent Administration.

 

The Egyptian protesters hate the United States because they think that the United States supports the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood hates the United States because they are Islamo-fascists. The protesters in Egypt show their hatred of Morsi by having a huge Israeli flag with Morsi's face in the center of the Star of David. This is useful because it reminds us that however vile the Muslim Brotherhood may be, their opponents are also loathesome. My take-away is that, like Syria, there are no significant amount of good guys in this situation.

 

Ain't the Arab Spring grand? Let's send more aid! Let's let more of them immigrate to the United States!

[Ivanhoe]

 

I know its like complaining about the weather, but it really pisses me off that there are dozens if not hundreds of people earning 6 figures in the State Dept and WH who had ample opportunity to speak up and ask, "What evidence do you have that you will have any influence over the MB in Egypt?"

 

Of course, one might also ponder the wisdom of providing military arms to a nation run by Islamists that happens to be adjacent to a predominantly Jewish nation. If I had investments in the sinews of war (steel, copper, zinc, nitrates, etc) and/or was long on gold, and wanted to trigger a really big, really bloody war in the ME, I'd want one of Israel's neighbors to be taken over by Islamists.

[pikachu]

I know its like complaining about the weather, but it really pisses me off that there are dozens if not hundreds of people earning 6 figures in the State Dept and WH who had ample opportunity to speak up and ask, "What evidence do you have that you will have any influence over the MB in Egypt?"

 

Of course, one might also ponder the wisdom of providing military arms to a nation run by Islamists that happens to be adjacent to a predominantly Jewish nation. If I had investments in the sinews of war (steel, copper, zinc, nitrates, etc) and/or was long on gold, and wanted to trigger a really big, really bloody war in the ME, I'd want one of Israel's neighbors to be taken over by Islamists.

 

Maybe someone ought to take a look at the investment portfolios of those 6-figure Foggy Bottom people. In the meantime, thanks for the advice. Will get to it right away!

[Jeff]

[mnm]

No.

[Jeff]

Hooray for the...well, you get the idea.

[Marek Tucan]

It was a cunning plot of the army: First get rid of mubarak, then get the Egyptians to taste the Muslim Brotherhood for a year... Now they'll welcome army back...

[Josh]

MB sure managed to take a good pair of aces and bet it like a straight flush. I wonder what kind of finger pointing is ocuring right now within that organization and whether there will be any leadership changes. It does seem that the lesson for the Islamists from the Turkey and Egypt situations is that instead of running down the hill and f*cking one of the cows, you should walk down it and f*ck them all. Though likely Turkey will simply blow over. Now that the military decided to bow in, the MB has really shot itself in the foot.

[CT96]

"This is not a coup, pay no attention to those people in military uniform running the government"

[Richard Lindquist]

First Observer: The Egyptians are revolting!!!

 

Second Observer: I agree.

[Ivanhoe]

It was a cunning plot of the army: First get rid of mubarak, then get the Egyptians to taste the Muslim Brotherhood for a year... Now they'll welcome army back...

 

Yeah, at this point it sure looks like the army has been playing chess against everyone else's checkers. Allowed the MB to have some power without taking control of the army, ensuring that the MB got plenty of blame while remaining in a position to regain power.

 

A bizarre thing, to me, is that the widespread belief in Egypt now is that the Obama administration and the MB are political bedfellows. So the army, or any other political group, can make the case that if Egypt wants to avoid being America's lapdog, it needs to kick the Islamists out.

 

Example number 4,502,148,508,489,745 of the truism that truth is stranger than fiction.

[Mikel2]

 

 

A bizarre thing, to me, is that the widespread belief in Egypt now is that the Obama administration and the MB are political bedfellows. So the army, or any other political group, can make the case that if Egypt wants to avoid being America's lapdog, it needs to kick the Islamists out.

 

 

Who would believe such a thing??

[Colin]

 

World News Live

 

 

Mursi aide says coup under way in Egypt

CAIRO - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi's national security adviser said a military coup was under way on Wednesday after an army deadline for the Islamist leader to yield to street protests passed without any agreement. Full Article | Photo gallery

[Ivanhoe]

 

A bizarre thing, to me, is that the widespread belief in Egypt now is that the Obama administration and the MB are political bedfellows. So the army, or any other political group, can make the case that if Egypt wants to avoid being America's lapdog, it needs to kick the Islamists out.

 

Who would believe such a thing??

 

 

 

 

 

[Tim the Tank Nut]

Eric "The Red" Holder and the IRS are going to get 'dem sumbitches for dissen' the man!

[RETAC21]

Mursi is out, Constitution suspended, back to square one.

[FlyingCanOpener]

Hooray for the Arab Spring!

[Marek Tucan]

Is it just me who cynically thinks that military dictatorship is better than islamist democracy?

[Soren Ras]

Incompetent Islamist deposed. Obama hardest hit.

 

(well, that seems to be the gist of those banners)

--

Soren