Category Archives: Mohamad Mursi

"Thank you Qatar" …. Basim Yusuf way

شكراً قطر. على طريقة باسم يوسف

لا يتعب من إدهاشنا. مساء الجمعة الماضي، كنّا على موعد مع حلقة مضحكة مبكية. أخرج الإعلامي الساخر عصاه، وانهال بنقده على الإخوان، مظهراً كيف باتت «أم الدنيا» تابعةً للإمارة الصغيرة والـ«قطري اللي بيصرف ويتفشخر»
أحمد محسن
كعادتهم، كان الجميع يبحثون عن الفرح، لكن ما رأيناه هو الألم. كان ألماً صلفاً يوظفه المايسترو المصري في خدمة الفرح الذي ما زال متاحاً. عادةً، تحدث الأمور بالمقلوب، فيقود الضحك إلى الحقيقة المؤلمة، لا العكس. هذه وظيفة الكوميديا لا وفقاً لدانتي وحسب، بل لمن يتسع قلبه للنقيضين العظيمين: الفرح والألم. في الواقع ليس هناك من فرح مجاني، لكنّ الألم مجاني دائماً، حتى فعل باسم يوسف فعلته أول من أمس. نجح في قلب الطاولة على الجميع. كالساحر، أربك معظم المشاهدين الذين بلا شك عرفوا شعوراً هجيناً، لم يجدوا طريقة لتفسيره إلا إعادة الاستماع إلى أغنية «قطري حبيبي» التي قلّد فيها الكورال أوبريت «وطني حبيبي» الشهيرة. غالب الظنّ أنّ معظمهم عجز عن أن يأخذ موقفاً يلزم الضحك، أو ربما البكاء. لمَ لا والأغنية تجرأت وقالت ما يشعر به المصريّون ويخشون إعلانه: القطريّون يشترون البلاد. ليس هناك ما يؤلم المصريين أكثر من كلمة تخدش هالة بلادهم.
للوهلة الأولى، يبدو عنوان الأوبريت ساخراً، لكن سرعان ما يضع يوسف الألم على طاولة الجمهور دفعة واحدة. منذ بداية الأغنية، كان واضحاً أنها ليست للضحك فقط: «أديه آخرتها بنشحت برا، بعد ما فلسنا في الثورة». هذا قاس جداً على المصريين ولكن كان على أحد ما أن يواجهه. وكان هذا مجدداً باسم يوسف الذي عكس وجهه تعابير ملتبسة، تشبه شعباً أنهتكه الثورة من دون أن يفقد إيمانه بالفرح. صحيح أنّه تصرف على سجيته، فابتسم وهو يلوح بعصا المايسترو، لكنه كان حاسماً في أكثر من مرة عندما طفح حزن غير مفتعل اطلاقاً على وجهه. كذلك، أدى وائل منصور مقطعه الغنائي بمنتهى الشجاعة، وكانت جملته نقطة التحول الأولى في الأغنية التي لن تكون هزلية من الآن فصاعداً. في الأصل، لا يحتاج باسم يوسف (حتى الآن) إلى شهادة من أحد حول قدرته على صناعة الكوميديا. لم تهطل الأغنية بالباراشوت. كانت امتداداً لمسلسل طويل من الغضب المصري على قطر. حلقة «البرنامج» (سي. بي. سي) مساء الجمعة الماضي خُصِّصت بأسرها لنقد الدور القطري في مصر، بدءاً بالوديعة القطريّة الوهميّة في المصرف المركزي المصري، وانتهاء بعدم استقبال الأمير القطري للرئيس المصري محمد مرسي، في مطار الدوحة.
قيل ما قيل عن استخفاف القطريين بمرسي وتبعية جماعة الإخوان المسلمين للإمارة الصغيرة.
 
تمنى الجميع عودة جمال عبد الناصر لعشر دقائق كي يخبر مرسي معنى الكرامة على القياس المصري. هذا الذي لا يقبل المصريّون السجال فيه. تحسروا على نزوله (مرسي) من الطائرة من دون أن يجد من يسلّم عليه. سخر «البرنامج» من تصرفات رئيس الإخوان الهزليّة كالمعتاد، واصفاً إياه بالجندي المجهول الذي من دونه لن يجد «البرنامج» ما يقدمه للناس، وتالياً، لن يجد ما يضحكهم أكثر من الرئيس نفسه. ولم يوفر قطر نفسها التي «تشتري كل شيء». لكن الأغنية جاءت في وقت حاسم لإعلان الرفض… للقول بوضوح: مصر ليست للبيع. ما رأيناه هو الصوت المصري على حقيقته: رقيقاً وثوريّاً كما تعنيه الكلمة. مؤدٍ ومؤديتان يشهرون أصواتهم ضدّ السكوت. مؤديّة رقيقة هي داليا الجندي تنتفض تعابير وجهها حين تحضر إلى فمها اللازمة الآتية: «يللي قنالك ملكك، وانت بصَكّ ايجار حتهينها». كأنّها تمرنت على هذا الشعور طويلاً. غالب الظن أنه شعور مصري خالص لا يستأذن الظهور. كيف لا يكون كذلك، وهي تحرك إصبعيها بلطافة تضمر حزناً عميقاً، حين لا تستبعد أن يبيع الإخوان الهرم.
إن اختيار هذا الأوبريت بالذات ليس عبثيّاً. ليس مجرد نزوة كوميدية بلا حسابات. لقد ألهم أوبريت «وطني حبيبي» أو «الوطن الأكبر» (ألفه أحمد شفيق كامل، ولحنه محمد عبد الوهاب، وقدّمته مجموعة من الفنانين عام 1960 من بينهم عبد الحليم، وصباح، وشادية، فايدة كامل، وردة الجزائرية، نجاة الصغيرة) الجزائريين، وردّده اللبنانيّون طويلاً في معرض دعمهم للثورة الفلسطينيّة. كانت معزوفة المعلم محمد عبد الوهاب على مقاس المرحلة التي صعدت فيها الناصرية ببطء فوق جثة الاستعمار.
 
وهذا الدور الذي لا يبدو المصريون في وارد الاستغناء عنه حتى لو قررت جماعة الإخوان ذلك. على سيرة هذه الجماعة، ختمت سارة المنذر أوبريت «قطري حبيبي» بالقول: «حلوة يا نهضة يا طاحنة شعوبنا، حلوة يا أحلى خازوق في حياتنا».
أوبريت «قطري حبيبي» الذي لقي استحسان المصريين والعرب على صفحات مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي، واعترض عليه ملحّنون قلة، فطالبوا بتدخل الجيش المصري لوقف تداوله (!)، يعني أنّ المصريين ــ وإن فقدوا دورهم الريادي عربيّاً ــ لن يصبحوا تابعين. أوضح باسم يوسف في نهاية الحلقة أنّ لا مشكلة مع الشعب القطري، بل المشكلة «مع لي بيبيع». وإن كان البعض «حساساً» وافترض وصف قطر بالـ«الأخ الأصغر» بمثابة استصغار لها، فلا بأس في ذلك. ليس لأنّ القطريين أقل من المصريين، بل لأنّ مصر أم الدنيا، وهذا المجاز الجميل ما زال يميّز بلاد عبد الوهاب. أحفاد الموسيقار لن يقبلوا أن تسرق ثورتهم بهذه الخساسة. معنى الأوبريت يبدأ من اسمه، ولا ينتهي مع نهايته. المعركة طويلة مع الإخوان الذين يخافون ضحكات الآخرين.
«البرنامج» كل جمعة 22:30 على «سي. بي. سي»
 

محسن جابر رقيباً لحساب مَن؟

القاهرة ــ محمد عبد الرحمن
دخلت الحلقة 20 من «البرنامج» تاريخ البرامج التلفزيونية، مرّة لكونها الحلقة الأولى التي يطلّ عبرها باسم يوسف بعد التحقيق معه في مكتب النائب العام (الاخبار 2/4/2013)، وطوراً بسبب أوبريت «قطري حبيبي» الذي أثار جدلاً كبيراً. لم يفعلها يوسف مع جماعة الإخوان ولا مع محمد مرسي فقط، بل مع دولة قطر التي تنظر إليها غالبية المصريين نظرة تشكّك بسبب طبيعة العلاقة بين الدوحة والقاهرة.
بدأ يوسف الحلقة بداية مبتكرة كعادته، إذ حاكى المشهد الذي تابعه المصريون أمام دار القضاء العالي، وارتدى الملابس نفسها واستعان بزملائه الذين ذهبوا معه إلى النائب العام ودخل مسرح «راديو» حيث يصوّر برنامجه كأنه قادم من التحقيقات. وفي الفقرة الثالثة والأخيرة من البرنامج، اختار إلقاء الضوء على عدد من المعتقلين غير المعروفين للرأي العام. في الفقرة الأولى من «البرنامج»، واصل يوسف نقد مرسي والنائب العام. لكن الفقرة الثانية من البرنامج التي خصّصها لعلاقة النظام الإخواني الحاكم بقطر، حملت الكثير من مشاعر الشجن والحزن على ما آلت إليه مصر بعد عامين من ثورة طالبت بالحرية والعدالة. أكّد باسم أنّه لا يجب لعلاقة الشعبين المصري والقطري أن تتأثر بالرفض المصري لفتح الأبواب للنظام القطري لشراء وتأجير ما يريد من ممتلكات المصريين. وإعتبر أنّ الأزمة لا تكمن في الشاري بل في «البائع». ثم عرض أوبريت «قطري حبيبي» الذي شارك فيه المغنيّان وائل منصور، وداليا الجندي وسارة المنذر الذي حقّق أكثر من 350 ألف زيارة عبر يوتيوب. لكنّ شركة «ديجتال ساوند» التابعة لشركة «عالم الفن» (محسن جابر) تدخّلت وطالبت بحجب الفيديو عن يوتيوب كونها تملك اللحن الأصلي لأوبريت «وطني حبيبي»، فاضطرت قناة «سي. بي. سي» إلى حذفه خوفاً من الملاحقة القانونية. في حين علمت «الاخبار» من مصدر: «أن «عالم الفن» لديها نية في تحريك دعوى ضد «البرنامج» بسبب حقوق الملكية الفكرية.
ورأى كثيرون أنّ الأوبريت وسيلة فاعلة لتنبيه المصريين من الأخطار التي تحيط بدولتهم، لكنّ مناصري مرسي قدّموا مبررات للهجوم على الأوبريت و«المايسترو». إذ اتّهموا يوسف بتشويه الأوبريت الأصلي، ملتفّين بذلك على التشويه الذي أحدثوه بمصر كلّها في الأشهر الأخيرة. علماً أنّ اتهاماتهم ليست سوى محاولة لتكريس فكر غيبي يسعى الى تحويل رائعة عبد الوهاب الى نصّ مقدس على طريقة كل المحظورات الأخرى التي يفرضها الإخوان على المجتمع في حين أنّ استيحاء عمل كلاسيكي وتحويله بطريقة ساخرة أو غير ساخرة عبر كلمات وسياق مختلفين يعتبر تقليداً عالمياً متفقاً عليه. وبالتالي يعد حذف الأوبريت شكلاً سافراً من أشكال الرقابة وحماية المصالح القطرية.

 

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
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Bassem Youssef (Egypt’s Jon Stewart) upon his release in Cairo

FLC

‘Life is Like a Box of Chocolates!’

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
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Mursi Warns of Imminent Response to Opponents

 

Egyptian President Mohammad Mursi has warned his opponents saying he may take imminent unspecified measures to “protect this nation.”

Mursi made the remarks during a speech on Sunday at the opening session of a conference named the Initiative to support the Rights and Freedoms of the Egyptian Women in Cairo.

“If I have to do what is necessary to protect this nation I will, and I am afraid that I may be close to doing so,” the Egyptian president said, adding, “I will do so very, very soon. Sooner than those trying to shake the image of this nation think… Let us not be dragged into an area where I will take a harsh decision.”

Mursi’s statement came days after supporters of his Muslim Brotherhood movement and opposition protesters fought street battles, in which nearly 200 people were injured.

Clashes broke out on Friday after anti-government demonstrators ransacked three Brotherhood offices in capital Cairo, in the second-largest city of Alexandria, and in the Nile Delta city of Mahalla. Police used tear gas and water cannon to turn back thousands of people from the Brotherhood’s offices.
 

Source: Websites
25-03-2013 – 09:33 Last updated 25-03-2013 – 09:33

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
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Egypt Police Guard Brotherhood after Overnight Clashes

Police were out in force on Saturday outside the headquarters of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood a day after more than 160 people were hurt in running street battles between Islamists and opposition protesters.clashes

An AFP journalist reported a heavy police presence at the building in the Mokattam neighborhood, and the official MENA news agency cited a health ministry spokesman as saying more than 160 people were injured the night before.

Businesses in the area remained closed, and debris from the violence was visible everywhere. “We have already cleared away four burnt buses and three cars,” Nasser Abdullah, an official charged with the clean-up, told AFP.

Hundreds of Brotherhood members, many of whom had been bussed in the previous day ahead of the opposition protest, were leaving the complex on Saturday.

Friday’s violence broke out after opposition activists marched to the building guarded by police and Brotherhood members. The two sides pelted each other with stones, emergency services chief Mohammed Soltan told MENA. Shots were also heard, but there were no immediate reports of gunshot casualties.

Police used tear gas against the protesters before the clashes spilled over elsewhere in the normally calm Cairo neighborhood.

Source: AFP
23-03-2013 – 12:47 Last updated 23-03-2013 – 12:47

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“I am hoping BRICS would one day become E-BRICS where E stands for Egypt."

Via FLC 

“…Sitting in his imposing presidential office in Cairo’s upscale Heliopolis district, Mr. Morsy expressed Egypt’s deep interest in joining the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) combine and turning the grouping into E-BRICS. “I am hoping BRICS would one day become E-BRICS where E stands for Egypt. I hope E-BRICS would emerge when we start moving the economy.” He lauded the proposal for the establishment of a BRICS bank that would “support countries to achieve high growth rates and supplement the role of the IMF, World Bank and similar institutions.” …”

 River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
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Egypt Court Begins Hearings on Mursi’s Appeal against Poll Cancellation

Local Editor

Egypt’s Supreme Administrative Court began hearings Sunday on an appeal lodged on behalf of Egyptian President Mohammad Mursi against a lower court’s cancellation of a controversial parliamentary election he had called for April.

President Mohammad MursiThe Egyptian State Lawsuit Authority lodged the appeal against the March 6 court order on Wednesday, arguing that Mursi had acted within his sovereign powers when he called the election.
The lower court had ruled the president’s decree invalid because he had ratified a new electoral law for the vote without sending it to the top court, as required by the constitution.

A judicial body which advises the Supreme Court has recommended that it uphold the lower court’s decision.

The appeal came despite earlier statements from both Mursi and the Muslim
Brotherhood insisting they would not challenge the ruling.

Egypt’s main opposition bloc, the National Salvation Front, had already announced it would boycott the election, expressing doubts over its transparency and demanding a new electoral law.

Source: AFP
17-03-2013 – 15:06 Last updated 17-03-2013 – 15:07

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Foul sewage flooding raises Palestinian ire

 

 
BY Mohammed Omer
Gaza Strip – Gazans are crying foul after Egypt stepped up its campaign to wipe out an underground network of transportation tunnels by blasting raw sewage down them, sometimes with deadly results for Palestinian workers.
 
Some 2,000 men and boys work in the tunnel trade in the Gaza Strip. But over the past three months, more than 80 percent have lost the only work and benefits available in besieged Gaza, which remains stuck in an Israeli blockade.
 
That occurred after the government of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi ordered the destruction of the underground transportation network. As part of that effort, the military began dumping raw sewage into the passageways.
 
It’s the most serious – and arguably the most dangerous – attempt by Egypt to close down the tunnels since 2006, when Palestinians began digging the warrens after Israel sealed off its borders with Gaza following Hamas’ election victory.
 
An estimated 30 percent of goods that reach Gaza’s 1.7 million Palestinians come through the tunnels.
Heralded by Israel as a necessary step to prevent weapons sales into Gaza and to keep attackers out, the blockade has resulted in Palestinians being cut off from many essential items such as food, fuel and building materials.
 
Egypt frequently seals its border in Rafah citing security concerns, as attackers have launched assaults on security forces on the Sinai peninsula by using the underground network. 
 
Hundreds of tunnels have been burrowed over the 14-kilometre stretch of land linking Egypt to Gaza.
The transportation lines have come at a cost. Israel’s Air Force frequently bombs them, resulting in the deaths of at least 20 Palestinians by direct missile hits, according to statistics from the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights.
 
One tunnel owner who identified himself as Abu Suliman said only 50 tunnels are functioning, as opposed to about 550 working at full capacity following Israel’s last military operation on Gaza in November 2012.
Egypt’s Interior Ministry spokesman, Islam Shawan, estimates about 900 tunnels had been operational between Gaza and Egypt until the recent campaign to flood them with sewage water.
Security versus bread
 
Israel’s air, sea and land blockade of Gaza has led to a booming tunnel excavation business that supplies basic food staples, medicine, and even cars to cut-off Palestinians.
 
Amer, who gave only one name as he feared reprisals for talking about the issue, sits against the wheel of a truck parked on the border area, waiting for a shipment to turn up. Every morning he comes from the north of Gaza to the south in search of work. He has been waiting for eight hours in vain, and is ready to return home empty-handed.
 
The owner of the tunnel where Amer works says it was destroyed by sewage pumped in by the Egyptian military.
 
For the past month Amer, 22, had mostly been hauling gravel, which like all construction materials is denied entry into Gaza by the Israeli government.
A Palestinian works inside a flooded tunnel [Reuters]
In the past, he could earn $26 per day, which helped feed his family and pay part of the school tuition for his two brothers.
 
When asked what he plans to do with work opportunities dried up, he looks frustrated. “I don’t know. This was the only way I could earn living and put food on the table for my brothers and mom. It may take some time to find another way,” says Amer.
A friend nearby has a solution: “There is always a way to dig deeper. We dug 20 metres before – now let us dig 30 meters instead,” says Mahmoud, who also asked that only his first name be used.
 
But 30 metres is risky work. Many coworkers have died inside tunnel collapses, and it sometimes takes days to find their bodies, the Palestinian men say.
 
 
The number of workers killed since January is seven, for a total of 236 victims since 2006, according to the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights.
 
Endangered and abused
 
Essam Hadded, national security advisor to President Morsi, recently told Egyptian reporters that the move to shut down the tunnels is in response to weapons smuggling, which “shakes the security in Sinai”.
Last August, 16 Egyptian border guards were killed by fighters near the Gaza border, highlighting the lawlessness in the Sinai desert region adjoining Israel and Gaza.
 
Hamas, meanwhile, says it is concerned over Egypt’s move to pump the tunnels full of stinky wastewater. “Tunnels are considered to be the artery of life for the population of Gaza,” says Yousef Rezqa, political advisor to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.
 
A tunnel worker from the Al Shaer family in Rafah – who also requested anonymity fearing retribution for speaking to the media – says the Egyptian military recently dumped sewage into his tunnel for the fourth time. He says he and his coworkers are tired of cleaning out the filth, and worry the toxic material threatens their health.
 
Worker abuse is also rampant, with tunnel owners underpaying and overworking the vulnerable labour force. The average excavator works 12 hours a day.
 
Advocate Hazem Hanyia, of the Independent Commission for Human Rights, conducted a study on the tunnels and found that working conditions do not meet minimum safety standards and violate Palestinian labour laws.
Amer says some tunnel owners create imaginary problems three or four hours into a shift in order to kick workers out and not pay them for a full day’s work.
 
“We never knew there is something called labour rights in this work,” says Amer. “It feels like an animal farm, and the tunnel owner comes and collects how much he needs, and he would not mind if we die.”
 
Compensating death
 
It is an unwritten rule that if a single tunnel worker dies his family receives $5,000 in compensation, while a married labourer’s family gets $10,000 as a one-time pay-off.
 
But this money often doesn’t find its way to bereaved relatives. Bassam Khader disappeared while working underground in Rafah last month, after heavy rain and flooding collapsed a tunnel.
His difficult-to-identify body was recovered nine days later, but his family is still without compensation. Khader had a young wife and nine children.
 
Suddenly during an interview, a group of young men surface and hurry an injured worker on their shoulders out of the ground to a medical facility, their faces and clothing covered with mud.
 
An hour later, health officials at Abu Yousef Al Najjar hospital confirm 18-year-old Mohammed Khalil Irbaia was killed by electric shock, as sewage water flooded the tunnel where he was working.
 
When the news of Irbaia’s death reaches coworkers at the tunnels they stand silent, remembering how he had been searching for a job just the previous morning.
 
During Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s time, Amer recalls, soldiers fired tear-gas into the tunnels. Although some friends were killed by the gas, Amer says he fears the sewage water more.
 
Follow Mohammed Omer on Twitter: @mogaza
 

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
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US wants Morsi to deliver more

احلق ذقنك واكشف عارك.. تلقى شكلك هو مبارك

The aid to Egypt must be linked not only to its economic needs and policies. It must truly be linked to whether Morsi does in fact “protect the democratic principles that the Egyptian people fought so hard to secure,” wrote the convicted Zionist Jew, Elliot Abrams, at CFR’s ‘Pressure Point Blog’ on March 4, 2013. Abrams played the part of midwife for the bogus Iran-Contra Scandal.
I doubt very much Abrams will ever agree with his fellow Israel-First author Marianne Williamson, who admitted on Kevin Barrett radio show that Israel was not a democracy either - but US pays 20% of Israel’s annual military budget of $15 billion + one-third for Israel’s medicare and other social services.
The pro-Israel western NGOs are trying their best to keep Egyptian nation in turmoil by pitting pro-Mubarak, secular and non-Muslim groups against Morsi-led government in Cairo. The anti-government bloody riots in various cities plus the Zionist-controlled media portraying Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood backers as being “Jew-haters and antisemites” – is part of Zionist-game to turn Egypt into another Iraq or Syria.
The Israel lobbyists are affraid that a stable pro-Islamist government in Cairo, will eventually support Hamas and distance itself from the Zionist entity and its backer United States. However, some Egyptians like Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah Nasr, believe that Morsi’s taking dictation from Washington and refusing to annul Egypt’s peace treaty with the Zionist entity, proves Morsi to be Crypto Zionist.
Nasr is not that far off in his viewss about President Morsi, who has so far followed USrael’s core policies in the region, especially towards Hamas, Syria, Lebanon and Iran. The Rafah border between Egypt-Gaza is still not open for trade; Cairo is still hesitant to re-established diplomatic relations with Tehran due to US-Saudi-Qatar fear. Like in the case of Turkey’s Erdogan, the US is trying to take advantage of a Sunni Islamist president in Egypt as a counterbalance to the rising anti-Israel Shia influnce from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
Last week, during his meeting with Morsi, John Kerry emphasized that America’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood is contingent on Morsi not adopting a radical stance against the Zionist entity, and continuing to adhere to Camp David – something the MB fiercely criticized during Mubarak’s reign. Egyptian media reported that Morsi reassured Kerry on that point.
Sam Amer Ph.D, an Egyptian writer in a recent article, entitled, Egypt will succeed at democracy, provides some clues to why Morsi is hated by the pro-Israel mafia.
In spite of what the neocons and Israel are saying, the indications are that Egypt will succeed at stability, democracy and international independence. At this time, the biggest threat to the stability of the new government in Egypt is the persistence of the inherited burdensome bureaucracy and corruption, especially in the police and security services. Despite the success of Kerry’s visit to Cairo, there is little prospect of the kind of US-Egyptian relationship that existed under Mubarak. Since Mubarak’s overthrow, Egypt has been building new bridges with countries that the US considers foes, like Iran, or rivals, such as China,” says Sam Amer.
If the United States continues to put Israel’s security before democracy and freedom in Egypt, it will risk its future ability to influence events and will end up with only Israel as its ally in the region. As many have already pointed out, Israel’s future, without resolution of the Palestinian conflict, is very much in doubt. It is only a matter of time before Israel will drown in the Arab democratic sea, with or without US support,” says Amer.
In modern times, Arabs and Moslems are, in general, clueless when it comes to democracy and human rights. They have been politically suppressed for so long that they don’t actually know what to do. Generally, they are split between two competing camps: those committed to true and pure Islam mainly because of lack of education and international exposure and those trying to amalgamate Islam with modernism including new constitutions, progressive roles for women and respect for human rights and dignity. No matter what, Islam will be part of the equation in the future in the same way Christianity is part of the equation in the West,” adds Amer.

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Ultra-violence spreads & Morsi runs out of answers

Via FLC

 
 Erdogan’s way to power

“…Finding a way out of this mess will not be easy for Mr Morsi. The chaos plays into the hands of those who yearn for a return to military rule – not just some of his political opponents, but many citizens who no longer want to see the police in their towns, such as in Port Said, where a petition to put the city into direct army control has been circulating. The rioting and police strike are a direct challenge to his authority, and the solutions he has tried – mostly appeasing and co-opting the interior ministry – are not working. His ability to act is constrained by his avoidance of consensus-building and the zero-sum game that now characterises Egyptian politics.

Yet, if there is one issue on which many Egyptians can agree on, it is that police reform and rioters must be tackled urgently. If civilian leaders do not begin providing solutions, then the narrative of either chaos or military rule will become a self-fulfilling prophecy…”

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Egypt Court Suspends Next Month Election as Clashes Renew at Egypt’s Nile Corniche, Security Official Sacked

Local Editor

An Egyptian court on Wednesday ordered the suspension of parliamentary elections scheduled to begin in April, opening a legal battle likely to delay the vote and deepening the political that has polarized the nation for months.
 

The new confusion surrounding the election underlined the paralysis gripping Egypt, between political deadlock, infighting among state institutions, a faltering economy and a wave of protests, strikes and clashes against President Mohammad Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood that has spiraled for months around the country.

In the Suez Canal city of Port Said, the scene of heavy clashes between protesters and police that have left six dead since Sunday, the violence entered a fourth day, dragging in the military. Protesters hurled stones at police firing tear gas, as army troops struggled to keep the two sides apart.

Mursi’s supporters and some in the public exhausted by the turmoil viewed the parliamentary elections as a step toward bringing some stability.
They further accused the opposition of stirring up unrest to derail the voting. But the opposition had called a boycott of the vote, saying Mursi must first find some political consensus and ease the wave of popular anger.

The new court ruling is unlikely to defuse the tension, bringing the dispute into the judiciary, which has repeatedly been used by the various sides in Egypt’s political battles…..
Source: News agencies, Edited by moqawama.org


 

Clashes Renew at Egypt’s Nile Corniche, Security Official Sacked

Local Editor

Egypt: Nile Corniche clashesClashes between protesters and police in Egypt renewed on the Nile Corniche south of Tahrir Square in Cairo Wednesday, as traffic stopped while the two sides hurled stones at each other.

Traffic police redirected traffic, causing slowdowns on Qasr al-Aini and other streets nearby.

Traffic on the 6th October Bridge was flowing normally at the morning following clashes erupted on Tuesday and continued until dawn.

A number of protesters had also set some trees in front of the Arab League headquarters alight before firefighters put the fire out.

On the other hand, the head of security in Port Said was sacked on Wednesday as violence continued to rage in the Egyptian canal city.

Mohsen Radi was relieved of his duties and transferred to the prison services department in Cairo “in response to demands by residents and to help calm the situation,” one of the officials told media outlets.

Egypt is witnessing fresh clashes since Sunday fuelled by January death sentences handed down to football fans over deadly rioting.

 
 
 

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