Currently in Egypt there is a conservative panel, who is sympathetic to the Islam Brotherhood, creating the new Egyptian Constitution. They are trying the best to make the process quick in attempt to stop opposition. In attempt to stop this forced constitution, 30 panel members (consisting of liberals and Christians) have left the board. The 30 members that left are protesting that what the panel is creating is a new Muslim controlled State.
The current in place President, Mohamed Morsi, created more laws about giving himself more power until the Constitution is complete. He was supposed to make an announcement today. Because of the statement, there has been outrage in Egypt and protests on the streets. The protests have caused Morsi to rethink his plans. But the real stoppage of power came from the enraged judicial courts of Egypt.
Egypt seems to be in a big mess. The road to democracy is still a long way off, and it wouldn't be surprising to have another dictator in Egypt. I'm curious to see how the UN and the US will respond to this. I'm pretty sure the United States won't stand for another dictator (who is probably sympathetic to an Muslim Brotherhood) in a Middle Eastern Country.
2 comments:
One of the biggest roadblocks that I see Egypt facing is that if Morsi doesn't expand his powers, he will get blocked in by the Muslim Brotherhood in his attempts to create a more democratic society. Conversely, such "unlimited" expansion of power is also concerning to Egypt as much of the government is still under military control from the era of Mubarak. Although Egypt is definitely not a real democracy right now, I believe that Morsi does have to step it up a little in order to be able to continue moving forward, but any proclamations under his self-appointed powers have to be monitored closely. its all about treading a very fine line, one wrong move and dictatorship or another revolution could be back for a second round.
Responding to Bruce's closing remark, I don't think that United States woudln't stand another dictator. I think the US will just work with Morsi if he will cooperate with the West (which he has done elegantly during the conflicts over at the Gaza Strip) a few days ago. The US has too much to deal with at the moment, the Pakistan/Aghanistan problems, the rise of China in the Pacific, domestic economy...etc.
The US was reluctatnt to condemn Mubrack in 2011 and I really doubt the US would be more willing to condemn Morsi. As I mentioned, Morsi has proved his value and represents an easy solution to problems in that part of the world.
Unless Morsi really does soemthing complerely egrigeious, meddling in another country's affairs really means political suicide after the long war on terrorism. I really don't expect the White House gets into this mess (unless it wants a diversion of attention on other domestic issues?)
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