News Flash: Egypt’s Islamist President Assumes Dictatorial Powers
The French press agency headline says it all: “Egypt’s [President] Morsi assumes sweeping powers, branded new pharaoh.” Mursi has issued a decree giving himself virtually dictatorial powers and contradicting the assumption that he—and his Muslim Brotherhood organization—intend to rule democratically. Opposition forces said this constituted a coup.
Mursi’s spokesman explained the decree in these terms: the president can issue any decree he wishes to protect the revolution. “The constitutional declarations, decisions and laws issued by the president are final and not subject to appeal.”
It seems apparent that this is another step in the process toward the fundamental transformation of Egypt into an Islamist, Sharia-ruled state. If one views the 2011 revolution as a democratic one, then Mursi is destroying it. But of course he and the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists see it as an Islamist revolution, parallel to the 1979 Iranian revolution — though in Egyptian terms, of course. Lest there be any illusions about what this means, note that Mursi is one man whose legitimacy is not established in practice–despite having won an election–and who cannot depend on the country’s institutions to obey him. The power behind Mursi is not that he is president but that he has the support of the country’s strongest group, the Muslim Brotherhood, and can generally count on the Salafists as well.
The timing of this takeover is ironic since it coincides with an all-time high for the Obama administration’s regard for Egypt, following that regime’s brokering of an Israel-Hamas ceasefire, including a continuous insistence from the U.S. government and mass media that the Brotherhood was now moderate and pro-democratic. In a normal universe, a U.S. president would be furious at Egypt for being made to look foolish after lavishing so much praise on Egypt and its insistence that the Brotherhood was moderate and democratic. Of course, that will not happen with this administration.
It is true that Mursi acted “pragmatically” on the ceasefire issue. But what does that mean? He took into account his own regime interests and didn’t just howl “Alahu Akhbar!” repeatedly. Westerners seem to think that for someone to be a radical Islamist they have to be a wild man. If Osama bin Laden wore a suit and tie, he’d still be alive today.
But of course Mursi wants to stay in power and strengthen his regime. He’s not going to throw away $10 billion in aid (U.S., EU, IMF) for some wild adventure in the Gaza Strip that Hamas began without asking him. He doesn’t yet control the country or the army. There’s no constitution and no functioning parliament. If the Muslim Brotherhood has proven anything, it is that it has patience.
According to the New York Times:
Mr. Obama told aides he was impressed with the Egyptian leader’s pragmatic confidence. He sensed an engineer’s precision with surprisingly little ideology. Most important, Mr. Obama told aides that he considered Mr. Morsi a straight shooter who delivered on what he promised and did not promise what he could not deliver.
“The thing that appealed to the president was how practical the conversations were — here’s the state of play, here are the issues we’re concerned about,” said a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. “This was somebody focused on solving problems.”
But the main problems Mursi is focused on is how to keep the Muslim Brotherhood in power, how to get lots of money from the West, and how to make Egypt into a radical Islamist state. Enforcing quiet in the Gaza Strip right now is part of that effort.
Being the main sponsor of Hamas, a terrorist group, used to be called “state sponsorship of terrorism,” now it is to be admired as being, in the New York Times formulation, Hamas’s “most important international ally.” Another interesting parallel is that Hamas, like the fellow Brotherhood branch in Egypt, won an election and then seized power completely. Things in Egypt have not yet gone that far, but Mursi has taken a big step in that direction.
At home, it has taken only a few weeks for Mursi to return to dictatorship. The decree comes as secular-minded groups demonstrate in the Tahrir Square area while the Islamists call for suppressing them.
Mursi’s offensive seeks to give him the power to purge existing institutions and put supporters in control.
Perhaps the highest priority is to take over the court system by appointing Islamist judges. During the late Mubarak regime, judges were among the most courageous of dissidents, issuing decisions the government doesn’t like. After the revolution, judges gave rulings against the Brotherhood’s goals, for example, saying that the election of parliament—which is three-quarters Islamist—was illegal. Mursi wants to reverse this ruling by decree rather than face new elections where Islamist vote totals will probably plummet.
The other key institutions are the armed forces, where top generals have already resigned, and the religious establishment. While the chiefs of Egypt’s religious system, including the powerful mosque-university al-Azhar, are hardly liberal, they are also not systematic Islamists or Brotherhood supporters. Once such people are replaced with loyalists, the Brotherhood will have the power to define Islam itself.
Given the international authority of al-Azhar, which trains clerics for many different countries, Sunni Islam from Morocco to Indonesia would be closer to becoming thoroughly in line with revolutionary Islamist, anti-Western, antisemitic thinking. That is not to say it is open, liberal, and tolerant now. But the situation would be far worse and destabilizing. For example, mainstream clerics would issue a stream of rulings justifying terrorism and condemning anyone who cooperated with the West.
The Egyptian regime’s cooperation on a Gaza ceasefire, then, was in large part intended to defuse any reaction against its movement toward dictatorship at home. It is doubtful, for example, that the Obama administration will condemn the new decree giving Mursi total power in the country. And Egypt will get almost $10 billion in aid from the United States, European Union, and International Monetary Fund, even as it becomes a repressive, Islamist state.
Also read: Egypt’s Judges Slam Morsi Power Grab
Will even one of the MSM blowhards who confidently predicted the birth of a modern secular Egyptian democracy back in February 2011 admit they blew it?
While you, Prof. Rubin, got it exactly right.
Feb 2011 was the time when I started reading Prof Rubin’s blog and since then,
his predictions for Egypt have been on target. That is why I almost burst out laughing when I read Nicholas Kristof’s column in which he compared what was
happening in Egypt to 1776 (the American Revolution). And then there was the
column about his dinner with a Muslim Brotherhood supporter in Cairo. Niave and patronizing at the same time, he was impressed by her “perfect English” and
comforting words. Will we read apologies from him?
Prof Rubin – please let us know what is happening with attempts to control the
army, the courts and Al-Azhar.
Kristof doesn’t have two brain cells to rub together. I can just imagine the happy-talk columns he would have been writing out of Berlin in the ’30s. When you consider the current Times commentariat — Kristof, Friedman, Blow, the lunatic Krugman, etc. — it’s a very sad commentary about the imminence of Western suicide.
And it is not for nothing that the Pyromaniac/Islamist-in-Chief went gangbusters,all in,for Morsi’s Brotherhood Mafia to take over the helm.
It was NEVER about the democratic will of the people. Nonsense. But it was about installing the Brotherhood into power, whichever way it needed to happen. And it is not as if the wayward Commander-in-Chief will order Morsi – GO NOW! In fact, he just rewarded him with major props, as the ‘arbiter’ over the misnamed/accursed ‘cease/death fire’, aka ‘understandings’.
So, if anyone is pleased as punch, look to none other than the POTUS – http://adinakutnicki.com/2012/09/30/white-house-mandates-aid-to-morsis-islamist-egypt-in-the-best-interests-of-the-u-s-addendum-to-coming-full-circle-the-planned-empowerment-of-the-muslim-mafia-commentary-by-adina-kutnick/
Muslim Brotherhood operates out of Chicago without worry. Chicago is key to it all.
Chicago Tribune reporter John Chase talks about Rezko’s friend and sponsor
http://illinoispaytoplay.com/2012/11/23/chicago-tribune-reporter-john-chase-talks-about-rezkos-friend-and-sponsor/
Opposition forces said this constituted a coup.
Fail!
Are these guys really that slow? The coup happened when Mubarak was tossed off his throne.
We can probably expect the 0 Administration to spin this as a temporary situation. Stalin was temporary, too, if one counts 30 years as temporary. The Army could put a stop to it, but only if a group of generals decides to do so. There will likely be bloodshed no matter which way it goes.
Actually, they think they can control these guys. They believe in American Magical Liberalism. The Soviets called them “useful idiots.” The State Dept. helped engineer Mubarak’s “electoral” defeat.
I also have to say, the Egyptian democracy revolutionists poorly understood their own nation’s people.
Just like the Ruling Class in 1930′s Germany thought they could ‘Control’ Hitler and his NAZIS and just like the moronic RINO’s in todays America ‘THINK’ they can work with and obtain bi-lateral concensus agreements with the Lying USURPER and his evil Regime.
No a bump on the road.Lots of people have been already bumped off and more will follow.
Wouldn’t Susan Rice, Clapper, Brennen, Google executives and Obama all just organize and support another revolution to overthrow their new dictator?
Mr. Rubin, I guess the good thing from this is we now have enemies in uniform, instead of enemies who don’t use a uniform. Instead of fighting insurgencies within a country, we will now be fighting against countries ruled by Islamist.
This is part of a bigger picture. That picture consists of more muslim takeover and an adoption of an “all-supreme muslim leader” who will call upon all men, women and children of the sand-people to coalesce into a monstrous fighting force.
Thus will begin the new crusades. And, as they did the first time, will be instigated by zealots of the ridiculous cult called islam. Only, we’re not there yet but are well on the way.
Much as acquiescent Europe was brutalized by marauders in the 11th century, so shall a similarly acquiescent Europe be dominated by more of the sand-people in the 21st century. Looking at north Africa right now, the plan hasn’t quite gelled yet but when they learn to band together as they did in the middle ages, they will be lumbering over the borders while also activating their already-in-place religious followers.
After much bloodshed and tribulation, it will end as it did the first time with the sand-people driven to near extinction. Sadly, it’s going to have to happen; Their ideology permits nothing less. They will embark on their quest with full packs and when the West finally does decide to recognize that they are all-in, much will have already been lost. Wouldn’t want to offend them now, would we?
It’s a growing weed. It’s getting intertwined into our own culture while the clear-of-mind refuse it and recognize it for what it is. It is war. It is also the preamble to a greater war. It will be a war of which no one cannot participate. They are coming and the only way to stop them is to destroy them. The socialists are trying to co-opt that activity by appeasing them, hoping for an ally in the great war against Christianity but they are on a fool’s errand because while they think they are the users, they themselves are being used and they will be most shocked to find themselves among the first to lose their heads.
You cannot reason with people who think diagonally.
Another great success of the internationalist subversives.
As always with the lefties, the night of totalitarianism can now grow larger and deeper.
PS
Remember, he called the vote for a “revenge”…
This is the most shocking thing to happen since Inspector Renault found gambling at Rick’s.
The real thing in all this is: can Morsi make agreements and stick to them or he can not. If he can it is good for everyone in the region. Also, guys like Morsi have to say stuff for domestic consumption which in no way affects the way they behave. Israel got along fine with Mubarak and others in the region. Look at what they do, not what they say. (Also, as a hedge, keep the powder dry).
Dear mr. divider in chief:
Surprise, surprise although it looks like things are going as you would have them go here.
Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood are outpacing Hitler and the Nazis in taking dictatorial power. And Obama loves him and them for it.
Who could possibly have seen this coming?
Who indeed? It’s not like some people warned about all this and they were teased and mocked by their liberal and libertarian friends and neighbors. At least now there is a tiny degree of satisfaction in asking them about the latest from Egypt, Syria, etc. I say tiny degree because what’s coming next won’t be any fun at all.
I’m so sick of the middle east and Mexico. I know this isn’t about Mexico, but I’m still sick of them too!
….you’re not alone.
Bob, check out the glowing Mexico article at economist.com. You’ll love it. Mexico exported their poorest constituency to the USA and Mexico, thusly, is experiencing a booming economy. The article does not thank the USA for our contribution to Mexico’s resurgence.
Barry is very proud of brother morsi, and a little jealous too.
Claiming absolute power for himself? Just wait.
If things turn ugly b Hussein will side with the Muslims.( Hint: he never stopped siding with those who would destroy America )
And he is more than happy to make things much much uglier than his first gut- wrenching term.
Well, the good news is that once Morsi becomes king (Forouk II?), there can be no complaint from our evil right wingers when Obama bows deeply when meeting him in person.
General Wesley Clark: Wars Were Planned – Seven Countries In Five Years
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RC1Mepk_Sw&feature=player_embedded
An Islamist turning to dictatorial rule? Let me put on my shocked face…
WWHHAAAAAAAA?!?! Inconcievable!
Obama’s just trying to figure out how to do the same thing.
So the USURPERS use of unelected Czars, Presidential Dictats,’Deeming’ Laws passed and use of ‘Executive Privilege’ to protect the evil, Racist, corrupt Attorney General Eric Holder are not the actions of a Dictator then?
Could have fooled me.
Morsi should be focusing on his own streets. There’s been violent anti-gov’t, anti-MB fighting in them in specific areas for a week now. With the news today, now Tahrir’s full again. MB supporters are guarding the Presidential Palace.
If this goes on for a week or two and Morsi doesn’t back off this decree, he could be forced out the same way Mubarak was. Only half of Egyptians voted for Morsi, and I’m sure few of them voted for a dictator, even if Morsi claims this decree is only until Parliament is seated again.
We need to read more from you.
No,Morsi won’t be forced out!He will “force them out”.These people now how to deal wit a rebellion.The good thing is that tis will keep him busy.
How will Obama and his shills describe Morsi and his government now? Will he refer to them as democratic or as secular? Will he refer to the government as a collection of Islamists or as a dictatorship? Will Egypt be under sharia in the near term?
Morsi will be described just like Stalin or Mao,a benevolent leader.What does Hillary and the rest of the Dems think (if they can think) about it?
What a show!Don’t forget it is brought by Benghazi Barack who brought us “Fast and Furious”.I eagerly stay tune for the next episode!
It seems very fitting that Rubin’s article here starts out,
“The French press agency headline says it all: “Egypt’s [President] Morsi assumes sweeping powers, branded new pharaoh.”
…..The French….Press Agency.
Fitting, because it’s the French and the British who’ve been intimately involved inside Egypt since about the middle of the 18th Century, up until that Suez affaire, cf: Google “Suez Crisis” for the no doubt forgotten background.
Which is my opening here to say [again] that since 1917 it seem to’ve fallen upon us Americans to assume the dominant role in areas formerly under French and British Colonial control, not omitting American rehab efforts inside Europe during and after the two very bloody World Wars.
What a shame for us Americans that both Britain and France haven’t any where near the means today to assume their proportional share of direct involvement in manpower and cash in North Africa and the Western and Central parts of Asia, or even for that matter, reaching back into South East Asia after the French collapse at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. [It was the Americans who air-dropped supplies to the French during that siege.]
After all, they created these existing borders/frontiers.
I’ll end this short piece here, not really off-topic once one thinks about it, by saying that while I loathe Obama and all that he stands for, especially that unfortunate phrase, “leading from behind”, I think it’s time we Americans stood aside now, stopped this assumed “leading” role [...."let the Americans handle it"...] and started holding the fighters’ coats for a change. Obama’s arriviste crowd are ill equipped to handle anything beyond Chicago.
Now, Dear Readers, it’s our (American) turn to be running out of cash, and to start withdrawing our young war fighters from these former British and French controlled areas.
It’s simply beyond America’s capabilities now to continue to pay so much for so long, and for ….what? Yet more BS from the U.N.?
Yep it makes America’s siding with the Egyptian ISLAMISTS and their use of their financial muscle to FORCE the UK and France to get out of Egypt. Even though they had just demolished the vaunted Egyptian Army.
An action by the USA that would be on par with the EU forcing America to get out of Panama.
In Hillary’s glowing remarks about Morsi’s role in the recent Palestine/Israel so called ceasefire (I’m not holding my breath), I see signs of the same Obama mindset that has plagued our relations with Iran and Libya.
The “be nice and they’ll like us” mindset.
Morsi apparently saw Hillary’s fawning as free pass, a ticket to ride, and ride hard.
Morsi was looking for trouble. He found it. Egyptians are now demonstrating against him
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/24/world/middleeast/amid-protest-egypts-leader-defends-his-new-powers.html?hp
Morsi has said he wants to retry Mubarak. Nobody seems to know that Mubarak outlawed female genital mutilation, whcih was practiced in an extreme form in Egypt. Feminists would admire Mubarak–except for the fact that he wasn’t sufficiently anti-Israel.
Democrats envious, pledge respect for Sharia…
Kinda puts Shrillary’s the USURPERS,Islamophile Left wing moonbats and the Lame Stream EneMedia’s recent gushing over him in to perspective doesn’t it.
Can anyone see where, in this article, the author points out that the decree takes effect until (and only until) the country’s new constitution is finalised?
No? Not there? That’s odd … it’s a fairly important piece of information.
I agree with the basic premise – that dictators rarely take power in order to give it up willingly. But in this case, the power actually does come with a time limit.
And along with that, the president is also re-prosecuting officials who managed to get themselves acquitted over the deaths of protesters.
It’s a nail-biting moment for egypt, and no doubt about it. I’m inclined to leave the panicking, though, until we see what happens when the egyptian constitution is ready. Yes, technically morsi is a brotherhood man, but he’s also showing signs of being a pragmatist, and apparently wants to see the constitutional process through without it being derailed by people who don’t want to play by the rules. We’ll know one way or the other in a few months. He’s not attacking israel, not exporting terror … let’s just wait and see.
Democracy isn’t easy. I would have thought that americans would understand that.
“I agree with the basic premise – that dictators rarely take power in order to give it up willingly. But in this case, the power actually does come with a time limit.”
Fidel Castro was interviewed very shortly after leading the effort to depose President Batista. Batista had fled and Castro was the man of the hour. Journalists asked him if he was going to be the next President. Castro played modest and said he had no aspirations for power. He promised there would be free and fair democratic elections in six months. That interview happened in early 1959. Those free and fair democratic elections haven’t happened yet – and that was over FIFTY YEARS ago!
I simply don’t believe Morsi will give up these sweeping new powers when the new constitution is completed. Call me cynical if you like but I think history is on my side. I strongly hope that the anti-Islamists manage to make him drop those powers. It may be the only chance they have of keeping him from being a fullblown dictator. Maybe the courts can reign him in and help ensure that the new constitution embodies true democratic principles and freedoms.
I’m not sure castro is the best example – morsi already IS president.
Musharref’s another good example. Although he did, eventually, step down.
I agree about the risk. But I think morsi’s intentions are clear enough – he’s reserving powers in order to see through the constitutional process. At the moment I don’t see any obvious reason to assume that he’s lying.
And you’re assuming that the protesters are all anti-islamist. Hmm.
The good news for both of us is that it’s out of our hands. Wail all you like, but it’s egypt’s task (and problem) to find its way to democracy, and REAL history shows that outside meddling in an existing political process has never, ever led to that outcome.
And the good news for you is that if or when egypt DOES find its way to democracy, you can just pretend that you never brought it up and move on to the next looming catastrophe.
Having assumed total dictatorial power without any oversight it is pretty safe to figure out that a constitution, if one is ever written, will be exactly what Morsi and the MB think it should be.
History is replete with examples of dictators or dictatorial regimes such as Iran, giving up those powers and having actual free elections as promised right? They have elections in Venzuela and Iran but the governments in power control all media, arrest opponents, and determine who the candidates can be so those are just fake “elections”. That is where Egypt is going. Saddam Hussein held elections. Hamas was elected. That is democracy outside of Israel in the middle east.
This will be different though because we can see whom will make the better choice: The Hamas allied Mysogist Islamist Copt and Jew killers vs the Tahrir square rapist embassy burners. Tough call. I am going with the bearded ones. They do have the Almighty on their side.
So far as I care Egypt can stay poor and ignorant forever and that is exactly where they are headed. They will break the peace with Israel as soon as they can. With hope those Abrams tanks will go rusting in the desert before that happens.
Techno please spare us your nonsense and desist with the diversionary tactics. Who is writing the Constitution ,the Muslim Brotherhood is thats who. So to PRESUME that it will cancel out the Theocratic Dictatorship of Morsi is moonbat wishful thinking of the most naive, gullible and egregious kind.
We’re both presuming.
The difference is that I try to see the potential positives, and I realise and accept that it’s not up to me anyway.
We’re all spectators. I think that egypt will, assuming that nobody tries to meddle or impose a result, establish a democracy. It’s unlikely to look exactly like american democracy, or australian democracy, but then … not many countries do. Look at the protests in the streets – morsi’s decision IS costing him, politically. I doubt that he’s taken it lightly, or he would have done it well before now.
You guys really don’t have much faith in this “humanity” stuff.
Of the Muslim Brotherhood? Absolutely not.
Shocked! I am shocked! How could this happen after our President gave that inspiring speech at Cairo University?
When we are looking over the destroyed remains of the Jewish and its time to place blame, we can start with the Jewish Voters for Obama, raise your hand and say oye!
We are a hopeless generation. Cowardice and hero adoration reign supreme. Refusing to discipline ourselves or our children, we are suprised to find others will do so at the expense of freedom for anyone. Claiming divirsity we have homogenized the planet to the point of utter boredom in every area of life. Morsi? He is a symptom. So is Obama, Rahm, Castro, Bloomberg, Chavez, Mugabe, Putin…..over and over and over. Have a nice day.
suibne
So was the US administration naive about the Arab Spring or were they backing the Brotherhood the whole time?
Wow, the comments on this site are pretty scary. Maybe we should just go ahead and nuke everybody we don’t like and just get it over with. (sarcasm intended)
Hey, enjoy your freedom to express sarcasm while you may. You and your ilk are leading America down a path where that freedom will not long endure. Hopefully justice will prevail and you shall reap what you’ve sown before the rest of us have to fight off what your naivete has wrought.
utter contempt is LESS than you deserve.
The commenter ‘P Jay Medilla’ is correct, this is part of a much bigger picture.
The Egyptian cleric who launched Morsi’s presidential bid spoke of the universal desire and dream of all Egyptian Muslims for a restoration of another Caliphate. We are well on our way to the reemergence of one but this time it will be a nuclear armed Caliphate.
Hey, fanatical, jihadist terrorist groups getting their hands on nukes…what could go wrong?
And the ‘cherry on top’ is that when America experiences its ‘Dunkirk’… many liberals, democrats and the MSM will blame Republicans, conservatives and everyone but themselves, rather than face their responsibility for the policies of appeasement that are leading to the deaths of millions.
Those who favor appeasement are moral cowards, miserable creatures with no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men and women than themselves.
It seems the stars have aligned with Iran closing in on nuclear capability, Rice taking the reigns of State, Mursi declaring new powers, and the Brotherhood on the rise. Undoubtedly Obama imagines that all of this was due to his fine speech in Cairo. One might even imagine the Oval Office desk re-aligned so that Obama can embrace his fond childhood memories of the call to prayer. It’s likely just as well that most people do not catch the symbolism.
Strangely enough, Rice seems a little hoarse these days. A cold perhaps? Although one can imagine the echoes down the White House corridors and Langley. Ah, such sweetness and light. No doubt rejoicing over her part in winning victory for our President.
@Ttaerum. This is EXACTLY what Obama wants. Everything that he wants is coming together because he has utter contempt for Israel.
The last sentence in Prod Rubins article is very interesting. The US, EU, & the IMF are contributing the funds to keep Egypt financially afloat. US, EU, & IMF, the brokest triumvirate ever assembled. Penury financing penury? How does that work?