Egypt

Egypt arrests as undersea internet cable cut off Alexandria

BBC News

The alleged attempted sabotage took place just a few hundred metres off Egypt's port city of Alexandria

The alleged attempted sabotage took place just a few hundred metres off Egypt's port city of Alexandria.

Egyptian authorities say they have arrested three divers trying to cut through an undersea internet cable.

The men were caught on a fishing boat just off the port city of Alexandria, said military spokesman Col Ahmed Mohammed Ali.

The damaged cable caused a drop in the speed of online services in Egypt and some other countries, said Egyptian news agency Mena.

It was unclear whether the incident was linked to cables damaged last Friday.

At the time, cable operator Seacom said several lines connecting Europe with Africa, the Middle East and Asia were hit, also slowing down internet services, reported Reuters news agency.

The cable hit in Wednesday's apparent sabotage was the South East Asia Middle East Western Europe 4 (SEA-ME-WE 4) - one of the main cables snaking under the Mediterranean, Mena said.

The attack took place some 750m (820 yards) north of Alexandria, it said.

In the statement on his official Facebook page, Col Ali said the divers were arrested while "cutting the undersea cable" of the main telecommunications company, Telecom Egypt.

He did not give any explanation for the divers' alleged motive.

The men were due to be interrogated.

Mediterranean telecoms cables have suffered disruptions several times in recent years, but they have usually been attributed to accidents involving ship propellers.

via www.bbc.co.uk

What happened to the Jews of Egypt?

FP Passport, by David Kenner

You wouldn't know it from walking around Cairo today, but there used to be a vibrant Jewish population in Egypt. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, this 80,000-strong community was a pillar of the country's political, economic, and cultural life -- and then it died out, collateral damage to the political and religious hatreds of the past six decades.

Today, a film opens in Cairo that aims to explain what happened. "Jews of Egypt" is the product of five years of work by director Amir Ramses, who self-funded the project with his producer, Haitham al-Khamissi. I sat down with Ramses in a Cairo cafe, and he explained to me that his documentary not only aims to explore the history of the country's Jewish community, but also to present a cautionary tale as Egypt goes through yet another period of upheaval.

"There's an attempt to narrow how you identify the word Egyptian: You have to be a certain religion, and a certain sect in that religion. But then also you have to have a certain political point of view, and an ethical point of view that matches what the majority thinks," Ramses said. "The film states clearly we were Jews, Christians, Muslims...That's how open-minded we were, that's how tolerant we were. I made the film as a warning sign to not lose that."

Ramses experienced firsthand how these ideas can still provoke government suspicion. Egypt's Culture Ministry stalled in issuing him a permit to screen "Jews of Egypt" commercially -- and finally, one day before the scheduled opening, he was informed that there would be a delay because the national security agencies had asked to review the film.

"Let's be honest, national security in Egypt has a paranoia...they themselves have this notion that I'm trying to fight in the movie, where every Jew is an Israeli Zionist spy who's working against the government," Ramses said. "They've been raised into this paranoia. Cheap adventure novels, comic books, even history books in school orient you to this."

Ramses credits the subsequent public outcry for his success in eventually gaining the government's approval to screen the film. But he still castigated the national security apparatus and the Culture Ministry for what he said was an illegal attempt to censor his film. "You just can't be a police agency and break the law," he said.

Even after clearing the government hurdles, Ramses still faces an uphill battle in healing the wounds of the past. The beginning of the end for Egypt's Jewish population came in 1948, when Egypt's declaration of war against Israel coincided with a series of bombings in Jewish neighborhoods and against Jewish-owned businesses -- spearheaded, according to historian Joel Beinin's The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry, by the Muslim Brotherhood. In 1954, the disastrous Lavon Affair -- where Israeli intelligence agents recruited Egyptian Jews to bomb Western sites in Egypt in an effort to convince Britain to maintain control of the Suez Canal -- further heightened religious tensions.

The position of Egyptian Jews became completely untenable during the 1956 Suez War, where Israel, France, and Britain joined together in an attack on Egypt: In response, President Gamal Abdel Nasser's government promulgated emergency decrees that provided a pretext for the arrest of Jews without charge and the seizure of their priority. Many more Jews were expelled or fled -- in both cases, they were issued documents that explicitly stated they would not be allowed to return.

"The rule is that if you left after ‘56, and signed [a document saying] you will not come back to Egypt, if they forced you to do that...you are still banned up until today," Ramses said. "Which is stupid -- we are at a point in history where we have a peace treaty with Israel, where Israelis who are not Egyptians can come to Egypt with just a stamp on their passport, while Egyptians who have never set foot in Israel...are still banned."

Absurd government restrictions, struggles over the place of minorities in society -- it all sounds familiar. The past is never dead. It's not even past.

via blog.foreignpolicy.com

Egypt's new economy excludes the poor

Al Bawaba

Despite the steady economic growth in the last decade of Mubarak's rule, the proportion of the population living below the national poverty line rose from almost 17 percent of the population in 2000 to 22 percent in 2008

Egypt’s 25 January Revolution produced few economic benefits for the country’s poor even though they were instrumental in overthrowing the old order. The Muslim Brotherhood has other economic priorities, including pushing measures that further economic liberalization in Egypt.

Given the Egyptian media’s focus, it might be difficult to believe that Egypt’s 25 January 2011 Revolution was not one of the educated middle class. On the TV screen, these shiny young faces appear on talk shows, portrayed as the leaders of the revolution.

But 28 January 2011’s “Friday of Anger” belonged to the marginalized who – using the tricks they learned in their daily battles with the state apparatus in the slums – were able to defeat the police forces. Regardless, the media see the revolution differently: “This is the revolution of dignity and not of the hungry,” they say.

This discourse paved the way for state repression of social demands. It even reached a point where the media began depicting Egypt's working class – those that bolstered the revolution’s ranks with its mass mobilizations – of deliberately aiding the counter-revolution through strikes that hurt the economy. The first law issued by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) following their rise to power banned strikes.

As time passed, the voices of social justice were replaced by the murmurings of political battles. These politicians, who have the upper hand in the media, wanted a piece of the revolutionary pie after disregarding its true heros.

Post-Revolution, Little Help for the Poor

Even before the revolution, experts close to the ruling National Democratic Party saw signs of unrest rooted in growing poverty. This was clear in the First Investment Report: Towards a Fair Distribution of the Fruits of Growth prepared by the General Investment Authority in 2009, which warned of sharply rising poverty rates.

Despite the steady economic growth in the last decade of Mubarak's rule, the proportion of the population living below the national poverty line rose from almost 17 percent of the population in 2000 to 22 percent in 2008, according to the latest figures available from the World Bank.

Nevertheless, when SCAF took power after the fall of Mubarak, they ignored these facts and rejected the expansionary budget presented by Minister of Finance and prominent NDP member Samir Radwan. Instead, the first post-revolution budget was austere: workforce training funds were scaled back to 1 billion Egyptian Pounds ($151 million) from an original 2 billion, and funds for low-income housing were never raised by the expected EGP500 million ($75 million).

Furthermore, SCAF sought to protect the rich from any burdens, such as the tax increase proposed by Radwan on the distribution of capital gains by financial institutions. 

The new Egyptian Constitution is a glaring example of the bias of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) towards market liberalization. Although the last days of SCAF's rule witnessed an open struggle between the military class and Islamist forces, the conflict was not an indication of different economic policies. “The Islamist parties, which between them won a majority in the 2011-12 parliamentary election appear to favor the continuation of a broadly pro-market policy..." explained an April 2012 report from Chatham House titled “‘Bread, Dignity and Social Justice': The Political Economy of Egypt's Transition.” 

The new Egyptian Constitution is a glaring example of the bias of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) towards market liberalization. Although the last days of SCAF's rule witnessed an open struggle between the military class and Islamist forces, the conflict was not an indication of different economic policies. “The Islamist parties, which between them won a majority in the 2011-12 parliamentary election appear to favor the continuation of a broadly pro-market policy..." explained an April 2012 report from Chatham House titled “‘Bread, Dignity and Social Justice': The Political Economy of Egypt's Transition.” 

The new Egyptian Constitution is a glaring example of the bias of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) towards market liberalization. It stipulated linking salaries with production for the first time and neglected to set a ceiling for agricultural property.

But the constitution aligns with the Brotherhood’s previous positions: the group had been the primary opponent of agrarian reform during the Nasser era and endorsed a 1992 act liberating the relationship between landlord and tenant on agricultural land. The act had abolished gains won by peasants and was faced with wide-scale opposition in 1997.

The knockout blow to the MB's popularity might be their attempt to implement a package of reforms for tax laws, which was frozen by President Mohamed Mursi a few hours after being announced. It would’ve raised sales taxes on several cement and communications goods and led to a steep increase on the commercial advertising tax – a move that could have hiked up the sales prices of nearly all goods and services.

It seems the MB has learned a lesson from the bread uprising against President Anwar Sadat in January 1977. At the time, the MB magazine al-Daawa described the protests as a "communist conspiracy."

While the revolution seems to have resulted – at the very least – in a minimum wage increase to EGP700 ($105), the collapse of the Egyptian Pound against the US dollar this past January has precluded any benefits from such a raise.

via www.albawaba.com

Arrest of Anti-Islamist Figures Ordered in Egypt

NY Times, David K. Kirkpatrick and Mayy El Sheikh

CAIRO — The public prosecutor on Monday ordered the arrest of five anti-Islamist political activists on charges of using social media to incite violence against the Muslim Brotherhood. The order stirred accusations of a vendetta by the group’s close ally, President Mohamed Morsi.

Egyptians are already on guard against the possibility that their first freely elected president may seek to become a new autocrat, and some said they feared that the arrest warrants were the first clear example that Mr. Morsi’s government was using law enforcement as a political tool to punish his critics.

The arrests arose out of an attack by anti-Islamist activists on the Muslim Brotherhood’s headquarters in Cairo on Friday night. As many as a thousand of the group’s opponents arrived armed with sticks, knives and at least a few guns, and they seemed intent on burning down the headquarters.

A roughly equal number of Brotherhood supporters surrounded the building to defend it, many bused in for the night, and for a time the two sides clashed in the streets. Then an overwhelming force of riot police officers separated the two sides, using tear gas to drive back the attackers. By the end of the night, several Brotherhood buses had been burned. Health officials reported more than 100 injuries, although it was impossible to confirm how many were on each side.

Afterward, Mr. Morsi sought to blame his political opponents for the attack and vowed action against those who had incited the violence. In a message on Twitter on Sunday, he castigated opposition leaders, accusing them of “providing a political cover for violence.”

“Whoever is found to be involved in promoting violence through the media will not escape punishment,” Mr. Morsi said in a short speech later on Sunday. He also said he was prepared “to impose exceptional measures to restore domestic order.”

Mr. Morsi’s political opponents have already denounced him since last fall for picking his own public prosecutor, Talaat Ibrahim, by using a presidential decree to circumvent Egyptian law, under which a president cannot normally replace a public prosecutor. The appointment immediately raised questions about the potential political use of the post.

On Monday, Mr. Morsi’s critics said Mr. Ibrahim appeared to be following through on precisely the threat Mr. Morsi made just a day earlier. In a statement, the public prosecutor said the five defendants singled out for arrest had used Facebook and Twitter to urge others to “burn down the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood and to murder some of its members.”

Before the disturbance, one defendant, Alaa Abdel Fattah, argued against violence, but he suggested in an online commentary on Saturday that what he considered to be Mr. Morsi’s authoritarianism might make a violent response legitimate. But Mr. Abdel Fattah, a prominent activist previously imprisoned for months for challenging military rule, was writing as part of an abstract, intellectual discussion after the fact.

The others named in the arrest warrant are the activists Ahmed Douma, Kareem al-Shaer, Hazem Abdel Azeem and Ahmed al-Sahafy.

On Tuesday, a supporter of Mr. Morsi provided a bellicose Twitter post from one of the accused activists to substantiate the charge of incitement. Around the time of the attack on the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters on Friday, Mr. Abdel Azeem said in a post that he had seen an Islamist message suggesting an “auction” for the back of his neck.

He responded by describing the Brotherhood’s members as “sheep” and suggesting that he would pay “an old shoe” in an auction for Mr. Morsi’s scalp.

Opponents of the Brotherhood often mock its members as “sheep” for their supposed obedience to the group, and some of the responses to Mr. Abdel Azeem’s post sound like violent threats: “We will skin then slaughter,” read one.

But that message was a reference to a catchphrase from a well-known Egyptian comedy about an inept butcher, and other responses suggest that Mr. Abdel Azeem’s comments were taken as a black joke. Mr. Abdel Azeem, who was injured during Friday’s clashes, also sent Twitter messages urging the protesters to remain peaceful.

In television interviews on Monday night, several defendants accused the public prosecutor of selectively targeting Mr. Morsi’s critics while ignoring testimony, videos and other evidence that Islamists had also used violence on their opponents that night, as well as in street clashes over the last four months. One video posted on the Internet, in fact, captured footage of one of Mr. Morsi’s Islamist opponents beating Mr. Douma outside the headquarters earlier last week.

The prosecutor is either “literally blind” or “complicit,” Mr. Douma said in a television interview, contending that the prosecutor was “only following orders.”

In response, Mr. Morsi’s supporters pointed out that earlier in the week, the prosecutor ordered the arrest of three bodyguards of a Brotherhood leader, Khairat el-Shater, on charges of using violence against the opposition protesters.

Pakinam el-Sharkawy, a political adviser to Mr. Morsi, complained that the president’s critics had applied a “double standard.” The president did not prejudge this case and expected a fair trial, she said, but at the same time the law must distinguish between political expression and criminal violence. “Here,” Ms. Sharkawy said, “the law must have a just sword capable of protecting rights, freedoms and social peace.”

 

via www.nytimes.com

Libya Putting $2 Billion Into Egypt’s Central Bank

Via NY Times

CAIRO — Libya’s transitional government is completing an agreement with Egypt to deposit $2 billion in the Egyptian central bank, an official briefed on the talks said Sunday.

The timing suggested a possible quid pro quo, coming five days after Egypt complied with a months-old Libyan request to round up for possible extradition at least three prominent loyalists of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s who had been living openly in Cairo.

The $2 billion deposit was first reported by the Anatolia news agency of Turkey on Sunday, citing information from the Libyan ambassador to Cairo, Mohamed Fayez Jibril.

The Libyan government had pleaded for months for the extradition of dozens of former allies of Colonel Qaddafi’s who are wanted for trial in Tripoli. But Egypt appeared willing to allow them to remain at liberty in Cairo. It has become a gathering point for Qaddafi loyalists who fled the revolution in Libya.

Egypt, however, is now acutely short of hard currency. Tourism revenue and new foreign investment have collapsed during the tumult that has followed the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak two years ago.

Egypt’s reserves have fallen to less than $14 billion, from about $36 billion before the revolution, depressing the value of the Egyptian pound and raising questions about the government’s ability to import essential commodities like fuel and wheat. Egypt is in talks with the International Monetary Fund over a $4.8 billion loan package that could reassure other potential lenders about Egypt’s creditworthiness. But the negotiations have stalled over how much Egypt must raise taxes and cut subsidies.

The Libyan deposit is tantamount to an open-ended loan to Egypt. In similar arrangements, the depositor retained the right to withdraw the money, allowing Egypt to use it temporarily to pump up its currency supply.

In Libya, the reports of the arrests appear to be bolstering the popularity of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, who is struggling to retain the support of Libya’s fractious transitional Parliament. Many Libyans resent the Qaddafi allies for the abuses and corruption under the former government, and some suspect them of working from Cairo to try to destabilize the new government.

Those arrested include Ahmed Qaddaf al-Dam, a cousin of Colonel Qaddafi’s; Ali Maria, the former Libyan ambassador to Cairo; and Mohamed Ibrahim, the brother of a Qaddafi spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim.

Citing an Egyptian security official, The Associated Press reported that the Libyan government had asked Egypt last year to arrest nearly 40 suspects, and that a delegation sent to Cairo on Thursday to arrange for extradition had brought a list of 88 more.

Mr. Qaddaf al-Dam is challenging his extradition on the ground that he holds an Egyptian passport because his mother was an Egyptian, from an area near the Libyan border, according to news reports. But he also faces Egyptian charges related to illegal weapons that the police say were discovered in his Cairo home.

 

via www.nytimes.com

Morsy: If you stick your finger in Egypt, I’ll cut it off

Via Egypt Independent--no comment!

Virginie Nguyen

President Mohamed Morsy threatened Sunday that “whoever sticks his finger inside Egypt, I will cut it off.”  

 

“I can see a couple of fingers getting inside by nobodies who have no value in this world, thinking that money can make them men,” Morsy went on in a remark that could have sexual connotations in Egyptian dialect, something that has raised criticism and led to a wave of jokes on social networking websites.

The remark came as part of the speech given by Morsy before the conference of the Initiative to Support Women’s Rights and Freedoms Sunday. The speech addressed the aftermath of the Moqattam clashes between pro- and anti-Morsy protesters Friday, in which 200 people were injured.

“For six months, they have wanted to scare people, and threaten them with bankruptcy and starvation, and nothing has happened. Egypt has not and will not go bankrupt or fall,” he added.

He threatened, “The life of some is worth nothing compared to the interests of Egyptians, and I will take extraordinary measures if they do not beware.”

“Events of violence and riot are foreign to us, and we denounce them, whatever their origin is,” he added. “The attempts to strangle the country are a failure. I will not allow anyone to break the law, whether they are supporters or opponents.”

Morsy addressed the attendants of the conference: “You’d be angry at me if I punished the media personalities who describe the opponents in the street, who practice violence, as revolutionaries and politicians. I’ve been patient so far.”

The president described the attempts to show the state as weak of “failure.” He stressed that “the state agencies are recovering and could deter any violator by law.”

He warned that he would “take legal action against those involved in acts of violence, whether politicians or the media.”

“Those who don’t want to pay taxes incite a presenter to insult me and criticize me,” Morsy said. “I do not have any objection to criticizing me, but when criticism affects our country, I will not forgive it.”

via www.egyptindependent.com

Egypt's Islamist rulers get tough on alcohol The Guardian

The Guardian, by Patrick Kingsley

Off-licence owner Abu Ramez in 6 October City: the government wants to ban alcohol sales in new developments outside Cairo. Photograph: Patrick Kingsley

In 6 October City, a new sprawl of malls and mansions just west of the capital, locals say there is only one shop that sells alcohol. Its name is Bazaar al-Gamaa, and if you ask its owner, Abu Ramez, nicely, he will fetch you a bottle of vodka from the storeroom. In the fridges opposite the till, there are crates of local lagers: Sakara, Meister, Rex – and Stella, an award-winning Egyptian lager unconnected to its Belgian namesake. "That's my favourite," said Ramez, who has been an off-licence owner for 22 years. "Low alcohol percentage. Better for my liver."

But now, Ramez has more to worry about than his beer consumption. Last month, Egyptian authorities announced plans to ban alcohol sales in new developments outside Cairo. Most worryingly for Ramez, they said existing licences would not be renewed in towns beyond the capital – towns such as 6 October City, a satellite development built in 1979 of about 1 million people.

To add to the gloom, the government doubled beer tax to 200% this month, with wine tax rising from 100% to 150%. Then last Monday, the civil aviation minister mooted banning alcohol from duty-free shops in airports. For many liberals, this triple blow adds to the impression that Egypt's Islamist-led government, headed by President Mohamed Morsi, intends to turn the country significantly more conservative.

"If this government continues on this same path, we'll be like Saudi Arabia," said Akram, assistant manager at Charwood's – one of a handful of restaurants that sell alcohol in 6 October City – who preferred not to give his surname. The planned licence ban had been discussed at management level, Akram said, and there are concerns that it could affect business. "Most of our guests are foreigners or Egyptians who drink alcohol," he explained.

But other restaurateurs were more relaxed. "It's not relevant," argued Rafaat Habib, manager at the nearby Piccolo Mondo, who said his restaurant's alcohol licence is sourced through its head office in the capital. "Our licence is connected to Cairo."

Habib's nonchalance may also derive from a wider expectation that the authorities lack the political will to enforce new licensing legislation."The thing about licences – it's a thing to scare people," said Ramez, stocking his fridge with a recent Stella delivery. "When they make these questionable laws, it's the people who will decide whether to enforce them. It's not actually going to be implemented. In Port Said, they had a curfew, and no one followed that. They're a failed government and no one's going to listen to the things they're trying to enforce."

In any case, for all the talk about Egypt's Islamisation, countered one of Ramez's customers, many Egyptians would not adhere to a licensing ban. "It wouldn't make a difference," said Emam Hussein, a logistics manager, popping in to buy vodka. "There are tonnes of people who drink, even the religious. There are tonnes of Copts and tonnes of Muslims who drink underground."

"We will never allow our country to become a fundamentalist country," Ramez added. "As long as we keep on talking and speaking, no one will be able to change Egypt in this crazy manner."

Even a high-profile Islamist politician sends his driver to pick up a crate of beer every week from Bazaar al Gamaa, Ramez claimed.

Yet beneath the bravado, there were hints of a more pressing danger. "On the phone I get a lot of threats saying 'we will burn down your shop,'" said Ramez. "I responded very aggressively and I said that they should go ahead and do it. We won't let them get to us. If it comes to violence, so be it."

Others in the alcohol business were reluctant to speak on the record. Many Egyptian drinkers source their alcohol from delivery companies such as Gocheers or Drinkies. But when the Guardian visited Gocheers' headquarters, no one was available for interview, or willing to say whether remotely located delivery services would be affected by the licensing change. Drinkies was also reluctant to be drawn on the subject, conscious – one employee said – of keeping a low profile.

"We are in close contact with stakeholders to remind them that we are an important employer in the country," a spokesman for Drinkies' owners – Al Ahram breweries – said in a statement. Al Ahram is owned by Heineken, which therefore controls the vast majority of Egyptian alcohol brands, including Stella and Sakara beers and popular wines such as Omar Khayyam. The spokesman pointed out that Al Ahram employed more than 2,000 people, and was "strategic for the tourism industry, which is a key driver of the Egyptian economy".

In general, claimed Akram at Charwood's, some Egyptians were wary of being seen as too fond of alcohol. "After the fall of Mubarak, there wasn't really a government, and people had more freedom – so people drank more," he said of his customers. "But eventually there reached a point when the customers became a bit more fearful and they didn't want to be seen downing a whole bottle. They just drank a glass."

This apprehension is derived from the government's open conservatism, Akram argued. "There's a much stronger group in power that's out to implement their laws," he said. "Before one person might tell them drinking is against religion. Now you have an entire group in government saying this. So people are more afraid in public."

But Ramez had other ideas. "If [the government] wanted to prevent alcohol sales," he said, "then they would have banned it [completely]. But they just want to raise more taxes."

 

via www.guardian.co.uk

The future of the Muslim Brotherhood

Via Daily News Egypt, by Ziad Aki

Almost nine months have passed since Mohamed Morsi was declared President. Nine months went by with the Muslim Brotherhood on top of state institutions, state authorities and in charge of political policies. Last summer when Morsi went to Tahrir Square for the first time, I was debating with a friend whether this experiment would be a successful one.

One of us saw that Morsi would be a powerful president who would set an example of how efficient Muslim Brotherhood governance could be. The other saw that Morsi’s presidency is hardly an experiment in the first place and that the Muslim Brotherhood, together with their grand projects, is doomed to failure.
Come to think of it, this is where most Egyptians found themselves, torn between the fear of failure and foolish hopes of efficiency. I would argue that ever since Morsi took office, Egyptians have been divided into three main groups, supporters of Morsi and the Brotherhood, skeptics who couldn’t make up their mind to be for or against and finally non-believers, those who thought that nothing good could come out of the Muslim Brotherhood.

However, nine months later, the “skeptics” category has disappeared. Those who had tints of hope that the Brotherhood’s renaissance project will actually take place now realise that the project is nothing but nonsense that’s not worth the price of the paper it is printed on.

Day after day for the past nine months, the political administration of the Muslim Brotherhood has moved steadily from one failure to the other. It became clear to anyone following up what happens in Egypt that the Muslim Brotherhood will not be able to rule without acute problems created by their closed mindedness, short vision and power hungry aspirations.

The ongoing hardships and crises make us wonder and speculate about where will all that end. In other words, what are the possible outcomes of the current situation, what kind of scenarios does the future hold for the Muslim Brotherhood?

Indeed one of the possible outcomes is open violent confrontation. The events of Moqattam on Friday are but a small taste of what could take place because of the Brotherhood’s inefficient administration and their unrestrained attachment to power. The persistence of grievances will make thousands of unsatisfied protesters direct their protests towards the Brotherhood after it has proved that real power is no longer within state institutions, it is embedded in the guidance bureau.

In the same manner that Morsi does not want to be held accountable until his term is over since he was elected, the Muslim Brotherhood does not want to be held accountable for their abuse of power. And since the political tools of the Brotherhood are all being used at the moment to draft enabling laws and prepare for fake elections, tools of violence are the only ones available to the Muslim Brotherhood since they have stricken out the possibilities of dialogue long time ago. Therefore, it is very possible for the current situation to end in episodes of violence that very much resemble civil war.

Another possible outcome is the involvement of the army. The army’s position until now seems to be somewhat vague. So far the army has demonstrated that it will not interfere in domestic politics, but it has also clearly signaled that it will not tolerate any threats to its strategic interests.

While the Brotherhood is unlikely to try and tamper with the regional order at the moment, its hunger for power is likely to direct it towards the two domestic interests of the army, state-owned land and energy trade. With the current Brotherhood performance, it will not be long before their businessmen and their cronies decide to invade those two resourceful avenues.

With growing popular discontent and an interest-based conflict between the army and the Brotherhood, it would be very likely that the army will interfere to either limit the Brotherhood’s involvement in its interests or simply to support the thousands of dissatisfied protesters.

The third possible outcome could very well be determined by economics rather than politics. The bleak economic future that threatens Egypt does not just constitute a threat to the Muslim Brotherhood; it is a threat for the political process as a whole. The administration’s failure to stop the economic decline could very well revert the political process back to square one destroying both the Brotherhood and the opposition.

Does that mean that there are no chances for the Muslim Brotherhood in a promising future? I believe that as long as the Brotherhood remains unable to give compromises and govern efficiently, as long as it remains in denial, as long as it hides behind the blood of its youth who are manipulated by dogma, as long as it refuses to be held accountable by the very people who brought them to office; prospects of a promising future for the Muslim Brotherhood will remain very low.

 

via www.dailynewsegypt.com

Egypt Confiscates Shipments of Military Uniforms

ABC News, by Aya Batrawy

Cairo airport officials confiscated 10,000 pieces of military-style clothing on Saturday as officials in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria seized 25 tons of camouflage material used for making military uniforms.

Maj. Gen. Yousri Abdel-Aziz, head of security at the airport, said the large shipment of items such as shirts and pullovers lacked proper shipping permits and was essentially being smuggled out of Egypt to Libya's eastern city of Benghazi.

Airport officials said an Egyptian businessman was trying to ship the uniforms to a businessman in Libya. It was not clear what the uniforms would be used for in Libya, where the government has yet to bring militias fully under its control.

In this image released by the Egyptian Presidency, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, center, is seen with Minister of Defense, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, left, and an unidentified officer, during his visit to a military facility in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, March 22, 2013. Morsi confirmed his full confidence in the ability of members of the armed forces to face any challenges taking place in the country. (AP Photo/Egyptian Presidency) Close

Separately, a state prosecutor in Alexandria said officials are investigating a Chinese company after two of its shipments from China were found to contain 25 tons of material in the khaki and brownish-green style worn by soldiers. The company manufactures clothing in Egypt and sells abroad.

All officials spoke anonymously because investigations are under way.

The incidents come days after a security official said the Egyptian military is investigating whether Palestinian militant group Hamas is linked to a batch of confiscated fabric that could have been used to make counterfeit uniforms. Hamas says it has no connection to the fabric.

That incident did not appear related to the confiscations in the Alexandria port or Cairo airport.

An Egyptian military spokesman warned a week ago that unnamed parties might impersonate Egyptian troops after the fabric, used for police and army uniforms, was seized near a tunnel running under the Egypt-Gaza border.

via abcnews.go.com

Egypt's Islamist president warns he may be about to take measures to protect the nation

Fox News

CAIRO –  Egypt's president warns he may be about to take measures he did not specify to "protect this nation."

Mohammed Morsi's warning came in a series of tweets posted on Sunday, two days after violent clashes between supporters of his Muslim Brotherhood and opposition protesters in Cairo. At least 200 people have been injured, some seriously, outside the Cairo headquarters of the Brotherhood, Egypt's most dominant political group.

An Islamist elected in June, Morsi also warned that "appropriate measures" would be taken against politicians found to be behind Friday's violence, regardless of their seniority. Anyone found to be using the media to "incite violence" will also be held accountable, he added.

Friday's clashes followed an assault a week earlier by Brotherhood supporters on protesters painting hostile graffiti outside the group's headquarters.

via www.foxnews.com