Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court has thrown the entire nation’s political future in doubt today, ruling that the elected parliament must be dissolved while endorsing the candidacy of Air Marshall Ahmed Shafiq for president.
Activist leaders termed the move a “military coup,” and experts said that while it resolved the question of whether or not Shafiq was eligible, as a top member of the Mubarak regime, it threw into doubt the candidacy of his opponent, Dr. Mohammed Mursi, and left this weekend’s presidential election up in the air.
The parliamentary election saw Mursi’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) winning a huge plurality and nearly a full majority. The court ruled that the election was “unconstitutional.”
Shafiq praised the ruling, saying that it would give him a chance to install a new parliament that “represents all segments of the Egyptian people.” The Egyptian junta apparently saw the ruling coming and reimposed martial law yesterday, empowering themselves to arrest protesters on virtually any pretext.
What happens next is anyone’s guess. If the weekend election does take place, the anger is sure to boost Dr. Mursi’s candidacy. At the same time, the junta has already announced foreign votes, like the one in Israel, claiming 100% of the vote went to Shafiq, so there is a palpable sense that the fix is already in, and that Shafiq will not only be the next president, but will have unchecked power without a parliament.
Really, antiwar, this court invalidates the only representative institution the Egyptian nation has, opening the way for possible chaos and bloodshed, annihilating the entire process stemming from the Tahrir square revolutionary movement, restoring by decree full power to the same who constituted the reason for popular upheaval in the first place and all you care about is citing and using the doubletalk typical for the flagship MSM outlet NYT !? Do you have any idea what an impact such an incredible "detachment" (lacking a better description) from reality you create for a reader like myself who simply doesn't believe his eyes when sees such a "report" on your site?
So it's business as usual when a handful of appointed people strikes out the result of a complicated process and all along a nation's desire for selfrule under its elected representatives ?
An event like this one could trigger scary consequences for the entire world and you worry along with the NYT outlet if the former regime stooge can have his election day or not? Sounds like someone worrying about how dirty the car would get while driving it over the edge of a precipice.
Stop hoovering up the Bolivian Marching Powder. Do you want "the sky is falling" bs? If you don't see what you want to hear, you can submit articles.
I usually don't see what I want to hear for anatomical reasons.
I guess not everyone can develop a 6th sense which would signal doubletalk proximity or it suddenly dies when are depicted events outside the US mainland.
Why should one submit articles about how poorly those whose job is to report do it? It was not about opinions, it was about professional integrity. Or lack of it in this case.
as far as i am aware antiwar.com does not have any foreign corespondents, they are news aggregators and provide brief summaries of what is reported elsewhere.
im sure if you would donate a few hundred thousand dollars they'd be glad to send out reporters to all these places and provide you with first hand news accounts
Applying the self reliance advocated by libertarians, if I had the hundred thousands dollars to spend I guess I could have my own news agency, but it's not about the accuracy of the facts (not much to comment on a straightforward abuse), it's about how uncritically they accepted the NYT trick where the accent is immediately placed on a now absurd presidential election when the core of any democratic state, it's parliament, is dismissed in a blink of an (junta & friends) eye and this action is presented as a sort of precondition for this now absurd election to take place.
so you would prefer Jason just say parliament is dissolved and nothing else that is going on is worth comment?
it seems like a very fluid situation with many things up in the air.
the "revolution" never over threw the junta they just ousted mubarak, while i personally am very pessimistic for the what the outcome will be it does not change that this is what is going on and the way it develops can go a number of ways
I wonder if anyone of you clicked on the first link provided in the article, I think my point would be much clearer once you read through the NYT text and compare the style and emphasis there with the summary here.
Sibel Edmonds has also been critical of how these sorts of articles on this site fail to remove themselves far enough from the MSM's framing. So it is at least worth considering such comments.
I don't know much about Egypt but maybe a better frame would be: "Egypt's democratic revolution smashed as supreme court legalizes military coup by dissolving parliment. Fraudlent 2-party election offered as 'democracy' instead."
Maybe the point is that typical media framing of 'horse-race politics' – discussing which of the (two) appointed frauds in going to win fraudulent elections – dangerously obscures the bigger picture? If so I hardily agree.
Indeed. And the fastpaced effort to obscure the bigger picture simultaneously trivializes to the extreme the major event which already happened, the dissolution of the first freely elected Egyptian parliament in many decades – to quote Eric Margolis interviewed on this site.
Quick Hillery open your big mouth and tell us why we must get involved.
Whoever went to Tahrir square the first time will go there agin to correct what was wronged, it is still very fresh in memory.
Hold on for a very rough ride, good bye Israel if it was involved.
When Egyptians start a revolution but do not finish it by hanging Mubarak’s military echelons this is what happens: a military dictatorship worse than that of Mubarak’s.
It’s funny the reason military offered for dissolving the parliament. It dissolved it because a group got the majority votes. Isn’t it what democracy is all about?
If the Egyptians are intimidated and do not swarm the streets, they would have a dictatorship for another 30 years. Egyptians have got to refrain from voting and pour into the streets to show the military who is the boss, even if they lose thousands of lives. Then they will get a chance to mete out to generals what is their due.
And this from PressTV: Early results show Morsi has won 78 percent of the expatriates’ votes and is ahead of Shafiq.
So the Israel 100% vote seems more like only 10 voted in Israe and all of that went to military's candidate.
A faked democracy producing nothing but a falsified democracy. The US and EUs democracy, especially the social democrats, needs to look at themselves in the mirror and ask the same question if recently ( for last 20 years or so) they have been honest about their democracy.
Now that they want to implement their faked democracy in Arab world by taking side with terrorism of all kind, arming them, supporting them shows the fact that they prefer Sadi kingdom style “democracy” then a functioning one, the candidates whom are not helped, nor talked about, yet they are out-there but it is for US and EU to recognize them, not because they are unknown but because US and EU don't care and have no idea about democracy, therefore unwilling to cooperate with a real democracy, those who want for democracy to have a functioning social agendas for the people not the Obama falsified healthcare or the lies, empty promises, changing sides and language about matters and etc.
Washington breaths a sigh of relief.
klyde,why should they? It was their own plan to begin with.
FICTION
conumishu
“this court invalidates the only representative institution the Egyptian nation has”
FACT
Egyptian democracy is identical to the dictatorship we have here in Empire USA, for the 51% most wealthy are the voting majority, actually the only ones who vote, and this gives the upper half of society all the political power and all the wealth.
FICTION
conumishu
“An event like this one could trigger scary consequences for the entire world”
FACT
Every democracy on earth is ruled by the 51% most wealth, in every one the upper half of society owns all the wealth and this is normal procedure when the lower half is in rebellion.
So, when there finally is a rebellion against our Empire, do you think it will be any different?
Not sure I really get your point regarding the current dissolution of the Egyptian newly elected parliament, but It seems you approve(or at least accept) the move as "natural", but then I fail to clearly see the connection with, and I quote, "so, when there finally is a rebellion against our Empire, do you think it will be any different?".
Different in what way? Let's say Americans revolt, occupy some significant square in Washington D.C. and/or other places, the dictator Obama/Romney/whoeverincharge is forced to resign, people reject the vicepresident willing to take his place, military and police stand by without really taking repressive actions, sometime later elections are organized, a new congress is elected and shortly after the supreme court dissolves it? This is the imaginary comparison you imply, did I get it right? If so, then your conclusion seems to be it is "natural" the powers that be (the wealthy ones in your depiction) act in this manner. And you think it's over, that everyone who had enough with the regime will sit idly and endure an, most probably,even harsher regime just because a few people decided so!? There's no logic in that.
Which script is this Egypt 2012 or South America 1960s/1970s/1980s? If its not a coup d'etat what is it?
Lower half of Egypt — Refuse to work — For this is class war
No manual labor done in all of Egypt until the corruption of democracy ends, a nationwide strike that shuts down the economy and bankrupts the upper half of society.
For democracy is a dictatorship ruled by the 51% most wealthy
A democratic dictatorship, as all democracies are a dictatorship.
Why are they seeking rulers at all? Get rid of the junta and replace it with nothing. Be free.