Last year’s revolution in Egypt drove Hosni Mubarak out of office, but the state of post-revolution Egypt, dominated by a massive military and a court stacked with Mubarak loyalists, is anything but certain.
A Thursday court ruling dissolving parliament was followed by the military sending troops to surround the building, and this weekend’s elections are now set to install the only elected official in the entire country, and come down to a choice between the Muslim Brotherhood’s Dr. Mohammed Mursi and the military’s favored choice, Air Marshall Ahmed Shafiq.
To call Shafiq the “new Mubarak” isn’t merely rhetoric. The long-time military man openly expresses his admiration for the former dictator and cites him as his “role model.” His role as a former regime insider sparked a court battle over whether or not he should even be allowed to run.
But the court ruled he could, and even though Mursi is seen favored by most of the public, the fear of a vote-rigging scandal is palpable, and with both the military and courts in his pocket, it seems unlikely Mursi would have much recourse if they just decide to declare Shafiq the run-away victor.
If that happens, there are certain to be protests, but Egypt will have come full circle in the past year and a half, ousting a dictator and installing a new one, and the revolutionaries returning to square one.
There were some reports that the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate was going call a ban on the election, but other reports said he was going to participate with full support of the round one candidates who did not make it to the final.
On the basis of what it has done so far, the military cannot be trusted. Even if Murci gets 90% of the votes, the military is going to announce Shafiq the winner. The military has probably stuffed all the ballot boxes already.
Ii is unsurprising that voter turnout is thought to be low when the public is forced to choose between two political factions that did not support the Tahrir square revolution!
As one Egyptian interviewed in this article summarizes it the election comes down to a choice "between religious and military fascism." With one candidate representing "the Armed Forces" and the other the Muslim Brotherhood who "stand for a religious – not civil– state."
So with the supreme courts choosing candidates, fears of vote fraud, only two corrupt candidates to choose from, low voter turn-out, and an economy on the brink of disaster – it sounds like Egypt really is an American-style 'democracy'…
Sad news for a brave people.
The Muslim Brotherhood is not corrupt and not fascist. They are and have been a consistent voice for justice, and the only substantial advocate for the Egyptian people in their desire for self-rule. Like the clerics in Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is the only honest and incorruptible force opposing Western-supported military dictatorship.
I concur with Jeff, Luther. The MB may not be the #1 choice of most Americans- the very name "Muslim Brotherhood" scares the bejeezus out of Joe Sixpack and conjures up images scimitar-wielding fanatics besieging the Innocent White Folks- but for Egyptians the MB offers a 'way out' of the Mubarak-era kowtowing to the West and, more importantly, to Israel. Yes, they will undoubtedly declare a form of shari'a as the law of the land- but is that *really* a bad thing? No, of course not. If the MB does as I suspect it will, Egyptian-style shari'a will be moderate and restrained, and not excessive as we see in our erstwhile allies, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. The MB knows the entire world is watching their progress and it only makes sense for them to "do the right thing" and present an inside view of Islam- and shari'a- that the West does not ever get an honest glimpse of.
From a purely selfish standpoint, it would be interesting to see Mursi win and have a government in Egypt that is not in Washington's pocket. The look on Hillary's face would be priceless.
The thugs in DC began orchestrating the restoration of dictatorship as soon as Mubarak, much to their surprise, fell. Bitch Hillary "approved" the delivery of a massive bribe in the form of "military aid" to the very hirelings now subverting the revolution. How many will be tortured to death by the new regime? Bitch Hillary could care less. End the American Empire – it's the sickest fucking joke in history.
There’s so much propaganda these days that confuses the man on the street in getting a grip of what is exactly happening, examples:
1. One site claims Muslim Brotherhood’s presidential candidate is a multimillionaire, i.e. among the 1%.
2. Another site claims MB made a mistake earlier dallying with the military for which he has lost the trust of the people.
3. Al-Jazeera that belongs to Qatari Amir used to be a credible news organization, but lost credibility and a few of its best journalists quit. Now it has become a propaganda tool for the 1%. It has been revealed that Al-Jazeera now interviews police in civilian clothes to show that it is interviewing regular citizen in Cairo, Egypt.
I’m sure you can come up with more examples.
If all of the Egyptian protests could muster a million protesters, which only a couple did, that would still be only 1% of the population. Surely this is nothing more then a counter-Revolution, as the entire upper half of society owns all the wealth and just love things the way they are.