It appears Zahi Hawass has been ousted as head of antiquities in Egypt (recall he had resigned and then came back). Check out the story here (you have to love the picture).
I’d guess that Egyptology might be better off without Zahi (he is something of a huckster, but he drew positive attention to Egyptology). However, since the country is being taken over by Islamo-fascists (disguised as a “democracy movement” – a time-honored tactic), I’m betting we’ll miss the days of rolling our eyes at Zahi’s antics on TV.
I am so used to agreeing with everything that you say that I was at a loss I read this post. Surely you cannot mean that the complex politics of Egypt today is simply a front for an “Islamo-fascist” (Salafi?) conspiracy to take power in the elections later this year?
My expectation is that conservative religious democratic groups (mainly parties of Muslim Brotherhood factions) will win a plurality. Liberal secularist parties will form the second largest block. The secular fascists (right wing nationalists) will probably perform as badly as the religious fascists (Salafis and their ilk; less than 25% of seats between all the fascists).
The fascists will be marginalised by a broad coalition of democrats, religious conservatives and secularist liberals, that will quickly agree on a constitution that provides for a parliamentary democracy with strong oversight of the executive, the independence of the judiciary and a strongly entrenched Bill of Rights that will include guarantees of religious freedom (but probably not of proselytization). The constitutional status of Islam and of shari’ah will be a sticking point, but with the threat of a military coup at their backs and the fear that failure will strengthen the radicals on the margins, they will hammer out some pragmatic agreement that both sides can live with.
The Muslim Brotherhood is a fascist organization, whose aim is the destruction of Israel and to be a contributing factor to a Caliphate. Here are a few examples. I have roughly 70 such stories collected:
http://globalmbreport.org/?p=4418&print=1
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/04/egyptians-alarmed-over-rise-in-influence-of-islamic-supremacist-pro-sharia-forces.html
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/05/muslim-brotherhood-sheikh-to-run-for-president-of-egypt-promises-to-implement-sharia-and-cancel-peac.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/world/middleeast/25egypt.html?_r=3&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha22&pagewanted=all
And that will be the end of the political talk on the blog.
“And that will be the end of the political talk on the blog”
You are quite right of course, this hardly the forum for discussing Egyptian politics. Actually, I had poster’s remorse within a few hours of pressing “submit”. I am surprised that you did not just surpress the comment and send me a private note explaining why.
no problem; I try not to delete comments, though it has happened (dopey mistakes by me).
@ MSH
The democracy movement in Egypt was the most genuine you could find; it started from a simple woman whi twited to get ride of Mubarak..the Alarmist and the one who held power and the Army that puppeted US interest screamed chaos and the botherhood..
Remember one thing the USisnt there to protmote democracies, for emerging; it is there to prevent it.. Also I wouldnt rely on the mainstream medias or link , it echoes Barney like makes
believes stories your government provides.
May be you should read, Norman Finkelstein, Jimmy Carter, Stephen Shalom etc its better than taking your info from “occult” right wing imythologists.whom look at anything to say to legimimate a state which has been so putative towards palestinians; I am debating myself if it has the right to exist.
The Leftists have actually owned it from the beginning – by their own *public* statements. Sure, there are people in Egypt who want democratic change, but the leftists just use them to create tyranny. It’s an old game, and they’re quite good at it. *ALL* the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century started as democracy movements; that’s a simple matter of record. The proof isn’t in their beginnings (unless the leftists are bold enough to say “we did this”); it’s in the power-holders that emerge. The Muslim Brotherhood is working a plan, and the end result will be uglier than Mubarak, thug that he was.
The last person I’d look to for clear thinking on foreign policy is Jimmy “Yasser Arafat really wasn’t a terrorist” Carter. I don’t take information from right wing occultists (that was a stretch). I get it from scholars who specialize in political science, as well as former leftists who have left the fold (David Horowitz, David Mamet).
I have a friend who’s family is coptic and from Egypt. It was interesting to talk to him during the entire Egyptian unrest because he has a direct line to the coptic community in Egypt. The coptic community, as well as the secularists, were involved in the unrest because they were tired of the oppression of the Mubarak regime, especially the unchecked power of the police to do whatever they wanted.
However, from the very beginning there was great fear among the Coptic community that the entire movement would be co-opted by the muslim brotherhood and simply used to transition to a more radical islamist regime. That is essentially what is happening.
Yes; there have been a number of violent attacks on the Copts in the wake of the revolution. I don’t expect that to stop.