Egypt’s military coup (UPDATED)
True to it’s word, the Egyptian military has started clamping down on the Morsi government and the Muslim Brotherhood, seizing the media, and restricting travel of the Morsi government. From Fox News;
Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the leader of Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, is currently meeting with religious, opposition and youth leaders, the military said on its Facebook page Wednesday, and he will release a statement on Morsi’s fate after the meeting is over.
Khaled Daoud, spokesman of the main opposition National Salvation Front, which pro-reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei leads, said that ElBaradei, Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb, grand imam of Al-Azhar mosque, and Pope Tawadros II, patriarch of Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority, were part of the meeting. Political sources told Reuters that two members of a rebel youth group that is leading the anti-Morsi protests and members of the hardline Muslim fundamentalist al-Nour Party also are attending the meeting.
Morsi has said that he won’t step down and I believe him – it probably won’t be a step down, and I don’t think his resolve will frighten Army officers.
UPDATE: From Fox News;
Egypt’s top military commander says the army is now in full control of the country and President Mohammed Morsi has been replaced by the chief justice of the constitutional court as the interim head of state.
Category: Terror War
General Sisi is on it. Nothing to worry about. He’s got Command Sargeant Major Balet Boi by his side.
Sounds like Gen Sissi ain’t no sissy.
And didn’t I say it back on the original post?
“Morsi may rebuff the Egyptian military, but I think the Egyptian military will “rebuff” right back.”
That one was TOO easy to see, even through an opaque crystal ball.
Morsi may not step down – voluntarily. But he WILL step down, even if he needs some help to do it.
There are only two remotely stable institutions in Egypt; the military and the Muslim Brotherhood. I say army both sides and let them get after it.
GEN el-Sissi is true to his word. And WE (meaning the WH) should stay out of it.
The Egyptians see themselves as Egyptians first, muslims second. They want the electricity turned back on, they want gasoline, they want their tourist industry – a BIG money maker – back in business — generally, they want their lives back.
Meantime the US Ambassador via the Whitehouse was still making public statements supporting the Morsi dictatorship in recent days…. once again Obama is on the wrong side of this.
Goofy names involved in this mess, part 2:
The US ambassador is under fire from the protestors for cozying up to the Islamist. (no surprise there)
“It didn’t help Patterson’s standing when she met with senior Brotherhood officials, the Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and his deputy Khairat Al-Shater.”
Which is worse, Badie or Al-Shater?
Nice to know that Obama was elected for his foreign policy experience and his ability to raise our standing in the international community, that’s what we were told anyway….I wonder if anyone on the left can actually say that today with a straight face….
Obama is better at foreign policy than Bush in much the same way that death by freezing is better than death by dehydration….in both methods you slowly lose strength until you lose consciousness but you’re still dead at the end….so how that’s better I’m not exactly clear….at least with Bush you could get some water….but Obama wants to turn the heat off…so, you can draw your own conclusions…
Baracka was advised and said, “But, if I had a son, he’d look like Mohamed Morsi”.
This administration and it’s foreign policy is now ramping up their incompetence, preparing to outdo Jimmy Catah.
#8 funny my husband said back when Obama was elected he would make Carter look like a great president. Total failure with so many things, and I bet he will be golfing by the weekend.
Alluha Akbar!
They keep saying that they are going to put in place a “technocratic” government-that translates as “we don’t want these ignorant, backwards ass Islamists ****ing up the economy any longer”.
@7. Well, he did say Pak-e-stan nicely.
@8. What foreign policy? You mean the one that reads, “If he or a member of his approved line of succession has been in office longer than I’ve been president and he’s not a terrorist enabler, we support his opposition.” That foreign policy? What a CF!
You’ve got to admire the Egyptian Military. They gave a failed President 48 hours to come to some accommodation with the people. In his arrogance he refused. With no air strikes, tanks in the streets, or massed armed troops they made some quiet arrests, took over the state run media and announced that power had been transferred to an interim president. And to make it even more rare the new guy is head judge of the supreme court rather than a junta of generals. Good luck to all, except Barack Obama. Once again he finds himself on the back side of the power curve.
@7: As someone with a moderate view of the President (as in, he’s neither god nor the devil incarnate), I can say that Obama circa 2007-2008 DID raise our standing in the international community, especially compared to Bush. This isn’t simply my recollection – you can go back and find articles and polls that show how much he was preferred over other candidates. Perhaps because he ‘talked the talk’, though recent evidence would suggest he doesn’t quite ‘walk the walk’, but perception is reality in some spheres, and he did restore some faith -at the time!- in American foreign policy.
Can I say he’s lived up to that sentiment? Hell no. It’s clearly been a rude awakening for liberals and foreigners who had some faith that this was a sea change in our foreign policy direction.
It gets a little more murky when you put it into the context of elections, though – he was elected in part of his foreign policy ‘ideas’, yes, but even as those ideas have been shown to be largely false, most liberals don’t feel McCain/Palin would’ve been any better, obviously. So it becomes for them a toss-up on foreign policy, but a win on social issues, so it still favors Obama in the election (between those official candidates).
Calling the Obama Administration’s attempts at foreign policy “ham fisted” is a gross over-estimation of their ability.
They should stick to what they know – wrecking the American economy.
According to this article, Morsi’s whereabouts are unknown:
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/03/19261466-egyptian-military-says-it-has-ousted-morsi-crowds-celebrate-in-cairo?lite%3e1=43001
Which means that he will probably be looking for a new place to live before long. And this was done quietly, and without the kind of violence that could have happened. Egypte is not the only country getting fed up with the AQs and the taliban, and their offspring.
@14. Huh? What the hell was that? What’s a moderate view, half an abortion? Obamaman raised our standing in the international community? Who said so, Der Spiegel? Why, because he got a Peace Prze for running his mouth about what he would do but hasn’t? Evidence of your view ought to be presented by you. It’s not nice to say, ‘Yeah, there are articles and stuff. You can go loo ’em up.’I do like that jutaposition of that great American duality “liberals and foreigners.” And thanks for using THAT descriptor that always reveals the lib, to wit, “most liberals don’t FEEL [caps mine].
@14 wow just wow, he went on a apology tour in Europe he got the Nobel, what a sham anyway, he has made things way worse. Now the US is a laughing stock in Europe between Kerry’s attempts at Israel/Palestine peace and the no spines over here, plus the nsa snooping over there. Dangerous times
@18: The only thing I’d disagree with there is the whole ‘apology tour’ thing – yes, Europe is pissed at us, plenty of people laugh at the state of things here, and it’s all been a big clusterfuck, absolutely.
I wasn’t defending the guy from his current standing, I was just explaining how the ‘foreign policy expertise’ thing was viewed when candidate Obama was running for President the first time. It’s never a bad thing to understand why people believe something, even if ultimately the reality is shown to be quite different.
Will we be taking back the F-16s now that the Obama Brotherhood has been ousted?
@19. There was an assumption made about Baracka (thanks UpNorth!)regarding his expected relationships with world leaders and the international community (whatever the hell that is) based upon what? His prior experience in international affairs? Um, no. His mastery of foreign languages? Um, no. His what then? How about his race, his zany background, his name, his time in Pak-e-stan, and his description of the call to morning prayer as the sweetest sound on earth? In other words, NOTHING of substance whatsoever. Is it any wonder that the SOB is a failure at foreign policy and can be relied upon by our traditional allies for NOTHING?
@21: You’re correct in that, sure – he talked very well in all the right ways, and presented himself as a sensible alternative to the blundering way most foreigners perceived President Bush. In a lead up to elections, talk IS important.
I mean, you’re conservative, correct? What great experience did Sarah Palin have in foreign relations? Not much, to my knowledge – yet people who agreed with what she SAID believed in her, and many still do, for that matter. The same was (and is) true with President Obama. His *words*, as a candidate, resonated well with foreigners who were weary of what they felt was ‘cowboy-like’ diplomacy under Bush.
Of course, words are easy. Actions less so. And, consequently, people have been disappointed. My point above was simply illustrating why people FELT (yes, felt – because there wasn’t any hard data on things to reason on) he’d usher in some positive developments in US foreign policy.
It has precious little to do with his name, background, etc., it was all about his ability to speak well and present a strong contrast -in his words, at least- to a President who wasn’t terribly well liked abroad.
Did I miss the updated update? Morsi’s Twitter account says he is taking a sudden vacation to an undisclosed location.
@21- no, cav. Obama was not the foreign policy sell during the election, he was just there to provide the hope and the change. Other countries were supposed to love us because he was Obama and not Bush.
The foreign policy expertise was supposed to come from Biden, believe it or not, due to all of his time spent on foreign policy councils within our own government.
The reality of what happened during the campaign of ’08 is even more ridiculous than you remember.
@22- there was only feelings. Obama has no background on ANYTHING. His senate voting record is a series of “present” votes (when he even bothered to show up), his college records are sealed, and no one can name what the communities he organized accomplished other than to get him elected into office.
Palin was the VP candidate, by the way. I challenge you to come up with something stupid she has ever said that couldn’t have been said by our current VP.
@22. Conservative? Me? What was your first clue? Palin was raked over the coals and lambasted by the media while that once-fine man (layer to become known as the Arizona Asshole) fairly clamped her lips shut. Baracka was given a pass. For instance, in a particularly notorious interview with that idiot Katie ( How-Cute-Am-I) Couric, Palin was asked whether she ever negotiated with the Russians. WHAT? Meanswhile, Baracka was asked his favorite song. But, more to the point, Palin was not running for President of the United States, was she? She was McCain’s running mate. So, comparatively sp[eaking, the better question would be to pit Joe The Moron Biden against Palin. And that, as they say, is a no brainer.
Quick!! someone send Phillip Dale Monkress ultra TEAM 4 alpha bravo delta whiskey tango foxtrot to fix this situation!! make sure Psul gets a combat drop too … don’t spend on parachutes .. Real men make it work without them.
I wonder if this makes some people on this country’s political force a bit nervous …
@26: You’re deflecting. I’m well aware that Palin was ‘only’ the VP candidate and if we were comparing candidates, that should be done with Biden,.. but I wasn’t comparing candidates. I was simply talking about how people can relate to a candidate, and what they’re saying, and give them credit even in the absence of any solid experience.
Unless you’re saying Palin wasn’t chosen for her experience and ability to lead, and was chosen simply for.. what, exactly? There are still a considerable number of people who want her to run for President, and on what? Her words. Words matter to people when you’re a politician without a long record. Whether they SHOULD matter is another discussion.
That’s what this all goes back to – not Biden, not doing one-to-one comparisons of different people running for different offices, but the simple fact that Obama was viewed as being strong on foreign policy because he gave well-written, well-delivered speeches that made people believe he would be very different from President Bush. That’s all.
@25: My whole point here was simply that Obama spoke well and presented himself in strong contrast to then-President Bush. This is why people abroad liked him on foreign policy.
I’m not defending his lack of experience, I’m just pointing out WHY he was viewed as rising the stature of our foreign policy – namely, he was well-liked abroad during his first election.
@28. What you call deflection, I call responsiveness. Besides, I didn’t agree to play by your rules. You will have to ask McCain, not me, why he chose Palin as his running mate. I wasn’t involved in that decision. As for obamaman, now that we have established that his experstise is not to be found in foreign policy, where is it to be found? He does vacation well, I’ll give him that. And he is expert at fundraising. That’s another of his strengths. Umm..give me a minute. Basketball? No, sucks at free throws. Baseball? Definitely not. Throws like a sissy. Economics? Hardly. Race relations! Um, no….thinking….thinkling…thinking…thinking I got!Embassy security.
@29&30- He is an outstanding tele-prompter reader.
@ #28- I suppose your ideal candidate was Ron Paul 2012 too.
And since when do “people abroad” determine who the flock the next President of the United States of America will be?
When the going gets tough, B. Hussein 0bama goes golfing!
When the going gets REALLY tough, B-HO goes on another vacation!
Maybe Snowden and Morsi can get an apartment together someplace….
@31. True. I overlooked that. When he freelances and goes off script, there’s always trouble in it for him. But that raises this question. If Baracka is successful with the libs (and his re-election certifies that as true), and he is devoid of substance (at least that which can be admitted), then why isn’t the guy or gal who writes his shit president? And why is that person never loaned to Joey The Moron Biden? Inquiring minds…
@33. That was about the same time that TWO of our Supreme Court justices decided that the US Constitution should be interpreted using foreign law!
@31 I believe his expertise is in Intelligence, specially in the data security field …*looks at wikileaks* *looks at NSA*
I can understand when ppl say they voted for the change on the first round but the second?
Everybody overseas saw him as hope/change after Bush I get that but by now it’s all gone, and if half the shit that is out now had been out last year, he would never have been reelected. Denmark loved him now there are daily articles about how bad he is, and just wait until the morning and them talking about his no comment on egypt, that will be another article.
You know why Baracka fails repeatedly when he TRIES to play president? The SOB isn’t genuine. Does anyone here think he believes in Mom and apple pie? Do you think that he considers it a privilege and an honor to be the commander in chief? Do you think that JUST ONCE in his upbringing, he observed Memorial Day or took it upon himself to raise Old Glory at one of his homes? Hell, he had to be coached to wear a flag pin! He cannot say what he thinks but his appointments, his inaction in other matters speak volumes of him. If I didn’t say it before, for the benefit of his surveillance people, screw him! And now, I’m done.
What a crushing blow to the Obama Brotherhood!
@ 33,,check this out
http://www.redflagnews.com/headlines/obama-vetting-1979
GEN Sissi, is he not related to COL Mississippi?
Maybe not!
No but seriously now … I am just laughing my Royal Irish Ass off!
I am no diplomat, hell I don’t even work for the State Department, my degree is not in POL SCI … and I knew this was going to happen.
Some of us really do not need to be lectured on foreign policy. Most of us have already been there and done that, so to speak, on multiple continents.
If we are going to disqualify all presidential and vice presidential candidates who have “only” served as governors of states because it is not enough foreign policy experience, who can justify any candidate for anything who not only has no foreign policy experience but none as an executive of anything? And leaves only who exactly as potential candidates?? That argument simply makes no sense whatever.
But keep telling yourself that it does. Maybe some day you will actually convince either yourself or someone else. Today, however, is not the day.
Change of subject, did you all just see Don Shipley was on Fox, wow about the Kevorkian guy(probably misspelled that)
Hopefully Morsi and many of his henchmen will be paying the hangman or the beheading crew a nice visit !!!
And Anonymous… You can say whatever you want to attempt to couch your true colors, you are not only fighting a losing battle, you have lost the war, your statements read more like Baghdad Bob than anything else !!!
Obama’s always been at a few things: reading prepared scripts; making sales pitches; wearing a suit. That’s about it. He wasted my tax money for 11 years in the Illinois legislature by voting ‘Present’ on legislation instead of ‘yes,’ ‘no’, or ‘abstain’. ‘Present’ means you can’t make up your flipping mind, OK?
His approval rating by his voters has dropped to slightly below 45% since January this year. I think that survey was done in June. He’s a waste of time and money. He’s a slacker, a dabbler, and a dilettante. If you don’t know what those words mean, go look them up. No President before him has shown as much lack of interest in doing the job of President as he has. Even if you didn’t like LBJ or Nixon or Clinton or Bush, they at least did the damned job and took it seriously, in spite of their personal foibles. Obama doesn’t have a flipping clue, and I don’t think he really gives a damn, either.
And anyway, this thread is supposed to be about Egypt’s military coup, which is now in its evening hours. More power to the people of Egypt who want their homeland respected, not turned into another jihadist trash heap. I just wondered how long it would be before it happened.
Unnamed contributor: Are you a regular or did you just show up to defend the President. There are paid agent provocateurs creeping around the net nowadays, or so it has been reported. If you are one of those, shame on you. If not, well shame on you. We, by definition are current or ex-service members. We know something about leadership, both good and bad. There are not many here that think Barry Obama could lead a platoon of horny sailors into a whore house. He might order them in, but he could never lead them.
PS. Latest cost for Air Force One to Africa= 7.5 Million dollars. Meanwhile, many bases are closing their swimming pools and curtailing 4th of July celebrations and fireworks. Morale?,we don’t need no morale.
This is a mess.
Morsi is a radical in disguise.
I am not saying the Army is better.
That being said, the people have no clue as to what they want. They “rose up” and got a clown because they (the educated 18-30 yo group) could not get on the same page.
What is the old saying(s): “Never Split Forces” and “The Enemy of My Enemy is my Friend.”
The Army is “brokering” a deal.
To what end?
Curious as to opinions?