generalspeaking

Egypt's "Deep State" Government

It's official, although the rumours long circulating in Egypt had their basis in assumed fact. Egypt will once again be ruled by its military. But this time it will be through an election result that is geared to reflect the will of the people. That is, those Egyptians who, in the majority, have rejected the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The aging generals took the wise step of promoting one of their own of a younger generation, who accurately read the tea leaves of discontent and presented himself as the saviour of Egypt from domination by the forces of Islamism exulting that their 80-year patience and errant opportunity brought them to the head of government.

Fickle public opinion which had spurned one aging president courtesy of the military who had overstayed his welcome and planned a dynastic succession, veered from condemnation of Hosni Mubarak to the wild embrace of Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi who orchestrated the downfall of Mohammed Morsi, the new pharaohnic leader ruling for the Muslim Brotherhood.

When Egypt had outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood generations ago, their learned clerics made their persecuted way to haven and found it in Saudi Arabia, then in need of Islamist clerics of the Brotherhood persuasion whose Islamist outlook seemed compatible with Wahhabism. There they thrived, and sent the tentacles of Brotherhood principles abroad even while Saudi Arabia was sending its own oil-funded Wahhabi-derived madrasses beyond the Middle East to Afghanistan, Europe and North America.

Now, Saudi Arabia has no use for the Muslim Brotherhood; it presents as a challenger to Wahhabism, and any enemy of the Brotherhood is a friend of the Saudis. And in friendly fashion Saudi Arabia threw a financial lifeline to Egypt, struggling with economic collapse, and thoroughly approving of General el-Sissi. Egypt could do worse for itself. But now it is General el-Sissi no more. With a new military head groomed and appointed by General el-Sissi himself now at the helm, it is now citizen Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, prepared to offer himself for election as president of Egypt.

The caretaker government has done the bidding of the Egyptian military hierarchy very well, in the very best interests of Egypt's future. Citizen el-Sissi wore his military uniform for the last time, prepared to sacrifice his military career in response to Egypt's need, "to defend the nation", and by offering himself as a presidential candidate, "responding to a call from the people", nobly and with grave dignity. Who is to say he will not be acclaimed?

Ah, he is already acclaimed, his portrait everywhere, even on delectable baked goods, devoured by those hungry for stability and a forward direction to a more prosperous and advantaged Egypt. The ongoing crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, where thousands of its members have been arrested, the Brotherhood declared a terrorist organization, and Egypt's chief prosecutor ordering trials for a total of 919 suspected Islamists on charges of murder, is proceeding apace.

A death sentence handed out to over 520 defendants on charges of killing a police officer during an attack last summer on a police station, has more than adequately set the stage for the presidential election. Citizen el-Sissi promises to build a "modern and democratic Egypt", to solve the endemic unemployment, and to bolster a "weak economy". All will be equal under the law: "I extend my hand to all at home and abroad -- all those who have not been convicted. There will be no personal score-settling."


The Muslim Brotherhood is far from conquered. The Sinai remains a boiling tarry kettle of Islamist ferment, allied with Salafist Bedouin, Hamas, Al-Qaeda-affiliated militias, and other unsavoury elements of the Islamist doctrine of fanatical jihad. Nor are they confined to the Sinai, striking far beyond its confines. And Egypt's universities host the younger generation of Brotherhood affiliates, offering security forces ample opportunity to practise self-defence.

Riot police fire rubber bullets and tear gas during a demonstration at the front of Cairo University March 26, 2014. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Labels: Conflict, Democracy, Egypt, Islamism, Muslim Brotherhood

posted by Pieface @ Friday, March 28, 2014