Egyptian newspaper confiscated for insulting the president

[pelsar]

CAIRO — An Egyptian court ]ordered the Saturday editions of a newspaper confiscated over allegations it insulted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi and instigated sectarian discord, Egypt’s official news agency said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/egypt-daily-newspaper-confiscated-for-insulting-the-president-instigating-sectarian-discord/2012/08/11/9dd468ce-e3d5-11e1-89f7-76e23a982d06_story.html


that egyptian spring in action....now i'm not one for claiming i can read the future, but sometimes somethings are pretty clear based on history and the region.

for the egyptians having only one large organized group: the muslim brotherhood, it was pretty obvious that the the "protests" would be taken over by them....

now i realize for some, this is considered a good thing as the muslim brotherhood are egyptians and as far as i understand every local revolution is but a step toward a "progressive liberal democracy"..never mind the the MB rejects it out of hand, still believers are believers....just ask the liberals in iran who helped with that revolution (oops they were all hung soon after khomeni took power).

----
so the question to be asked is how is this relevant to the Palestinians...well if your pro civil rights and believe that is far more important than nationalism, especially a weak govt that iran, egypt and hamas may be looking at, then you might want to take a second look at the race toward a PA state and consider options to give western democracy a better chance.

Of course if civil rights (western) is not at the top of your list, then i guess having the MB take over egypt is actually no big deal, in fact its probably none of anybodies business anyway how they govern, after all they are the indigenous people, which as i understand gives them rights by progressives to be anti progressive

[azurnoir]

1. shocking indeed why any liberal democracy allows

publications that encourage armed sedition, don't they?

from the article

Saturday’s edition featured a lengthy front-page article warning of a Brotherhood “emirate” seizing Egypt and calling on Egyptians to join ranks with the military to confront Islamists. The lawsuits also accuse the paper of inflammatory coverage of recent sectarian violence.

[bemildred]

2. This is kind of interesting.

I suspect a lot of this is staged, remember Tantawi hand-picked Morsi, I think steps are being taken to shore him up and give him authority. I think deals have been made.

[azurnoir]

5. thanks it is a possibility given the situation in Egypt right now n/t

[bemildred]

10. Well, I don't really know.

But it is hard for me to believe that this is not scripted, Tantawi has looked awfully calm for a Middle Eastern Potentate whose power is being taken away. There is no doubt an element of accepting the necessity of change, perhaps an element of "let the MB take the heat for a while", but I don't think that everything just came together by accident to give this guy the reins, credibility, and to clear the political debris in front of him.

[bemildred]

12. Egyptian president awards dismissed generals medals

See, this sort of thing.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/14/us-egypt-president-generals-idUSBRE87D0MC20120814

[Bradlad]

13. I think you're on to something. n/t

[oberliner]

3. Egypt is a liberal democracy?

You must be using alternate definitions of both of those terms.

[azurnoir]

4. huh? your comment makes no sense given the subject of the OP n/t

[bemildred]

11. You need the sarcasm thingy, or people won't get it.

I used to get in more flame wars that way, it never fails.

[shaayecanaan]

6. The newspapers were taken off newstands after a court injunction was granted

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jmAjtU4WuYoBYclcMUGuuFVb3MvA?docId=3d9fed857eeb4477b2f0ac52d1d034d9

A number of individuals claimed that they were defamed in the article, made an application to Court, and obtained an injunction enjoining al-Dustour from the further publication of the said article. Funnily enough, defamation actions are frequently launched and injunctions granted in just about any western democracy that you can name.

Meanwhile, al-Dustour is happily continuing its reporting, as you can see from its website:-

http://dostor.org/

And this is enough for some to consign Egyptian democracy to the dustbin? Amazing.

I should note that unlike Israel, Egypt's newspaper editors are not required to pre-submit articles to the military censor for approval on certain topics (such as Israel's nuclear weapons, for example, which Israeli newspapers are forbidden for covering).

Now that is censorship.

But as I've frequently remarked, HIMMTSAR.

(hypocrisy is mother's milk to some around here).

[pelsar]

7. its just part of the puzzle....

you know....president dumping the army, taking ownership of the law to make war, etc etc etc.. the steps of the MB, the only real grass roots organization that egypt has is just doing the obvious....have you missed how they've gone from "not participating in the protests" to now owning egypt?

every step of the way there were excuses made (as per your post) and all they did was just another small step. You have the obvious examples of how it works in Iran and gaza if your still not sure.....

like i wrote there are those that believe every step taken by the "right people" is a step in the right direction, no matter which way it goes.....even it hanging homosexuals is part of it
___

btw comparing egyptians govt to israeli democracy is rather absurd....but clearly you confuse the imperfect democracy with a non democracy ....good for the useful idiotes as clearly that is your target, who have no idea what the MB is all about, less for people who understand

so as i understand you see Egypt as on its way to iiberal/progressive democracy, with the MB at its helm?.....

[shaayecanaan]

8. That was a ridiculous post

you know....president dumping the army, taking ownership of the law to make war, etc etc etc.. the steps of the MB, the only real grass roots organization that egypt has is just doing the obvious.

I think that most of us would agree that the President asserting civilian power against the Army is a hugely positive step, and I generally think that the civilian government should be the one to decide to wage war or not. I understand that there are others who would prefer to have seen Egyptians languishing under a military dicatatorship forever, and perhaps you are one of them, but I am not one of those people.

so as i understand you see Egypt as on its way to iiberal/progressive democracy, with the MB at its helm?

It is on its way to democracy. I expect it will be a less liberal democracy than Sweden or Norway; hopefully it will not be such a flawed democracy as Israel is (second class treatment of Arab citizens, an growing social class of religious scholars that barely tolerate the premise of a secular state, endemic corruption, worsening poverty, etc). But we shall see.

[pelsar]

9. yea...so did khomeni...

having the president, a civilian take control of the army is essential in democracies....not so in theocratic dictatorships, as it tends to concentrate the power to a few at the top. (history class 101/poli sci class 101)

It is on its way to democracy..oh...am i right in guessing that you also believe that iran and gaza are also on their way to a democracy?

did you miss the statements by MB how they reject western liberal democracies and got voted in?
__________

so it is true, then, that your one of those believers that believe any and all local revolutions eventually lead to a liberal democracy......no matter what happens...as per the examples of zimbabwa, iran etc

[shira]

14. What happened in Egypt

A short history of democracy in Egypt. In February 2011 the Mubarak regime fell. There was going to be a parliament elected in Egypt. The parliament was elected. Its election was invalidated. Today there is no parliament in Egypt.

The Muslim Brotherhood said it would want to run one-third of the candidates for seats. Then they ran one-half. Then they ran all. Then they said they would not run a president. Then they did and elected a president. And they and the Salafists elected 70 percent of the parliament. But now there is no parliament.

The Parliament was going to pick a constituent assembly but to write a Constitution. But now there is no Constitution. There are no restrictions on presidential powers.

And then there was a Supreme Council of the Armed Forces but that was supposed to restrain the Muslim Brotherhood president. And it was supposed to be restrained by the Egypt-Israel peace treaty and by the hope of getting U.S. military aid. But the president got rid of it and fired the two top people and put in his own generals. And there is no restraint.

more...
http://rubinreports.blogspot.com/2012/08/what-happened-in-egypt.html

[azurnoir]

15. apparently Mr Rubin needs to check Google because

Egypt’s Constituent Assembly is in the final weeks of drafting the country’s new constitution, with as much as 70 per cent of the document already drafted, according to assembly member and newly-appointed Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mohamed Mahsoub.

"As for the remaining 30 per cent of the new constitution," Mahsoub told Ahram Online, "this is expected to be written in the weeks immediately following Eid Al-Fitr holiday, so that the entire draft of the new constitution could be ready for public discussion by the middle of next September."

After adjourning on the 16 August following a busy few weeks of work, the five committees of the constitution-drafting body are expected to reconvene immediately after the Eid Al-Fitr holiday.

"We do not have any time to waste, we want to put the final draft of Egypt’s constitution to a public discussion and review it as soon as possible," the assembly’s Chairman Hossam El-Ghiriani told its members last week.

Mahsoub affirmed that he believed the constitution would then be put up for public referendum by the middle or end of this October.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/50821/Egypt/Politics-/Fierce-debates-plague-final-drafts-of-Egypts-const.aspx

but don't let that get in way of propaganda

[oberliner]

16. Barry Rubin on having inoperable lung cancer

Nothing is stranger than having a normal life and then within a few hours knowing that it might end at almost any moment. That’s what happened to me when I was just diagnosed with what is called inoperable lung cancer...

People always asked me why I wrote so much and so intensively. I never told them one of the real reasons: I always expected my life would be limited. My grandfathers died, respectively, at 42 and 44, both of things that could have been cured today. My father died of a heart attack at 62, and his life probably could have been extended many years today by all the new tests and drugs available. But I felt that once I passed that birthday, less than a year ago, I might be living on borrowed time.

http://blogs.jta.org/telegraph/article/2012/08/07/3103106/barry-rubin-on-having-inoperable-lung-cancer

[azurnoir]

17. thanks for information and indeed that is sad however

it does not seem to stop Mr Rubin from writing or those writings as being presented as a means of debasing ones perceived enemies does it?

If he indeed is so ill that he can not properly research what he is opining about then perhaps it is time to stop or his words should be taken with a large grain of salt

[oberliner]

18. You're welcome

I'm sure, as he noted in his post revealing his condition, he will keep on writing until he can no longer do so.

Not sure how his illness will impact his approach to the blog, but I would imagine it would.