Egypt Prime Minister Quits Amid Calls For Mubarak-Era Purge

Haaretz ^ | 2 Mar 2011 | Amira Hass and Reuters

[edpc]

Egypt's Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq resigned on Thursday and a former transport minister was picked to appoint a new government after pro-democracy activists demanded a purge of Hosni Mubarak's old guard from the cabinet.

Military rulers said they had accepted the resignation of Shafiq and appointed Essam Sharaf in this place.

[edpc]

The Muslim Brotherhood and other political groupings had been calling for Shafiq and his government, where the key defense, justice, foreign and interior ministers were all appointed during the Mubarak era, to quit.

They had urged a clean break from the 30 years of Mubarak rule and wanted a cabinet of technocrats appointed in the interim period before elections that would choose a new parliament and president, expected later this year.

Purge allows groups like the MB to seize control sooner.

[edpc]

ME list ping

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks edpc.

Military rulers said they had accepted the resignation of Shafiq and appointed Essam Sharaf in this place.

The demands came from "community organizers."

[Carley]

That will immediately create or save a million jobs a month.

Lower the price of food 50% and free university for all.

[napscoordinator]

You sure do hope so don’t you. What is happening in Egypt is a miracle. I can’t believe how well it is going. Not like Libya.

[WoofDog123]

have to give it a year or so to see what factions end up with influence in the new government (besides the military). I am concerned we see a gradual shift towards more religious extremism, as in turkey.

[SJackson]

Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

[edpc]

No, I don't hope so, but I know what I see. Coptic Egyptians who were fired upon in their compound and foreign reporters raped/assaulted may disagree with how peaceful the transition has been.

Figures like Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi cannot be helpful. Allowing Iranian warships through the Suez for the first time in 30 years and talk of revisiting the 1979 treaty cannot be good signs for relations with Israel.

A slower, quieter march to chaos does not make it better. In my view, you have an odd idea of what constitutes a miracle.

[ZULU]

Really confused about the Egypt situation. Mubarak was a tyrant, but he was our Tyrant. On the other hand, he probably robbed us blind with the aid we gave them. On the other hand, Pew Opinion polls indicate Egyptians respond as in the majority as typical Muslims, i.e. they support Sharia Law which means supression of Copts, brutal treatment for women, death of apostates and missionaries, etc. etc.

Unless Islam transforms itself into something more modern, and all indications are it is going in the direct opposite direction, the world is too small for them and any other religion - or non-religion.

[ZULU]

Really confused about the Egypt situation. Mubarak was a tyrant, but he was our Tyrant. On the other hand, he probably robbed us blind with the aid we gave them. On the other hand, Pew Opinion polls indicate Egyptians respond as in the majority as typical Muslims, i.e. they support Sharia Law which means supression of Copts, brutal treatment for women, death of apostates and missionaries, etc. etc.

Unless Islam transforms itself into something more modern, and all indications are it is going in the direct opposite direction, the world is too small for them and any other religion - or non-religion.

[LonghornFreeper]

You sure do hope so don’t you. What is happening in Egypt is a miracle. I can’t believe how well it is going. Not like Libya.

It has nothing to do with what we hope, and everything to do with learning from history. Obviously we all hope that a moderate, Western-style government which respects the rights of all Egypt's people emerges over the next few years.

However, hoping doesn't actually make things happen, and in this case, what you are hoping for has a very, very low probability of actually happening.

The really annoying thing is that, in a couple of years, when the rational ones among us are proven right and Egypt is much worse off than it was before, we will then be accused of having wanted things to go that way, just so we could be right.

Churchill was right about Hitler, that doesn't mean he wanted Hitler to launch a massively destructive war of conquest, it just meant he had enough understanding of the world to know where things were going, and to try to convince others to act accordingly.

[LonghornFreeper]

You sure do hope so don’t you. What is happening in Egypt is a miracle. I can’t believe how well it is going. Not like Libya.

It has nothing to do with what we hope, and everything to do with learning from history. Obviously we all hope that a moderate, Western-style government which respects the rights of all Egypt's people emerges over the next few years.

However, hoping doesn't actually make things happen, and in this case, what you are hoping for has a very, very low probability of actually happening.

The really annoying thing is that, in a couple of years, when the rational ones among us are proven right and Egypt is much worse off than it was before, we will then be accused of having wanted things to go that way, just so we could be right.

Churchill was right about Hitler, that doesn't mean he wanted Hitler to launch a massively destructive war of conquest, it just meant he had enough understanding of the world to know where things were going, and to try to convince others to act accordingly.

[LonghornFreeper]

Sorry for the double post, it was unintentional.

[napscoordinator]

No problem. Good point on the Churchill regarding Hitler example. That is very true. I guess I am just amazed that in the very short time, Egypt has quieted down. It sorta reminds me of the terror that was supposed to happen regarding the oil spill in the gulf. Everyone thought America was doomed but that did not happen and I knew it wouldn’t.

[AdmSmith]

No, I do not think that we should be alarmed with him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFH8X_-TxtY

Sharaf earned a master’s degree in civil engineering in 1980 on the West Lafayette campus. He then received his doctorate from Purdue in 1984. His research focus was the then-new area of highway maintenance management. Afterward he became a faculty member at Cairo University, where has continued to teach since.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20110304/LOCAL/103040394/Egypt-s-new-prime-minister-Purdue-graduate

[SunkenCiv]

It’s going to get worse, fast. The problem now is, the Egyptian army is so pro-jihadist that it can’t be relied on to quell riots. It’s going to get ugly, and Zero will be right on the spot to blame it all on Mubarak.