Posted on 05/04/2012 10:26:44 AM PDT by mojito
Egyptian armed forces and protesters clashed in Cairo on Friday, with troops firing water cannons and tear gas at demonstrators who threw stones as they tried to march on the Defense Ministry, a flashpoint for a new cycle of violence only weeks ahead of presidential elections.
For the first time in Egypt's stormy transition, hardline Islamists were in the forefront of street fighting with the troops, a shift for groups that previously had largely stayed out of direct confrontation with the ruling military.
The clashes centered around a sit-in that has been held for a week in a square several blocks away from the Defense Ministry, mainly by ultraconservatives known as Salafis, who were protesting the disqualification of their favored candidate from the presidential election. On Wednesday, still unidentified assailants attacked the gathering, sparking clashes that killed nine.
Wednesday's violence fueled anger at the military and now more groups are taking to the streets.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
Things are disintegrating pretty quickly, like raw meat left out in the hot sun.
I thank God we visited Egypt a few years ago. Go now...not so much.
And now it's, Springtime, for Egypt, and the Brotherhood!
Although the Salafists propose an even more extreme version of the Muslim Brotherhood’s program, oil is thicker than blood in the region; the Salafists get a reported $50 million annual subsidy from the Saudis, and presumably are acting under Saudi orders.
As the situation on the ground deteriorates, Egypt’s military government is becoming a bystander to events. Egypt is in a classic pre-revolutionary situation, like Russia in October 1917 or German in March 1933, with a vanguard party ready to dislodge a disintegrating civil society, and replace it with totalitarian party rule at street level. The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest political party, is poised to ride to power on the back of this crisis
Islamist organizations began to take control of food and fuel distribution as shortages appeared after the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak in 2011. The first Islamist equivalent of workers’ soviets, or “revolutionary committees,” were formed to discipline bakeries and propane sellers who “charge more than the price prescribed by law,” the Federation of Egyptian Radio and Television reported on May 3, 2011.
These committees formed under the aegis of the Ministry of Solidarity and Social Justice. What has already emerged in Egypt, to use Leninist terminology, is a situation of dual power. The military government remains in command, but critical economic functions already are in the hands of Islamist parties.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/NE01Dj06.html
A failed state in the forming stages; Somalia II.
Thanks AdmSmith.
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