"Legal coup" derails Egypt's democracy bid

(CBS News) CAIRO - Egypt's presidential election is set for this weekend. But it was thrown into chaos Thursday with two rulings by judges appointed by the ousted leader, Hosni Mubarak. Their decisions keep the military in power.

The Supreme Court ruled that Egypt's first democratically-elected parliament should be dissolved. At the same time, the court delivered good news to former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq. It struck down a law which would have barred him from office because he was part of the ousted Mubarak regime.

The ruling clears the way for a showdown between Shafiq, a remnant of the old order, and Mohammed Morsi, a member of the once-banned Muslim Brotherhood in the run-off vote this weekend.

Egypt court dissolves parliament in election ruling
Egypt authorizes military to arrest civilians

Dissolving parliament hands the military the authority to write the new constitution. That will decide how much power the president has.

It translates to only one thing in the view of Professor Khalid Fahmy of the American University in Cairo. "This is a coup," he says."It's a legal coup -- not legal because it's legitimate -- but legal in the sense that the army has staged a coup using the courts."

The military also issued a decree giving the police and intelligence services the right to arrest anyone resisting the authorities, halting traffic, damaging buildings or harming government security -- which in effect allows for a total clampdown on protests.

"The gloves are off," said Fahmy. "They have made it very clear what it is that they want. They want to return back with a vengeance to the previous regime, and this is something that is just untenable. We cannot do this."

The protesters, who thought they'd won the fight for a free and transparent system of government, now find their revolution mired in a political environment that is as muddy and polluted as the Nile River.

And the political maneuvering is far from over. The Muslim Brotherhood warned that its supporters would take to the streets again if it was necessary to prevent what it called a return to the old corrupt ways.

[tmittelstaed]

This may not be a bad thing.

Yes the Mubarak regime was corrupt.

However the Muslim Brotherhood is radical and full of people who want to impose Sharia law and repress women.

The military can't sit by and let Egypt disintegrate. Then the radical fundamentalist Muslims would take over and we would have another Iran.

It remains to be seen what comes out of the election.

[Maou_Tsaou]

Well well well.
Did the Egyptians consult with the u.s. supposed "supreme" court to come up with this?
How people continue to let a small group of oligarchs with obvious bias pronounce "rulings" that determine who gets power is a bit crazy.
How come we never talk about real issues?
We nearly match the rest of the world dollar for dollar in military spending exceeding the spending of the next 18 nations combined military expendatures.
As a result we have a hugely bloated military, we float 11 of the worlds current 22 aircraft carriers for example.
One of the main missions of the military is maintaining the security of the worlds shipping lanes.
This service is provided at u.s. Taxpayer expense to some of the worlds most profitable companies like big oil.
Interestingly enough the u.s. is well known as the worlds largest importer of oil but not so many folks know the u.s. ranks 3rd in oil production.
I mention this because the largest consumer of oil on this planet by FAR is the u.s. military.
We even have to buy the oil to protect the tankers as the oil companies see no reason to provide even a *** for tat service for our free security.
Cut the military in half and we're still the number one force on the planet assuming we have the good sense to stay away from the homelands of China, Russia, and India which we can't mess with at current levels.
Then we aren't the worlds number one importer of oil anymore.
Charging big oil and other multinats for our security isn't a bad idea either.
How about selling the almost half a trillion of gold we supposedly still hold?
They testified that the gold was all accounted for and unencumbered last year and bernakie claims gold is just a "commodity" in today's market.
Of course that doesn't account for what's happened in the London gold market where they have a couple of interesting transaction models a gold location swap and a gold quality swap.
When the u.s. seized privet gold holdings in '33 they got a horde of 22 carat coin and similar "gold".
We are the only nation holding such a horde of not fine deliverable gold and that's the only purpose for a transaction that takes something like 22 carat gold and swapping it for 99.9% pure fine deliverable gold.
We can't drop a half a trillion on the debt because all the gold is gone.
So are the social trusts which is why obama tried to throw Social Security and Medicade/care on the negotiation table at every chance.
All that's gone but we're still upping the military just like those poor European countries being forced into austerity like Greece who will cut all sorts of social services but there's no austerity at all for Greek military spending.
They buy that junk from Germany...
They reset the economies after wars... why not just reset WITHOUT a war?
For the wealthiest nation on the planet to work its people the hardest and provide them with no healthcare is more than a shame... it's a policy of death for some and just take a look at what the stinking boomers have left the poor kids in gen-y.
Think they might have a reason to fight?
The worthless hippies who lost their ideals upon leaving school and picked up the title yuppies have become the EXACT people their generation famously warned against having any trust in.
Except the elders they railed against still worked to leave them a better country with more opportunities than they themselves had.
The hippies have managed to create the conditions that allowed the first generation in american history who expect less than their elders.
If THAT generation expects to enjoy their golden years they had better help get this mess cleaned up.
We SURLY won't continue our FICA payments for YOUR benefit if we aren't going to get Social Security after you guys are gone.
And anyone who believes that kurzweil bull about how we will all be living so much longer in the future ergo we should raise the retirement age AGAIN is buying a line of goods.
As a matter of fact u.s. life expectancy is ranked 37th in the world, a standard placing for us now in the stuff we should aspire to leading the world in but instead we've taking the bold initiative of rejecting the rest of the world.
North Carolina tried to make climate study illegal and fixed a sea level rise to a projection based off a small set of observed water markers and obama has decided to call any drone strike casualty that is a young man of "military" age a "enemy combatant".
When the government lies directly like this it's time to scrap it.
According to The Declaration of Independence it's our duty to kill this joke of a government and restart.

[anyyname]

My Opinion:

The People of Egypt have only one method that can be successful in taking control of their country and removing the military dictatorship. They must UNITE! AND WORK TOGETHER, REGARDLESS OF IDEOLOGICAL/RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES, TO REMOVE THE MILITARY TYRANTS THAT DIVIDE AND CONQUER THEM. All of the People of Egypt MUST AGREE to RESPECT EACH OTHERS RELIGIOUS PREFERENCES WHILE RESTRAINING THEIR AMBITIONS IN THE INTEREST OF CONSOLIDATING ALL OF THE PEOPLE AGAINST THE MILITARY/COURT CRONIES.

All Egyptians can work together to overcome the tyrants or they can continue to allow the tyrants to divide them and lose all control to them. Compromise is always a major part of any recipe for different ideologies to coexist peacefully. Without compromise that allows for a unification of Eqyptians against their oppressors in power, all Egyptians, regardless of faith, will be forced to succumb to the greatest evil or die defying it. Don't let evil divide you into powerlessness. United you will stand, divided you will die at the hands of military monsters.

Mothers should secretly question their enlisted military sons about whether they would be willing to abandon the illegal tyrants to protect the Egyptian People. They should compare and tabulate their responses secretly and then calculate the percentage willing to abandon the dictators. If the percentage is large enough to create a successful mass defection from the criminal military leaders, they should set a time at which all should arise simultaneously and walk into the welcoming arms of the Eqyptian people. They should take as many of the military's weapons and deliver them to the People as they defect. Tyrants cannot rule without the enlisted soldiers and their henchmen. If all abandon them instantly, they will have no option but to run or fight and like Kadaffi, they will run like cowards until justice and the Egyptian People overtake them. Tyrants don't have principles that make them willing to fight for what is right. If they have no one to do the dangerous work for them, they will flee in terror. They remain in power by creating fear in the People. The only way to overcome them is to overcome the fear and that can be done without sacrificing lives if done intelligently and in good faith.