Report: Egyptian Military about to take more sweeping steps than anticipated including MB house arrest http://t.co/3m3nuBS3dO via @eahram
— Shibley Telhami (@ShibleyTelhami) July 3, 2013
More signs of a showdown overnight in Egypt. SCAF, which amounts to the top leadership of the Egyptian army, has issued a statement on its Facebook page saying in so many words it’s ready to fight to the death. Read More
A lot of news moving tonight. But I wanted to flag that North Carolina Republicans are now trying to push through a set of abortion restrictions on the model of what’s moving in Texas. To add another thread of bizarreness, the new abortion restrictions have been tacked onto an existing bill to ban sharia law in the state.
From Nancy Youssef on the McClatchy wire, who says Morsi’s speech was an unambiguous call to arms to his Muslim Brotherhood supporters …
The speech was likely to be read as a call to arms by thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members who’ve been forming their own security force, armed with sticks, helmets and Molotov cocktails, even as police and the country’s military seemed to be withdrawing their support from Morsi.
Keeping their distance from anti-Morsi protests that have brought millions into the streets, Brotherhood forces have been preparing for days, chanting, lining up in formation, and hoisting sticks, chair legs and two-by-fours in mock combat drills.
There are now reports of automatic weapons fire in clashes in Cairo.
From Nancy Youssef on the McClatchy wire …
The speech was likely to be read as a call to arms by thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members who’ve been forming their own security force, armed with sticks, helmets and Molotov cocktails, even as police and the country’s military seemed to be withdrawing their support from Morsi.
Keeping their distance from anti-Morsi protests that have brought millions into the streets, Brotherhood forces have been preparing for days, chanting, lining up in formation, and hoisting sticks, chair legs and two-by-fours in mock combat drills.
There are also now reports of clashes with automatic weapons fire in Cairo.
Perhaps the most interesting story I’ve seen today just moved on the Reuters wire. It suggests that a key tipping point for the Egyptian military may have been the rally Morsi attended in mid-June in which various Islamist factions called for jihad against the regime of Bashar al Assad. The call for jihad was aimed both at the Syrian regime and, more broadly, at Shia in Syria, Lebanon and perhaps everywhere. Read More
We’ve got a very weird situation unfolding over Europe. Bolivian President Evo Morales’ plane returning from Russia was denied entry into the airspace of France and Portugal on suspicion that the plane was carrying Edward Snowden. The plane ended up having to land in Austria. Zero clarity about whether Snowden was actually on board; the Bolivian Foreign Minister denies it.
Morsi to address Egyptian people on television shortly.
Late Update: 5:54 PM … The speech is now underway and it is, to put it mildly, not a conciliatory speech. The big takeaways are that Morsi will not resign, that he is responsible for upholding the democratic legitimacy of the previous election and that the protests represent remnants of the Mubarak regime exploiting some legitimate grievances of youth protestors. He also warns against supporters or protestors resorting to violence, especially against the military.
I wanted to update you on the developments over the course of the day since the update on Egypt I wrote at noon. Over the last five hours we’ve seen an uptick in scattered violence and reports of Muslim Brotherhood counter demonstrators hitting the streets armed. A hundred lightly confirmed reports don’t amount to one solid thing to hang your hat on. So I’d recommend skepticism on that last point, given the fog of war and the lack of any truly reliable narrator. Read More