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
There was only one big story today and cable news knew exactly what it was.
After suggestions that President Morsi would be laying out a ‘roadmap’ this evening, Morsi has taken to twitter to demand the military withdraw its ultimatum.
Pres. Morsi calls, on twitter, on Egyptian Army to withdraw ultimatum, rejects internal, external dictates. Temperature up. #30June #Egypt
— benwedeman (@bencnn) July 2, 2013
Head of State TV announces that a joint Armed Forces/Presidential statement to be released. Military DENIES a statement will be released
— Mohamed Fadel Fahmy (@Repent11) July 2, 2013
Details emerge on Egyptian military’s post-Morsi ‘roadmap’.
Egyptian tv: "Presidency statement within hours in coordination with military. "
— Bassem Sabry باس٠(@Bassem_Sabry) July 2, 2013
What I noted in my last post was that ironic position of the Obama White House and the Morsi presidency, two groups who have zero love for each other, but both meet on opposition to a military coup. Now the White House has seemed to tip its hand, pressing Morsi to hold early elections and in essence create a caretaker government of national unity. Read More