dagblog - Comments for "Morsi makes his move"

Two rather good articles from

acanuck — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 23:08:36 +0000

Two rather good articles from Foreign Policy. One covers mostly the same ground as this post does:

http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/08/14/egypts_cobra_and_mongo...

The other details the Islamist stacking of top editorial jobs at Egypt's state-owned newspapers, at the expense of more qualified but more independent-minded journalists. At least the journalists are speaking out, and not getting arrested for it:

http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/08/13/the_news_brought_to_yo...

Hey JD, Good to see you

Bruce Levine — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 19:59:53 +0000

In reply to Hi Bruce - I finally found

Hey JD, Good to see you again! Was wonderin' where you've been hanging out. Nice place here. Welcome back.

I remember some of your

acanuck — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 19:10:40 +0000

In reply to aa - I certainly remember you

I remember some of your nuanced, very thoughtful posts about Israel, jd: wheelchairs for Gaza, settler friends and kinfolk, immigration control knowing about your TPM blogging (scary) -- fascinating personal insights. Welcome; I look forward to your first post here.

aa - I certainly remember you

jdledell — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 14:34:00 +0000

In reply to Likewise it's nice to see

aa - I certainly remember you from TPM. I was one of the very first participants when Josh started the Cafe. I loved the place and was extremely sad when Josh closed it. However, I now am quite angry that he wiped out everything that was ever on the Cafe so that even Google cannot retrieve it.

I've gone through the articles here and am amazed at how informative and civil all the discussions are. Much more civil than the Cafe ever was and I will do my best to honor that approach.

Likewise it's nice to see

artappraiser — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 05:09:35 +0000

In reply to Hi Bruce - I finally found

Likewise it's nice to see your byline here, jd! I fondly recall liking to read your comments in fairly early TPMCafe days, and I'm not a big dogma fan so methinks you may be exaggerating--I do recall you getting a touch angry or irritated mebbe sometimes, but never a dogmatic! Maybe I am confusing you with someone else interested in Mideast issues, but I think I recall you participating even pre-MJ Rosenberg (no shit-stirrer as bad as that here so far, thank the lord --more accurately, I should say Articleman & Genghis deserve the thanks ) on the "America Abroad" section discussions? Hope to see you pipe up from time to time as you did there with your view of things.

Hi Bruce - I finally found

jdledell — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 22:07:53 +0000

In reply to Thank you for paying

Hi Bruce - I finally found where the old TPM crowd went. It feels like home. BTW, I am still passionate but not so dogmatic as in the past. A few years older and a few more experiences does that to a person. Glad to see you are still active.

Meanwhile, so far there's no

artappraiser — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 17:09:49 +0000

In reply to Yawning by the Pentagon and

Meanwhile, so far there's no transparency on Sinai:

Sinai's Invisible War
BY MOHAMED FADEL FAHMY, Dispatch @ ForeignPolicy.com, August 13, 2012

Egypt's new president has used the recent Sinai attacks to clean house. But nobody knows what really happened -- and the military isn't talking.

Strikes me like this: unless that changes, that means feeding the traditional conspiracy theorizing about the government and therefore continuation of traditional distrust of the same. Admittedly, there is a bit of a "doh" factor in saying "the military isn't talking" at this point in time, as in: of course not, they don't want to risk losing their jobs! But that doesn't solve the transparency/conspiracy problem.

Yawning by the Pentagon and

artappraiser — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 16:52:30 +0000

In reply to Morsi makes his move

Yawning by the Pentagon and Israeli defense sources:

What Egypt’s New Guard Thinks About America
By Harvey Morris, IHT Rendevous, August 14, 2012

[....]

The Arabist, an independent Middle East Website, earns an A+ for tracking down a document that helps provide some answers. The Arabist’s Issandr El Amrani has located a 10,000-word essay by Egypt’s General Sedky Sobhy, number two in the defense hierarchy since being elevated to Chief of Staff in Mr. Morsi’s reshuffle [....]

In Washington, the Pentagon sounded remarkably relaxed about the military reshuffle [....]

George Little, the Pentagon press secretary, said the Egyptian president had been expected to name a new military team at some point.

“The United States and the Department of Defense in particular look forward to continuing a very close relationship with the S.C.A.F.,” he said.

It was the same in Israel, where the Jerusalem Post reported a consensus among top defense chiefs that the changes at the top in the Egyptian military would not lead to any sudden deterioration on Israel’s southern border.

The Post’s Yaakov Lappin, quoted one unnamed Israeli military source who commented on the changes, which include the appointment of Gen. Sobhy and of Lt. Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi as defense minister, by saying:

“The new guys come from the same place as their predecessors. The new appointments grew up in an Egyptian army that received U.S. assistance. They will also receive U.S. cash.”

Those are the guys who just

acanuck — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 15:31:48 +0000

In reply to what's to stop them from

Those are the guys who just lost, Beetle. They're out. You can't stage a coup without support.

what's to stop them from

Beetlejuice — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 14:42:26 +0000

In reply to NYT agrees with me that much

what's to stop them from turning to the dark side, though? all it takes is a coup within the military by those not happy with the new arrangements.