Egyptian Military Dissolves Parliament

BBC News - Egyptian military dissolves parliament

Sounds scary, but there appear to be good reasons for this:

In a statement on state TV, the higher military council said it would stay in power six months, or until elections.

Egypt's current parliament is dominated by supporters of President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted on Friday after 18 days of mass protests.

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THe constitution was also suspended:

A statement was read out on state TV on Sunday from the higher military council, saying it would suspend the constitution and set up a committee to draft a new one, before submitting it to a popular referendum.

The current constitution has prevented many parties and groups from standing in elections, leaving Egypt with a parliament packed with supporters of the National Democratic Party, loyal to Mr Mubarak.

Our correspondent says the new announcement means elections could be held in July or August, instead of in September as planned.

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It's important to note that the constitution has been suspended, in practice, for years because of a "state of emergency."

So, these developments may not be as alarming as they sound, on the surface.

Catz Part Deux said:

BBC News - Egyptian military dissolves parliament

Sounds scary, but there appear to be good reasons for this:



THe constitution was also suspended:



It's important to note that the constitution has been suspended, in practice, for years because of a "state of emergency."

So, these developments may not be as alarming as they sound, on the surface.

Click to expand...

IIRC dissolving the Parliament was actually something the protesters wanted, so they could start all over. Not like Emperor Palpatine dissolving the Imperial Senate.

As the saying goes, if you want to make an omelet you gotta start by breaking some eggs. But that doesn't mean the omelet is necessarily going to turn out well.



Guess its "wait and see" time.....


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StillBallin75 said:

IIRC dissolving the Parliament was actually something the protesters wanted, so they could start all over. Not like Emperor Palpatine dissolving the Imperial Senate.

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If Egypt actually is going to become a democracy, a constitution that bans political parties and a parliament hand-picked by a dictator have no place in it. Of course, plenty of authoritarian regimes started in exactly the same fashion. In any case, the die is cast and it is up to the military to do the right thing.

the white house made an awful lot of mistakes as it stood by impotently watching (on tv) and commenting on (like rachel maddow) this collapse of the status quo stability along the nile, under the pyramids

first it mumbled mixed messages from morning til mid afternoon each monday and tuesday, the state dept taking back the veep, langley making predictions contradicted almost immediately by events, the nip putting out proclamations preposterous, just making the entire team look bad

elite analysis internationally has been increasingly critical, the times of london actually reporting that obama got bitched out by abdullah, obviously feeling abandoned

add it all up and the white house has reacted to world changing geopolitical events it has little control over about the way most professional administrations would have

EXCEPT

it did it all IN PUBLIC

before all the world the white house twisted as each wednesday wended into the next, first siding with this element, then the other, then neither, and both, all while trying to claim credit for some great success which turned out not to occur and still hasn't

what's happening in egypt---and across the broad middle east---is extremely dangerous, none can deny the perils

if the white house had conducted itself pretty much as it did BUT ONLY IN PRIVATE...

every ally of the united states would not have forced in his or her face the unsettling eagerness of this white house to throw him or her under any angry street sweeper even faster than it tossed its spiritual mentor, close friend, pastor of 20 years and source for the title of obama's first book, the reverend wright from the gd church of chickens roosting

and, as often happens with this inept crew in washington, events elsewhere, ie, the TIMING, only serve to reify the impression of back stabber---we learn this week that obama SOLD OUT the brits to get his mostly meaningless little start treaty

these things shouldn't have to be explained

especially to professionals

our adminstration is all amateur, from hillary on down

hope for egypt, for jordan, lebanon, syria, yemen, iran, for israel...

hope hard, you're gonna need buckets and buckets of it

It seems to me that early on the Egyptian High Command recognized the magnitude of what was transpiring. Much like Israel, almost everyone in Egypt has either a personal or a familial connection with the military. These commanders no doubt recognize that the current political system is deeply flawed, and the only sensible way to move forward is to begin anew from scratch. There are risks with democracy, but these men are not fools. They have undoubtedly done the political arithmetic.

The High Command has also stated that the peace treaty with Israel will not be abrogated. The US and Egyptian military are very close. From what I understand, US Secretary of Defense Gates influenced the peaceful outcome more than any other US official. Kudos to him.

rathi said:

If Egypt actually is going to become a democracy, a constitution that bans political parties and a parliament hand-picked by a dictator have no place in it. Of course, plenty of authoritarian regimes started in exactly the same fashion. In any case, the die is cast and it is up to the military to do the right thing.

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Of course given that the Mubarak regime was an authortairan one to begin with if the high council wanted to continue with an authoritarian regime it would not need to replace a parliament and constitution that supports authoritarian regimes to begin with.