Ghobashy: Egyptian Politics Upended
Don't miss Mona el-Ghobashy's take on Egypt, for MERIP (I just renewed my subscription, so should you to get access to their latest print issue on "The US posture in the Middle East" and support their wonderful free pieces online):
Mursi’s recovery of presidential power capped more than a year of intrigue. After coordinating with the Muslim Brothers on the shape of the presidential election, the generals ended up openly vying with the Islamist group for the position they both had intended to share. The project of the negotiated presidency failed; the generals lost the election and gutted the presidency; and in July the SCAF was all set to write military tutelage of civilian government into the constitution. But then Mursi struck. In the aftermath, the military appears poised to quit formal politics, auguring a new political setup about which only one thing is certain: The Egyptian state is no longer off limits to the Egyptian people.