Or is it a religilous revolution in Egyptian. No not Mohammed Morsi who sacks experienced military leadership thatat least kept the “cold” peace with Israel and replaced them dog loyal, bowl licking lackeys who would just assume tha its only a question of time fefore Mohammed will be pushed out of seventh heaven by Gabriel and come hurtling down from the above of his white steed, or is it ass, and land on the Dome of the Rock, thereby liberating the holy land and setting off eighty days of jubilant celebrations from Solomon’s stables to fartherst reaches of Sharm-el-Sheikh. No, were talking Akhenaten, the Egyptian pharaoh and worshiper of the sun god Aten. He was a monotheist and might have been on to something…
—To realize its development plans in South Sinai, the state decided to go with the latter. Once again, the image of the “outlaw” was dug up, given a face-lift, and “The Villain” was born; an all-encompassing figure who stood for many ills all at once. He was uncivilized, lawless, treacherous, and dangerous. The most important thing for the state was to cater to the economic interests of Cairo’s elite in the Sinai, from the military and the industrialists, to the members of political parties and ministers. This goal could only be achieved through a label that would blunt Bedouin capacity to organize, gain sympathy, and attract media attention. In 1980, “Law 104, providing for state ownership of desert land and thus making the whole Sinai government property was changed to permit private ownership.”33 The law had some devastating effects on the Bedouins. Their land claims were not legally recognized, and they were subsequently displaced “with no government compensation.—Read More:http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/6101/the-politics-of-image_the-bedouins-of-south-sinai
To Akhenaten, Aten was the sole god, and the god not only of Egypt but of all peoples, creator not only of the Valley of the Nile but of the universe. A hymn, presumably by Akhenaten and inscribed on the wall of a tomb belonging to one of his high officials, still survives; in it he addresses Aten in phraseology reminiscent of the 104th Psalm. Yet even such language was by itself no breach of orthodoxy: Akhenaten’s predecessors had,by way of flattery, addressed Amon and Re in similarly reverent terms. But at some point in his career the independent-minded pharaoh took a step that was unquestonably a breach, a step that no Egyptian had ever taken before or would ever take again. He declared monotheism throughout the land.
—ashington is not particularly worried over sweeping changes enacted by Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, including the sacking of several top military leaders, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius reported late Sunday.
The US “has confidence” in the installation of new defense minister Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has had extensive contacts with Washington, Ignatius reported, quoting unnamed US officials.
On Sunday, Morsi sacked the head of the military and the defense minister, as well as several other top generals. Later in the day he instituted a number of reforms to put the drafting of a new constitution in the hands of the executive, further consolidating power and defanging the military in what some see as a Muslim Brotherhood putsch.
While the US was surprised by the moves, it was largely seen by Washington as a purge of leaders who were unpopular in any case and a “generational change,” according to the column.
What would be worrying to Foggy Bottom, though, were if Morsi was to also attempt to exercise control of the country’s judiciary. “Worries about the judiciary were prompted by another Morsi move Sunday — to appoint senior judge Mahmoud Mekki as vice president. The fear is that Mekki, as a former jurist, might reject rulings by the court,” Ignatius wrote.
Despite Morsi’s base in the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, Washington, which backed the popular revolution that ousted longtime leader Hosni Mubarak from power in 2011, has largely welcomed the new president as a sign of flowering democracy in the former autocratic republic.
Several top US officials have already met with Morsi, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Minister Leon Panetta, and President Barack Obama reportedly plans to parlay with the new leader at the UN General Assembly in New York next month.—Read More:http://www.timesofisrael.com/washington-unworried-over-morsis-moves-in-cairo/ image:http://georgiangentleman.posterous.com/battle-of-the-nile-august-1-2-1800
Though Aten was to be the one god, the sole god, he was not however, accessible to all worshipers. Only Akhenaten and his family might pray to Aten directly; for all others an intermediary was necessary. And so, in the decorative scenes Akhenaten ordered his artists to make, we see the divine disk sending out hand-shaped rays that are directed toward the pharaoh and his family alone while courtiers all about bow to him in adoration.
This was, to be sure, pharaonic, in the manner of august pyramid builders of more than a millennium earlier; still, even Akhenaten’s predecessors in the Eighteenth Dynasty, who had forged Egypt into a worldy, internationally minded power, had never assumed so awesome a stance.
After a number of years, no more than a dozen at most, it all came to an abrupt end. Akhenaten died-we have no idea how. Tutankhamon, possibly his younger brother, eventually succeeded, and during his reign the clock was turned decisively back; the new city was abandoned, the court returned to its former quarters, Aten was forgotten, and Amon resumed his quondam sway. … ( to be continued)
ADDENDUM:
(see link at end) For the Egyptians to eradicate the terrorist cells in Sinai, they need to embark on a series of operations that they are probably unprepared to carry out. These would involve large-scale arrests, the assassination of terrorist activists, the creation of an intelligence network in Sinai, a campaign to stop the smuggling via tunnels into Gaza and Sinai, and the inflicting of punishment on those who abet terrorism, even at the most basic level.
Do President Mohammed Morsi and the Supreme Military Council have the motivation and ability to carry out such measures? During basic training, every Israeli soldier hears the expression: “There is no such thing as can’t; there is only won’t.”…
..At present, Morsi and the military have to deal with both Islamist terror in Sinai and also a rampant sense of insecurity felt by Egyptians across the country. For example, for the past two weeks there have been clashes between Christian Copts and Muslims in the town of Dahshur, about 20 kilometers south of Cairo. The unrest began when a Copt who owns a laundry got into an argument with a Muslim clie
bout the ironing of a shirt. The argument deteriorated into a fistfight, from there to a brawl between families, and then to violent clashes between adherents of the two religions in the town. One Muslim was killed after being hit by a Molotov cocktail. Since then, the Muslims have been harassing the Copts. A few days ago, most of the Christian families left and found shelter in neighboring villages….
—The big highway was surely the river itself and that runs south.
No doubt also there was an unwillingness among 19th centurey and later Europeans to aknowledge any kind of “black” element in the much admired Egyptian culture. The silliness of this position was recognised by some even in the 19th century: the rather disgraceful Sir Richard Francis Burton (himself not very politically correct) opined that the Egyptian was “but a negro whitewashed and not an Arab” IIRC, and commented on their willingness to marry people of all shades. Not scientific or even much help as evidence but it shows that people who visited Egypt could clearly see it was an African country with a hefty dose of southern populations in the mix. —Read More:http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?141820-Black-Egyptians/page5 image:wiki
…There is a rare consensus in Egypt about the need to take action in Sinai. The massacre of security forces in the holy month constitutes the crossing of a red line for all of Egypt’s leading parties – indeed, even for some of the residents of Sinai, and certainly among the tribes that are not affiliated with the jihadist organizations.
Morsi, then, will be able to use considerable force to restore government control in Sinai. The problem is that to accomplish this, he has to do more than declare war on some of the leading tribes in northern Sinai. He also has to target the smuggling tunnels into and out of the Gaza Strip. The tunnels provide a livelihood for tens of thousands of people in Sinai and Gaza. They also facilitate the movement of the global jihadists between Gaza and Sinai, allow them to acquire arms easily and enable them to disappear if needed.
This is a sensitive subject for Morsi. The tunnels are a key source of revenue for the Gaza Strip as a whole, and for the Hamas government in particular. Their closure will lead to a large-scale loss of income for Hamas and thereby also reduce its ability to acquire weapons. Protests will be held in Gaza against Egypt – and this at a time when the Muslim Brotherhood, the umbrella organization of Hamas, is in power in Cairo.
Large military reinforcements, accompanied by heavy machinery, began to arrive at the Egyptian side of the tunnels area on Tuesday. The message to Hamas was clear: You did not prevent the entry of terror activists from Gaza into Sinai, you ignored intelligence that was passed on from Cairo about the intention of members of the global jihadist movement to enter Sinai via the tunnels – and now we intend to act.
Hamas leaders panicked at the thought of Egypt blocking the tunnels. To demonstrate their complete control of the situation, they immediately closed the tunnels from the Gaza side. At the same time, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh tried to lay the blame for the attack on Israel.
V. Manavian. 1916.—Friedman:And what are Morsi’s obligations? Have no illusions: the Muslim Brotherhood at its core holds deeply illiberal, anti-pluralistic, anti-feminist views. It aspires to lock itself into power and exploit a revolution it did not initiate. I just don’t think it is going to be so easy. Iran is political Islam in power with oil — to buy off all the pressures and contradictions. Saudi Arabia is political Islam in power with oil. Egypt will be political Islam in power without oil. Egypt can’t survive without tourism, foreign investment and aid to create the jobs, schools and opportunities to satisfy the Egyptian youths who launched this revolution and many others who passively supported it. Also, the U.S. cannot, will not and should not give the Muslim Brotherhood the same deal it gave Mubarak — just arrest and torture the jihadists we want and you can have a cold peace with Israel and no constitutionalism at home. —Read More:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/04/opinion/what-does-morsi-mean-for-israel.html image:http://www.playle.com/listing.php?i=PLAYLE106133&PHPSESSID=a
…The deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau, Moussa Abu Marzouk, noted that there are about 1,200 active tunnels between the Egyptian and Palestinian sections of Rafah. He added that closing them would constitute collective punishment against all Gazans. As Haaretz went to press, Morsi had yet to give a green light for the commencement of a campaign against the tunnels….
On Tuesday morning, when Egypt closed the Rafah checkpoint and Hamas shut down the tunnels, the Kerem Shalom crossing – through which goods enter the Gaza Strip from Israel – was reopened. Israel is ensuring that goods enter Gaza. Long lines of trucks, some of them carrying new Kia cars, others laden with refrigerators, waited to make the crossing. The first truck in line carried children’s snacks.
About 100 meters from the crossing, Israeli workers were repairing the fence that was damaged when a booby-trapped truck exploded at the site on Sunday, immediately after an armored vehicle stolen by the terrorists from the Egyptian police breached the fence. It is not clear what went awry in the terrorists’ plan. The truck was not supposed to explode at the fence; the premature explosion may have been caused by a technical problem or by a misjudgment by one of the terrorists.
On the other side of the fence, a few Egyptian soldiers watched the Israelis work on the fence. One of them tried to operate his mobile radio. He apparently got no answer and spent more than 20 minutes fiddling with the antenna. Most of the Egyptian forces that arrived in the area as reinforcements were transferred to the north, along the Gaza-Egypt border. Manned Egyptian posts, at about 500-meter intervals, were also visible to the south. The Egyptian soldiers in them look westward, on the lookout for attacks by Bedouin or global jihadist assailants.
The deployment on the Israeli side is also different from what it was just a few months ago. In addition to the hastily built security fence, large forces are also stationed along the border. A few new entrenched outposts have been built, and the Israeli soldiers look ready for battle….
…The staging ground for most of the armed attacks on the Egyptian army is northeastern Sinai, principally the area closest to the Gaza Strip. The marauders are not only a collection of Al-Qaida and global jihad militants. Some are from the local population, which has cut itself off from Cairo and become religiously extreme. In contrast, the tribes in southern Sinai, and those who remain along the Red Sea coast, cooperate with the authorities and enjoy tourist revenues. The northeast of the peninsula is considered poor and backward, and therefore of greater potential in terms of the recruitment of terrorists and smugglers.
In the 1980s, more than 40 tribes were counted in northern Sinai, incorporated in 12 groups – which accord them their “national” identity. The leading tribes are the Sawarka and Armilat. Another group that plays a significant role in Sinai consists of resident fellahin. Even inhabitants of cities such as El Arish operated in clan-like units. These cities are home to the majority of the Palestinian population of northern Sinai.
In the past few years, Salafists who were active in the mosques in El Arish, Sheikh Zuweid, A-Touma and elsewhere moved into northern Sinai. More and more men with untrimmed beards, sporting black Al-Qaida-style robes and distinctively shaped hats were seen on Sinai’s Mediterranean shore. The collapse of the Mubarak regime last year offered the extreme Islamists an opportunity to operate openly in northern Sinai, given the absence of Egyptian security forces.
In addition to the challenge posed by the religious extremists, the Egyptian regime will now also have to cope with the tens of thousands of Bedouin whose livelihood derives from smuggling goods into Gaza and aiding terrorists. These smuggling networks, the same ones that collaborated with criminal elements in Israel, cannot allow the Egyptian security forces to restore control in Sinai….
On Wednesday, Morsi continued to rebrand himself as a president with authority. He fired his intelligence chief, Murad Muwafi – one of the most powerful figures in the security establishment. His replacement (temporarily ) is Mohammed Shehata, who was heavily involved in the handover of Gilad Shalit last October.
Shehata has maintained close ties with the Israeli defense establishment of late, but he also knows Hamas and Fatah on the Palestinian side well. His appointment will certainly not weaken security coordination between Israel and Egypt, which continued even after Morsi assumed the presidency. Precisely in the era in which the Muslim Brotherhood is ruling Egypt, unusually successful security cooperation is being recorded between the two countries. A senior Israeli source said this week it was the best and warmest period in terms of security cooperation between the sides. Read More:http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/sinai-terror-attack-serves-as-a-bloody-wake-up-call-for-egypt-s-new-president.premium-1.457358
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