The revolution has been cancelled. Everyone go home. It was all a big misunderstanding.
That is the message of Egypt’s military junta who, having hijacked their country’s political future, are turning it into a new Pakistan: a self-destructive and stagnating military dictatorship, limping along in sporadic democratic spurts. It is a squalid and tragic outcome for a country that should have been leading a political renaissance of the Arab world.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), the ruling committee of officers, is putting the finishing touches on a slow-motion coup that’s been unfolding since last January’s revolution. For 16 months, SCAF has gone on a rampage of state-sanctioned rape, torture, repression and misrule.
Its members could not stand losing their economic empire, political perks, and status as Egyptian national heroes. But like most armies that think they can govern, they have driven the economy into the ground. They have also made up the rules of Egypt’s so-called transition to democracy as they go along, quashing outcomes they dislike and seizing new powers at will. By now, Egypt should have had a parliament, a constitution and a president. It may end up with none of these.
At the beginning of this year, Egyptians successfully elected a new parliament. Those elections were reasonably free and fair, under the circumstances. Islamists dominated – mostly the moderate but illiberal Muslim Brotherhood, but also the extreme Salafists. That spooked liberals, who insisted on having a bigger say in writing a new constitution.
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