Egypt: Politics Suspended, Coup d'Etat, or What?
The government's electoral commission announced on June 22 that Muhammad Morsi (Morsy) has defeated Ahmed Shafiq in the presidential election. Morsi won 52% of the vote.
But what about parliament? Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court, yoked to the SCAF, dissolved the parliamentary elections in both houses of parliament, because religious candidates were too narrow in their allegiance. There is grave doubt that a Muslim parliament has the expertise and education required for bringing Egypt into the 21st Century. Many early supporters voted against the Muslim Brotherhood in these elections, because the country has not recovered, economically. But many secular educated types voted for the Brothers, out of fear of Mubarak's regime. That regime remains intact.
Curiously, Islamic law can play a role in altering the role of the big banks and financial brokerages, from lending cash and credits with interest, to joining entrepreneurs as joint investors. But the armed forces run the economy and do not care to share out revenues, funds, profits, on a local, person-to-person level.
Behind the scene lurks the Sphinx - Marshal Hasan Tantawi. He says nothing. There is nothing to say. All that effort and sacrifice for the revolution - has it been all for nothing? The future of the revolution is now better secured. Morsi can't put through any big Islamic project - the people will turn on him.
Morsi and his party can certainly help relieve poverty on the most basic level. Control of foreign affairs, security, and the more modern aspects of the economy, remains with SCAF.
There is a way for the government and the brotherhood to work together, symbiotically. But the corporate fallacy be-devils the loud, self-defining Muslims. If you ask one, Do you serve Islam? They will say yes. Ask them: Do you serve God? They will say yes. But Islam is no idol in the head, no one concept or institution, but different in form and content in every human who has heard about it.
No, humans do not serve Islam. Islam serves humans. Humans do not do God's work How could they when they cannot even help themselves? No, God helps you, helps the humans, who would destroy themselves without the help of revealed law. From high above, She sees them as so many worms, with openings at each end. But the clerical egos wax loud and harsh, condemning many of Abraham's children to hell because they are not Muslims. That is the sickness of the corporate fallacy in religion.
Muhammad was clear: "There is no coercion in religion." As God says in the Bible, Numbers 8:20:
"If you use my name to cause evil, I will lay waste your soul with a special punishment."
Syria - Evisceration of the nation
Those who know Syria are quick to point out the fissures opening between communities and congregations. The Sunni-Shi'a atrocities get acted out again. This can only happen if modern ethics are abandoned. Behind the opposition is discontent, derived from failed expectations. Much of urban Syria, Damascus and Aleppo (Haleb), tasted prosperity, so were late in anti-regime demonstrations.
With bombs going off, Damascus has lost its illusory peace. The extended Al Asad family is fearful of vehicle bombs. But they are buttressed by Russia and Iran. So much has been shed one cannot expect peace for some 20 months, till passions cool, or leaders are replaced.
Practicing genocide against your own population is nothing new for the Russians and the Americans, so we might see them 'talk Asad down.' True, he has sacrificed his legitimacy, but the government personnel and assets p- they are passive, neutral. Officers cannot play the religion card with their troops, because so many are Sunni Muslims. The Sunni chauvinists, led by the Ikhwan (MB), have been importing into Syria, appx. 2 tons of weapons and ammunition each day, across the Lebanese, Turkish and Jordanian borders. The money needed comes from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and from private sources in Turkey. The Syrian Ba'athi regime is getting daily transfusions from Iran, Iraq and even from Russia and China. None of these mock-democratic states want any instability, so back the Syrian regime and its weaponry.
The Syrian civil war is spreading into Lebanon and Iraq. Perhaps in Gaza as well. Last week's rocket barrage into Israeli settlements may have been a relief, a distraction from the gruesome fact that the Palestinians are Sunni Muslims while the Syrians and Iranian regimes are militant Shi'a.
Iraq: Wanton Slaughter of Shi'a Pilgrims at Karbala and Najaf, and in Baghdad.
How self-serving and banal, to follow your own ethnic and sectarian group into unnecessary conflict and war with one's Muslim brothers and sisters. Yet Nur al Maliki has brought in the dark mock mullah, Iranian controlled, the spoiled incompetent Sadr, who wants to kill Americans and Brits.
How unfortunate that neither took the opportunity to re-build Iraq. How? By disavowing tribal and sectarian 'causes' in order to elect people competent to fix the country.
The Kurds are playing a dangerous game, allying with Motaqa al Sadr. They are receiving from the Iranians oil and dirt-cheap Chinese-made consumer goods. So what if Iraq goes to hell...
Yemen - Al Ansar and Al Qaida on the Run?
High drama in southern Yemen, as government special forces backed by armor re-took Zinjibil and surrounding villages, killing some 70 insurgents. But the grisly Ansar 'Helpers' set off a suicide bomb, killing the Yemen army commander. Meanwhile, in Sana'a women civil rights activists insist that focus on al Qaida is all wrong. 'Let al Qaida be!" is their implication. Restoring Yemen's shattered economy is top- priority, to them. We, too, have been calling for emergency fuel and food shipments, for the past 15 months.
Any nation that lets its territory be used to launch attacks against other nations, loses much of its sovreignity, according to international law, as well as to the law of the jungle. The Pakistanis deny this, and most Yemenis also. That's why the national military command must remain integral. That is why the Saudisk, the Omanis and the Americans are conducting operations in the region. Yemen consists of some 15 regions, each with its own culture and orientation.
Neither the Yemeni armed forces or the Americans can extricate terror-cells from the country. That depends on the tribal leaderships. And behind them, their vocal constituents. In ways they never before experienced, ordinary Yemenis in the south have had to decide which side they are on. The radical Islamists were tolerable for a while. For a while, there were dissident army units in Ta'iz. But under the new leadership, a plea has been made for national salvation.
Riots in Israel featuring Jews and Arabs together -
June 23-24 in Tel Aviv witnessed swarms of social rights demonstrators turning violent, smashing bank windows, blocking traffic, and creating general mayhem. The demonstration was, is, a protest against the huge income gap between the politically connected rich, some 20 families, and the other 99.9 per cent. One lesson: the politics of symbolic appeal has till now vexed practical solutions, but from here on in, the challenges, economic and environmental, are such that no state or political party can afford ideology. We heard Israeli military leaders (Shaul Mofas and Ehud Barak) confess that the West Bank and Gaza is such a mess, such an expensive stand-off, that unilateral withdrawal from Arab Palestine might occur.
At the same time, there has grown up an array of armed groups dedicated to Jihad. In Gaza, these are: Jaish al Ummah wa Masadah, Jund Ansar Allah, Jaish al Islam, Jamaat Ansar al Suna and the Jamaat al Tauhid wa'l Jihad fi Filistin. The bedoin in the Sinai are now calling them selves 'Al Qaida.' The Iranians used to be paymasters, but now they focus on Iraq and Syria. The Palestinian groups are Sunni, anyway. Can Hamas control these hotheads? Can the secular Palestinian authority infiltrate all groups planning violent genocidal acts to create terror?
Just as many Arabs live in Israel, so many Jews live in Palestine. But they must be citizens of that state, vote in its elections, take positions alongside Arabs. Of course this is anathema to the clerics and congregations on both sides. Will the Holy Land survive the clerics? Can the world afford this foolish 'war of the faiths?' How do you think God feels when She looks down and sees the Children of Abraham fight amongst themselves? She sees clearly the fatal human tendency, of the ego and the ordinary conceptual mind, go to bed together, a kind of the incest. Personality so covers the Essence that most of the Earthlings live their lives oblivious to their deep roots. We all come from the same source.
The author is moderator/instructor of the online discussion group 'Islamic Civilization,' hosted by the Graduate Alumni Office, Harvard University. He can be reached at tulku7@verizon.net.
The government's electoral commission announced on June 22 that Muhammad Morsi (Morsy) has defeated Ahmed Shafiq in the presidential election. Morsi won 52% of the vote.
But what about parliament? Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court, yoked to the SCAF, dissolved the parliamentary elections in both houses of parliament, because religious candidates were too narrow in their allegiance. There is grave doubt that a Muslim parliament has the expertise and education required for bringing Egypt into the 21st Century. Many early supporters voted against the Muslim Brotherhood in these elections, because the country has not recovered, economically. But many secular educated types voted for the Brothers, out of fear of Mubarak's regime. That regime remains intact.
Curiously, Islamic law can play a role in altering the role of the big banks and financial brokerages, from lending cash and credits with interest, to joining entrepreneurs as joint investors. But the armed forces run the economy and do not care to share out revenues, funds, profits, on a local, person-to-person level.
Behind the scene lurks the Sphinx - Marshal Hasan Tantawi. He says nothing. There is nothing to say. All that effort and sacrifice for the revolution - has it been all for nothing? The future of the revolution is now better secured. Morsi can't put through any big Islamic project - the people will turn on him.
Morsi and his party can certainly help relieve poverty on the most basic level. Control of foreign affairs, security, and the more modern aspects of the economy, remains with SCAF.
There is a way for the government and the brotherhood to work together, symbiotically. But the corporate fallacy be-devils the loud, self-defining Muslims. If you ask one, Do you serve Islam? They will say yes. Ask them: Do you serve God? They will say yes. But Islam is no idol in the head, no one concept or institution, but different in form and content in every human who has heard about it.
No, humans do not serve Islam. Islam serves humans. Humans do not do God's work How could they when they cannot even help themselves? No, God helps you, helps the humans, who would destroy themselves without the help of revealed law. From high above, She sees them as so many worms, with openings at each end. But the clerical egos wax loud and harsh, condemning many of Abraham's children to hell because they are not Muslims. That is the sickness of the corporate fallacy in religion.
Muhammad was clear: "There is no coercion in religion." As God says in the Bible, Numbers 8:20:
"If you use my name to cause evil, I will lay waste your soul with a special punishment."
Syria - Evisceration of the nation
Those who know Syria are quick to point out the fissures opening between communities and congregations. The Sunni-Shi'a atrocities get acted out again. This can only happen if modern ethics are abandoned. Behind the opposition is discontent, derived from failed expectations. Much of urban Syria, Damascus and Aleppo (Haleb), tasted prosperity, so were late in anti-regime demonstrations.
With bombs going off, Damascus has lost its illusory peace. The extended Al Asad family is fearful of vehicle bombs. But they are buttressed by Russia and Iran. So much has been shed one cannot expect peace for some 20 months, till passions cool, or leaders are replaced.
Practicing genocide against your own population is nothing new for the Russians and the Americans, so we might see them 'talk Asad down.' True, he has sacrificed his legitimacy, but the government personnel and assets p- they are passive, neutral. Officers cannot play the religion card with their troops, because so many are Sunni Muslims. The Sunni chauvinists, led by the Ikhwan (MB), have been importing into Syria, appx. 2 tons of weapons and ammunition each day, across the Lebanese, Turkish and Jordanian borders. The money needed comes from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and from private sources in Turkey. The Syrian Ba'athi regime is getting daily transfusions from Iran, Iraq and even from Russia and China. None of these mock-democratic states want any instability, so back the Syrian regime and its weaponry.
The Syrian civil war is spreading into Lebanon and Iraq. Perhaps in Gaza as well. Last week's rocket barrage into Israeli settlements may have been a relief, a distraction from the gruesome fact that the Palestinians are Sunni Muslims while the Syrians and Iranian regimes are militant Shi'a.
Iraq: Wanton Slaughter of Shi'a Pilgrims at Karbala and Najaf, and in Baghdad.
How self-serving and banal, to follow your own ethnic and sectarian group into unnecessary conflict and war with one's Muslim brothers and sisters. Yet Nur al Maliki has brought in the dark mock mullah, Iranian controlled, the spoiled incompetent Sadr, who wants to kill Americans and Brits.
How unfortunate that neither took the opportunity to re-build Iraq. How? By disavowing tribal and sectarian 'causes' in order to elect people competent to fix the country.
The Kurds are playing a dangerous game, allying with Motaqa al Sadr. They are receiving from the Iranians oil and dirt-cheap Chinese-made consumer goods. So what if Iraq goes to hell...
Yemen - Al Ansar and Al Qaida on the Run?
High drama in southern Yemen, as government special forces backed by armor re-took Zinjibil and surrounding villages, killing some 70 insurgents. But the grisly Ansar 'Helpers' set off a suicide bomb, killing the Yemen army commander. Meanwhile, in Sana'a women civil rights activists insist that focus on al Qaida is all wrong. 'Let al Qaida be!" is their implication. Restoring Yemen's shattered economy is top- priority, to them. We, too, have been calling for emergency fuel and food shipments, for the past 15 months.
Any nation that lets its territory be used to launch attacks against other nations, loses much of its sovreignity, according to international law, as well as to the law of the jungle. The Pakistanis deny this, and most Yemenis also. That's why the national military command must remain integral. That is why the Saudisk, the Omanis and the Americans are conducting operations in the region. Yemen consists of some 15 regions, each with its own culture and orientation.
Neither the Yemeni armed forces or the Americans can extricate terror-cells from the country. That depends on the tribal leaderships. And behind them, their vocal constituents. In ways they never before experienced, ordinary Yemenis in the south have had to decide which side they are on. The radical Islamists were tolerable for a while. For a while, there were dissident army units in Ta'iz. But under the new leadership, a plea has been made for national salvation.
Riots in Israel featuring Jews and Arabs together -
June 23-24 in Tel Aviv witnessed swarms of social rights demonstrators turning violent, smashing bank windows, blocking traffic, and creating general mayhem. The demonstration was, is, a protest against the huge income gap between the politically connected rich, some 20 families, and the other 99.9 per cent. One lesson: the politics of symbolic appeal has till now vexed practical solutions, but from here on in, the challenges, economic and environmental, are such that no state or political party can afford ideology. We heard Israeli military leaders (Shaul Mofas and Ehud Barak) confess that the West Bank and Gaza is such a mess, such an expensive stand-off, that unilateral withdrawal from Arab Palestine might occur.
At the same time, there has grown up an array of armed groups dedicated to Jihad. In Gaza, these are: Jaish al Ummah wa Masadah, Jund Ansar Allah, Jaish al Islam, Jamaat Ansar al Suna and the Jamaat al Tauhid wa'l Jihad fi Filistin. The bedoin in the Sinai are now calling them selves 'Al Qaida.' The Iranians used to be paymasters, but now they focus on Iraq and Syria. The Palestinian groups are Sunni, anyway. Can Hamas control these hotheads? Can the secular Palestinian authority infiltrate all groups planning violent genocidal acts to create terror?
Just as many Arabs live in Israel, so many Jews live in Palestine. But they must be citizens of that state, vote in its elections, take positions alongside Arabs. Of course this is anathema to the clerics and congregations on both sides. Will the Holy Land survive the clerics? Can the world afford this foolish 'war of the faiths?' How do you think God feels when She looks down and sees the Children of Abraham fight amongst themselves? She sees clearly the fatal human tendency, of the ego and the ordinary conceptual mind, go to bed together, a kind of the incest. Personality so covers the Essence that most of the Earthlings live their lives oblivious to their deep roots. We all come from the same source.
The author is moderator/instructor of the online discussion group 'Islamic Civilization,' hosted by the Graduate Alumni Office, Harvard University. He can be reached at tulku7@verizon.net.
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