My prediction: the story may be underplayed today — the above is the most recent clip I could find on YouTube (I’m still looking forward to the day when Facebook or “buddies” share their cell phone feeds with me directly) — and it will get large.

Shortly after his election, Egyptian President Morsi stepped off with a libel launched at Israel, professing to uphold Egypt’s treaty with Israel while accusing Israel of violating its terms many times (not true, I’m happy to report — the clip may be found embedded with this BackChannels piece: https://conflict-backchannels.com/2012/09/28/fb-a-note-on-gellers-poster/).

Remember: evil begins with a lie.

Sometimes it is a small lie, something not-quite-right slipped into a sentence (“Everybody knows that . . . . .”); sometimes, it is large lie and (everybody knows that) the Martian American Zionist European Kaffir Imperialists are the source of all evil (plus monsoons, floods, earthquakes, colds and flue) everywhere in the universe.

Oddly enough, for lack of intellectual armoring or rigor, for misplaced or misdirected loyalties, perhaps for money — business, loot, patronage — people buy the worst lies, believing, hoping, perhaps, that their lives will get better if only something other than themselves were changed in relation to themselves and their environment.

Such misguided faith never works but leads always to greater suffering (a favorite, most convenient, and rather clinical and neutral example: Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, a dictatorship that got its start with a just complaint but then kept going and going and going with a big mouth, patronage, and thugs) and, inevitably, a lot of people who want to leave or promote revolution, usually both.

Morsi has so far done what dictators may be expected to do, including replacing the  generals he inherited, but who knows who’s loose in the junior officer’s corps — or elsewhere in the country.

Reference

November 27, 2012

Associated Press.  “Egyptians gather at Tahrir for anti-Morsi protest.”  Bloomberg Business Week, November 27, 2012.

Bradley, Matt and Sam Dagher.  “Thousands in Cairo Rally Against President’s Decree.”  The Wall Street Journal, November 27, 2012.

CNN.  “Power Grab in Egypt?”  Video featuring Robin Wright and Stephen Farrell.  November 27, 2012.

Lynch, Sarah.  “Massive Cairo protests threaten Muslim Brotherhood rule.”  USA Today, November 27, 2012.

Pearson, Michael.  “Protesters to Morsy: Roll back your decree or leave.”  CNN, November 27, 2012.

November 26, 2012

BBC.  “Egypt crisis: Mohammed Mursi tries to defuse tension.”  November 26, 2012.

The Guardian.  “Egyptians clash after Muslim Brotherhood teenager killed — video.” November 26, 2012.

El Menawy, Abdel Latif.  “Is Egypt heading down the same road as Iran?” Twitlonger, November 26, 2012.

Hussein, Abdel-Rahman.  “Egyptian protests over Mohamed Morsi degree expected to draw thousands.”  The Guardian, November 26, 2012.

Trager, Eric.  “Shame on Anyone Who Ever Thought Mohammad Morsi Was a Moderate.”  November 26, 2012.

November 25, 2012

Associated Press.  “Egypt protesters storm Muslim Brotherhood headquarters.”  CBC News, November 25, 2012.

Associated Press.  “Egypt’s stock market plummets after Morsi’s decree.”  USA Today, November 25, 2012.

Fleishman, Jeffrey and Reem Abdellatif.  “Egypt stock exchange falls, protesters converge on Tahrir Square.”  Los Angeles Times, November 25, 2012.

November 24, 2012

Associated Press.  “Egypt judges urge strike after Morsi widens powers: Democracy advocate El Baradei warns of military involvement.”  CBC News, November 24, 2012.

November 23, 2012

CNN Wire Staff.  “Egyptian opposition united in anger over Morsy’s new powers.”  CNN, November 23, 2012.

November 22, 2012

Associated Press.  “Egypt’s Morsi grants himself far-reaching powers.”  Politico.  November 22, 2012.