an article on Ahmed Shafik

THIS PIECE comes from Time, and it also hints at the sense that Shafik may be enjoying a surge in popularity and could even end up in the runoff.

Here are some quotes from the story reflecting why I don’t like Shafik:

“Within five minutes, the armed forces gave an example of what they can do when they want to cleanse an area,” he told TV presenter Wael Abrashi in an interview last week, promising to crack down on the frequent anti-military protests that he says block traffic and stifle productivity.”

Here’s a sampling of his supporters:

“I like him for one reason only: I want someone to face off against the Muslim Brotherhood,” says Rageb Abdel Waris, who works in military production. Another Shafik supporter, a retired army officer named Awad Ahmed Mohamed, took it one step further: “He should put [the Islamists] back in prison because that’s where they belong.”

I don’t want the Brotherhood to win either, but I have a big problem with saying that they belong in prison. A tiny fringe of the more extreme Islamist parties may well belong in prison –based on their past deeds rather than their politics– but to call for the Brotherhood to be thrown back into jail is simply a call for a return to pre-Revolution Egypt. And there’s simply no way the public is going to stand for that. It could be something like civil war in that case.