the toll from yesterday

The casualty figures I’ve seen from yesterday also include 4 dead Egyptians (I’ve not found any names or photos) along with 80 wounded. But that seems a bit low, given the live gunfire I saw in some of yesterday’s Alexandria footage.

I’m not sure what might happen today, but tomorrow, June 30, is the day everyone is worried about. ATMs are still dispensing Egyptian Pounds properly, but hard currencies have been difficult to obtain for awhile given Egypt’s difficulties on the international commodities markets.

A couple of days ago I read that Egypt only had 8 days of diesel fuel and 14 days of normal gasoline remaining in reserve. It’s unclear whether that was alarmism or cold fact.

There’s also a lot of ambiguity surrounding the protests. One can’t know whether various protests to remove Morsi are motivated by democratic fervor or by Old Regime elements looking to seize an opportunity for a comeback. That said, there is quite a lot anti-Morsi democratic fervor, along with quite a lot of pro-Morsi fervor using the (understandable) argument that Egypt now has its first democratically elected President ever, in over 4,000 years of national history.

I don’t think that’s an argument to be taken lightly, and I’m never an enthusiast of military coups. On the other hand, Morsi has been ruling for the past year more like the surrogate head of a religious group (it’s well known that he’s no better than third in the Brotherhood pecking order despite his status as President) and quite often like an aspiring dictator.

Personally, I wrote off his legitimacy last November. But it’s not clear where any legitimate alternatives can be found. The country is unmistakably in a big jam.