military takes over

They’re deploying across the city, including at the location of pro-Morsi protests. There’s a travel ban on top Brotherhood figures, and Morsi apparently cannot be located.

(I’m following all of this on the news just like the rest of you, since I came to Turkey this morning on pre-arranged business. Going to the Cairo Airport at 1 AM today was one of my spookiest experiences– like being in a city where a monster hurricane was about to hit.)

I’ve been taking a look at my Twitter feed, and am finding quite a few pro-Revolution Egyptians annoyed at Westerners who call this a military coup. On the Left there is plenty of scepticism about the Army (which I certainly share myself). But I’m seeing quite a lot of enthusiasm for the Army among my pro-Revolution friends as well as on Twitter.

I suppose you had to live under Morsi for a year to understand this attitude. Along with the incompetence and the obvious crimes such as the Constitutional coup, there was a general sense of being run by a secretive cabal hatching its decisions in Brotherhood Headquarters. In a recent interview, Morsi tried to excuse himself for his November declaration of himself as dictator by saying that it wasn’t his own idea. Well, whose idea was it, then? Perhaps that of his overlords within the Brotherhood movement.

That said, I think Egypt is playing with fire by recourse to the military. And however things play out with Morsi and his immediate entourage, I worry that Egypt could be headed for years of urban terrorism from Islamists who see their electoral wins as stolen from them.

However, I see that Gamaa Islamiya has spoken out in favor of early elections, so maybe those fears are misplaced (the group had earlier threatened violent action to defend Morsi from removal).