Pharoah Morsi

There have been extensive riots in Egypt on the heels of the Gaza war (Operation Pillar of Defense) due to Pres. Morsi arrogating to himself all powers so as to become a true dictator.  Having put the judicial system, the consitutional court and the parliament under his control, he has more power than any ruler of Egypt has ever had since the Pharoahs.  What is more of a problem from the West's and Israel's point of view is that since he is a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, he will use his power to institute sharia law in Egypt and place it in line with other Islamist regimes.  And this just after he received so much praise for being instrumental in arranging a ceasefire  between Israel and Hamas.  As one of my readers suggested, he might be saying to Hamas, accept a ceasefire now and when we are stronger in Egypt we'll join you in fighting Israel.  But, that is speculation, at present his reactions to Israel and the US have been responsible and cooperative.  But, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Will Morsi's increased power help or hinder his cooperation with the West?  If he retains all this power and acts like a Hitler, he will gradually eliminate all opposition, and he will take drastic action against the rioters who burned the Muslim Briotherhood offices in Cairo, Alexandria and elsewhere.  If as he says he only wants this power to ensure that the constitution is fair and the Parliament is reelected fairly and he will then relinquish these extraordinary powers, then Egypt could return to democracy, but don't count on it.  How many dictators do you know who peacefully returned power to a democraticaly elected assembly?  It is more likely that this is Pres. Morsi's move to ensure that the Muslim Brotherhood retains power in Egypt and converts Egypt to an Islamist State with sharia law in effect, and there will never be another democratic election in Egypt while they are in power. 

Of course, any elected official who craves power can claim that he is acting in order to protect the results of the revolution.  But, noone can know the truth and so it is expected that the liberal democratic elements will oppose him.  This could lead to an internal clash that could divide Egypt and make it much less of a threat to Israel.  One cannot predict the outcome of this kind of internal dissension.  Today the Muslim Brotherhood is organizing demonstrations in support of Morsi, and if they are much larger than the ones against, as expected, then it seems that the object of the revolution has been achieved with the takeover of Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood.