Egypt's president stands by his decrees

Hmm, "I have the powerrrrrrr!" Sorry old He-man reference. Wonderful thing I've been thinking about. In the US pledge of allegiance it ends with the wonderful phrase "... with liberty and justice for ALL." We can have our president held before the law and if found in violation of that law they will be removed from their elected position.

Morsi on the other hand is attempting to put himself in a position where the law cannot affect him and his allies and adjusting if not creating laws as they see fit. Now where does that usually lead to?

Now where does that usually lead to?

In this case, ironically, right back to a Mubarak style regime it seems.

The coldest winter for arab world has begin!

Hmm, "I have the powerrrrrrr!" Sorry old He-man reference. Wonderful thing I've been thinking about. In the US pledge of allegiance it ends with the wonderful phrase "... with liberty and justice for ALL." We can have our president held before the law and if found in violation of that law they will be removed from their elected position.

Morsi on the other hand is attempting to put himself in a position where the law cannot affect him and his allies and adjusting if not creating laws as they see fit. Now where does that usually lead to?

This is pretty interesting. Replace "Morsi" with "MacArthur" and you could be describing SCAP during the U.S. occupation of Japan. Back then, any criticism of GHQ and the work they were doing on the new Japanese constitution was met with a charge of treason. Publications even obliquely seen as criticizing the way GHQ was handling things were censored or outright shut down. What MacArthur's command was essentially saying was, "Trust us, you'll like what we give you, but until then keep your traps shut." One could argue that they NEEDED that autonomy in order to get out a new Constitution unadulterated by the old Japanese high society (who were constantly trying to just tweak the Meiji Constitution rather than write a whole new one), but when you look at it from the outside, it sure bears a resemblence to a dictatorship.

but when you look at it from the outside, it sure bears a resemblence to a dictatorship.

You are comparing an occupation of a country to a government of a country. The comparison does not work. Egyptians are looking from the inside and many see this as the beginning of what looks like another dictatorship. I don't get the need to bring Japan's history into the discussion.

Actually, I'm looking at the formation of a NEW GOVERNMENT completely different from the old one and the ones doing the formation are having to deal with interference from the "old guard". The parallels ARE there whether you open your eyes wide enough to see them or not. If you asked MacArthur why he was acting like such a dictator, I'm sure he would have denied it and explained all his actions were necessary to get the new government set up as quickly as possible. This is no different than what Morsi is claiming now. Slumdog, do you believe him? Would you have believed MacArthur? Did MacArthur end up ruling Japan as a dictator after the Constitution was ratified?

I'm just pointing out that sometimes, appearances to the contrary, people really ARE trying to help the country.

Yes, Fadamor, you are right in your parallels. Mohammed Morsi is building a new islamist Egypt. It has nothing to do with dictatorship or democracy, i.e. working for a extremist religious idea has nothing to do with personal or public gains. With respect to that, Merkel's comments are foolish:

In Berlin, a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in thinly veiled criticism that the separation of powers was a fundamental principle of any democratic constitution. Morsi, added spokesman Steffen Seibert, has a "great responsibility" to lead Egypt to a "democratically ordered political system" that rests on that principle.

She should better shut up for not looking like an idiot.

Fadamor,

I understand now that you want to say that Morsi might turn out to be good for Egypt despite appearances to the contrary. However, the MacArthur comparison still does not work. The parallels are weak. The US had defeated Japan, it was a conquered and occupied country. The citizens of Japan had an expectation of being occupied. However, Egyptians revolted to bring change to their own country and Morsi was elected as a result. So, Egyptians were not expecting Morsi to act like the kind of dictatorship they were trying to get rid of. If Morsi is not careful, he will find himself in the same position Mubarak found himself in.

Mohammed Morsi is building a new islamist Egypt. It has nothing to do with dictatorship or democracy,

Why can't it be possible he is working for a new Islamist dictatorship?

At any rate, the military will not allow Morsi to gain too much power. In that way, the may just be a parallel with post-war Japan.

slumdogNov. 28, 2012 - 08:30AM JST Why can't it be possible he is working for a new Islamist dictatorship?

I think.... This is my feeling that working for an idea does not really encompass personal enrichment. Personal enrichments will come after his rule, when the country's political system is stabilized. Again, these are just my feelins of how things work.