"Blood and Chaos Prevail in Egypt"--comprehensive New York Times report.

[Comrade Grumpy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/17/world/middleeast/egypt.html?pagewanted=all

Read the whole thing. It's the most comprehensive report on Friday's violence I've come across, and is quite revealing and chilling.

The link also provides links to these related stories:

Political Memo: Attacks on Protesters in Cairo Were Calculated to Provoke, Some Say (August 17, 2013)
News Analysis: Ties With Egypt Army Constrain Washington (August 17, 2013)
Israel Keeps a Wary Eye on Turmoil in Egypt (August 17, 2013)
Latest Updates on Protests in Egypt (August 16, 2013)


CAIRO — Egypt erupted into violent chaos on Friday, raising doubts about the new authorities’ capacity to maintain order, as Islamists and other opponents of last month’s military takeover fought security forces and their civilian allies in street battles across the capital and other cities.

The country seemed to descend into anarchy. Terrified protesters caught in a cross-fire jumped or fell from an overpass in a panicked effort to escape. A gunfight erupted on the doorstep of a Four Seasons hotel. Men wielding guns and machetes — some backing the Islamists, others police supporters in civilian clothes, others simply criminals — roamed the streets of the capital and other cities, and it was often impossible to tell friend from foe.

News reports put the civilian death toll for Friday at well over 100, which would bring the total since Wednesday to nearly 750. Health Ministry officials said Friday’s civilian toll was 27, but late Friday afternoon more than 30 uncounted corpses were seen at a field hospital in a mosque near the center of the fighting, in Cairo’s Ramses Square.

Defying a 7 p.m. curfew, antagonists battled there into the night, lit by an unchecked fire that consumed a nearby office building. The military-appointed government issued a statement declaring that the military, the police and the people were “standing together in the face of the treacherous terrorist scheme against Egypt of the Brotherhood organization.” But the extent of the mayhem cast doubt on its ability to deliver on its central promise of restoring order and security.

[sabrina 1]

1. Military coups tend to become very bloody. There was a process the military could have

chosen to follow, they could have allowed the democratic process to determine the outcome of Morsi's future as a leader. But for some reason, they were in a hurry. The military is solely responsible for all that is happening now. And sadly, as seems to be the case so often, the military is backed, even trained, by the Western powers.

[Gravitycollapse]

3. US aid accounts for 1/4 of the Egyptians Armed Forces annual budget.

We have a lot of blood on our hands.

[Scootaloo]

4. Especially now that we have made a clear and conscious decision to subsidize the carnage

[Comrade Grumpy]

2. "Attacks on Protesters in Cairo Were Calculated to Provoke, Some Say"

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/17/world/middleeast/attacks-on-protesters-in-cairo-were-calculated-to-provoke-some-say.html?pagewanted=all

The ferocity of the attacks by security forces on Islamist protesters in Cairo this week appears to have been a deliberate calculation of the military-appointed government to provoke violence from the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies, a number of Arab and Western historians of Middle East politics said Friday.

The objective, they said in interviews, was to demonize the Islamists in the eyes of Egypt’s broader populace, validate the July 3 ouster of the Islamist president and subvert any possibility that dialogue would reintegrate the Muslim Brotherhood into Egypt’s mainstream politics.

While many said it seemed premature to call the violence in Egypt a precursor to civil war, they said the hatreds unleashed on all sides presaged a possible future of low-level insurgency by embittered, alienated Islamists. Some drew parallels to Algeria, where the military also intervened to subvert Islamist ascendance in democratic electoral politics more than two decades ago, leading to a horrific period of mayhem and repression.

“Given the propaganda of the state-supported media in Cairo, tarring the Muslim Brotherhood with the terrorist brush, making them enemies, not just a nuisance, is setting them up for being completely crushed and eliminated,” said Hugh Roberts, director of the Middle Eastern Studies Program at Tufts University. “To use an Algerian term, eradication.”

Many said the events since the forced removal of Mohamed Morsi, the first freely elected president, suggested that Egypt’s military commanders had concluded beforehand that they would gain nothing from negotiations with the Brotherhood, and would rather deal with it as an insurgent group that presented a security threat, not as a popular political movement.

<snip>

Much more at the link.

[dipsydoodle]

5. "validate the July 3 ouster of the Islamist president"

by that lot in the Square sporting their Armani polo shirts etc.

Support of the Brotherhood, or at least those not against them, represent a fair proportion of Egypt's population. If not allowed to stand again as a party they'll revert to multiple independents as it was under Mubarack.

Didn't take long for the fairy tale expression "terrorist" to crop up. Yesterday the military made it clear that any who didn't vacate the square after curfew would be shot either as terrorists of those who supported them by their continued presence there.

Sad but true - its considered that real insurgents will move in , and may in fact be already doing so , to "help / support" the Brotherhood and likely to be tooled up with more than the minimal amount small arms seemingly in use at present. If they do then of course expect the military to further blame the Brotherhood and request outside help to deal with al qaeda.

Denmark has already shut down their aid - maybe expect the EU as a whole to do after next week's meeting.

[Comrade Grumpy]

6. Shameless auto-kick for important information.

[FarCenter]

7. Since there are roughly twice as many Egyptians as there is food in Egypt ...

it is not clear how this ends.

[hrmjustin]

8. I wonder when this will calm down.

I hope that all sides can pull back and aim for a peaceful solution. Of course that is probably a pipe dream.

My neighbors church in Egypt was desecrated.