Why Is Morsi Shilling For The Military?

[Valin]

Via Meadia:

4/13/13

 

The NYT ran an interesting story today, reporting that Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi appeared in public yesterday with the country’s head military leader Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. el-Sissi denied the accusations that the military “detained, tortured and killed civilian protesters during the 18-day uprising that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak,” while Morsi “announced nominal promotions for the general and other military leaders.”

 

(Snip)

 

To understood this explanation you have to first understand a bit about the background to Egypt’s current political situation. The concept of an autonomous military in control of a ‘deep state’ has a long history in Islamic countries. 20th century examples alone included the republics of Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan. But many monarchies also work in this way. The king is the commander-in-chief of the military, and the palace and the military together control the ‘commanding heights’ of power. Civilian politicians exercise limited power so long as they stay away from the red lines established by the deep state.

 

In the region’s history, this model of governance has been around for a long time. Both Islamic and pre-Islamic empires often worked in this way.

 

(Snip)

 

But from the point of view of the military establishment, the status quo looks pretty good. There’s a civilian government out there, visible enough to be blamed by the public when things go wrong with the economy or the administration of the country, but weak enough to be unable to challenge the military dominance in areas that the generals care about.

 

 

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