New Rifts In Egypt Over President’s Power Grab

Egyptian protesters clash with security forces, not pictured, near Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, on Sunday. (Ahmed Gomaa/AP)

Egypt’s justice minister Ahmed Mekki has said an agreement is “imminent” from talks between President Mohammed Morsi and the country’s Supreme Judiciary Council.

Those talks come after four days of violent nationwide protests over president Morsi’s decree granting himself sweeping new powers.

The president has said the new powers are needed to protect Egypt’s transition to democracy. Democracy activists say it’s a power grab taking Egypt backwards into dictatorship.

The protests are taking a toll on the Egyptian economy, with the country’s stock markets down sharply as foreign investors flee.

Guests:

Christopher Lydon, host of Radio Open Source, who is currently in Cairo.
Farouk El-Baz, Boston University professor and director of BU’s Center for Remote Sensing. He was science adviser to the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

We welcome comments from all of our listeners. Post below. Please stay on topic and be civil. Comments may be moderated by us, but you are solely responsible for the content of your comments.

RAOUL

‘New Rifts In Egypt Over President’s Power Grab’

The very idea that Mohammed Morsi brokered a peace deal between the Israel and Hamas is a joke. The real between the lines question concerning this faux peace deal is or should be how much did America (my taxes) have to pay Morsi to act benevolent? Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood government is not compatible with any type of Democracy. By definition the Islamic religion can never be representative of any type of democracy, why, because it is a religion made for and by men. Solution to the Morsi dictatorship: Cut aid to Egypt post haste – “TODAY” – quit wasting my money on dictators.
Mineguy

Regarding your interview with the US Geology professor who is an Egyptian expert: Are you that naive or just unable to connect the dots? Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood are trying to accomplish a permanent and unchangeable Muslim state in Egypt by excluding secularists and others from the process. Your statements seemed to imply that because ‘Morsi won,’ that is is OK for him to achieve his goals by any means. To me this illustrates a fundamental problem with young American thinking: i.e., our public leaders have planted the idea in the new generation that the US is a Democracy and that the majority can steamroll the rest by simple majority vote. News Flash: the US is a Constitutional Replublic with democratically elected senators and representatives and with a President elected by an Electoral College which reflects the same compostition as the combined Senate and House of Representatives. The fact that President Obama was elected does certainly not give him the power to compromise our Constitution or to rig the system as Morsi is trying to do in Egypt.