http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-08-19/mubarak-back
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/19/2013 08:32 -0400
But that’s junta-ruled Egypt, with daily massacres and a toll that almost certainly reaches into the thousands for the past five days. Today’s toll was only kept down because, in the face of a military build-up at their planned protest site, a rally was cancelled.
Mubarak Is Back
The man whom the Muslim Brotherhood deposed with the assistance of the CIA following the first Egyptian coup in 2011 - former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak - is about to be return to the public scene, and perhaps to power (as we predicted in March 2011 in a tried and true Thermidorian Reaction fashion) now that the Muslim Brotherhood itself has been overthrown in the recent countercoup. And with his return, US foreign policy sinks even more than previously thought possible.
Reuters reports: "More than a year on, the only legal grounds for Mubarak's continued detention rest on another corruption case which his lawyer, Fareed el-Deeb, said would be settled swiftly. "All we have left is a simple administrative procedure that should take no more than 48 hours. He should be freed by the end of the week," Deeb told Reuters." In other news, John Kerry is preparing to stick foot even further in mouth any minute now.
More from Reuters:
Hosni Mubarak, the former Egyptian president overthrown in an uprising in 2011, will be released from jail soon after a prosecutor cleared him in a corruption case, his lawyer and a judicial source said on Monday. Mubarak, 85, was arrested after he was ousted. In scenes that mesmerized Arabs, the former leader appeared in a court-room cage during his trial on charges that ranged from corruption to complicity in the murder of protesters.Without confirming that Mubarak would be freed, a judicial source said the former leader would spend another two weeks behind bars before judicial authorities made a final decision in the outstanding case against him.Mubarak, along with his interior minister, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison last year for failing to stop the killing of protesters in the revolt that swept him from power.He still faces a retrial in that case after appeals from the prosecution and defense, but this would not necessarily require him to stay in jail. Mubarak did not appear at a hearing in the case on Saturday. He was also absent from Monday's proceedings.Mubarak, who ruled Egypt for 30 years, is being held at Tora prison on the southern outskirts of Cairo, the facility where senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood have been detained since they were arrested in a crackdown on the organization that began in July.
Of course, when the recent counter-coup has served its purpose, and a counter-counter-coup takes place, look for ole' Hosni, having enjoyed freedom for a few months, to be reacquainted with his old jail cell in due course.
Egypt PM Rules Out Reconciliation as Opposition Calls More Protests
Sunday Rally Cancelled Over Troop Buildup, But Demos Aren't Done
by Jason Ditz, August 18, 2013
It’s a testament to how screwed up of a place Egypt has become that a Sunday which saw 38 protesters suffocated to death in a police van could also reasonably be called aday of relative calm.
But that’s junta-ruled Egypt, with daily massacres and a toll that almost certainly reaches into the thousands for the past five days. Today’s toll was only kept down because, in the face of a military build-up at their planned protest site, a rally was cancelled.
Or at least postponed. The situation is far from resolved, and with junta PM Hazem el-Beblawi calling to outlaw the opposition and insisting “there will be no reconciliation,” the worst may still be to come in Egypt.
Military ruler Abdel Fattah el-Sisi also suggested the crackdown would continue, though facing growing Western condemnation he also sought the pretense of offering reconciliation to those who “don’t have blood on their hands.” The state media portrayed the situation as virtually resolved, and the protesters “beaten.”
That’s a mistake made time and again by dictatorships during the Arab Spring, who never seem to notice that massacring protesters just makes the following protests even bigger. Opposition leaders say that the rallies will continue throughout the week, and likely beyond, as they demand a return to civilian governance.
I wonder if Mubarak is holding a grudge? I don't see him back on top again but maybe he can be a spoiler and create some havoc.
ReplyDeleteWow, interest rates are creeping up, amazing though I'm wondering if the results will really be that dire at even 3.5%.
Kevin
Evening Kev - I would expect that the reaction we have seen from the Junta and General Sis in stomping out protests , is a reflection of the military rage as to what happened to one of their own ( Mubarak ) and a " Never Again " attitude that what was allowed before ( rise of Muslim Brotherhood ) won'r be tolerated.
ReplyDeleteTen year rising steadily - I think the issue of the ten year isn't the 3.50 percent being historically high per se , but rather consider how much debt has been issued well below that level ( and consider how rates across the rate spectrum has risen , especially at the short end of the curve ! There are serious paper losses held by banks , pension funds , foreign buyers of debt ( not unlike what we shall shortly see once again in Europe once rates inevitably rise once again. )