Epstein Secrets

e worried that he might position himself as another Gen. Omar Suleiman, the charismatic intelligence chief who was the closest adviser to President Hosni Mubarak and ran some of the country's harshest counterterrorism programs. But the ruling Muslim Brotherhood didn't appear to have that fear — at least not

s, among others. Hamas and its allies in Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood furiously condemned the attack, but in a throwback to the paranoid style of the Mubarak era, blamed it on the Israelis themselves, claiming a dark plot to sow discord between Cairo and Gaza. The discrepancy between those statements ob

policies of Morsi's government and its seemingly mutual self-protection pact with the Egyptian generals who still hold considerable power through the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, or SCAF. Morsi and the military appear to have concluded that the fired intelligence chief, Gen. Murad Muwafi, was a convenient scapegoat after t

e it provided the kind of national structure for a change of government that Libya lacked, its continued hold on power since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak has led many to question whether the correct term is "revolution" or "coup." Most political players believe the military is seeking some guarantees

old on power since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak has led many to question whether the correct term

e the costs," said Ms. Anderson of the American University in Cairo. "Everyone will have to decide how much of those costs they can bear, including the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces." Still, the military appeared to be engaged in a gradual negotiation toward "a more civilian kind of government," she said, adding, "Nobody ever g

erty. Saddam Hussein was flushed out of a spider hole, the Syrian brigades of terror and extortion were pushed out of Lebanon, and the despotism of Hosni Mubarak, long a pillar of Pax Americana, seemed to lose some of its mastery. But post-Saddam Iraq held out mixed messages: there was democracy, but also b

off as the quintessential land of political EFTA_R1_00234070 EFTA01845124 submission, Egypt has actually known ferocious rebellions. It had been Mubarak's good fortune that the land tolerated him for three decades. The designated successor to Anwar al-Sadat, Mubarak had been a cautious man, but his

the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, there's no agreement — on how to celebrate or even whether rejoicing is in order. The current military rulers — the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, or SCAF — want to hold parades and aerial jet exhibitions to exult in the revolution, of which their main part was to ease Mubarak out of power.

sidency) the winner by the barest of majorities over his opponent, Shafiq, who was widely viewed as the military's favored candidate and a relic of Hosni Mubarak's ousted dictatorship. The worst of it is this: no matter how unexpectedly skillful a politician Morsi might turn out to be, the task he's facing is

rim military government has actually ceded to him. Just weeks before he took the oath of office, the Supreme Court, stacked with holdovers from the Mubarak regime, effectively dissolved the country's first freely elected EFTA_R1_02209742 EFTA02723614 Parliament. Then the Supreme Council of the Armed

with holdovers from the Mubarak regime, effectively dissolved the country's first freely elected EFTA_R1_02209742 EFTA02723614 Parliament. Then the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) amended its own previously issued Constitutional Declaration, giving veto power to the military in the drafting of a new constitution exemp

Sawiris, won about 14 percent of the vote. The secular but hardly liberal Wafd Party, which thrived as a corrupt, sanctioned opposition party under Mubarak, won about another 10 percent. So, at a stretch, a quarter of the voters in round one went for secular parties -- and this in Cairo, Alexandria, an

Egypt." It's too early in the game to predict the alliances and policy agendas that will flow from the high-performing Islamist parties. Moreover, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces still holds all the cards. It alone appoints the government. The next parliament's job will be to help draft the next constitution, nothing more. A