A new Nasser?

[LivinginLuxor]

"The two men can be seen together all over central Cairo, on banners, flags and on posters on sale to tourists and locals. One is moustachioed, square-jawed, handsome, with short greying hair and an enigmatic smile; the other is clean-shaven, open-faced, most often in dress uniform, a clutch of medals on his left breast.

The first man is the pan-Arab nationalist former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, hammer of the Muslim Brotherhood, who died in 1970. The second is General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, head of Egypt's armed forces and, since the July coup that ousted the Brotherhood-backed president, Mohamed Morsi, the supreme power in the country"

Full article at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/a ... neral-sisi

[BBLUX]

There is an open letter to el Sisi from Hoda abdel Nasser, the eldest daughter of Gamal Abdel Nasser:

"Greetings,

Allow me Lieutenant General to express my opinion on a sensitive issue related to Egypt’s future.

It was an initiative from the people that launched the 25 January revolution, just like the revolution in 1919, and all of us are proud of this. We toppled an unjust regime under which people had suffered from need, corruption, and oppression. We then waited for a leader who embodied the revolution so that the people could support him. It has been more than two and a half years. The Muslim Brotherhood stole the revolution and started speaking as if they had been responsible for it, although all of us know that they did not take to Tahrir Square until 18 days after the revolution began, when they were assured of its success."

She continues making comparisons with the likes of De Gaulle and and Eisenhower. This is quite a long letter and can read in full here:

http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/op ... ah-al-sisi

[Hafiz]

De Gaulle and Eisenhower were elected. Maybe she's thinking of the Nazi stooge dictator Petain. Could be relevant because Nasser used and gave protection to Nazi officers after the war. Maybe she has forgotten that democratic De Gaulle put down a military insurrection in Algeria but not before the rebels invaded Corsica for god's sake! Those who wanted a military regime in France twice tried to assassinate de Gaulle. He responded with violence and within the law and had the coupists executed. He defended democracy against the army. A strange role model for her father. Only in Egypt could these delusions be believed.

France and the US are nations of laws, independent judiciary, free press, political parties etc. Nasser's Egypt was none of this and is romanticized into a happy past by those who have no actual memory of it.

Maybe, at the feet of her dictator father, she lost the ability to discriminate between democracy and dictatorship. She couldn't continue to believe that her father was elected, could she? Maybe she continues to believe, along with most Egyptians, that her father won the 1967 war? Could that be possible?

A more sober note. Here's some information about Sisi from western sources. It's a bit contradictory. In an interview in the Washington Post he went a long way from excluding himself from the Presidency.

Sisi was educated in the US from 2005-2006 and, in 1992, in the UK. It seems from first hand reports he was a very serious type

His western military education stands out because he is the first Armed Services chief not to be educated in the dreaded Russia however a US education hasn’t stopped him from loud complaints against the US since the coup.

Unlike most military, and unlike the secular military dictatorship of Nasr, Sadat and Mubarak, Sisi seems to have strong leanings towards Islam. His thesis at the US War College is said to be a brotherhood ‘tract’ including, almost unbelievably, the re-establishment of a caliphate. It is also alleged he is critical of US attempts to ‘impose’ democracy in the region. Others say his War College paper is not as hard line as appears. His wife is thought to wear a full niqab which is unusual for the wife of a western educated army officer.

In a US newspaper interview he is strongly anti-brotherhood which might not be as contradictory as it seems given that repression of the brotherhood over 6 decades has been part of the army’s job description.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2 ... lege_egypt

For a military man he is becoming a dab hand at politics and talking up the July revolution, which he now says was driven by 30 million demonstrators. The fact that Google maps, which is cited as evidence for this figure, denies its maps could or did provide any estimate seems no obstacle to repeating these claims as truth.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_ ... ional.html

The Egyptian story gets stranger and stranger and the porky’s get bigger and bigger and don’t forget this chap publically defended the ‘virginity tests’. At the time of the tests he said: "the virginity-test procedure was done to protect the girls from rape as well as to protect the soldiers and officers from rape accusations", according to al-Ahram. Can anyone help me understand this? How do virginity tests protect from rape or is the army unfamiliar with women? Maybe its another porky? To his credit he subsequently ‘vowed’ to ban the tests.