A fading Egyptian dream !

The people of Egypt willingly shed their blood to remove a dictator and hoped to replace him with a secular, modern society based on democracy and the rule of law.   The success in this revolution came when the armed forces stood aside and stopped slaughtering protesters.  Mubarek fell - and the army promised free elections and it's willingness to hand over power when a civil administration took office.

Many doubted that the Council of the Armed Forces ( SCAF ) ever intended to relinquish power and this intensified when a parliamentary election gave the most seats to the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist underground persecuted by the old regime.

Then came the selection of a president, and this quickly morphed into a contest between Mohammed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood and Ahmad Shafiq, the former prime minister under Mubarek.  Mursi won - and immediately SCAF enacted a law giving itself the power to enact legislation and at the same time the Egyptian High court dissolved the recently elected parliament, throwing all forms of power into the hands of SCAF.

The future is uncertain.  Egypt is a country without a constitution and SCAF now decrees that there will be no new election until a constitution is decided.   Obviously, without a sitting parliament, the terms of a new constitution will be entirely in the hands of SCAF.    Egypt may have elected a president, but without a parliament to decide laws and with the elected president unacceptable to SCAF the question of democracy is at a stalemate !

Power corrupts - and having tasted the rewards of power the generals are unlikely to step aside. It has the men with the guns under it's control and the only way Egypt is likely to see change is if it undergoes another revolution - and that means public disorder and a great many innocent deaths.

We are seeing the slaughter of women and children in nearby Syria as it's armed forces use genocide to put down a revolution.   This is precisely the reason the United Nations was formed - to regulate excess and use the combined power of many countries to curb violence.   Vested interests and the use of the " Veto " has emasculated the UN and it is now reduced to proffering a small group of unarmed observers as it's contribution to the peace process.

Events in Syria can only demoralise those who shed their blood in Egypt to create a new, democratic country in the Middle East.   Their victory has been snatched away - and the prospect of help from the great powers is now a distant dream !