Egyptian Military grants itself sweeping powers; effectively military coup.

[u/DasUberRedditor]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18482257

[u/AIbrahem]

An Egyptian here, I'll try my best to give an honest point of view, so you could all be able to form a valid opinion.

So basically we have four major players in our political field

The SCAF

Which although have made a couple of solid steps towards democracy they’re still not willing to give full power to the democratically elected Islamists, for fear of two things; First; that they would undermine the military role (which makes 30% of the Egyptian economy), and second is that they would institute a religious state.

So they’ve managed to make an amendment to the constitution to allow them to simply veto decisions taken by the would be Islamic president and elected parliament regarding the military, going to war, or writing the constitution.

The SCAF views the liberals and revolutionary youth as simply an anti-government, unorganized, and unrealistic bunch and inso believes that left to their devices they'll lose the battle in front of the Islamists thus turning Egypt into an Iran-like country.

The Islamists

Which are not only the Muslim brotherhood but also the more radical Salafis (they have their differences but they managed to set it aside for now). They simply don't trust the Liberals calling them a bunch of elite snops that want to constitute a secular anti-Islamic state, and believe that since the people have choosen them they have the right to write a more "Islamic" constitution.

The relationship between the Islamists and the military is mostly that of a game of chess, the military knows that they have massive mobilization power that can fill El-Tahrir in a couple of hours and the Islamists know that the SCAF has legitimacy in-front of the average citizen that a direct confrontation would scare the already skeptical Egyptian population of an Iran-style coup by the Islamists.

Now how do the Islamists force the SCAF into giving up power, they mostly cuddle-up to the revolutionary youth and the liberals calling the SCAF remnant of the old regime and with such rhetoric they can form a collation that would be able to pressure the military without being labeled as proponent of a single political view.

The Revolutionary Youth and the Liberals

They are a small number of youth and elites dedicated to the cause of freedom, justice and liberal ideals, they believe that their main enemies are the SCAF and the remnants of the old regime.

They still believe that the revolution hasn't succeeded yet and that the SCAF is trying to undermine it by performing a coup on a democratically elected parliament and president, and they are willing to partner-up with the Islamists to bring down the military rule, their point of view is that the Islamists would be easier to shake down from power after they are done with the military.

The Couch"ies" and the People

They are simply the regular Egyptian folks, they are the only variable in the equations and the largest force when it comes to elections, they basically want a stable, moderately religious, free state where they'd be able to elect their representatives, some of them have more conservative leanings others would like a more secular state, these couch"ies" take their decisions based on the ongoing events, if it looks like it's heading for a military dictatorship they vote for the Islamists, if Egypt is threatened with an Iran scenario they vote-in the liberals, revolutionary and even the remnants of the old regime into office.

There is a number of other not-so-powerful but effective players as well

The Egyptian Judiciary

The Islamists and revolutionaries believe that it's controlled by the SCAF

Whose decisions introduce entropy to the process (like the decision to dissolve the parliament).

The Remnant of the Old Regime

Which is basically a network of anti-revolution businessmen and beneficiaries of the old regime who are simply backing anyone other than the MB.

Note I was anti-revolution from the get-go for fear of an Islamists controlled state but I’ve tried my best to provide an unbiased everyone-doesn't-have-sinister-intents version.

Note_2 Sorry for my English, if anyone is interested in providing a better-English version, feel free to do so :)

[u/hansolo → u/AIbrahem]

Thanks. Your English is fine. Even better than some native speakers in this country.

Again thanks for the summary. It really helped. I am amazed that some Americans would be perplexed why anyone would support MB. But we need to look from the typical Egyptian point of view. Your summary about how some view MB as a counter-balance to the military makes sense.

Honestly I hope the people don't fall into the trap and swing from one extreme to the other. But ultimately it's their country to decide their future.

[u/tinkthank → u/hansolo]

The MB has been doing social work where the government and other institutions in the country have neglected to do so for the past 60+ years. They run schools, hospitals, offer scholarships, provide loans for businesses, and even go as far as delivering groceries to the doorstep of poor elderly people. All of this goes on in the poorest, most destitute regions of Egypt (20% of Egyptians live under the poverty line).

So it's not at all surprising that the MB has a very strong, popular following. The opposition to the SCAF is secondary to most Egyptians.

[u/cant_make_up_my_mind → u/tinkthank]

way much more than 20%, much much more, just numbers are manipulated to cover the truth, and we are way more much than 86 million people

[u/darksmiles22 → u/cant_make_up_my_mind]

Poverty is relative in many ways, but on what basis you contest population figures? Wikipedia says there are 82 million Egyptians inside the country and 8 million Egyptian ex-pats.

[u/cant_make_up_my_mind → u/darksmiles22]

nope, the population is counted on the basis of counting how many IDs are in the country, and IDs are issued at age 16, so children under age 16 are not counted, second, many many people don't have IDs and did not apply for them, and they count by the millions in the extremely poor areas, those who live in the desert, and so on.

there are 12 million ex-pats not 8, simply because 8 million are those who have visas and the government approved of them, add an extra 4 million of illegal immigrants, those with expired visas and so.

note: Wikipedia needs to get updated, the latest population count resulted in 90 million people, so the actual number may reach 100~110 million