Junta-Style Transition in Egypt

by Stephen Lendman

Events remain fluid. They're fast-moving. Interim President Adly Mansour appointed Hazem Beblawi prime minister. He's a technocrat. He's an economics PhD. He and Mansour are pro-Western stooges.

From 1965 - 1980, Beblawi held academic positions at the University of Alexandria and elsewhere. From 1980 - 1983, he was an Industrial Bank of Kuwait manager.

From 1983 - 1995, he was Export Development Bank in Egypt chairman and CEO. From 1995 - 2000, he was UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) executive secretary.

From 2001 - 2011, he served as an Abu Dhabi-based Arab Monetary Fund advisor. After Mubarak's ouster, he was an Egyptian Social Democratic Party founding member. Democracy in Egypt is verboten.

In July 2011, Beblawi was appointed deputy prime minister for economic affairs and finance minister. He succeeded Samir Radwan. After four months he resigned. He did so after security forces killed Coptic Christians.

SCAF pressured him to stay. He did so until December. Momtaz Saeed suceeded him. On July 6, state media announced Mohamed ElBaradei as new prime minister.

On July 7, transition hit a speed bump. Egypt's Salafist Nour party rejected his appointment. Two days later, Beblawi's was announced. ElBaradei was appointed vice president for foreign relations.

A previous article profiled him. He's safe. He's pro-Western, anti-populist, business as usual neoliberal. He and Beblawi assure continuity.

SCAF General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi warned against disrupting Egypt's "difficult and complex" transition.

"The future of the nation is too important and sacred for maneuvers or hindrance, whatever the justifications," he added.

Discussions are underway to select new ministers and complicit apparachiks. Subservient pro-Western ones alone are considered.

Mansour said he stands by his constitutional decree. It was prepared secretly. It represents junta power. It reflects despotism writ large, It has 33 articles.

It usurps unchecked power. It does so irresponsibly. It does by diktat. It includes a sharia law provision strongly opposed when Islamists proposed it last year.

It dictates constitutional amendment procedures and what's proposed. It gives regime leaders virtual total authority. SCAF has final say. Mansour serves at its pleasure. So do Beblawi, ElBaradei, appointed ministers, and complicit apparachiks.

Mansour and Beblawi will announce what generals decree. They take orders from Washington.

A state of emergency exists. On expiration, it'll be extended three months. It's renewable. It's potentially indefinite.

SCAF's word is final. It's beholden to Washington. Strings are pulled there. Democracy's a convenient fiction. It's nowhere in sight.

Mansour's declaration decrees a constitutional referendum in about four and a half months. Parliamentary elections are supposed to follow around six weeks later. Presidential elections will be about six months from now.

Schedules are fluid. SCAF has final say. So-called transition can be interminable. Rogue states operate that way.

Mansour heads a separate National Defense Council. He'll oversee security, Egypt's military budget, and laws relating to its armed forces. Doing so assures junta power rule. It bears repeating. Democracy's a convenient fiction.

Al-Ahram is Egypt's leading broadsheet. It's state controlled. It quoted White House spokesman Jay Carney saying:

"We are cautiously encouraged by the announcement by the interim government that it (has) a potential plan for moving forward with a democratic process and elections, both parliamentary and presidential."

"We call on all parties to engage in a dialogue about that process and not to, you know, refuse to participate."

Al-Ahram said Obama "reached out to several key leaders in the region, calling Qatar's new emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahayan."

"(H)e urged (them) to use their influence in Egypt to press each side in the political standoff to avoid violence and to hasten the return of a democratic government."

Muslim Brotherhood officials reject constitutional changes. They're against SCAF's timetable. They call Morsi's ouster illegitimate. New elections bring Egypt "back to zero," they said.

MB denounced Beblawi's selection. Spokesman Gehad el-Haddad said he represents traditional elitist rule. MB officials call Tuesday's appointments and others to follow illegitimate actions of unelected leaders.

Freedom and Justice party member Hamza Zawbaa said what happened is "not our business. We have nothing to do with that."

"It's a military coup, and we don't negotiate with military leaders."

Beblawi's selection shows SCAF's true agenda. It's "anti-revolution enshrined by a military coup."

MB member Bassem Ouda was ousted as supply and internal trade