The Egyptian Military Is Looking More in Control - America is on the Outside Looking in

The daily news in Egypt make most theatre pale by comparison. Today's events include : (1). Military-backed authorities arrested Mohammed Badie, the Moslem Brotherhood's supreme leader, dealing a serious blow to the embattled movement that is struggling to maintain street protests against the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi in the face of an army-led government crackdown. Badie was arrested in the latest army move that has resulted in hundreds of Brotherhood members being taken into custody. Badie's last public appearance was at the Nasr City protest encampment last month, where he delivered a fiery speech in which he denounced the military's removal of Morsi. His arrest followed the killing of his son Ammar, who was shot dead during violent clashes between security forces and Morsi supporters in Cairo on Friday. Badie and his powerful deputy, Khairat el-Shater, are to stand trial later this month on charges of complicity in the June killing of eight protesters outside the Brotherhood national headquarters in Cairo. Brotherhood spokesmen say the arrests will not stop the movement or lead its followers away from their principles. But, pro-Morsi street protests have diminished in recent days, with demonstrations in Cairo and elsewhere attracting mere hundreds, or even dozens, of protesters. (2). Morsi himself has had his detention in an undisclosed location extended. He is facing accusations of conspiring with the militant Palestinian Hamas group to escape from prison during the 2011 uprising and complicity in the killing and torture of protesters outside his Cairo palace in December. (3). The Brotherhood released Badie's weekly address text. In it he quoted heavily from the Coran and warned that anyone, including Arab governments, who helped the army would soon regret it. Brotherhood spokesman Ahmed Aref sought to downplay the significance of Badie's arrest, writing on his Facebook page Tuesday: "Mohammed Badie is one member of the Brotherhood." (4). Yesterday, suspected Islamic militants ambushed two minibuses and killed 25 off-duty policemens, gangland style, in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Monday's attack took place near the border town of Rafah in northern Sinai. A few hours later, militants shot to death a senior police officer as he stood guard outside a bank in el-Arish, another city in the largely lawless Sinai area, security officials said. Nobody claimed responsibility for either attack. (5). Meanwhile, a little-known law professor, Sayed Ateeq, filed a case today against Mohamed ElBaradei, accusing the Nobel Peace Prize laureate of committing "high treason" and damaging the country's world image by quitting his job as interim vice president last week. Egyptian law allows citizens to file cases like that, although many are swiftly thrown out by judges. ElBaradei quit to protest the use of force by security forces in clearing the Morsi supporters' sit-in camps, warning the violence will only breed more violence and play into the hands of extremists. He has since been the target of a media and political campaign accusing him of abandoning the country at a time when his services were most needed. Some questioned his credentials as a politician who could withstand the pressures of politics. (6). Soldiers killed an Egyptian journalist working for the country's state-run flagship daily Al-Ahram newspaper at a military checkpoint, security officials confirmed. Tamer Abdel-Raouf's death brings to five the number of journalists who have died in the past week of violence in Egypt. The military initially said that Abdel-Raouf sped through a checkpoint Monday evening after a nighttime curfew began, and that soldiers fired warning shots before shooting at the car. It said the military did not deliberately shoot to kill. However, Shaimaa Abu Elkhir of the Committee to Protect Journalists quoted a witness who was in the car with Abdel-Raouf as saying there were no warning shots and the incident took place an hour before the 7 pm start of the military-imposed curfew. Hamed al-Barbari of Al-Gomhuria newspaper told the media watchdog group that they were turned back by soldiers at the checkpoint and told they could not pass. The soldiers then fired at the car as they were making a U-turn, al-Barbari said. Abdel-Raouf was shot in the head and the car then hit a light post. Al-Barbari was injured in the collision, according to CPJ. The two journalists had been doing an interview with a newly appointed provincial govennor northwest of Cairo. (7). News in the US today appeared to confirm that approximately $500 million in military aid to Egypt has been put on hold. For nearly three decades, the US has propped up Hosni Mubarak and the Egyptian military with financial and military support. In exchange, Egypt helped protect US interests in the region, including a peace treaty with Israel. But that long and tangled relationship is now traumatising the Obama administration as it grapples to create and articulate a coherent Egypt policy following the ouster of Mubarak's successor, Mohammed Morsi. The US has refused to call Morsi's ouster a coup because that would require President Obama to suspend $1.3 billion in annual military aid. And State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that the current aid delay was not an indication that a policy decision about cutting off aid had been made. Saudi Arabia re-affirmed today that it will cover any holes left by American or European withdrawal of funding. (8). Amid the tumult, Egyptian judicial officials announced Monday that former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak could be released from jail later this week. The White House refused to take a position on the status of its former partner, saying it would be inappropriate to comment on a legal matter. now,...because that is a process that is internal to Egypt, it's not something that I'm in a position to comment on from here," a White House spokesman said. But the US often comments on foreign legal proceedings, including the jailing of Ukraine's former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, the sentencing in Russia of the band Pussy Riot and the arrest of American aid workers in Egypt last year. Perhaps President Obama fears, as do many, that Mubarak's release would deepen the anger among Morsi's supporters in the Brotherhood, which was illegal under Mubarak. ~~~~~ Dear readers, there is little to say about these events. However...and not to take the extremely serious events in Egypt lightly...if this were a football (soccer) match, I would say the half-tome score is Egyptian army and people 4, Saudi Arabia and the Arab world 3, Moslem Brotherhood 0, United States and Europe -1. I know that -1 can't happen in football, but in this case the extremely bad play makes an exception, or a red card, likely.