Morsi and the General. By Daniel Nisman. Wall Street Journal, February 28, 2013.
The
armed forces may be laying groundwork to return Egypt to military rule.
More on Morsi and Egypt here.
Nisman:
Gen.
Sissi has continued to publicly deny any intentions to seize power unless he is
“called upon by the people” to do so—a hazy notion which has sparked fears of a
coup within the Brotherhood leadership. On Feb. 20, the Egyptian press reported
that the SCAF had been holding meetings behind closed doors in the president’s
absence on matters relating to security and stability. Since then, Egyptian
media has been awash with rumors over a possible scheme by the president to
sack Gen. Sissi as he did Field Marshal Tantawi.
While
both sides strongly denied those rumors, my sources in Egypt believe they were
circulated by senior Brotherhood members to test the public's reaction to idea
of such a move against Gen. Sissi.
Currently,
neither President Morsi nor Gen. Sissi looks to be in a position to overpower
the other. But the Machiavellian discipline displayed by the general may just
be enough to outlast the Islamist politician. Egypt's secular opposition
remains in disarray, unable to prove its worth as a viable alternative to
President Morsi’s floundering leadership. That leaves Gen. Sissi’s increasingly
trusted military as the only entity with the influence and organization needed
to bring Egypt back from the brink of collapse.
