This morning's key headlines from
GenerationalDynamics.com
- Morsi's landslide referendum victory divides Egypt
- Russian military advisers enter the fray in Syria
- Assad's air strikes target bakeries to deprive Syrians of bread
Morsi's landslide referendum victory divides Egypt
Mohamed Morsi
The overwhelming 64% "YES" vote on the referendum to approve the draft
constitution has divided Egypt has thrilled the supporters of Egypt's
president Mohamed Morsi, and frightened his opponents. The new
constitution, which was drafted by the Muslim Brotherhood and
conservative Salafists, incorporates Islamic Sharia law, which
opponents claim deprives most citizens, especially women, of the
hard-won rights that they fought for in last year's Egyptian
revolution, violating many promises by Morsi. It now turns out that
the Muslim Brotherhood was training over 7,000 activists to get out
the vote on the referendum, whiles opposition leaders squabbled among
themselves. Opposition leaders are hoping to overturn referendum
results, pointing out that only 33% of eligible voters even bothered
to vote, but it's hard to see how they can overcome the 64% majority
of those who did vote. One of the opposition's examples of alleged
lies by Morsi was his claim, prior to the vote, that Article 198 of
the new constitution prohibits military trials of civilians. However,
they point out that the actual article states:
"Civilians shall not stand trial before military
courts except for crimes that harm the Armed Forces. The law shall
define such crimes and determine the other competencies of
Military Judiciary."
The opposition points out that this article allows the army to try any
civilian in military court, since the army decides which crimes are to
be tried. Al-Ahram (Cairo) and Jerusalem Post
Russian military advisers enter the fray in Syria
The statements by Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that we
reported yesterday that Syria's
chemical weapons were "under control," with the aid of "Russian
military advisers training Syria's military," is causing rapid
strategic changes in the West's plans. Up until three days ago,
it was feared that the regime of Syria's president Bashar al-Assad
would use his chemical and biological weapons against the opposition,
and this would trigger a forced response by the West to take
control of these weapons, using ground forces and air power.
However, new reports indicate that Russia has upgraded Syria's
defensive forces with advanced surface to air missiles, manned
by Russian forces, making any U.S.-led intervention extremely
dangerous, protracted and costly.
However, Debka puts an entirely different spin on this story, saying
that Israel, the U.S. and Russia are actually cooperating to make sure
that the opposition, especially al-Qaeda linked jihadists, do gain
control of the weapons. Guardian (London) and Debka
Assad's air strikes target bakeries to deprive Syrians of bread
At least 90 people were killed an hundreds injured on Sunday by an air
strike by the regime of Syria's president Bashar al-Assad on a baker
where over 1,000 people were queuing for bread. The attack occurred
in the town of Halfaya, where the rebels had driven out regime forces.
The regime has particularly targeted bakeries in order to kill
civilians and to deprive civilians of bread.
Al-Jazeera
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