Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi abruptly dismissed Egypt’s defense minister and other top generals over the weekend in an aggressive effort to remove a major brake on his own power.

Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi was formerly the most powerful official in Egypt and a major pillar of the former Mubarak regime. Morsi has now put himself in position to consolidate the Muslim Brotherhood’s control over Egypt.
In addition to sacking Tantawi, Morsi forced the resignation of the chief of staff of the army as well as the heads of the air force, navy, and air defense forces. This bold move amounts to a counter-coup against the “slow motion coup” that the military staged by stripping Egypt’s new parliament and presidency of most of their power shortly before the June presidential runoff election.

Morsi opportunistically exploited the army’s embarrassment over last week’s terrorist attacks by Islamist militants, which killed 16 Egyptian border guards in the Sinai. The decapitation of the top ranks of the armed forces allows Morsi to place his own candidates in key slots and reduce resistance to the radical political program of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood
Morsi’s Islamist-dominated government has also cracked down on Egypt’s media. State prosecutors recently announced that two Egyptian journalists will be put on trial for “insults” to the president.

 Read More at heritage.org.

Mohamed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood, has been declared the new president of Egypt today in an announcement that triggered massive cheers in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

What should Egyptians expect from their new president? Economic moves in the direction of central planning that will result in more suffering and poverty in the country.

Morsi doesn’t understand the importance of free markets and holds the naive belief that, through central planning, he his going to manage the country toward prosperity. Boy, is this dude in for a surprise.

Here are some of his views on economics as he delivered them in a speech on January 6, 2012.

He starts off by mouthing platitudes about freedom:
..the FJP emphasizes that it seeks to grant citizens the freedoms they deserve, to safeguard the fundamental rights of every Egyptian, and change all practices or legislation that challenge or restrict these freedoms or violate these rights. Freedom is one of Islam’s duties. “Indeed We have honoured the Descendants of Adam” (Quran, 17:70).

Read More at economicpolicyjournal.com. By Robert Wenzel.

Photo Credit: forwardstl (Creative Commons)