Some More Notes on the Egyptian Situation

Before I return to vacation postings, a few follow-ups to the developments in Egypt:

•  Ahram Online offers a profile of the new Defense Minister, General Sisi. Having covered Egyptian defense in the 80s and 90s, I find occasion to correct Al-Ahram on one point: they say General Al-Sisi will be the first Egyptian Defense Minister not to hold the rank of Field Marshal. Actually Tantawi's predecessor, Gen. Yusuf Sabri Abu Taleb, who served as Defense Minister for two years in 1989-1991 following the dismissal of Field Marshal Abu Ghazala, also was only a full General. There may be other cases, but I know of that one.

• Marc Lynch on "Lamborghini Morsi" offers his take on the move.

• Though as I noted, some are seeing the increased role of Gen. Muhammad al-Assar, the Defense Miniatry's longtime USA expert, as a sign of good relations with the US, The Arabist notes that the new Armed Forces Chief of Staff once wrote a critique of US strategy in the Middle East.

• Also courtesy of The Arabist,Wael Iskander passes along a take by Hesham Sallam [attribution corrected] that sees this as a pre-emptive coup aimed at preventing a coup by senior military against Morsi, perhaps on August 24. There will be plenty of conspiracy theories, but this one might explain a lot. The younger officers went along to prevent the high command from doing something that might have spelled doom for the Army institution.

More to come, I'm sure.The pre-written posts resume tomorrow.