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JESSICA DESVARIEUX: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Jessica Desvarieux in Baltimore.
The clock is ticking for President Mohamed Morsi. He was given an ultimatum by Egypt's
military that he had 48 hours to resign.
Now joining us to unpack all of this is Mohamed ElMeshad. He is a Cairo-based independent
journalist who wrote for Egypt Independent for two years. And he joins us now from Cairo.
Thanks for being with us again, Mohamed.
MOHAMED ELMESHAD: Thanks.
DESVARIEUX: So, Mohamed, my first question is related to the Americans and what role
they play in all of this. Where are you seeing the American hand behind the scenes and things
of that nature? Can you describe for us what's going on?
ELMESHAD: One very, very, very telling thing that happened was if you read Guardian today,
one of the president's aides, an unnamed source, came out and said that they are hoping that
with American support the military would not be able to implement what they see as a coup.
So that was one of the first really big alarm bells that the U.S. is in fact, as many of
the opposition were saying, one of the main forces behind Morsi's claim to power and Morsi's
ability to maintain a grip on power and maintain a steady relationship with the military, who's
seen as sort of the main ally of the U.S. in Egypt.
On the other hand, many of the Morsi supporters say that the opposition is backed by America,
as represented by the secular anti-Islamic forces, especially since ElBaradei, one of
the main--the former head of the UN watchdog, one of the main opposition figures, worked--I
mean, was part of the UN watchdog and worked closely with the U.S. on issues such as Iran
and Iraq nuclear weapons or the search, the question of Iran and Iraqi nuclear weapons.
President Obama came out today and called on Morsi to--well, CNN reported that he called
on Morsi to hold early elections. Washington just denied that, the State Department just
denied that a few minutes ago. And Obama then called on just a general respect of democracy,
which has many people saying maybe the U.S. should not comment, period, because it seems
like whatever they say can and will be used against them, the Egyptian popular [incompr.]
But who knows, really, what it is, because the military continue to receive funds. And
a year ago [incompr.] was always meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the U.S., and
with John McCain especially, and Mr. Kerry now. So the relationship is there. It's not
clear where the U.S. is throwing its chips.
What is clear is that the U.S. didn't seem to have a problem dealing with the Muslim
Brotherhood and its leaders from the get-go, from before the elections when they were invited
to Washington and many of them, including the supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood,
met with the U.S. ambassador here, Anne Patterson. Anne Patterson was speaking before June 30,
Anne Patterson was quoted in many Egyptian papers speaking about Egyptian democracy and
[incompr.] incited many anti-Muslim, pro-Morsi people. So it's funny that now it seems that
the U.S. may be the saving grace for Morsi. Or maybe that's just what they happen to think.
DESVARIEUX: Okay. Let's talk about another major player in the region, of course, is
Qatar. What is Qatar's agenda? And more specifically, if we can talk about Al Jazeera and their
coverage of events, what do you see their role being?
ELMESHAD: Qatar's agenda is even to my eyes a little more difficult to pin down than the
U.S.'s. Many are convinced that Qatar has been behind much of the Muslim Brotherhood
funding and financing. None of that has been substantiated, except for reported visits
by Muslim Brotherhood leaders to Qatar and historic ties between the two.
Al Jazeera has been--it depends. I mean, you have Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera direct and Al
[incompr.] direct Al Jazeera Mubasher Egypt. So the direct channels, they kind of do [incompr.]
indicates is that they report directly from the scene with mostly live footage. They're
more likely to--the Muslim Brotherhood leaders are more likely to appear. They're kind of
more able to attract them. So at least in the eyes of the Muslim Brotherhood they're
more levelheaded. This time around, Jazeera has not played as prominent a role as in the
2011 uprising. It's a bit more subdued. People are more--there are more options now anyway.
I have followed Jazeera a bit, but even me, like, you know, if Al Jazeera took 25 percent
of my viewing before, nowadays it's taking maybe 5 to 10 percent.
DESVARIEUX: So we certainly know that there's a lot of wheeling and dealing happening behind
the scenes. President Morsi, he met with the army chief of staff, as well as the prime
minister. And Reuters is also reporting that there is some sort of, quote, roadmap plan
that is going to come forward. What do you see as being some elements that could be included
in this roadmap? What sort of resolution do you see coming to the table?
ELMESHAD: Any sort of wheeling and dealing would include, according to--if you believe
the Guardian article, would include the U.S., would include the military, would include
the presidency, may include the opposition if they are invited and voted on by the military
to join, I think.
It doesn't seem like there's a future for Morsi either way. Many reports from--I mean,
leaks from Muslim Brotherhood meetings indicated that they might even entertain early elections
or taking Morsi out as long as they're able to salvage, I mean, something, which mean
the Constitution, which may mean--they really don't have many other options. It may be that
they want to avoid being persecuted again, which could happen.
I mean, the relationship between the military and the Muslim Brotherhood was never great.
The relationship between the police and the Muslim Brotherhood was never great. The fact
that police officers actually came out and protested in uniform against Morsi was very
telling.
So, I mean, they're afraid. Like, they are afraid. It's not just afraid for their political
future; I believe that they're now afraid for their--afraid to return to them being
persecuted indiscriminately as terrorists as what happened before.
DESVARIEUX: Okay. My final question, Mohamed. I am getting a sense that it's mostly the
urban areas where we're seeing a lot of anti-Morsi demonstrations taking place. And the rural
areas, the countryside, there are a lot of pro-Morsi supporters. Do you see what's happening
right now as being a urban-rural divide in Egyptian politics?
ELMESHAD: No, no, actually. I see more so than 2011 a lot of rural townships and rural
governorates or rural-dominated governorates are included, such as in [dVnaoU], Mansoura.
There are many different neighborhoods, there are many different areas [incompr.] coming
out en masse against Morsi in ways that we never saw them come out before.
It's also worthy to note that during the Revolution, many of the opposition forces found great
difficulties mobilizing in these areas, because pro-Mubarak supporters, including tribes in
the south and traditional leaders in other areas, they had a hold on these--on the people
of their areas. So a lot of these people coming out now could be seen as pro-Mubarak influence.
But at the same time, they were forgotten during the past. And as a result, they were
prone to come out once they saw that everyone else was coming out. I mean, the philosophy
of revolution grew over the past two years and the concept of being able to go out to
speak for your rights reached these areas within these past two years, especially with
the mobilization that happened during the parliamentary elections. Let's not forget
that a lot of them are Salafi and Islamist influence. And they also--you know, they were
also influenced to come out due to that. Many Salafis, including the main Salafi party,
[incompr.] party, weren't necessarily entirely pro-Morsi during this past [incompr.] They
were more very critical. So that might have encouraged a lot of people in rural areas
and cities and rural governorates to join in for now.
DESVARIEUX: Thank you for joining us, Mohamed
ELMESHAD: Thanks. Thank you.
DESVARIEUX: And thank you for joining us on The Real News Network.