It was Thanksgiving yesterday, but the Council never sleeps, even with a full load of tryptophan and other holiday substances under its collective belts. As always, the Council has spoken, submitted the votes and the results are here.
This weeks' winner in the Council category,Joshuapundit's Egypt Explodes took a look at the recent turmoil in that country and the chess game now being played by the army and the Muslim Brotherhood over who ultimately takes over. Here's a slice:
...the army is involved in a dispute with various political groups and the army-picked cabinet over ground rules for the drafting of Egypt's new constitution. The army wants provisions that could leave the military essentially free of civilian control, free of any oversight over the army's budget and the 'guarantors' of Egypt's new constitution once it gets written. This, as you might recognize is the old Turkish model, and Egypt's Islamists have no intention of going to the trouble of taking power if the army can legally depose them.
The initial clash came when the Egyptian police attempted to clear out the protesters in Tahrir Square in Cairo. As the police moved towards them the protesters in the front lines used a tactic that worked during the clashes that brought down Mubarak, kneeling in an attitude of Islamic prayer. Last time, the army backed off. This time they didn't.
For the first time since the initial revolt, Egypt's state police force, a symbol of the Mubarak regime was deployed in force, and they were openly backed up by the army. The protesters were badly beaten without any regard for age or sex, and protesters later showed reporters spent shotgun cartridges, bullet casings and empty teargas canisters. Some of the tear gas canisters had been purchased by the Mubarak government from America, the UK and Israel had English and Hebrew markings on them, which caused fresh outrage.
Here's the back story and it's an interesting one. The Brotherhood and other Islamist groups have been a major force in gradually fomenting discontent against the army's rule since it became obvious that the army was not quite ready to completely cave in to Islamist rule.
According to my sources, the Muslim Brotherhood initially instigated the protests after Friday prayers in anger over the army's refusal to obey what amounted to an ultimatum from them to bar ex-members of former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party from running for office in the upcoming parliamentary elections. They used the excuse of the army's rather heavy handed rule as a sparking point.
In our non-Council Category the winner was Amil Imani's piece in American Thinker, Islam Was Not For Me submitted by The Political Commentator.
Imani, a former Iranian Shi'ite explains how and why he left Islam and why inhis opinion may Iranian Muslims regard islam as part of an alien culture imposed on them by their Arab conquerors.
Here are this week’s full results:
Council Winners
- *First place with 3 votes! Joshuapundit–-Egypt Explodes
- Second place with 2 1/3 votes – Bookworm Room-Personal Morality And Responsibility
- Third place with 2 votes – Right Truth-Did you hear about the latest terrorist?
- Fourth place with 1 2/3 votes – The Razor-The Case For Romney
- Fifth place with 1 1/3 vote – The Mellow Jihadi – Rhodes Scholar: Woody Allen and Mia Farrow's Kid
- Sixth place *t* with 1 vote – The Noisy Room – Once They Own Your Kids, What’s Left?
- Sixth place *t* with 1 vote – The Right Planet – Drudge: ‘Eu: Water Does Not Hydrate’
- Seventh place *t* with 2/3 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Aegypt Aflame
- Seventh place *t* with 2/3 vote – Simply Jews – Professor LeVine, the UCI chameleon, strikes again
- Eighth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Glittering Eye – So What?
- Eighth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Rhymes With Right- Hey Girls -- Equality Sucks, Doesn't It
Non-Council Winners
- First place with 2 2/3 votes! – American Thinker- Islam Was Not For Me submitted byThe Political Commentator
- Second place *t* with 2 votes – Stacy McCain/American Spectator – Heroes Forgotten, Lessons Unlearned submitted by The Right Planet
- Second place *t* with 2 votes – Watts Up With That – Climategate 2.0 emails - They're real and they're spectacular! submitted by The Glittering Eye
- Third place *t* with 1 1/3 vote -Maggie's Farm – University of California President Protects OWSers But Not Jews submitted by Bookworm Room
- Third place *t* with 1 1/3 vote -Eli Lake – Israel's Secret Iran Attack Plan: Electronic Warfare submitted by Joshuapundit
- Fourth place *t* with 1 vote -Bat Ye'or/New English Review – The Palestinization of UNESCO submitted by The Watcher
- Fourth place *t* with 1 vote -Natural Born Conservative –National Debt Bomb | 1976 to 2011 submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -The Last Exile – Massaging History submitted by Simply Jews
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Creeping Sharia – Obama's Muslim Advisers Block Middle Eastern Christians' Access to White House submitted by VA Right!
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote -Blazing Cat Fur – The City Of Toronto's Kaliphate Kabbie Kollege Of Islamic Knowledge submitted by Right Truth
- Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Contentions – The Dangers of Post-Conflict States submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
- Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Sister Toldjah – Los Angeles to #OccupyLA : 'Please take this land in tribute and don't hurt us!' submitted by Rhymes With Right
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