Mr Morsi, who had earlier refused to quit, was told at 7pm on Wednesday evening that he was no longer president as Egypt's military seized control in a dramatic coup.More from the AFP:
The Egyptian army toppled Islamist President Mohamed Morsi on Wednesday after a week of bloodshed that killed nearly 50 people as millions took to the streets to demand an end to his turbulent single year of rule.But will this lead to a replacement who's not an Islamist? The trouble is that even Morsi's successor is bound to be no different from him, and a Copt is unlikely to be allowed to run for the presidential position there. The freeze of the alleged constitution written by Muslims is good news. But even then, there's no telling if any constitution to follow will be an improvement.
The announcement, made on state television by Morsi's own defence minister, armed forces chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, drew a rapturous welcome from the protesters who have camped out on the streets of Cairo for days.
Sisi also announced a freezing of the Islamist-drafted constitution and early presidential elections.
Update: and Power Line points to some disturbing signs that elements of the opposition to Morsi are also anti-Israelists.
RELIAPUNDIT ADDS:
IMHO: This proves that Obama's decision to help the Muslim Brotherhood and oust Mubarak was an idiotic waste which hurt us and our allies and Egypt.
I think Obama supports the Erdogan/AKP form of islamism: a gradualist approach - one that uses democracy as a means of taking and consolidating power. Erdogan said that "democracy is a train and you get off at your destination". Obama hoped the Egyptian MB would be like the Turkish AKP. Obama hopes the same for Syria and Libya and Afghanistan and Iraq. And the so-called "West Bank" and Gaza.
I oppose this policy because the "destination" is a bad and evil and anti-libertarian one; it is a totalitarian state, a tyranny - one intrinsically opposed to the West.
It's good to remember now that Nasser - Egypt's first military dictator - opposed the MB:
EGYPT WILL NOT PROGRESS FROM TYRANNY TO DEMOCRACY UNTIL THE MB AND ITS IDEOLOGY ARE DISCREDITED AND SNEERED AT AND LAUGHED AT - AS THEY WERE IN THE ABOVE VIDEO - BY THE VAST MAJORITY OF EGYPTIANS AND ARABS AND MUSLIMS.
Usually, when a military stages a coup d' tat the end result is more bloodshed. We hope in the case of Egypt that this is not true and that those in power (those behind the decision to oust Morsi) were truely following the will of the masses in the streets. The Muslim Brotherhood departure from power is a great setback for the spread of radical Islam if the coup was to throw off this yoke in the name of the people. We know that the demonstrations against the MB over the last weeks have grown to over a million people and as a result, either the military was nervous about the individual citizen rising or they are just taking advantage of the situation on the street. Here's hoping that cooler heads prevail and a moderate government is installed and quickly.
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