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The Watcher’s Council

The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast and have been carved eternally in the akhasic records of cyberspace.

The so-called Arab Spring is rapidly turning into an Arab winter. And as this week’s winner, Joshuapundit’s The New Egypt – Bankrupt And Sinking Fast writes, it’s not likely to be a pleasant time in Pyramid Land:

All hail the wondrous Arab Spring!

It is one year ago today that the protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square began that ended in the fall of the Mubarak regime. It was fitting that President Obama mentioned it last night in his State of the Union Address, since he had a major role in that ‘wave of change’, calling for Mubarak’s ouster and signalling to the Egyptian military whom now control the country which way to turn.It’s well worth examining how things are going.

The parliamentary elections have been held, and the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and the hard core Salafist al-Nour Party won – surprise!- over 75% of the seats.The FaceBook and Twitter liberals in places like Cairo and Alexandria everyone in the West was so in love with proved to be a negligible political force, and Egypt is likely headed towards an Islamist Republic as soon as the proper arrangements are made with the Army.

The Army originally had ideas of a government that had little civilian control over the military or is it’s budget, ala’ the old Turkish model. In response, Islamists played their cards quite cleverly, gradually fomenting discontent against military rule and instigating violent riots after Friday prayers over the military’s refusal to turn over power to a civilian government. The riots resulted in a harsh series of crack downs that effectively turned the military from the people’s heroes during the Revolution into oppressors and the chief villains opposing ‘democracy’. Between September and the end of December, something like 100 demonstrators were killed by the Army and police, while hundreds were injured and arrested.

The military junta’s tactics also turned the Brotherhood and the Salafis into heroes, and the election results show how effective their tactics were. The Egyptian military will almost certainly have to make the same devil’s bargain with the Islamists that the Iranian military did.

So Egypt is likely headed towards Islamist rule, but the country’s future is looking increasingly grim. Egypt’s economy is essentially collapsing from within.

After the Lara Logan gang rape and the widespread scenes of unrest, most of Egypt’s tourism industry is dead, and the rest will likely collapse as soon as the Islamists take power and put sharia law in place to outlaw alcohol, bikinis and mixed bathing on beaches.

Increased sectarian violence against Egypt’s Coptic Christians, who largely supported the Revolution, is ensuring that a large group of Egypt’s more prosperous and educated citizens are emigrating in droves.

Investors are unwilling to buy Egyptian bonds even at double digit interest rates, which means that Egypt’s ability to borrow is being cut to the bone. No one wants the Egyptian pound. The only Egyptian bonds anyone wants to buy are dollar-denominated treasury bills. After the results of the last election, currency flight has become a major problem, as anyone with money is stashing it overseas as fast as they can in euros or dollars, preparing for a relocation out of the country.

In our non-Council category, we had a tight race, but in the end the winner was Alisina.org for What Is My Identity? submitted by Joshuapundit. What’s it about? I suggest you go read for yourself and make up your own mind. I guarantee you won’t be unaffected by it.

Without further ado, here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners

• *First place with 3 2/3 votes! – Joshuapundit – The New Egypt – Bankrupt And Sinking Fast
• Second place with 2 2/3 votes – Bookworm Room – ObamaCare, the Catholic Church, and mandatory abortion payments
• Third place with 2 1/3 votes – The Razor – The Twisted Memory of Newt Gingrich
• Fourth Place with 1 2/3 votes – New Zeal – Russia Today Hires WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange – Will the Kremlin Be Pleased?
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Colossus Of Rhodey – If you didn’t know this was coming by now, you’re living in a cave
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – The Saudi Persian War
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Right Planet – GOP: On Whose Side?
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Noisy Room – Tantrum on the Tarmac
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Political Commentator – In a debate would John King ask Obama about this…? (Video)
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – VA Right! – Senator Janet Howell ‘Rectal Avenger’
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Mellow Jihadi – Parading Vets: St Louis Vs. New York
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Rhymes With Right – Presidents Are Not Kings; Americans No Obliged To Appear When He Beckons

Non-Council Winners

• *First place with 2 1/3 votes! – Alisineh.Org – What Is My Identity? submitted by Joshuapundit
• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Smithsonian.com – Revisiting the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich submitted by The Colossus Of Rhodey
• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes –Caroline Glick – The Zionist Imperative submitted by The Political Commentator
• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – The Reserve Officer – New Defense Strategy submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Second place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Bob Owens/PJ Media – New Emails Suggest Eric Holder Perjured Himself submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Third place with 1 1/3 votes -Frontloading HQ – I’ll see your white knight and raise you a filing deadline. Why It’s Too Late for Entry in the Republican Nomination Race submitted by Rhymes With Right
• Fourth place with 1 vote – Investors Business Daily – Media Act As Though Only Republicans Misbehave submitted by VA Right!
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – American Thinker – Barack Obama and the Strategy of Manufactured Crisis submitted by The Right Planet
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Michelle Malkin – For Santorum submitted by The Noisy Room
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Terry Glavin – It’s Not Funny Anymore submitted by Simply Jews
• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Blogbat – The Moon Is Made of Cheese, You Know submitted by Right Truth
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Via Meadia – Beyond Blue Part One: The Crisis of the American Dream submitted by The Razor
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – The Kitchen Dispatch – Aloha, Sarge Charlie. Until We Meet Again submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Bill Whittle – The Vote Pump submitted by Bookworm Room

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