Egypt's Morsi Refuses to Step Down, Tells Military Not to 'Take Sides' as Deadline Nears

by JASmius

Cairo (CNN) -- Time appeared to be running out Wednesday for Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy as a deadline passed on a military ultimatum. 

"We swear by God that we are ready to sacrifice our blood for Egypt and its people against any terrorist, extremist or ignorant," military generals said in a statement titled "The Final Hours."  

On Monday, the military gave the nation's first democratically elected president 48 hours to accommodate his opponents with a power-sharing agreement or be pushed aside. That left him until about 5 p.m. (11 a.m. ET) Wednesday.

Time's running out for Morsi?  Says who?  The people of Eqypt don't matter, any more than the people of America have any say in what their Muslim-loving dictator says or does.  And O's rhetoric sounds dramatically different now, when it's his ally in the public crosshairs, than it did when Hosni Mubarek was besieged two years ago:

The White House on Tuesday pushed back on a report that American officials are urging Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi to call early elections, in response to the largest anti-government demonstrations Egypt has ever witnessed. The comments seem intended to reduce any perception that Washington is trying to dictate a course of action to the Egyptian leadership.

Sure - why would O want elections in Egypt now?  His guy is in power.  And O doesn't believe in free and fair elections anyway.  Which does much to explain his warning to anybody in Egypt (i.e. the military) who would so much as look at Morsi crosseyed:

Officials have also warned the Egyptian military that a military coup would trigger U.S. legislation cutting off all U.S. aid, which totals about $1.5 billion per year.  

“There are specific consequences,” the senior official said. “As much as we appreciate their statement that they intend to protect the Egyptian people, they need to be careful about how they inject themselves into the situation. We are telling them that playing a role with their ultimatum to get the two sides together is completely appropriate, but anything that looks like a military takeover is walking a very thin line.”

 Wow.  Two years ago it was, "Mubarek's gotta go."  Now that Egyptians are preparing rope and lampposts for the Muslim Brotherhood, whose corrupt, statisteque theocratic regime has, predictably, cratered what there was of the Egyptian economy and dragged the Middle East closer to all out war than at any time since 1973, suddenly "people power" is irrelevant and stability is all - or else.

Unless, I suppose, The One is calculating that the MB would be replaced (in <heh> another "free and fair" election) by an even more virulently Islamist sect like the Salafists.  The more radical and extremist, the better, right Barry?

Cross-posted at Hard Starboard