Muslim Brotherhood’s Morsi declared Egypt’s president

Muhamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood has officially been declared Egypt’s president. In the country’s first competitive elections, Morsi defeated former air force general Ahmed Shafiq by winning 51.7% of the runoff votes. Morsi is the first Islamist to be elected head of an Arab country. Tens of thousands of Egyptians gathered in Tahrir Square over the weekend to demonstrate on his behalf. But the extent of the authority that Morsi will inherit is unclear. Shortly before the runoff election, the ruling military council dissolved the parliament; assumed many legislative powers; established an interim constitution depriving the president-elect of much executive authority; and reinstated martial law. Morsi has pledged to create a unity government, appointing a prime minister and advisory cabinet from outside of the Brotherhood. Although Morsi resigned from the Brotherhood on Sunday, the group has declared that its supporters will continue to occupy Tahrir Square until Parliament is reinstated.

Syria

Turkish media has reported that several high-level Syrian military officers — a general, two colonels, two majors, and 30 soldiers — have defected with their families to Turkey. They were part of a group of 200 Syrians who crossed the border near Reyhanli and were taken to a high-security camp about two miles from the Syrian border. While most defections from within the Syrian army have joined opposition forces, this represents one of the biggest single groups to defect to Turkey. The Turkish government also supports the Free Syrian Army, and facilitates weapons transfers to the Syrian opposition.

Meanwhile, at Turkey’s behest, NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, will convene on Tuesday over the shooting down of one of Turkey’s fighter jets by Syria. Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, invoked article four of NATO’s founding treaty, which allows member states to "consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the parties is threatened." Davutoglu did not cite article five which explicitly mentions armed response when one member of NATO is attacked. Turkish officials admit that the plane, which was on a training mission, briefly strayed into Syrian airspace, but claim the plane was shot after flying back into international airspace. The Syrian foreign minister argues the incident was "an accident, certainly not an attack" and adds that they didn’t know the plane was Turkish. The plane’s wreckage has been located, but officials continue to search for the two pilots.

Headlines

• Saudi Arabia will permit women to compete in this year’s Olympics in London.
• Turkey has completed nine air strikes against Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq after clashes between the two groups last week.
• Al Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi, Libya’s former prime minister, was extradited by Tunisia on Sunday. He will be tried by Libya’s transitional leadership, which says he must answer for alleged crimes against the Libyan people.  Meanwhile, Tunisia’s president has declared the extradition illegal.
• After six days of clashes in Gaza, Hamas has agreed to a new cease-fire with Israel.

Arguments & Analysis

‘President Morsi (For Sure This Time.)‘ (Issandr El Amrani, The Arabist Blog)

"So many questions remain unanswered that what can best be said is that either SCAF and the Brotherhood have worked out a deal of some sort or the political jousting has only just begun. Both the Brothers and SCAF have positioned themselves in a manner in which backing down from their respective positions on the question of parliament and the Supplemental Constitutional Declaration would be a loss of face. The Brothers might be able to leverage the elation of their victory to make it easier to swallow a bitter pill, but at the same time, now that the results have been announced publicly, they don’t have to. SCAF, on the other hand, has less room for maneuver without resorting to brute force and ultimatums. (Speaking of which: today marks the first time in the last few months that the Brothers have played chicken with SCAF and won.)"

‘The Third Intifada Is Inevitable‘ (Nathan Thrall, The New York Times)

"Earlier this month, at a private meeting with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his security advisers, a group of Middle East experts and former intelligence officers warned that a third Palestinian intifada was imminent. The immediate catalyst, they said, could be another mosque vandalized by Jewish settlers, like the one burned on Tuesday, or the construction of new settlement housing. Whatever the fuse, the underlying source of ferment in the West Bank is a consensus that the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, has reached a dead end."

‘A Weapon We Can’t Control‘ (Misha Glenny, The New York Times)

"It is one thing to write viruses and lock them away safely for future use should circumstances dictate it. It is quite another to deploy them in peacetime. Stuxnet has effectively fired the starting gun in a new arms race that is very likely to lead to the spread of similar and still more powerful offensive cyberweaponry across the Internet. Unlike nuclear or chemical weapons, however, countries are developing cyberweapons outside any regulatory framework.There is no international treaty or agreement restricting the use of cyberweapons, which can do anything from controlling an individual laptop to disrupting an entire country’s critical telecommunications or banking infrastructure. It is in the United States’ interest to push for one before the monster it has unleashed comes home to roost."

–By Jennifer Parker