It is definitely a game, what is happening between President Mohamed Morsy and the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) headed by field Marshal Mohamed Tantawy. A game that both parties do not want to turn into direct confrontation, however it is a cold war no doubt.
It might feel like one of those classical scenes of enemies in historical movies playing chess together. But no, it is not that elegant and clear. They are both part of an absurd game scene, where two battlefield leaders seem to be playing chess in a balady coffee shop on a backgammon board with mixed rules, where nerds have a say as well.
In response to the unconstitutional ‘constitutional decree’ by SCAF prior to Morsy’s presidential victory of dissolving the parliament, the latter issues another decree of the parliament’s return. The Mubarak-SCAF affiliated Constitutional Court cancels Morsy’s bold move. Morsy seems to believe that direct confrontation might make him lose an elephant or two, so he issues a statement assuring respect of all Egyptian judiciary decisions.
What is so interesting and classical is the scene of Mosry and Tantawy sitting shoulder to shoulder celebrating the graduation of another military class on the same exact day the court decided to shoot at Morsy.
Following the embarrassing court decision against Morsy’s decree, he swiftly sends hundreds of thousands of his supporters, or chess soldiers, home ending their protest in Tahrir with a positive feeling. Somehow ingrained in their minds that their new leader is a cunning man with secret moves that would result in some unknown miracle.
Morsy’s visit to Saudi Arabia is actually another move in the same unentertaining game. Remember two important factors, among others, in the relation between the Saudis and Egyptian leadership. Basically, the SCAF is the extension of Mubarak’s policy of keeping the Saudis happy and giving them the feeling of partial leadership in the region. Another factor is the story of the detained Egyptian lawyer in Saudi Arabia that almost started another revolution by the Egyptian youth, where the SCAF acted completely in favour of the Saudis.
Morsy just returned from there, successful and relaxed. The man managed to gain the royal family’s appreciation as he exclusively dedicated Egypt’s first post-revolutionary president visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It means a lot to them indeed. In addition to that, he managed to gain the hearts of the Saudi people and even beyond to other Gulf countries.
Well, perhaps the SCAF-Saudi ties are not that strong as we thought, but who knows how the conversation between Mr President and the king went behind closed doors. We actually might never know.
It is obvious that Morsy has decided to bet on the people support growing outside the obedient Muslim Brotherhood members, since he is considered the only available and solid representation of a legitimate civilian leader, almost brought by the people’s free will, after the revolution was just about to return to Mubarak’s age and even worse in case presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq had managed to gain few more votes.
It is definitely the right choice by Morsy to smoothly and softly mobilise the people against the SCAF. But it is not only the military he is playing against, it’s all the beneficiaries of the ousted Mubarak in almost every state department, even those calling themselves independent. The judiciary is just an example.
It is a long an incomprehensible messy chess-backgammon game in which we are forced to watch or sometimes play soldiers. The scene might look revolutionary, but the rules are still those of Mubarak’s.
