A message to Morsi

In Egypt they are warning of the fall of the regime (Part 2) while in Syria they are waiting for the fall of theirs (Part 1). That's more or less the situation in our neighborhood. The forecast for this Friday in both countries: impending heat wave. It's no surprise Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi decided to take a breather in Berlin. If only Syria's Bashar al-Assad could.

Since the military was defanged last summer by the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian generals have decided to maintain a low profile. Egypt's new defense minister, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi (former army chief Mohamed Tantawi's heir), is not one to come out and make declarations.

The last time the Egyptian army warned of collapse was during the violent confrontations in December over Egypt's new constitution. The military, which has significant economic interests invested in the country, got both sides to come to an agreement. The current volatile situation in Egypt once again forced el-Sissi to get involved and warn that the clashes will bring about Egypt's downfall.

The riots in Port Said, Ismailia and Suez continued on Tuesday despite the state-imposed curfew. Protests raged in Cairo as well. The protesters managed to reach the impeccable and secure Semiramis Intercontinental Hotel. The army took its time in arriving; Morsi wanted to rule by himself. Now the army is showing Morsi what loneliness feels like.

Egypt discovered this week, two years after the fall of Hosni Mubarak, that the blood in Egypt's streets is still the same blood, the riots are the same riots, the slogans the same slogans — only the president is not the same president. Morsi hijacked the country, but he forgot one thing: The masses demand "bread, freedom and social justice." For now, Morsi can only provide copies of the Quran. The books, however sacred and holy, are not so useful when going to the grocery store.

The Muslim Brotherhood assessed the beginning of the Egyptian uprising well. But as time progressed, it showed a tendency for knee-jerk reactions. The co-pilot, Morsi, did not need to kick the captain, Tantawi, out of the cockpit to stabilize the airplane. Now Morsi's Egypt is in danger of crashing.

Morsi had planned on coming to Berlin as a venerated leader, after already receiving complements from U.S. President Barack Obama (at the end of Operation Pillar of Defense, remember-), but his country is in shambles.

Take Egypt's tourism industry: It originally made up 10 percent of the country's gross domestic product and employed 12% of the country's workforce, but it has now completely collapsed. The camels next to the pyramids have never been so bored. Moreover, prices in 2012 went up by 4.5% on average while salaries went down 11%.

Egypt is now also losing its sense of humor as well. The popular Egyptian comic Bassem Youssef was called in for interrogation after he allowed himself to crack jokes at Morsi's expense. The Tahrir Revolution brought neither bread nor freedom. It did not even provide satire. There is no Eretz Nehederet [an Israeli satire show] in Egypt.

There is not much new in Syria either, as recently admitted by the French foreign minister. In Kuwait, the supporters of Syria's revolutions are scheduled to convene. That meeting doesn't mean much to the 68 bodies pulled out of trenches near Aleppo on Tuesday.

Experts believe that the chance of foreign intervention in Syria is still close to nil. Meanwhile, the U.N. estimates over 60,000 killed and 700,000 refugees as a result of the civil war. And there is still the all-too-real possibility of chemical weapons slipping into terrorist hands.

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