SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi addressed his nation on Thursday night. But instead of striking a conciliatory tone aimed at calming the tense situation in his country, he continued to toe the Muslim Brotherhood line. More violence is almost sure to be the result, and Morsi himself shoulders the blame.
In the end, Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi took all of 35 minutes for his nationally televised speech Thursday night. And his intention was clear. During the entire day leading up to the appearance, Morsi's advisors had repeatedly explained that the president wanted to explain himself and his policies to the people of Egypt and to inject calm into what has become the most severe crisis since the revolution against his predecessor Hosni Mubarak.
And it was certainly entertaining. Originally, the palace had announced that the speech would take place at 6 p.m. on Thursday, but then the "Address to the Great Egyptian Nation" kept getting pushed back until finally, at 10:30 p.m., Morsi turned up on national television in front of an Egyptian flag.
He need not have made the effort. The Islamist president didn't accomplish a single one of his goals with his address, nor did he really try. Instead, his flowery rhetoric served merely to further deepen the deep divide between his supporters and the political opposition from the youth movement, the left-leaning and secular parties and even the judiciary. » | Matthias Gebauer in Cairo | Friday, December 07, 2012
