Egypt court overturns president's order reinstating parliament

Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court overturned a decree on Tuesday that had been issued by newly elected President Mohamed Morsi to reinstate the parliament, escalating a power struggle between the executive and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). The ruling came just hours after the Muslim Brotherhood dominated parliament briefly reconvened in defiance of a ruling by the court to dissolve the body, the election of which they determined unconstitutional. Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters have gathered in Tahrir Square to show support for the parliament. Mourad Mohamed Ali, a media advisor for the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party said, "The game is as simple as this: Should legislative power be in the hands of 508 people elected by 30 million Egyptians or 19 generals appointed by Mubarak?" Tarek Masoud, a public policy professor at Harvard University said, "They can keep going back and forth like this and at the end of the day it's a test of dueling legitimacy. Either you follow the president or you follow the court. There is no body that can adjudicate these disputes."  

Syria

Russia has dispatched a flotilla of 11 warships on maneuvers to the eastern Mediterranean with some set to dock at its naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus. Russia has occasionally sent naval vessels to the region, but this would be the largest display of Russian force in the Mediterranean since the beginning of the Syrian uprising. Russia claims the move is part of scheduled exercises. However, Western diplomats say it is to show tangible support for President Bashar al-Assad. Additionally, Russia has drafted a U.N. Security Council resolution to extend the United Nations mission in Syria for three months. It is set to expire on July 20. In Russia's draft, the focus would shift from military observers to a civilian staff working on a political solution to the 17-month conflict. The United States and European security council members are unlikely to approve the draft, calling instead for a resolution that would include a chapter seven mandate, including authorization for the use of force. Head of the opposition Syrian National Council, Abdulbaset Sayda, is meeting in Russia for the first time with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, attempting to persuade the country to stop supporting the Assad regime. International envoy Kofi Annan has met with officials in Iran and Iraq, stressing the Syrian allies' role in ending the violence.

Headlines  

• Vienna's prosecutor's office has reported that there was no foul play in the death of defected Qaddafi era Prime Minister and oil chief Shokri Ghanem, who drowned in the Danube in April.
• Thousands of Saudi Arabians protested at the funeral of Muhammed el-Filfil, who was killed when security forces fired upon demonstrators protesting the shooting and arrest of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
• Mahmoud Jibril's National Forces Alliance has extended its lead in Libya's elections but official results expected Wednesday have not been released.

Arguments & Analysis 

'Egypt's Overhyped Parliament Showdown' (Ashraf Khalil, The Daily Beast)

"Somewhat lost in the chatter is the crucial aspect that Morsi (and by proxy the Brotherhood) has essentially accepted the concept that this Parliament will have to go. Morsi's decree stated that new parliamentary elections would be held within 60 days of the ratification of a new constitution. That process could take up to six months, meaning the Brotherhood will have to defend its parliamentary control by next spring. Either way, there will be a new Parliament, and the dominant 75 percent Brotherhood/Salafist bloc is widely expected to lose ground. That's a major Brotherhood concession-one that is being somewhat disguised by all the noisy public defiance."

'Israel's Illogical Settlement Decision' (Daniel Kurtzer, The National Interest)

"An Israeli government committee has turned logic, law and Israeli Supreme Court precedent on its head, declaring that Israeli settlement activity in the territories occupied by Israel since 1967 is not illegal and advising the Israeli government to legalize retroactively settlements and outposts previously deemed to have been constructed outside the framework of Israeli law. This is a stunning action with enormous consequences, a serious example of "uncommon nonsense.""

'Syria: to oppose or not oppose?' (Maher Arar, Al Jazeera English)

"Deciding whether or not to oppose Syria's rulers has been the recent dominant preoccupation of many anti-imperialist and left-leaning movements. This hesitant attitude towards the Syrian struggle for freedom is nurtured by many anti-regime actions that were recently taken by many Western and Middle-Eastern countries, whose main interest lies in isolating Syria from Iran. However, I believe a better question to ask with respect to Syria is whether the leftist movement should support, or not support, the struggle of the Syrian people. What I find lacking in many of the analyses relating to the Syrian crisis, which I find oftentimes biased and politically motivated, is how well the interests of the Syrian people who are living inside are taken into account. Dry and unnecessarily sophisticated in nature, these analyses ignore simple facts about why the Syrian people rebelled against the regime in the first place."

--By Jennifer Parker and Mary Casey