MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

While the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists in the region celebrating a win, the opposition is saying not so fast. It’ll be interesting to see who is declared the official winner on Thursday …

Al-Arabiya – “Hamas leaders and supporters in Gaza Strip celebrated Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood presidential victory, according to preliminary results announced on Monday.

The Islamist bloc’s candidate Mohammed Mursi claimed he had won the election over former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq in the early hours of Monday, in line with primary results that were announced later that day.

Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zohri said that the result, which will be officially announced by the electoral body on Thursday, is a victory for the Egyptian people, its martyrs and the uprising which ousted former president Hosni Mubarak last year.

But perhaps more significantly for Hamas, an Islamist group born from the Muslim Brotherhood which controls the Gaza Strip, Zohri said that Mursi’s win will help break the siege on Gaza and support the Palestinian cause, especially on the issue of the disputed Jerusalem, Egypt Independent reported.

Mursi amassed 13.2 million votes, according to Al Arabiya TV, citing the primary vote counts, which resulted in a 51.8 percent win – against 12.3 million for Shafiq.

Initial results contain a margin of error of about two percentage points, meaning the result may be premature.

In related news, Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, also praised the Islamists’ preliminary win.

‘We, the Palestinian people, follow the political scene in Egypt. We pin great hopes upon the Egyptian leadership, revolution, army, people and presidency to bolster the resistance of the Palestinian people, which has looked to Egypt throughout history,’ Haniyeh said.

‘We hope that Egypt enjoys stability, security and safety and we are still waiting for the official results of the presidential election.’

Mursi’s victory is widely welcomed by many in Gaza, who see it as the first step in the ending of the six-year siege of Gaza, and a great stride for the Palestinian struggle.” Read more.

Campaign: Muslim Brotherhood Opponent Claims Vote Win – “A campaign spokesman for Hosni Mubarak’s ex-prime minister said Tuesday that Ahmed Shafiq has won Egypt’s presidential election, countering the Muslim Brotherhood’s claims that its candidate was the winner and setting the stage for a divisive fight for the leadership. The rival claims carry the potential for a new chapter of unrest at a time when opposition already is growing against a ‘constitutional declaration’ announced by the military on Sunday which robbed the next president of many powers and gave the generals who succeeded Mubarak last year legislative powers as well as control over the process of drafting a constitution. Shafiq’s campaign spokesman, Ahmed Sarhan, told a televised news conference that Shafiq won 51.5 percent of the vote and that the claim of victory by Shafiq’s rival Mohammed Morsi was ‘false.'” Read more.

By Gil Ronen, INN – “Ships carrying Russian commandos may soon sail to Syria to escort strongman Bashar Assad to safety from the country where a rebellion against him is growing fiercer.

Reports to this effect were cited by Voice of Israel radio’s veteran ‘listener’ Miki Gurdus, who specializes in listening to radio broadcasts on various frequencies worldwide.

The Interfax news agency said Monday that two Russian navy ships are to sail to Syria to protect Russian citizens and its naval base there. This would be the first time since the current rebellion in Syria began that Russia is sending extra troops to its base in Syria.

Cited by the Associated Press, Interfax quoted an unidentified Russian navy official as saying that the Nikolai Filchenkov and Caesar Kunikov amphibious assault vessels will be heading to the Syrian port of Tartus. The ships appear not to have left their home port in Sevastopol on the Black Sea yet.

The Russian official mentioned nothing about evacuating Assad, but said the ships will carry an unspecified number of marines to protect Russians in Syria and evacuate materials from Tartus if necessary.

Russia has shielded Damascus from international sanctions over its bloody crackdown on the rebellion against the minority Alawite regime. Russia also continued to provide the regime with arms.” Source – INN.

IDF: Iran Realizing Assad is Finished – “IDF Spokesperson Brigadier General Yoav (Poly) Mordechai said Friday that Syria’s allies Iran and Hizbullah are coming to realize that Bashar Assad’s regime has ‘reached its end.’ ‘Another week is almost over, during which the desperate effort by Iran and Hizbullah to help the Assad regime survive was evident,’ Brig. Gen. Mordechai wrote on his official Facebook page. ‘[Assad’s allies] are beginning to understand that the end is just a matter of time and therefore I wouldn’t be surprised if they are already planning for the day after.’ Brig. Gen. Mordechai emphasized that the IDF is prepared for any scenario.” Read more.

Report: Syria Allegedly Moving Scud Missiles to Hezbollah – “Israel expressed concern on Saturday after reports emerged that Syrian president Bashar Assad may be losing control over military assets, including air defense base. According to Israeli channel 10, concern is mounting in Israel over the possibility that Hizbullah will try to move sophisticated weaponry, including Scud missiles, from Syria to Lebanon to protect them in the event of Assad’s downfall. The channel obtained air footage of the scud missiles transport to unknown whereabouts.” Read more.

We’ve seen a couple of seismic events this week in Egypt. The military dissolved the Islamist parliament just two days before Egypt’s historic presidential election, and now that an Islamist has apparently been “elected” they’ve decided to limit presidential powers. It’s quite obvious that the ruling military council is seeking to somehow curtail the rise of Sharia Law and the call for an Israeli confrontation at the last minute, but considering the freight train of Islamism that, up until now, has plowed ahead virtually unfettered, it may already be too late to put this genie back in its proverbial bottle. If there is chaos in Cairo, listen for the echoes of Isaiah 19 in the distance …

Isaiah 19:2-3a, “‘I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian–brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. The Egyptians will lose heart, and I will bring their plans to nothing …'”

“CAIRO (AP) — The Muslim Brotherhood has declared that its candidate, Mohammed Morsi, won Egypt’s presidential election.

Morsi ‘is the first civilian, popularly elected Egyptian president,’ the group says on its website.

The declaration was based on returns the Brotherhood reported from 95 percent of the more than 13,000 polling stations nationwide. The returns showed Morsi with 52 percent of the vote, his opponent former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq with 48 percent. A million votes separated the two, which a Brotherhood spokesman said the remaining votes could not overcome the difference for Shafiq.

The figures were from results announced by election officials at individual counting centers, where each campaign has representatives who compile the numbers and make them public before the formal announcement. The Brotherhood’s early, partial counts proved generally accurate in last month’s first round vote.

The final official result is to be announced by Thursday.” Source – Seattlepi.com.

Egypt: Military Generals Issue New Rules Limiting Presidential Powers – “(Reuters) – Egypt’s Islamists claimed a narrow lead on Monday in vote-counting for the presidential election but the generals who have run the country since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak issued new rules that made clear real power remains with the army. A decree from the ruling military council, published as the count got under way on Sunday, spelled out only limited powers for the new head of state and reclaimed for itself the lawmaking prerogatives held by the Islamist-led parliament which the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) dissolved last week. Liberal and Islamist opponents denounced a ‘military coup’.” Read more.

By Barbara Starr, CNN – “The U.S. military has completed its own planning for how American troops would conduct a variety of operations against Syria, or to assist neighboring countries in the event action was ordered, officials tell CNN.

In recent weeks, the Pentagon has finalized its assessment of what types of units would be needed, how many troops, and even the cost of certain potential operations, officials tell CNN.

Multiple military officials say initial planning is complete with a full understanding of what types of troops and units would be needed. This has been done so that if President Obama were to ask for options the military would be ready to present them. But officials say additional detailed work would have to be done before forces could be deployed.

The planning comes as the U.S. has become increasingly concerned that the violence in Syria is verging on civil war. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the recent series of bombings have heightened the worry.

Dempsey said it reminded him of the escalating violence during the Iraq war.

The violence ‘gives us all pause that have been in Iraq and seen how these issues become sectarian and then they become civil wars and then they become very difficult to resolve,’ Dempsey told CNN in an exclusive interview on Thursday.

A senior U.S. official said the developments have been a matter of discussion in the Obama administration.

‘There is a sense that if the sectarian violence in Syria grows, it could be worse than what we saw in Iraq,’ the official said.” Read more.

Israel may use military force ‘to secure’ Syria’s alleged chemical arsenal – “The Israeli army is considering using military force to prevent Syria’s alleged chemical warfare stockpiles from getting into the hands of Hezbollah or Al-Qaeda. Tel-Aviv believes that Damascus is no longer capable of securing its arsenal. Syria has never declared it possesses chemical weapons stocks, but the Israeli military does not put its existence under question. Tel Aviv believes Syria has been busy producing mustard and nerve gas for the last 40 years. On Monday Israeli Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh, the country’s deputy military chief, warned that Syria could pose a threat to Israel with its chemical weapons.” Read more.

Russia Prepares Army for Syrian Deployment – “Given the worsening crisis in Syria, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper reported that the Russian army is apparently being prepared for a mission in Syria. Citing anonymous sources in the military leadership, the newspaper said that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the general staff to work out a plan for military operations outside Russia, including in Syria. The units being prepared for an intervention are the 76th Division of airborne forces (an especially experienced unit of the Russian army), the 15th Army Division, as well as special forces from a brigade of the Black Sea fleet, which has a base in the Syrian port of Tartus.” Read more.

Britain Could Send in Troops to Syria Says William Hague – “Britain could be forced to send troops into Syria if the bloodshed escalates into all-out civil war, William Hague warned yesterday. The Foreign Secretary said that time for a diplomatic solution is rapidly running out and the country is ‘on the edge’ of a Bosnia-style sectarian conflict. Britain will ‘greatly increase’ support for the Syrian opposition if attempts to end President Bashar al-Assad’s brutal repression fail, Mr Hague said. Admitting that our troops may be called into action, the Foreign Secretary said: ‘The reason I don’t rule things out is because we really don’t know how this situation is going to develop or how terrible it is going to become.’” Read more.

By Rachel Hirshfeld, INN – “In Turkey’s latest rebuff of Israel, Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz has decided to renege on an agreement in principle to provide Israel with information about ballistic missile launchings from terrorist entities, Defense News reported.

NATO agreed in a summit meeting in Lisbon two years ago to devise a missile defense system to protect alliance members from a rogue nation in the area. As part of the system, Turkey agreed to allow the U.S. military to install a special X-band radar at a base in Kurecik in southeastern Turkey.

‘Any data or information produced by this system will only be available to the alliance, as in the case for other alliance systems,’ Yilmaz said in an email message to Defense News on June 12. ‘Information-sharing with non-NATO actors is subject to specific arrangements and it is possible only if the allies consensually agree on it.’

Although there has been some discussion of sharing the radar’s data with Israel, the Turkish government would likely object if the alliance sought to do so.

Yilmaz also stated that his ultimate objective as defense minister would be the development of Turkey’s national defense industry.

‘The Ministry of National Defense will continue its modernization program … and will support the national defense industry by following the scientific developments in the world,’ he said.” Read more.

‘Modernization Program’ Flashback: Turkey to Double Size of Its Army – “With Prime Minister Erdogan’s Islamist AK party having seized its third landslide election victory in Turkey, many throughout the international community have been watching to see what will be next on the Turkish agenda. Now there are strong indicators in the Turkish media that Turkey is planning on literally doubling the size of its army – this coming from the nation that already has the largest army in Middle East and the second-largest army in NATO, second only to the United States.” Read more.

‘Modernization Program’ Flashback: Turkey Installing New Military Tech That Will Allow Warplanes and Ships to Target Israel as the Enemy – “In yet another sign of the deterioration in Israel-Turkish ties, Turkey’s Star Gazete reported Tuesday that the military is installing new technology that will allow warplanes and ships to target Israeli vessels. Previously, Turkish planes, ships and submarines used American technology, which automatically classified Israeli equipment as ‘friendly.’ The new system, developed in Turkey, will allow the Turkish military to decide which targets to label as friendly. The switch was pioneered by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s regime. The system was declared ready just days after Erdogan suspended defense trade with Israel and termed Israel a ‘spoiled child.’” Read more.

The new Islamist status quo rising up in Egypt will not bow down to this ruling without a fight. Things could get ugly …

By Ernesto Londoño and Leila Fadel, The Washington Post – “CAIRO — Egypt’s constitutional court ruled Thursday that Mubarak ally Ahmed Shafiq can run for president, and declared that one-third of the lower house of parliament was elected unconstitutionally–raising the possibility that parliament will be suspended until a new election can be held.

The eagerly anticipated rulings were a setback for Egypt’s revolutionaries and Islamists on the eve of the country’s landmark presidential vote, which begins Saturday. Protesters clashed with security forces outside the courthouse minutes after the decisions were announced.

By keeping Shafiq in the race, the court appeared to side with Egyptians who see the former air force chief— who served as Mubarak’s last prime minister, before Mubarak was ousted — as best suited to lead a country reeling from a year and a half of chaotic military rule.

The judges on the top court are Mubarak appointees and seen as sympathetic to the old order. That perception could fuel confrontations between anti-Shafiq protesters and security forces, who were recently given vast powers to detain civilians.

‘Both decisions empower the Mubarak status-quo, which is no surprise, as the judges of the court were appointed by the latter, and represent a part of the so-called ‘deep-state,’’ Omar Ashour, an Egypt expert at Exeter University, said in an e-mail.

Shafiq will compete for the presidency against Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood candidate. Morsi and his allies say Shafiq wants to return Egypt’s government to the repressive tactics Mubarak favored. Shafiq, in turn, says a Morsi victory would transform Egypt into an ultra-conservative Islamic state.” Read more.