BBC's have your say

For a few days BBC had a "have your say" about the consitutional changes here in Egypt
It's a really interesting read http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=5913&&edition=2&ttl=20070329134053

The formation of political parties with religious agenda has always been banned, it was inserted here as camouflage, a cover-up for the 2 most threatening ammendments: the first being the so called "anti-terrorism law" which says that if you are a suspect of terrorism then the gov can pretty much do anything to you - this has the exact same functionality of the emergency law - except the emergency law was a temporary thing (even if it lasts a very long time) but an act in the consituion is no longer temporary, it's a fact - and needs another consitutional ammendment to undo.

The second thing that people are not talking about is how the prime minister has been given a lot of importance. We now have two acts in the consitution which state who takes charge if something happens to the president. The old act says it's the head of the parliament or the head of the supreme court, and none of them have a right to run for an election. This act is still there, and there's another act that says that if the perisdent is unable to perform his duties then his VP or the prime minister take his place. And nothing is said about their right to run for presidency. This is a little confusing,,,, and since when can the prime minister fill in for the president?

The BBC thing is interesting because it shows how successfull the government was in covering up the real changes - so many people are focusing on the no religious parties thing, and don't focus or notice the other changes.

I would also like to point out this following comment which deserves an applause:
Till the US and the West keep their eyes closed on the so called democratic set-up in Egypt it will have no impact whatso ever whether rules are amended or not. Hosni Mubarak is going to place his son as his successor and it is all being planned for it. So much for democracy in the ME.
Siraj Ahsan, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

And when was the last time you got to vote for your favorite Emir? BTW its not the USA job to provide Democracy to you or anyone else. Blame game gets real old.
[cynic555], United States

Seriously, Gulfies need to learn to put a sock in it sometimes. Just coz their gov buys off their silence doesn't make them any better.
And i agree with cynic555 - the blame game, enough already....