Egyptians disenchanted with the Muslim Brotherhood

Egypt’s interim president ordered a group of experts to start working on amending the country's constitution. But it is up to the Muslim Brotherhood, which has so far rejected any negotiations, to end the political standoff, says journalist Wael Eskandar.

RT:The army came out in a large show of force last night, as did Muslim Brotherhood supporters. Neither are taking a step back. Is there any way out of this impasse?

Wael Eskandar: Unfortunately the options are very slim right now. The real problem that we’re facing right now is from the time of President’s Morsi’s taking over, it has been a zero-sum political game. It is all or none and that is mainly the reason he was pushed out of power, because he would not share it with anyone else. He would not succumb to the opposition. And now that he has been pushed out of power, the same attitude prevails, that they are not willing to make compromise at all and the reason is because the organization is bent on dominating and pushing their way of politics. It is difficult to see any way out of this without any side compromising. At the moment it is up to the Brotherhood which rejected the talks and negotiations, so it is a standoff that continues unfortunately.

RT:How do you see this playing out? Could these tension escalate into a civil war or do you think a political solution is possible here?

WE: I don’t think it would escalate into a civil war. Actually, the military stepping in is sort of a protective measure for the Muslim Brotherhood in a way because people were angry with the Brotherhood and the violent tension, the civilian tension were very high in places were MB was dominating and people were fighting back really strongly and now the military has taken the matter in their hands in a way from a security perspective at least that the idea of a civil war is farfetched, because it is unlikely that the military will split over the Muslim Brotherhood because they face a lot of rejection from the people on the ground and from the military institution due to the way they’ve handled things. As for political solution, it is up for the Muslim Brotherhood leaders at the moment and they don’t seem to be budging. The Muslim Brotherhood have been underground for a long time, so they are very used to being on the opposing end and not opposing from the far end, so  I  don’t see how it can move forward without the Muslim Brotherhood leaders taking the decision to actually try and work something out.

RT:Is the support for the military justified for the anti-Morsi protestors after its decades of support for Mubarak's authoritarian government?

WE: The problem is that the military is the only solid institution that has not been affected by all the events that have happened. The military not only supported Mubarak but they also had a hand in creating that deal to have the MB in power. The Muslim Brotherhood were their strongest allies during the transition period despite the military crimes. It is quite ironic that now MB are against the military despite the fact that they commended them so much and complimenting them how great of a job they were doing despite a lot of crimes that we’ve witnessed. But the people right now are disenchanted with the MB that they are willing to accept anything but the Muslim Brotherhood, which is a sign of how polarized things are at the moment and how the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi made matters inside Egypt.