World View: Morsi Refuses Compromise on Constitution

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com:

• Egypt’s president Morsi refuses any compromise on constitution
• Brotherhood offices torched, hundreds of casualties, as violence continues in Egypt
• Geithner, representing Obama, refuses any compromise in fiscal cliff negotiations
• Rate of decline in Russia’s population doubles from previous decade

Egypt’s president Morsi refuses any compromise on constitution

An angry Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi addressed the nation onThursday in a much-anticipated speech that many hoped would offersome compromise to end the violence in Cairo. Instead, he accused theopposition of being remnants of the old Hosni Mubarak regime, andvowed he would never tolerate anyone working for the overthrow of hismight offer any meaningful concessions, so that “comprehensive andproductive dialogue” apparently means doing everything his way. 

 Hesaid: “It is my duty … to protect institutions of thenation,” he said. “I will always fulfill this role, no matter howmuch pressure or what the situation.”

Another one of Morsi’s advisers quit in protest on Thursday, followingthree such resignations earlier in the week. AP

Brotherhood offices torched, hundreds of casualties, as violence continues in Egypt

After Wednesday’s “massive assault” by Muslim Brotherhood supportersof Egypt’s president Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood headquarters inCairo was torched, as were several regional MB offices. Tens ofthousands of Morsi supporters and opponents fought each other onThursday, leaving at least six dead and 700 injured. Al-Ahram (Cairo)

Geithner, representing Obama, refuses any compromise in fiscal cliff negotiations

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, representing president BarackObama, said Wednesday that the Obama administration is “absolutely”ready for the U.S. economy to go over the “fiscal cliff” rather thanaccept a budget deal that doesn’t include higher tax rates for topearners:  “There’s no prospect in an agreement that doesn’tinvolve those rates going up on the top 2 percent of thewealthiest Americans.”

As I’ve written in the past, both “hope and change” candidates who wonon the basis of personality, and who are now refusing to compromise inany way.

In the next few months, we should be seeing a third example of this

Imran Khan, one of Pakistan’s greatest cricket players of all time,once voted as the “Sexiest Man of The Year” by Australia Magazine Oz,is the “hope and change” candidate who is expected to win next year’spresidential election. Khan is running on vitriolicly anti-Americanplatform, referring to Pakistan’s relationship with America as “clientand master.” If and when Khan wins, it will be interesting to seewhether he refuses any compromise with his opposition as well.AP and Indian Express

Rate of decline in Russia’s population doubles from previous decade

The fact that Russia’s population has been declining has been knownfor some time, but new analyses of the 2010 census show that thedecline is much more rapid than previously estimated — nearly doubledduring the past decade compared to the rate in the 1990s. However,it’s even more significant that the share of ethnic Russians in thepopulation is declining relative to the others, both indigenous andimmigrant, but not as significantly as had been the case in the 1990s,largely because fertility rates among many non-Russian peoples havedeclined, approaching those of the ethnic Russians. Many non-Russiansand especially Muslim writers suggested that the decline of the ethnicRussians reflected “high infant mortality, low fertility, emigration,poor health, a short life expectancy and a culture that supported highlevels of consumption of alcohol.” Jamestown

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