The Middle East Media Sampler 6/15/2012: What Next In Egypt?

From DG:

1) The 33% dissolution?

According to a number of news sources, Egypt's constitutional court disqualified approximately one third of the members of the Muslim Brotherhood dominated parliament. David Schenker and Eric Trager write:

Today, Egypt's Constitutional Court made two key rulings, confirming that former prime minister and air force chief Ahmed Shafiq is allowed to run in this weekend's presidential runoff and invalidating one-third of the seats in the Islamist-controlled legislature. The surprise move throws the country's political transition into further upheaval.

Barry Rubin: This Week, Turkey Went a Long Way Toward Becoming an Islamic Republic

I’d address this issue in my regular column in a Turkish newspaper but I can’t since that was cancelled within a few minutes of my sending in an article (not published) that criticized the government. I’d have a correspondent in Turkey write about this for you but my Turkish friends--even ones who have historically been courageous--are now all too afraid to do so. I could possibly publish something about it in the journal I edit, Turkish Studies, but only because a Turkish government-inspired effort to get me removed as editor failed miserably.
Barry Rubin

Today, Barry Rubin writes that This Week, Turkey Went a Long Way Toward Becoming an Islamic Republic.

He starts off by quoting Mustafa Kemal Atatürk--first President of Turkey, who is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey:

Barry Rubin: Will Their Armies Save (Some) Arab States from Islamism?

Will Their Armies Save (Some) Arab States from Islamism?

Soldiers of Turkey’s once-secular army holding official prayers
as the Islamist regime transforms it into a reliable Islamist force.

By Barry Rubin

Nowhere in the world is Mao Zedong’s dictum that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun truer than in the Middle East.

The armed forces have been the basis of power in the Arabic-speaking world and in Turkey, too. That’s why the nationalist dictatorships and traditionalist monarchies, which had seen so many coups and coup attempts in the 1950s and 1960s, had to find special ways to control the armed forces. They did so by special privileges, close intelligence watches, promoting officers on the basis of loyalty to the regime, and many other measures.