By Rand Paul
Obama acts as though we no longer have a Constitution
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
On the second anniversary of the uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak's 29-year rule, Egyptian youth who were the driving force behind that protest say Islamists hijacked their revolution, and they despair over the future of the North African nation.
Bahrain's highest court this week upheld prison terms for 20 opposition figures — including eight sentenced to life — for plots to overthrow the government in a decision likely to touch off more protests in the Gulf nation and bring renewed criticism from its Western allies.
The only female judge to sit on Egypt's highest court said Tuesday she has filed the first legal challenge against the country's highly contentious constitution, which cost her the seat she held.
Egypt's opposition alliance was staging rallies across the country on Tuesday to protest a contentious Islamist-backed draft constitution, after the country's Ministry of Justice ordered a probe into allegations of widespread voting irregularities during Saturday's first round of voting on the document.
Opposing sides in Egypt's political crisis were staging rival rallies on Friday, the final day before voting starts on a contentious draft constitution that has plunged the country into turmoil and deeply divided the nation.
One of Egypt's most prominent ultraconservative Muslim clerics had high praise for the country's draft constitution. Speaking to fellow clerics, he said this was the charter they had long wanted, ensuring that laws and rights would be strictly subordinated to Islamic law.
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi faced the prospect of widening civil disobedience on Monday as the media and the tourism industry pondered measures to join a protest by judges against the Islamist leader.
Egypt's top court suspended its work indefinitely to protest "psychological and physical pressures" after supporters of the Islamist president prevented judges from entering the courthouse Sunday to rule on the legitimacy of a disputed constitutional assembly.
Egypt's political crisis deepened over the weekend, as judges shut down the country's highest court Sunday after crowds of Islamists backing the government surrounded the courthouse.
More than 100,000 protesters took to the streets in Egypt vowing to stop a draft constitution that Islamist allies of President Mohammed Morsi approved early Friday in a rushed, all-night session without the participation of liberals and Christians.
The power struggle between Egypt's Islamic and secularist forces intensified Wednesday, with some analysts warning of civil war and supporters of the Islamist government planning to march Saturday on a central square in Cairo where opponents have been holding a sit-in for more than a week.
Egypt's two highest appeals courts suspended their work Wednesday to protest presidential decrees that gave the country's Islamist leader Mohammed Morsi nearly absolute powers, state television reported.
Earlier this year, most analysts in Egypt assessed Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi to be the key figure in that country's politics and President Mohamed Morsi to be a lightweight. Mr. Morsi fired Field Marshal Tantawi on Aug. 12.
The power struggle that has pitted Egypt's first democratically elected president against his country's courts and military has drifted into murky legal waters, leaving analysts, officials and ordinary Egyptians scratching their heads over the question: who has the law on their side?
Egypt's Islamist-dominated parliament opened a new front in the country's leadership showdowns Tuesday by meeting in defiance of orders that disbanded the chamber and brought President Mohammed Morsi in conflict with both the powerful military and the highest court.
