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[Owlbread]

Hassan Rouhani has won the popular vote.

He also apparently went to Glasgow Caledonian University. He lived in my beloved nation for quite a bit it seems when he was travelling in the West. He's very, very proud of it; so much so that he started talking about it in his campaign. The cheeky bugger keeps trying to make out he went to the University of Glasgow, though.

[palsch]

Hassan Rouhani has won the popular vote.

He also apparently went to Glasgow Caledonian University. He lived in my beloved nation for quite a bit it seems when he was travelling in the West. He's very, very proud of it; so much so that he started talking about it in his campaign. The cheeky bugger keeps trying to make out he went to the University of Glasgow, though.

Well colour me confused. Trying to piece this together from wiki and elsewhere.

Caledonian has only existed since 1993. It looks like he got a MPhil in 1995 and PhD in 1999, except that he was also national security advisor in Iran as well as "a member of the board of trustees of Tehran Universities and North Region" along with a number of other senior positions. So a senior member of the Iranian government and Iranian academic community went to an ex-polytechnic Scottish university that isn't even in the top 50% of British universities.

It's entirely possible he did get the degrees, but saying he studied in Glasgow might be stretching the truth somewhat.

[Owlbread]

Well colour me confused. Trying to piece this together from wiki and elsewhere.

Caledonian has only existed since 1993. It looks like he got a MPhil in 1995 and PhD in 1999, except that he was also national security advisor in Iran as well as "a member of the board of trustees of Tehran Universities and North Region" along with a number of other senior positions. So a senior member of the Iranian government and Iranian academic community went to an ex-polytechnic Scottish university that isn't even in the top 50% of British universities.

It's entirely possible he did get the degrees, but saying he studied in Glasgow might be stretching the truth somewhat.

I think Glasgow Caledonian has fallen in its status in recent years. When my mother went it was quite respected.

That said, it's very confusing indeed. It seems he did definitely study at Glasgow Caledonian in the mid 90s but his campaign talked about him faffing about there back in the 70s. It's not necessarily whether or not he "studied in Glasgow" that's stretching the truth - it's in what university/establishment in particular. He certainly didn't go to Glasgow Uni as he's been trying to make out.

[palsch]

Oh, it's well regarded. But as a university doing it's part for wider participation in higher education and preparing students for employment. It's not the elite class of school you would expect world leaders to go to, and certainly not the sort that senior members of foreign governments make a point of attending for their PhD.

In a sense it would be cool if he had chosen it, given it's a deliberately non-elite, diverse and inclusive institution, but his conflating it with Glasgow University kinda messes up that reading.

[Owlbread]

I think it's quite nice though that the most contentious topic we have to discuss with respect to Mr. Rouhani is his university education. Makes a big difference compared with guys like Ahmadinejad.

[10ebbor10]

Well, back to the beginning

The Egyptian army plans to intervene if unrest arises. New coup in the works?

[Pnx]

Well given the defence minister said the army was going to intervene on the side of the government, I don't think so.

[Scoops Novel]

According to this article, with it's own sources, not if the protests are big enough on the 30th. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/27/egyptian-activists-hope-revolution-morsi. Apparently Morsi's supports halved since his election, and the next one is due in 6th months. Anyone have idea's of drawbacks for waiting until then, beyond the obvious (and the obvious not counting an attempt to violently stay in power).

[Scoops Novel]

Protests are going strong. I welcome any of your own sources.

[Sheb]

Morsi rode high after Mubarak's fall, but he failed to solve Egypt's economy. (Not that it's easy or anything). To me Egyptian are going through the same thing as European, where you hate whoever is in charge because of the economy. In addition, the secularist factions are upset because of Morsi's tendency to pack every institution with Brotherhood members and because he's an Islamist.

[Scoops Novel]

The Muslim brotherhoods headquarters have been looted and burned, and according to the new york times (and apparently given the live 4 hour coverage of the destruction of the HQ with no active police intervention), the police are in "open revolt". http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2013/jul/01/egypt-stanoff-millions-protest (live updates), New York times piece:http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/world/middleeast/egypt.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&ref=global-home&

[Duuvian]

I think now is the time for President Mohammed Morsi. The time for his one opportunity to show his unwavering support of Democracy and thus the people of Eqypt and declare fair elections in the near future to counter the unrest in his country, for the good of the millions (billions?) of people who are not him.

If he can do this I would offer my salute for his actions from America, and I am sure I would not be alone.

[Scoops Novel]

The military has released a statement, translated by The Washington Post here http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/07/01/heres-the-egyptian-militarys-full-statement-warning-it-may-act-in-48-hours/. Here's a (likely oft-repeated) quote coming down decidedly on the anti-Morsi side.

"6. The armed forces repeat the urgency of all the people’s demands to be met within 48 hours, and if the demands of the people are not met within that time period, then we will be obliged to fullfil our historical duty towards our country and the great people of Egypt to map out a future plan for the country in accordance to the demands of the Egyptian people and with the contribution of all aspects of the population, especially the youth who have proven themselves time and time again, and without exclusion of any political party."

[Dutchling]

I think now is the time for President Mohammed Morsi. The time for his one opportunity to show his unwavering support of Democracy and thus the people of Eqypt and declare fair elections in the near future to counter the unrest in his country, for the good of the millions (billions?) of people who are not him.

If he can do this I would offer my salute for his actions from America, and I am sure I would not be alone.

The only dictator I ever thought capable of doing that was Assad, and we've seen how that went

[ChairmanPoo]

No elections.  My people love me. There is no need to waste time with elections when everyone already fully supports me. No elections!