Egypt Moving Closer to Civil War + Syrian Opposition Calls for Truce

Based on the story this morning by David Kirkpatrick and Kareem Fahim, "Army Kills 51, Deepening Crisis in Egypt," it seems clear to me that yesterday's shootings in front of the Republican Guard barracks in Nasr City was a massacre instigated by the military. Sharif Abdel Kouddous, appearing yesterday on Democracy Now, reminds us that the Egyptian military has massacred people recently, during the interim period following Mubarak's ouster in 2011:

Ben Hubbard and Kareem Fahim report in "Bloody Day in Unrest Widens the Rupture Among Ordinary Egyptians" that the massacre has hardened Egyptians rather than creating a desire to step back from the brink of civil war.

Right now the Obama administration is trying to finesse labeling the coup a coup in order to keep the $1.3 billion in aid flowing to -- and maintain its leverage on -- the Egyptian military. I'm sure this is a significant part of the reason behind interim president Adli Mansour's announcement this morning of a time table for the political transition. David Kirkpatrick has the story, "Egypt’s Interim Government Seeks Quick Elections." A committee will be named to rewrite the Constitution followed by elections for parliament and the president, all within six months.

Anne Barnard, whose reporting most of the time can be mistaken for outright rebel advocacy, has a story where the real news -- the Syrian opposition's "prime minister," Ghassan Hitto, resigning and its new leader, Ahmad Assi al-Jarba, calling for a truce -- is buried in favor of a lot of quotes attributed to an anonymous Damascus analyst, presumably a Syrian government insider, about internal Ba'ath Party politics, e.g., the sacking of vice president Farouk al-Shara.

Bashar al-Assad is in negotiation with UN disarmament chief Angela Kane about entry into Syria to investigate evidence of chemical weapons use by the rebels. Apparently the Syrian government has discovered significant chemical stockpiles held by the opposition. Reuters has the story.