Morsi sees key to world peace in 'Planet of the Apes' movie

Ok, so Egypt's newest leader may have officially gone off the deep end.

First, President Mohammed Morsi declares himself de facto dictator by claiming absolute powers and maintaining that none of his decrees are subject to challenge. Then -- in the midst of national protests and judicial chaos over his power grab -- he says this:

"I remember a movie. Which one? Planet of the Apes. The old version, not the new one. There is new one. Which is different. Not so good. It’s not expressing the reality as it was the first one. But at the end, I still remember, this is the conclusion: When the big monkey, he was head of the supreme court I think — in the movie! — and there was a big scientist working for him, cleaning things, has been chained there. And it was the planet of the apes after the destructive act of a big war, and atomic bombs and whatever in the movie. And the scientists was asking him to do something, this was 30 years ago: “Don’t forget you are a monkey.” He tells him, “Don’t ask me about this dirty work.” What did the big ape, the monkey say? He said, “You’re human, you did it [to] yourself.” That’s the conclusion. Can we do something better for ourselves?"

The context for this reference? Morsi was talking about how humans can live together in peace and harmony.

From a Time interview, Nov. 28, 2012, by Richard Stengel, Bobby Ghosh and Karl Vick.