Ikhwanweb :: The Muslim Brotherhood Official English Website

The Islamists are not coming.

Almost two decades ago, even before his alliance with Osama bin Laden, Egyptian jihadist Ayman al-Zawahiri wrote a tract condemning the Muslim Brotherhood's abandonment of revolutionary methods in favor of electoral politics. "Whoever labels himself as a Muslim democrat, or a Muslim who calls for democracy, is like saying he is a Jewish Muslim or a Christian Muslim," he wrote...

Losing Cairo?

Since Barack Obama's speech six months ago, the Muslim world has begun to lose hope in the United States. But it's not too late ... yet...

Iran's December Rising: A Dress Rehersal for Revolution

Iran’s “December Rising” by opposition forces against the government bore all the markings of a dress rehearsal for the revolution to come...

Arab disappointment with Obama

Arab disappointment with Obama is suddenly very, very important. Fouad Ajami is very worried that Arabs are disappointed with Obama's foreign policy..

Brown: Asking the wrong questions about Palestinian elections

The hot story this afternoon is that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly threatened to quit during a phone call with Barack Obama, because he sees no chance for peace with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. I doubt anyone believes him, but it sure would shake things up a bit. More analysis will have to wait, because I'm totally snowed under at the moment. But in the meantime, my GW colleague and occasional guest-blogger Nathan Brown has sent in this piece questioning the conventional wisdom (mine included) about the importance of Abu Mazen's call for elections in January...

Ayman Nour blocked from travel

Egyptian opposition politician Ayman Nour said today that state security forces prevented him from flying to the United States. Since finally being released from prison, where he had been placed on trumped-up charges after losing the 2005 Presidential election to Hosni Mubarak, Nour has faced recurrent harrassment and abuse...

10 Questions on Combating Violent Extremism

I gave the opening keynote talk to two fascinating conferences this week organized by State Department, which sought to take stock of what might be called the "hearts and minds" part of the struggle against al-Qaeda and associated movements...

Jordanian frustration with U.S., Israel mounting

While I was in Jordan, King Abdullah gave a lengthy interview to Haaretz about the Israeli-Palestinian situation in which he warned that "We’re sliding back into the darkness."..

The Truth About Christian Zionists

Why pro-Israel Christians really support the Jewish state, push for sanctions on Iran, and want the United States to stop pressuring Jerusalem..

OBAMA’S CALL FOR TWO-STATE SOLUTION

President Obama’s risky commitment to forge a diplomatic breakthrough on a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has placed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s regime in a perilous position. Already the target of mounting criticism across the Middle East for his complicity..

Obama’s subtle shift on Islamism

I’m really not going to pre-game The Speech. But I do want to note that without making a big deal about it, President Obama has already introduced a subtle and potentially extremely important shift into American discourse about Islamism. In an interview with NPR, Obama offered these comments on Hamas:..

The Muslim Brotherhood and the Egyptian Regime

The Brotherhood, founded in 1928, is the oldest and most influential Islamist movement in the Middle East, with branches in most Arab countries. The group went underground during the rule of President Gamal Abdel Nasser (1954-70), who imprisoned or executed most its leaders. Hoping to counter the influence of the left, President Anwar el-Sadat released Brotherhood members from prison and allowed the group to operate with a degree of freedom. ..

The Mubarak Test

In two weeks, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will make his first visit to the White House since 2004. Egypt is, of course, a key U.S. ally and the United States badly needs its help as President Barack Obama attempts to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. But Mubarak is not exactly a model guest...

Where are Egyptian politics going? A panel discussion

An Egyptian delegation making the rounds of DC stopped by the Elliott School this morning to talk about the Cairo political scene and their hopes to improve American-Egyptian relations after what they described as a few turbulent years. While some of their other meetings are likely off-the-record, their gracious agreement to appear in a university setting open to the public allowed students, faculty and members of the public (including a number of Egyptian-Americans) the chance to ask..

Why promoting democracy via the internet is often not a good idea

Earlier this week I had the privilege to host my FP blogging colleague Marc Lynch at the Open Society Institute in New York. Marc painted a rather pessimistic picture of technology’s role in changing the politics of the Middle East, zooming in on the broader consequences of internet-based activism (which, paradoxically, are often either tragic or inane). The question that looms large (at least in my head) following Lynch’s talk is why bother supporting internet activists in places lik..

Should we support internet activists in the Middle East?

I spoke yesterday at the Open Society Institute about the political impact of new media in the Middle East. Thanks to everyone who showed up, and the great questions and discussions which followed. In many ways it was a pessimistic talk, which pushed back against expectations that new media technologies like blogs, Facebook or Twitter were going to radically change politics in the short or medium term. Over the longer term, there is a more real transformative potential, especially fo..

Can the United States put pressure on Israel?: A user’s guide

Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and now Barack Obama have all publicly stated that the United States seeks a "two-state" solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In other words, the United States supports the creation of a viable Palestinian state in virtually all of the West Bank and Gaza..

Please tell me, where is Israel headed?

Benjamin Netanyahu is in the final stages of putting together Israel’s next government, which will be opposed to a two-state solution. Most importantly, the new prime minister and his Likud Party are firmly against a Palestinian state. The Labor Party, which will be part of the governing coalition and which has been identified with the two-state solution for the past two decades..

The Doha Summit: A user’s guide

On Sunday, the leaders of the Arab world are scheduled to converge on the Doha Sheraton (where I recently spent two insomnia-filled nights myself) for the 21st regular Arab Summit (English here). Very high expectations have been placed on this event ever since the Saudis took it upon themselves at the Kuwait Economic Summit to push for Arab reconciliation and reach out to Syria. For weeks, Arab diplomatic circles buzzed with speculation about Doha: would it signal a new age of Arab pol..

Will the Real Obama Middle East Strategy Please Stand Up?

I want to thank Foreign Policy.com and Marc for inviting me to post on my trip to the Gulf. While I was in Kuwait, a prominent American scholar on the Middle East mentioned that he thought Abu Aardvark was the best Middle East policy-oriented blog in business, and I wholeheartedly agree, and not just because Marc’s my friend...