Ikhwanweb :: The Muslim Brotherhood Official English Website

Democracy’s time: a reply to Tarek Osman

The readiness of Islamist movements in the middle east to engage with democratic ideas is evidence that the region is ready for substantive democratic change. The United States should renew its efforts in this direction in deed as well as word, says Shadi Hamid..

In search of a lasting legacy

I am, in some sense, torn. Most American analysts look back at the era of Bush and feel a mix of sadness and anger. I have been both sad and angry but my view is coloured by another emotion, that of betrayal. It is not so much that the last eight years, particularly in the realm of foreign policy, were a failure. What troubles me more is that it needn’t have been so. Something, here, was lost...

Violent Islamists vs. Non-Violent Islamists

[Our administration will be] very clear in distinguishing between organizations like Al Qaeda — that espouse violence, espouse terror and act on it — and people who may disagree with my administration and certain actions, or may have a particular viewpoint in terms of how their countries should develop. We can have legitimate disagreements but still be respectful. ..

Why Did Obama Choose Al-Arabiya for His First Major Interview?

The crowd laughs, perhaps thinking such a thing quite unlikely. One can dream! Here’s the video of Carpenter (go to 29:25). (Carpenter first made his recommendation in a POMED publication released earlier this month). Who knows - perhaps an Obama advisor was in the audience or heard about it after and thought, well, hmm, "that’s actually a pretty good idea." Indeed it was. The more important point, however, is that, for too long, we had been used to a president who failed to surprise u..

When Islamists Wield Power

In short, there’s little reason to think that the “Islamists can’t govern” thesis is correct. There is, of course, the example of Hamas. But Hamas is something of an exceptional case: it doesn’t govern an actual state. In any case, Hamas (as well as Hezbollah) should not be treated as representative of political Islam, since it remains a violent group that hasn’t yet renounced terrorism. Nearly all other mainstream Islamist groups in the Middle East and South Asia are both 1) nonviolen..

Pragmatism

To add to my post the other day on the role of ideology in foreign policy, I just want to say something about “pragmatism,” since we are hearing that word a lot. The emerging consensus, as Glenn Greenwald puts it, is that “we have now entered an era where pragmatism and competence trumps all considerations and old ‘ideological’ disputes are thereby rendered obsolete.” Along these lines, Dan Lehr says “pragmatism is forcing ideology to take a back seat.” This is probably true. Ideology ..

Terror Incentives and the Decline of Tourism

Jeff Goldberg in a recent post on, um, "how to stay alive in a terrorized hotel," recommends that travelers "stay in hotels that have already been bombed or otherwise attacked. Mumbai is a fairly safe place for travelers right now."..

Foreign Policy and "First-Order" Questions

I’m a bit worried that some people mistook my post on the “inappropriateness of a left-right spectrum on foreign policy” last week. In some ways I did, as Dan Lehr put it, “[celebrate] the end of the old ‘left-right/war-peace’ dichotomies.” But this does not mean that other dichotomies, or dichotomies in general, are inappropriate. Brent Scrowcroft and I may agree on many things now, but this convergence, in my view, is an accident of recent history. It tells us little about our compet..

The Palestinian Question in Jordanian Politics

Last month, I wrote on the apparent rapprochement between three key Jordanian actors, the Islamic Action Front (the largest opposition party), the regime, as well as Hamas, which continues to wield substantial influence within the kingdom, both directly and indirectly..

The Inappropriateness of Using a Left-Right Spectrum on Foreign Policy

Many of you have probably seen the interesting back-and-forth between Matt Yglesias and Ross Douthat regarding Obama’s foreign policy orientation. I just wanted to comment that, while I understand what Ross is saying, I still find this part somewhat baffling:..

Re: The False Hope of Democracy Promotion

Greg Scoblete at RealClearWorld is right to flag a potential contradiction in a post I wrote last week on the need for the new administration to make clear to Arab regimes that we’re serious about democratic reform. I say:..

Turkish Leadership

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has offered to mediate between the U.S. and Turkey. Others, including Patrick Barry and Ezra Klein, have written about the broader strategic implications. I want to underline one thing: Erdogan, depending on how you define things, is an Islamist or was an Islamist at some point. His Justice and Development Party (AKP) is quite clearly a religiously-oriented one. For those who feel that Islamist parties and U.S...

Understanding Electoral Defeat

Watching the fascinating debate on the Right (bookmark The Next Right) in the wake of defeat highlights some of the things we know about how democracy functions – and how dictatorships don’t. One of the few things that will force a political party to adapt to changing circumstances and engage in long-overdue intro/retrospection is a drubbing at the ballot box...

Re: Historic Election

Thanks to David Shorr for pointing us to this bipartisan statement on “revitalizing international cooperation.” I always look forward to reading what comes out of the Stanley Foundation. They’ve worked hard to demonstrate that it is possible for Democrats and Republicans to come together on key foreign policy concerns, this being no exception. That said, I want to comment on a couple sections from the statement, which I think are especially interesting for discussion:..

A Day in the Life of a Dictatorship

Last week, during the Egyptian ruling party’s annual convention, Ahmed Ezz, prominent member of the deceptively-named..

Obama and my Grandmother

My father called my grandmother in Cairo yesterday. He told me that she was very excited about Obama’s victory, and that she said she was "praying for Obama." (In Arabic, it was even more striking. She used the verb da’a, which is translated as "to pray for," but more accurately means "to make a supplication for." Da’a is usually used in the context of praying for those who are most dear to you, sons, mothers, nephews, close friends). ..

Sarah Palin and the Muslim Brotherhood

So I’ve been reading with great interest the rather amusing stories of Republican post-election infighting. "Factions" strikes me as an appropriate word here. I was watching FNC’s Carl Cameron dishing the juicy gossip, and I kept on thinking to myself: where have I heard this before?..

Rare Victory for Muslim Democracy

In the Maldives. "Nasheed’s victory in the nation’s first multiparty elections caps a remarkable journey for an activist whose criticism of Gayoom and crusading for democracy saw him charged 27 times and jailed or banished to remote atolls for a total of six years...

New PPI Paper on US Policy toward the Middle East

While there is a well-deserved consensus that the Bush administration has caused untold damage to our relationship with the Arab and Muslim world, it would be a mistake to think that eight years of Republican rule are an anomaly in an otherwise proud history of successful engagement. The reality is more troubling: American policy has been consistently self-defeating under administrations of both parties for more than five decades... ..

To be American and Muslim (it’s about time)

There was one part of Colin Powell’s interview that stood out for me (I now see that Ilan was similarly impressed in his post below). Powell, yesterday, was the first politician of his stature to speak publicly, with eloquence and passion, about the tragic turn of this election – that “Muslim” has become a smear. In the process, a whole faith has been denigrated. It is ..