Ikhwanweb :: The Muslim Brotherhood Official English Website

The Arab Epic Reaches Syria

The epic battle between regime security and citizen rights that has characterized the modern Arab world for three long and weary generations enters its most important phase in Syria in the coming few weeks, says Rami G. Khouri...

What Tunisia Means to the Arab World

The grievances that the Tunisian demonstrators have articulated in recent weeks - and in other forms in recent decades - are also widely shared across the entire Arab world, notes Rami G. Khouri...

The Thrill and Consequences of Tunisia

The whole world is watching Tunisia, and especially the people of the Arab world, which shares in many ways the needs for reform that birthed Tunisia’s popular revolution, notes Rami G. Khouri...

The Gap Between Elections and Change

Arab democratic practices and institutions are alive and kicking, but there continues to be a deep and chronic gap between the phenomenon of citizens who vote, and the policies of governments that seem never to change..

Blair reminds us why the natives revolted

When former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) get together, you know that something slightly frightening will happen...

Beyond Islamists

This nagging issue just will not go away: How do local or foreign governments best deal with leading Islamist groups in the Middle East and South Asia? Do you engage, negotiate with, ignore, or actively fight politically and militarily against Hizbullah, Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Taliban and other such Islamist groups that range widely along the spectrum of cultural and political activism and occasional armed militancy?..

A Bad Spell of Big Power Behavior

The worst moment of the week was the sight of the snake-like Tony Blair once again showing us how otherwise intelligent, articulate leaders can also comfortably splash around in the underbrush of human deceit and political arrogance, notes Rami G. Khouri...

The Wall Will Fall in the Arab World

Most Arabs feel strong and confident about their culture, religion and identity, but powerless and vulnerable as citizens of their state...

The Emptiness of the Palestinian Presidency

Abbas’ weakness, like Arafat’s before him in the latter’s last decade of life, has been an infatuation with two elements that are addictive but non-productive: the trappings of power, privilege and incumbency, and a direct line to the US president, stresses Rami G. Khouri...

There is no one Islam, but many Islams

At a gathering of experts in international humanitarian law (IHL) in Geneva this week, much of the focus was on countries and societies where Muslims form a majority of the population. There was also a discussion of terrorism, and how groups that engage in terrorism can be dealt with in relation to IHL. Much of this discussion centered on terror in and from Islamic societies. ..

Explaining 20 years of Al-Qaeda

It was almost exactly 20 years ago this month that Al-Qaeda was born in Afghanistan as a movement of zealous holy warriors that was prepared to fight and die to protect the Islamic umma, or community, from foreign assault. The Russian occupation of Afghanistan was the immediate catalyst that sparked its creation,..

Diplomatic censure from Robert Pelletreau

The lack of knowledgeable and neutral American policy inputs on the Middle East leaves the US in the Middle East these days incredulously enjoying dwindling credibility, impact and respect at the same time, even when it unleashes its armed forces. A smarter approach would benefit from the rich reservoir of knowledge that exists among some of America’s seasoned diplomats who have devoted their entire professional lives to promoting US national interests in the region. ..

Four days that changed the Middle East

Events in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon continue to move erratically, with simultaneous gestures of political compromise and armed clashes that have left 46 dead in the past week...

Mideast change is coming, and may not be pretty

The convergence of six trends in the Middle East - the changing realities of food, energy, water, population, urbanization and security-dominated politics - is likely to create conditions that will be politically challenging, if not destabilizing, in many countries in the years ahead..

Why we both love and hate America

Immediately after the 9/11 attacks against the United States, President George W. Bush and many other perplexed, angry and often ignorant Americans asked a question: "Why do they hate us?" Then they made a statement: "You’re either with us or against us."..

Like Madrid on Tranquilizers

It is ironic, but symbolically telling, that the latest attempt to spark serious Arab-Israeli peace negotiations is physically based at an American naval military facility in Annapolis, Maryland. Whether the political anchorage of the process is similarly reliant on America’s military engagement and strategic interests in the Middle East remains to be seen. The signs are not encouraging, though, if we are to judge the players by their actions, rather than their words. ..

The Vital Need for National Unity of Fateh and Hamas

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ call on November 15, for the Hamas “gang” to be ousted from Gaza is understandable, but misguided...

A Great Stage that Should Not be Missed

There is something unconvincing, even insincere, about the tentative steps and gestures being made by the parties trying to arrange the meeting in Annapolis, Maryland next week to re-launch Palestinian-Israeli peace talks..

Is the Israel Lobby Pushing the United States?

A year and a half after they published their ground-breaking article "The Israel Lobby" in the London Review of Books, distinguished American academics John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt have now published their book entitled The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy...

Karen Hughes and Halloween

I could not help but notice that Karen Hughes announced her resignation as US public diplomacy chief last Wednesday -- on Halloween day -- here in the United States...