Sunday, January 30, 2011

Egypt, Obama, and the Muslim Brotherhood

So where does the Obama administration stand with what's going on in Egypt? Who are they supporting? Well, here's what our Sec. of State had to say yesterday.



(Just an aside--is Hillary trying to channel Margaret Thatcher these days with her "new look"? I've been trying to figure out what she's doing with herself these days, and that's the closest I can come to an answer. She looks like hell, or at best she looks completely different than she did when she was campaigning. But I digress. . . )

John Bolton, former U.N. ambassador, says that the U.S. responses by Obama and H.Clinton have been "mush. . . . this is a case where we are far better advised to remain silent, try to understand better what's going on, what the stakes are, rather than making statements that other people are parsing to say, "oh, they are supporting the demonstrators," "oh, they are supporting the government." I think there is confusion inside the administration."
Bolton asks the question, "How would you like the Muslim Brotherhood to be in charge of the Suez Canal?"

The NYT, O's paper of record, said in an article on Thursday that the Muslim Brotherhood's role in Egypt's protests "may grow." “Tomorrow [Friday] is going to be the day of the intifada,” said a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood here in Egypt’s second largest city, who declined to give his name because he said he would be arrested if he did. The spokesman said that the group was encouraging members of its youth organization — roughly those 15 to 30 years old — to take part in protests.

Then we have Bruce Reidel, a former CIA officer and adviser to the O administration, with this article in the Daily Beast: "Don't Fear Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood."

An alternate point of view is presented by Thomas Joscelyn at the Weekly Standard: "The Muslim Brotherhood is No Friend." Joscelyn states that if you want to know more about the Muslim Brotherhood, Barry Rubin's book is an "excellent compendium": The Muslim Brotherhood.

Read the posts on Atlas Shrugged about the whitewashing of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The WSJ has the latest on the chaos in Egypt: "Chaos, Looting Spread as Fighter Jets Sweep Over Cairo."

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