Tunesia, Egyt and now Yemen: a domino effect in the Middle East?

Several articles on the Muslim Brotherhood and the current unrest in Egypt.

By all means, consider the sources.

Muslim Brotherhood: ‘Prepare Egyptians for war with Israel'

"The fear is broken," yelled Bahaa Mohammed. "We want freedom." "And Islam," said his friend. "We need Islam." "Yes," said Mohammed, hushing the young man. "But first freedom and the will of the people."

The real danger is that our experts, pundits and professors will talk the Arab and American worlds into believing we can all trust the MB. And that's dangerous because, outside of the government, the MB is the only organized political force, the only group capable of taking power. And if they do gain control, it's going to be almost impossible for the people to take it back. Just look at Iran.

Right now, if I were President Obama, I would bring home my embassy. Learn from 1979, Barry...That is a reminder that the United States is not omnipotent. Of course, that won’t stop people from blaming President Obama for this mess.

...judging from my chance encounters with protesters, any assertion that the (Muslim Brotherhood) is absent or very thinly represented is probably wishful thinking.

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Pro-Mubarak group confronts the crowd in the square. Fights breaking out and the military trying to intervene.

edit: gunfire.

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@JPB,

Just heard on TV that the Egyptian military are very close to the US military, because many of their generals graduated from West Point and US colleges. We'll have to wait and see.

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In the interest of fairness:

ikhwanweb - The Muslim Brotherhood's Official English Website

Pretty darn slick and it's interesting that they feel the need for an English website.

Quote:

BREAKING NEWS

MB affirms it will respect Egypt's international treaties

MB is calling for truthful and pure democratic gov't that protects freedoms and human rights

MB will support liberal candidate such as Dr. ElBaradei, to lead a national unity gov't

Official MB statement: MB confirms it will not take leadership positions in the upcoming gov't

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Finn dAbuzz wrote:

Pretty darn slick and it's interesting that they feel the need for an English website.

Well, since the 1940's they publish in English - why shouldn't they use the internet?

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I've not yet heard or seen the name Kefaya mentioned, but here is some info on what is supposed to be

Quote:

The unofficial moniker of the Egyptian Movement for Change (Arabic: الحركة المصرية من أجل التغيير‎ el-Haraka el-Masreyya men agl el-Taghyeer), a grassroots coalition which draws its support from across Egypt’s political spectrum to oppose Hosni Mubarak’s presidency.

Kefaya

From the article:

Quote:

At the time of the 2011 Egyptian protests the movement joined the protests that had been initiated by younger internet-savvy agitators via Facebook.

I've since read that google shut down Kefaya's website but the link in the Wikipedia article works. The site is in arabic and so I have no idea if it is the proper one. Note though the similarity between "el Haraka el-Masreyya" above and "haraka masria" in the URL below.

Anyone here read arabic?

http://www.harakamasria.org/

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@Walter Hinteler,

When did I say that they shouldn't use the internet?

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@JPB,

JPB wrote:

Pro-Mubarak group confronts the crowd in the square. Fights breaking out and the military trying to intervene.

edit: gunfire.

I previously wrote:

There are three ways these demonstrations can turn to violent riots:

1) The military begins an essentially unprovoked crackdown which it appears they have already decided not to do.
2) Agitators (see Muslim Brotherhood) stage incidents that can be blamed on the government.
3) There is some unpredictable and horribly tragic accident that everyone misreads.

Make that 4 ways.

(Or it could be a version of #2 at work)

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Finn dAbuzz wrote:

When did I say that they shouldn't use the internet?

Did I mention that you said so?

Sorry, I only wanted to add - because you find it interesting - that they used the English language not only verbally since 1928 but printed in English as well from the 1940's onwards.

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@JPB,

Quote:

Pro-Mubarak group confronts the crowd in the square.

CIA incited folks?

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obama to speak at 6:20 EST.

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@cicerone imposter,

Quote:

Just heard on TV that the Egyptian military are very close to the US military, because many of their generals graduated from West Point and US colleges. We'll have to wait and see.

You could say pretty much the same thing about Pakistan's military, but that does not keep Pakistan from harboring the Taliban and Osama, did not prevent the selling of nuclear technology to North Korea, and did not prevent agents of the military training terrorists to launch an attack on Bombay. While the Americans claim that the close ties with the military are a big deal in our favor the point is debatable.

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@Walter Hinteler,

You (to me) wrote:

why shouldn't they use the internet?

I wrote:

When did I say that they shouldn't use the internet?

You wrote:

Did I mention that you said so?

Yes, always interesting.

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@hawkeye10,

Sure, "you" can say the same thing, but that's not the issue on this thread.

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@hawkeye10,

It means there are open lines of communication and probably some personal relationships to draw upon.

Obviously it doesn't mean the Egyptian military is going to do what ever we want or never do something we don't want, but still it helps our position.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Quote:

but still it helps our position

how much does it help if the population decides that ties to America represents a negative and not a positive?? anyone with ties to American will go the extra mile to establish their credibility by doing exactly the opposite of what we want them to do. American claims of value are highly suspect here.

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@hawkeye10,

So far, it seems that the population is embracing the military which does help in ways that Set identified earlier.

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@JTT,

Quote:

CIA incited folks?

You mean like all the protesters are anti-CIA folks ? Psychotics like you ?

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@hawkeye10,

That will be then.

Right now the military is the prime player in this drama and for now "close" ties between their military and ours helps our position.

In any case, I am of the opinion that nearly $3 billion in annual aid helps our position far more than any shared experiences at West Point.

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@JPB,

True enough, JPB, but I think that the rank and file military, the boots on the ground guys, are wary and weary about their role. This is not what they were trained for.
Demonstrators are not happy with what they heard tonight and appear to be ready to clash with police and "pro-Mubarak" forces.

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Tunesia, Egyt and now Yemen: a domino effect in the Middle East?

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