Barry Rubin: Brothers in Arms: The Muslim Brotherhood Takes Over the (Sunni) Arab World

Brothers in Arms: The Muslim Brotherhood Takes Over the (Sunni) Arab World

By Barry Rubin

On November 28, Egyptians will vote for a parliament which will also write the country’s new constitution. The Western media at first told us that the Muslim Brotherhood was weak and unimportant as well as moderate. Now, when it’s too late, the Western media is admitting they are strong and radical. But the Obama administration insists they are strong and moderate.

The last time I read an article in the Atlantic on the Brotherhood, it claimed that the group was a joke and only had 13 percent support. Now it is publishing an article that takes it for granted that the Brotherhood will win the election.

There’s a new poll out that I don’t think is accurate, but keep reading and I’ll tell you why it is misleading in a moment.

According to the poll, 38 percent of Egyptians would vote for the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party. (Remember when we were told that this was a moderate split-off from the Brotherhood?) and 12 percent would vote for the even more radical al-Nour Party.

Why, then, do I think this poll isn’t accurate?
Because it was a poll conducted on Facebook. Get it? Of course the poll isn’t scientific and people can cheat. But this was done on Facebook, supposedly the domain of the moderates. Thus, it might actually understate the Islamists’ appeal!

Continue reading Brothers in Arms: The Muslim Brotherhood Takes Over the (Sunni) Arab World

Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). His latest book is Israel: An Introduction, to be published by Yale University Press in January 2012. You can read more of Barry Rubin's posts at Rubin Reports, and now on his new blog, Rubin Reports, on Pajamas Media
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