Saturday, August 11, 2012

Could The Egyptian Military Be On The Verge Of Ousting The Muslim Brotherhood?

The enormous success of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is still fresh in everyone's minds. After all, they came from out of nowhere to leapfrog over what appeared to be huge crowds of Egyptians demanding democracy.

That was last year.

Now, the Muslim Brotherhood is firmly ensconced in power.
But maybe not.

The dissolving of the Egyptian Parliament is only one clue that the still powerful Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) does not plan on going away anytime soon.

Other possible indications that the days of the Muslim Brotherhood in power could be numbered are discussed in a new feature at the Gatestone Institute, where there is a new feature: The Call,
an unconventional foreign policy round-table that will be posted regularly on Monday afternoons. Each "Call" will focus on a single subject to which panelists will bring insights drawn from their experience and contacts in the worlds of finance, investigative reporting, military operations and intelligence work. The weekly discussion will be followed by regular blog-posts.

None of the panelists adhere to any common ideological line or political affiliation, and are united simply by the fact that they like talking to each other
The participants include:
  • Mike Breen--Vice President of the Truman National Security Project
  • Pepe Escobar--an investigative reporter based in Brazil
  • David Goldman--aka Spengler, the author of "How Civilizations Die"
  • Rotem Sella--a journalist at the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv 
  • David Samuels--a Contributing Editor at Harper's Magazine
Two days ago, some of them talked about the Muslim Brotherhood's tenuous hold on power in Egypt:
With nothing better to do on their Thursday lunch hour, three regulars on The Call -- Pepe Escobar, David Goldman, and David Samuels -- decided to kick around the current mess in Egypt.

They agreed that with two months of foreign currency reserves left, Egypt is close to economic collapse. The SCAF is looking to pin the country's deep-rooted economic woes and other ills on the Muslim Brotherhood before staging a coup, which will be quietly supported by the Saudis. In turn, the Muslim Brotherhood is looking for help from Iran, whose interest lies in keeping Egypt weak and divided under MB control.
Read the full discussion.

Much has been made of the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood has been biding their time in order to achieve power. Those who already have power and influence both in Egypt and in the area are not quite ready to give up so easily.

Anyone who thought that the Muslim Brotherhood coming to power would result in the beginnings of stability  is in for a surprise--and inviting Morsi to the White House in September is not going to help.

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