The Muslim Brotherhood Is Becoming A Major Political Force In Egypt

Those that stated that the uprisings in the Middle East and especially Egypt might not be a good thing were ridiculed and scoffed at, but now it seems as if the uprisings might not actually be leading to democracy and freedom. The fact that the Muslim Brotherhood is becoming a major player in the new Egypt is of interest because the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization unfriendly towards the West whose members included some of the 911 hijackers and a spiritual and intellectual leader that hates Israel, a big understatement. Israel's--our traditional ally and the only free nation is that region of the world--dependence on Egypt to maintain stability is an important factor to keep in mind as it appears they might be loosing an ally, if you could characterize Egypt's and Israel's relationship as such. The uprisings in Egypt were heralded with organismic praise by the media to include our President, who encouraged it, as an uprising comprised of the young and idealist that were seeking freedom, democracy, and "change" whose outcome would lead to democracy. If what is stated in this article is true, then this is a good indication of what the uprisings in the Middle East, at least Egypt, are possibly leading to: an outcome that is not good for freedom or world stability.

It looks like the Muslim Brotherhood is becoming a major player in the new Egypt. "In post-revolutionary Egypt, where hope and confusion collide in the daily struggle to build a new nation, religion has emerged as a powerful political force, following an uprising that was based on secular ideals. The Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group once banned by the state, is at the forefront, transformed into a tacit partner with the military government that many fear will thwart fundamental changes. It is also clear that the young, educated secular activists who initially propelled the nonideological revolution are no longer the driving political force — at least not at the moment. [...] 'There is evidence the Brotherhood struck some kind of a deal with the military early on,' said Elijah Zarwan, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group. 'It makes sense if you are the military — you want stability and people off the street. The Brotherhood is one address where you can go to get 100,000 people off the street.'[...]'We are all worried,' said Amr Koura, 55, a television producer, reflecting the opinions of the secular minority. “The young people have no control of the revolution anymore. It was evident in the last few weeks when you saw a lot of bearded people taking charge. The youth are gone'

As Thomas Sowell points out what history shows being over optimist about the youth rising up in the name of revolution,

What we have also heard, too many times before, is the assumption that getting rid of an undemocratic government means that it will be replaced by a freer and better government.

History says otherwise. After Russia's czars were replaced by the Communists, the government executed more people in a day than the czars had executed in half a century. It was much the same story in Cuba, when the Batista regime was replaced by Castro and in Iran when the Shah was replaced by the Ayatollahs.

It is not inevitable that bad regimes are replaced by worse regimes. But it has happened too often for us to blithely assume that overthrowing a dictator means a movement toward freedom and democracy.

It also looks like Yemen is about to fall,

Of all the uprisings and protests that have swept the Middle East this year, none is more likely than Yemen to have immediate damaging effects on U.S. counterterrorism efforts. Yemen is home to al-Qaida’s most active franchise, and as President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s government crumbles, so does Washington’s influence there.[...]Further complicating U.S. efforts to build a new partnership in Yemen is the fact that one of the driving forces behind the protests is the country’s fundamentalist Islamic opposition party, known as Islah. The party’s spiritual leader, Sheik Abdel-Majid al-Zindani, is on a U.S. list of terrorists and has been described as a loyalist of Osama bin Laden. Though experts caution that Islah today is held together by shared opposition to Saleh, the group’s ties to al-Zindani would make it harder for Washington to justify spending more money to arm or stabilize an Islah-led Yemen.

This is a short post that I might add to later. The point of this post is to show that the uprisings in the Middle East are looking like they will lead to an outcome that will not be good for Israel, America, the West, or the world especially considering that terrorist organizations seem to be the ones benefiting and getting a foothold in the new governments being formed as a result of the uprisings. Given the world's dependence on that region's supply of "black gold", there is a potential for some problems ahead for the world and definitely Israel. I am not going to try and predict or state what will happen as the result of recent events in the Middle East, although it is not hard to know. But I am willingly to bet the outcome will not be good. The events in the Middle East are definitely worth keeping up to date.