(Also read: “The World Media Goes Bonkers: An Israel-Attacks-Iran Case Study”)
Since we can’t get good coverage of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the Western media, it’s necessary to turn to the Islamists’ intended victims — Arab liberals — to get a better picture. NowLebanon explains it all to you in an article on what it calls the “media blitz” of the Muslim Brotherhood and its politicians in the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP):
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has been displaying great skill in handling the media over the past year. Since the revolution last January and the party’s electoral success in the recent round of polls in the country, the Brotherhood’s media outlets have tirelessly tried to project an image of moderation. But many secularists and leftists remain suspicious.
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The problem is that it has had the full cooperation of the Western media and governments in selling itself as moderate. Here are the NowLebanon talking points:
– “`The Brotherhood is very savvy and clever when it comes to the media, and they know their audience very well. They certainly have very good media advisors,’ says Khaled Fahmy, professor of History at the American University in Cairo.”
– “The Brotherhood has set up a TV channel and a newspaper, and both it and the FJP have been keeping daily-updated websites in English and Arabic.”
– “Their Twitter page, Ikhwanweb, has almost 8,500 followers. The managers of the account regularly engage their followers in lively discussions, and the FJP is the only party in Egypt that has its own smartphone App.”
“`They show a high degree of sophistication,’ says Said Sadek, a political analyst in Cairo.”
– “Sadek, along with other liberal and leftist commentators in Egypt, believe that the Brotherhood’s efforts aim at concealing their real intentions. `The Brotherhood and the FJP are trying to appease the growing fears of an Islamist takeover. They want to appear liberal. But what they are saying is just lip service,’ [Sadek] says.”
– “`The Brotherhood [speaks with] two tongues. … To the international community they talk like the Gulf States. But to their own members they send a different message,’ says Sadek.”
– “Senior leader of the Brotherhood Essam El-Erian recently said in an interview with the New York Times that the Camp David Accords are a `commitment of the state, not a group or a party, and this we respect.’ But other members of the Brotherhood said that there are parts of the treaty that will be revised, while still others have called for a national referendum on the pact. The peace treaty is widely unpopular in Egypt and would probably fail in a public referendum.”
– “The chairman of the Brotherhood, Mohammed Badi…said that after the elections his group got closer to establishing a `rightly guided caliphate.’ After newspaper commentaries used Badi’s statement to say that the Brotherhood wants to create a fundamentalist state, FJP spokesmen rushed forward to counter. Instead, they claimed that Badi was talking about something more in line with an economic union, like in Europe.”
In other words, while the Brotherhood’s rhetoric is fooling the West, it is scaring local liberals and Egyptian Christians even more as they observe the double talk. They know that what is said in Arabic is what really counts.
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Here is a good article on Kuwait’s election. The Islamists got 48 percent and the liberals were flattened, but it’s different from other countries because of a corruption scandal and a complex tribal situation. Here’s the point I found fascinating: the royal family is allied with the liberals in opposing Sharia law.
A good article on a whistle-blowing colonel who insists — accurately, I think — that the U.S. forces are not really winning in Afghanistan. Published to its credit by the New York Times.
And a great op-ed in the Washington Post by the leader of Turkey’s opposition on how the regime is turning the country into a police state.
It speaks volumes that we in the west, can’t get that much accurate information about the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood – and instead we must turn to the MB for the information!
If these people are so bad – as we have been led to believe, where is the proof of their obscene actions? Why aren’t we ‘amping-up’ the volume on their incredible acts of cruelty against their own citizens – instead of ‘amping-up’ our fears about what they could do?
Really, we in the west must stop projecting on these people. It’s getting silly.
We WANT them to be engaged in the process, we want them to dialogue in the media, we want to have the ability to confront them in the media when they err.
Why are some in the media (not Barry Rubin) assuming the worst, playing on fears and trying to whip up some anger against elected people who communicate well with the world’s media and the general electorate in Egypt?
It’s a new process for them and for us. Getting hysterical about it will not help us, nor will it help the MB to govern Egypt in a moderate, democratic way.
The best thing we could do, is offer to help MB strengthen Egypt’s justice system. That’s something we could do that would actually make a positive difference.
JBS
By Western standards the MB is a hate group, still living by social values 200 years old and more. Within Egypt, where their values are shared, they are not a hate group. I don’t have a problem with this but I do have a problem with them coming to America and playing their same intolerant games through CAIR and other groups. The MB is against any woman, gay or Christian being allowed to serve as President and the salafis are worse. I agree the threat the MB constitutes is over rated but not once they express themselves outside of internal Egyptian politics where they are little better than Nazis when arrayed against Western values.
John, you know nothing of Islam, apparently. You think they will listen to kafirs (non-muslim) advice on their justice system. Their justice system is some 1400 years old and has never and will never change. Islam is a supermacist totalitarian system and will not tolerate non-muslims to survive in their world. Their goal is to dominate the world and lord it over the dhimmis (non-muslim subjects) Consider the Copts in Egypt. They were the majority peoples in Egypt when Islam conquered that land. Now Copts are a minority and growing smaller every day. Christianity was dominant in N. Africa, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Persia and Turkey with about 600 Bishops serving the people. Now there is only one bishop left. This is what Islam does to civilizations. The churches and cathedrals are all gone as Islam will not allow them. Check it out. Once a nation is conquered, Islam will let you have your church but you cannot build new ones or repair old ones. Thus, over time, they crumble and decay into ruin.
With your western mindset you cannot envision the horrible possibilities of Islam. Mark these words-you will never see democracy in Egypt, or any other Middle Eastern country dominated by Islam.
this is posted in the ramadan (ramadam or dan?) section because R & S will just end up with a lot of hate answers.
so from a liberal point of view as in equality between all races, genders, religions
what can islam offer? & is the media a lying dirty rat about islam?
islam can offer nothing but opression and death. thats what it offers there is nothing in its actions that state otherwise and all you have to do is listen and ask questions and they will tell you the same. 1500 years of evidence and people still deny the obvious in favor of a pretty slogan that has been proven wrong over and over again. there is NO such thing as equality in the ways you mention people are different, cultures, different, religions different etc. “we are equal” sounds cute on bumper stickers on prius’s and song lyrcs. but and to blindly lump everything under the pc rainbow we are the world category is dangerous and foolish and shows indifference and the lack of coherant independant thought. all you have to do is listen and ask questions to know what islam is truly about, which is why MB and CAIR do everything in their power to keep people from doing that.
Muslim liberals seem to be an endangered species and those liberals with the means will probably be out migrating. True, we’re not winning in Afghanistan, because the enemy is not loosing, has sanctuaries for R&R, and the President has date stamped the operations shelf life to meet domestic political goals (midnight basketball in Chicago) while searching for a face saving decent interval through negotiations. The bad news is that Afghanistan was the presidents “good war.” Obviously Israel attacking Iran is the presidents definition of a bad war. Seems like most of the middle east countries are police states, some more than others, and those that are not police states seem to be failed states in constant Hobbesian tribal wars of all against all. Nothing new, except a more incompetent president than usual.
Don’t be too sure the MB is as smart as you think. My opinion is that the MB and salafis weren’t ushered in because of an increased desire for Islam, but an increased desire for honesty. This may be seen as a subtle difference but those entities are seen as “righteous” in Egypt. Time will tell the tale.
Also, the army loves to see the salafis and MB in a position they have never had to occupy before, that of the establishment. From here on in the MB will come under increasing scrutiny and criticism for anything that goes wrong in Egypt and the army will do what it can to help.
Remember that a year ago Egyptians were chanting the army and people are one and now those people have totally turned on the Army. No one is chanting the MB and salafis and people are one and criticism of the MB is already underway. There is a feeling among many that the MB hijacked the revolution for their own agenda. Again, time will tell the tale.
This revolution was never about religion but about jobs, education and freedom of opportunity for movement within society. If the MB and salafis don’t deliver they’ll be faced with the unenviable task of deciding what the hell to do with protesters on one side and the army on the other. Certainly the MB and salafis weren’t going to NOT put themselves in a power position because of such a consideration; but they are now targets themselves and had better produce.
Without any control of security forces, the MB and salafis are vulnerable to manipulation by those who do. There is a rumor that the recent 6 days of fighting in Cairo was created in the Port Said soccer violence on purpose to show the country how much it needs the army and what will happen without them. Ask yourself who owns the Zamalek and Ahly soccer clubs and who the Ultras, the fan groups, are. It is the Ultras who have been fighting at the interior ministry.
–“Sadek, along with other liberal and leftist commentators in Egypt, believe that the Brotherhood’s efforts aim at concealing their real intentions. “`The Brotherhood and the FJP are trying to appease the growing fears of an Islamist takeover. They want to appear liberal. But what they are saying is just lip service,’” [Sadek] says.
–“`The Brotherhood [speaks with] two tongues….To the international community they talk like the Gulf States. But to their own members they send a different message,’ says Sadek.”
I think they call this “taqiyyah” and anyone with a cursory interest or understanding of Islamist thought knows this am important tenet of their faith, and critical part of their strategy to defeat the West. What’s pathetic is that our supposed “experts” monitoring this revolution have to have this explained to them over and over…they never learn. (like John Boy above)
“D*mn the torpedoes, and full speed ahead.” It looks like Admiral Farragutt (sp?) was correct in more than one setting.
Preparatory regimes are the best way for those who languish under regimes that do not get good marks from Freedom House & Transparency International.
If you wanna know anything and everything about the MB, just ask the MB members advising the POTUS at this present time; or did everyone conveniently forget that the MB have access to the highest levels of our government?
The taqiyyah is thick in this current administration … they’ve had some great tutors it seems.
who do you support for POTUS?
Fooling the West? No way.
Obama made a special point of inviting his favorites, the Muslim Brotherhood, to his speech in Cairo. Behind the scenes, America worked to oust U.S. ally, moderate Mubarak, in order to bring to power their top favorites, the Muslim Brotherhood, whose declared goal is the DESTRUCTION of civilization and global Islamic conquest.
Obama/Clinton, et al, know EXACTLY who the Muslim Brotherhood are and what their goals are. Highly favored Muslim Brotherhood groups, such as CAIR, are welcomed into the halls of power by our government.
Muslim Brotherhood group CAIR: Council on American-Islamic Relations: “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faiths, but to become dominant. The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.” – Omar Ahmad (CAIR co-founder).
Arab liberals? There has to be a better term. Calling these Arab and/or Iranian factions “liberal” & “conservative” leads some to draw parallels to our own political movements. These equvalents are not at all valid, but do serve to endlessly delight both media and morons.
The Arab Spring in Egypt was mostly middle class and students. Most of the population was busy trying to earn a living. That there wasn’t much of a chance of that outside of the larger cities meant there was a lot of poverty. While the “people” were sitting in and demonstrating the Brotherhood was out in the country passing out food and clean water preaching hope. Only when the Arab Spring showed signs of working did the Brotherhood join in. At that time they swore they were moderate and would work for free and secular elections. They also said they would not try to take over the government. When the movement succeeded the people remembered who was out helping them and voted for the Brotherhood. By the time of the elections the Brotherhood was well organized while the secular factions divided and couldn’t figure out what they wanted. They didn’t get anyone out into the countryside for the most part and those that did were complete strangers to the local people.
Now, by their standards, the Brotherhood is moderate. They still want an Islamic state and Sharia law but they are willing to work it in gradually like a frog in a cold pot of water that doesn’t realize the water is getting hotter. The Salafists are different only in that they want Islam to rule supreme right now. As stated in the article, what is being said in English and what is being said in Arabic are two totally different things. By Islamic standards and by Islamic teachings this is perfectly fine. Raise Islam by whatever means necessary. Lie, cheat, steal, kill, whatever so long as Islam reigns supreme.
Where the Army stands in all this I’m not sure. My guess is that they will wait until the Brotherhood vise starts to close and again “come to the rescue” of the people only this time they will really form a Military Dictatorship. Whether this will be a good thing or bad is hard to tell. I don’t think the Army wants an Islamic regime but it’s hard to tell how they will rule. One factor that may play a part is that the Army is used to getting aid from the United States. I think they will want that to continue and will behave accordingly.
Your title is incomplete. It should read: Here’s How the Muslim Brotherhood is Fooling the Western Liberals:
It’s no feat of brilliance though, the MB spouts what the Libs spout and the Libs emote that all is good with the world.
An even better take is that in fact, the MB is not clever but have been invited into TEAM Politically Correct, where Muslims have an automatic slot as an entity with “protected” status to indulge in bigotry and culturally subversive advocacy alongside Eric Holder and his racist “payback machine,” feminism and the “Oprahization” of America, mainstreaming a gay agenda and using tax dollars and law to enable it.
Ya gotta love the Dem Party: “Double Standard, Double Think.”
Been saying this for a year. Muslims are masters at lying and deceiving. It has been part of there culture for hundreds of years. Muslims will pretend to be peaceful, pretend to be your friend, until they no longer need you. Then good-by friend. Happens all the time with Muslims allies, they turn and kill our soldiers. Cannot trust them. The greatest honors goes to those who can deceive their enemy into defeating himself. This is happening with Obama right now! CAIR has access to Obama anytime. Liberals, Democrats, and Progressives, are easy targets becasue they are so arrogant. They think they are too smart to be deceived. Yasser Arafat did it to many past Presidents. Took hundreds of millions of dollars promising to work for peace. He went home and made speeches saying he would never make peace with Israel. In Iraq today, hundreds of thousands celebrated Americas departure. We spent billions a day trying to bring true Democracy to Iraq. That failed already. Never, never, trust a Muslim. It is there goal to Dominate the World, it is there religion, that is what they live for. So never think they want peace. It will be a deception and a lie. Just like Satan they cannot be trusted.
There are no Arab Muslim liberals!! Once in power they all behave the same way trying to impose sharia!! Since they are not in power, they are complaining about MB but rest assured, once in power they won’t behave any differently than MB.
One of the close aides of Secretary Hillary Clinton is Huma Abedinb, whose family is active in the Muslim Brotherhood. This is the same Hillary Clinton who wants to shame all critics of Islam and whose State Department has deleted all references to Islam, as in Islamic terrorism.
The MB is funded and protected by Al Saud, or the House of Saud and has been since MB creation in the 1920′s.
For some reason PJM and other groups in the west are too afraid to speak the truth regarding Saudi Arabia. It is partially the reason the ME is such a quagmire, our own govt and media is prohibited from identifying friend and enemy alike.
– “Sadek, along with other liberal and leftist commentators in Egypt, believe that the Brotherhood’s efforts aim at concealing their real intentions. `The Brotherhood and the FJP are trying to appease the growing fears of an Islamist takeover. They want to appear liberal. But what they are saying is just lip service,’ [Sadek] says.”
– “`The Brotherhood [speaks with] two tongues. … To the international community they talk like the Gulf States. But to their own members they send a different message,’ says Sadek.”
Anybody who doesn’t understand this about the Muslim Brotherhood is living in lalaland.
I got this most clearly when the original lower Manhattan mosque guy (his father and/or grandfather were prominent in the Brotherhood) was speaking to western audiences about “interfaith dialogue” while at the same time telling his Arabic speaking audiences there was no such thing as interfaith dialogue.
Given Islam’s insistence on its own supremacy as the immutable word of the supreme being, I’ll go with Door # 2.
Taqiyya allows all manner of lying to the infidel, all manner of dissembling.
islam and the false puppet…oh prophet….you know the one thats been dead for some 15
centuries…..Long Live Israel….Our Lord and Gods Country…