Egypt, Brotherhood and US

From: Arab News

The Egyptian government and its Freedom and Justice Party, and various Brotherhood groups condemned a statement supposedly made by the American Embassy against restrictions on freedom, especially in the case of the satirist Bassem Youssef.

The Brotherhood statement suggested that the American government is against President Mursi’s government. But this is not true at all.

We don’t know yet if US President Barack Obama is satisfied with Mursi and his government or worried about them. All we know is Obama prefers to be a spectator and this may be beneficial for the Egyptian people as they can manage their own affairs. His long silence suggests to the opposition that he agrees with the actions of the Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood wants the world to know that a superpower is satisfied with them and this is the message they want to convey to others, inside and outside Egypt. They want to appear as the victim of a universal conspiracy. This is music for them. It galvanizes the support in the street and embarrasses their adversaries.

Historically, the Brotherhood were not enemies of the Americans, they were their allies for 30 years. During the time of late Presidents Gamal Abdul Nasser and Anwar Sadat, they were in the same Arab camps in Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and against leftist governments in the region. Conflict was and still is related to the crises with Israel. As for the declared position, spokesman of the US State Department spoke openly about Mubarak’s practices against the Brotherhood, especially when they were arrested or their publications were stopped.

I don’t claim that the Brotherhood works for the United States, even though it is a widespread conspiracy theory, but the American government is not against the Brotherhood, and not pushing for their downfall. The opposite is closer to the truth. Many American policy theorists say an alliance with Muslim political groups, or with governmental support, like the Egyptian Brotherhood, and as in Tunisia, is a much better choice than an alliance with liberal or nationalist groups, especially in the age of Islamist extremism, a major source of worry for the West.

The Brotherhood, especially in Egypt, suggested to the West, they are the best among Islamists. Many of the American political writers have become convinced of this, criticizing vehemently the other side, like the Salafists.

The problem with the Brotherhood is their speech. It is always different from the picture they seek to project about themselves. The practices of the Mursi government shocked many, including Muslims and Western observers and can only be described as the beginning of a Fascist kind of thinking. Their move to monopolize the state by a single ideological perspective is but Fascism, and is rejected whether it’s under religious or nationalistic garb. It will clash with other nationalistic forces and outside forces as well.
However, it is too early to charge the Mursi government with Fascism because it has not yet finished its first year in office.

However, many indicators point to possibilities that this is a government that is moving to a one-thought or one-party state.
To the Americans, the Mursi government has not shown anything to make the US anxious. For them its positions display pragmatism and reform, even more so than the former Mubarak government. The destruction of the tunnels and the restrictions on exits in Gaza has not resulted in any opposition from the Brotherhood and points to a tacit agreement despite the Hamas leaders’ rage. As well, Egypt’s regional cooperation and its adventures with Iran despite the overtures to Tehran are all positive to the Americans.

And the charge against the US Embassy that it sought to intervene on behalf of the prosecuted journalist is part of the game of insults. The Mursi government wants to charge as those working for foreign parties, but everyone knows that this is an internal matter. And this is what many will come to realize as the charges of intervention in internal affairs of the country continue.