Heritage on Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Lurks as a Long-Term Threat to Freedom  "An offshoot of the Brotherhood, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, assassinated President Anwar Sadat in 1981, perpetrated a series of terrorist attacks in Egypt in the 1990s, and became part of al-Qaeda. Another offshoot, the Palestinian Islamist extremist group Hamas, won elections in Gaza in 2006, staged a coup in 2007 to transform Gaza into a terrorist base, and remains committed to destroying Israel.
"The Muslim Brotherhood’s strategy is to lie low in the current crisis and work behind the secular gadfly ,
 Mohamed ElBaradei, a spokesman for the broad opposition coalition who is far better known outside of Egypt than inside the country. "

Five Steps to Meeting the Crisis in Egypt and the Middle East "... the Obama Administration should embrace the following principles: don’t lose focus on Iran, remain firmly committed to preserving a stable and free Iraq, reassert the need for close strategic, cooperation with Israel, stay engaged in Lebanon, and support and encourage Egypt’s army to safeguard a transition to freedom. This agenda would make a substantial difference in the Middle East; it would demonstrate that the U.S. is a faithful ally, a champion of supporting the cause of liberty and economic freedom, and a strong, resilient, and confident nation prepared to defend itself, its allies, and its interests."  James Phillips, James Carafano

Gary Varvel, World Mag.

Egypt moves to reassure allies they will honor all treaties

BBC  "The announcement, which was read by a senior officer on state TV, implicitly confirms that the country's peace treaty with Israel will remain intact.
The military also vowed to oversee a peaceful transition to civilian rule."
 Those who come to know the Arab people say they can be duplicitous. Lets hope this is not one of those occasions.
Via Weasel Zippers

Israel's military caught unready for Sinai front. Tantawi is no friend   "King Abdullah was so incensed by Washington's abandonment of his friend and ally Hosni Mubarak that he ordered the kingdom's diplomatic and military ties with Iran upgraded and strengthened. It is anyone's guess today whether the generals in Cairo opt for Washington or decide to patch up Mubarak's quarrel with the ayatollahs instead."  

From DEBKAfile

Bob Gorrell: http://www.mideasttruth.com/cartoons.html

Bubbles, Bubbles Everywhere

Victor Davis Hanson  "America is a naturally rich country. Unlike Russia, China, Egypt, or Greece, it is stable, transparent, tolerant, and free of civil strife. The result is that we are not doomed to see these bubbles expand and burst with the attendant social unrest. We need only return to our old American creed that wealth is created only with hard work and delayed gratification. In other words, America must get back to producing real, rather than imaginary, riches and ignore pleasing rhetoric that masks unpleasant reality — the faster the better."

Al Gore's Incredibly Shrinking Credibility

Warning Signs  "With the advent of record-setting low temperatures and blizzards bringing U.S. cities to a standstill, Gore has been telling anyone who would listen that the cold and snow was the result of—you guessed it—global warming.

"On January 31st, noted meteorologist, Dr. Roy W. Spencer, blogged that “No serious climate researcher—including the ones I disagree with believes global warming can cause colder weather unless they have become delusional as a result of some sort of mental illness.”"
Alan Caruba
And still a bitter, bitter man.

Was Obama Too Indecisive on Egypt? Or did his refusal to meddle actually speed Mubarak's fall?

Slate  "If the United States had overplayed its hand, say administration officials, it would have allowed Mubarak and his allies to claim outside forces were meddling (he did claim that; it didn't work). It also would have suggested the United States had more power to shape events than it did. Most important, it would have detracted from the power and appeal of the protests: They were organic and peaceful and growing even without official commentary from the United States. In the end, this wasn't about America, and the more that is made clear, administration officials hope, the more it will help the movement for freedom in the Middle East. In addition, it will put responsibility for success in Egypt not on the United States, but on the Egyptians."

http://townhall.com/cartoons/chipbok

Out of Egyptian protests a new Obama doctrine is born   "By totalitarian, Krauthammer and similar thinkers mean Islamists of all complexions – for them, Islam is the new "red peril".
"Obama is unlikely to embrace this definition. But in beginning to enunciate a foreign policy doctrine guided by clearly established democratic values and mutual respect, he may not only avoid more Egypt-style dilemmas, he may also be on his way to bridging the gulf between pragmatism and principle."

What transpires in the coming months with Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries will determine if more Obama puff-pieces like this will be written. This writer assumes Obama knew what he was doing all along and acted with wisdom, something not apparent by his performance as president thus far. For the sake of our national security, lets hope this writer is correct.

Imam Yusuf al-Qaradawi

Keep your eye on this guy   "The prospect that Qaradawi and the Brotherhood could play significant roles in Egypt’s near-term future is an unhappy one for U.S. policymakers – torn between their support for democracy and the realization that in Egypt, the beneficiaries could well be enemies of liberal democracy and the Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement. Washington needs to face the unpleasant reality that the more political power the Muslim Brotherhood wields, the more likely war becomes in the region, Smith writes."

Prosecution of Students Who Disrupted UC Irvine Speech by Israeli Ambassador

Volokh Conspiracy  "1. The relevant statute, Cal. Penal Code § 403, says: “Every person who, without authority of law, willfully disturbs or breaks up any assembly or meeting that is not unlawful in its character ... is guilty of a misdemeanor.” In re Kay (1970) held that, to be convicted under the statute, the prosecution must show “that the defendant [1] substantially impaired the conduct of the meeting by intentionally committing acts [2] in violation of implicit customs or usages or of explicit rules for governance of the meeting, of which he knew, or as a reasonable man should have known,” and [3] “the defendant’s activity itself — and not the content of the activity’s expression — substantially impairs the effective conduct of a meeting.” "

Rep. Tom Price Confronts Don Berwick on Rationing

Donald Berwick

Big Government   "Rep. Tom Price (R-Georgia) took the time to chat with us for a brief podcast today regarding his impressions of Don Berwick’s fractious testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee. A physician himself, Price pressed Berwick, the controversial head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, on questions regarding the rationing of care, whether it was a falsehood for the White House to claim “if you like your health care plan, you can keep it” and other key matters."

Pat Condell On Multiculturalism

Alwaysonwatch  "Will American heed the warning coming from multiple sources, including the voices of Angela Merkel of Germany and Nicholas Sarkozy of France — in addition to the voice of David Cameron of the UK?" Video and sound.

Jon Kyl’s Retirement: Major Loss for Senate Republicans

Fred Barnes  "For Republicans, losing Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona is a bit like the Chicago Bulls when Michael Jordan retired. Not only is Kyl the MVP among Republican senators, but he also makes the other senators look good and perform better. I can’t think of a member of Congress who will be missed more than Kyl when he retires in 2012."

ElBaradei: Tear Up Egypt’s Constitution

Sweetness and Light  "Maybe because people like Mr. ElBaradei have said that Mubarak made the peace treaty with Israel. Not the Egyptian people."
"But the people of Egypt — the grandmothers in veils who have dared to share Tahrir Square with army tanks, the jubilant young people who have risked their lives for their first taste of these new freedoms — are not so easily fooled.
Weren’t they easily fooled just yesterday? It seems to me the ‘Arab Street’ – which also believes, for instance, that 9/11 was an inside job instigated by the Jews — is very easily fooled.
The United States and its allies have spent the better part of the last decade, at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars and countless lives, fighting wars to establish democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mr. ElBaradei opposed the war in Iraq, claiming that "regime change" is against international law. He also questioned whether it was worth the cost to get rid of the dictator Saddam.
Indeed, Mr. ElBaradei has pronounced the US policy in Iraq and Afghanistan to be "a total failure."

Egypt and the US

Mubarak resigns, hands power to military  ""In these grave circumstances that the country is passing through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave his position as president of the republic," a grim-looking Suleiman said. "He has mandated the Armed Forces Supreme Council to run the state. God is our protector and succor.""
Egypt Crisis Puts Spotlight on Weakness in US: El-Erian  "The US should consider the lack of a move into traditional US assets as "a warning that if we don't get our house in order we will no longer command the global standing" in currency and debt markets, El-Erian said.
"However, should the situation escalate and start spreading through the region, that could change.
""If we get widespread violence in the streets you will get a massive risk-off trade," El-Erian said. "You will see equities sold off, oil go up and you will see a Treasury rally."

 Crisis Flummoxes White House "The White House is now squeezed between Arab and Israeli allies, who have complained that Mr. Obama was pushing Mr. Mubarak too hard to step down, and lawmakers who accuse the White House of not pushing hard enough. Now, the White House finds itself largely a bystander."  Wall Street Journal.

Egypt Exposes Obama Doctrine Happy Talk  "But the Obama Administration’s intelligence fumbling did not end there. Just 30 minutes after Panetta passed off CNN headlines as CIA intelligence, General Clapper created his own entire reality when he testified that Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is “largely secular.” This is, of course, completely false. In reality, the Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1928, is the Middle East’s oldest and most influential Islamist movement."

http://townhall.com/cartoons/mikelester

The U.S.-Egyptian Breakup "The original sin was Sadat's separate peace with Israel, which Mubarak inherited and scrupulously upheld.
"From the perspective of many Egyptians, this arrangement hopelessly constrained Cairo's power while freeing Israel and the United States to pursue their regional interests unencumbered."  Foreign Affairs magazine

Iran Uses Egyptian Turmoil to Push West   "Saudi rulers may also have drawn certain conclusions from US President Barack Obama‘s treatment of Mubarak. King Abdullah is reported by our Persian Gulf sources as so enraged by what he sees as “Obama’s betrayal” of the Egyptian president – virtually giving him his marching orders – that the White House felt compelled to send a special personal envoy to the Saudi palace in Morocco this week to smooth his ruffled feathers and explain the game the administration has been playing in Cairo."

An Iranian super-plan to annex Sinai to Gaza for a radical Palestinian state. Emphasis added

  Radical murderous states must love it when the US elects Democrats to our leadership.

New ‘WikiLeaks’ Book Out Tomorrow: Take Down Of Assange?

Big Peace  "“Controversial Wikileaks founder Julian Assange allegedly boasted about fathering children all around the world and preferred his conquests to be 22 or under, according to an explosive new book.

"Former Wikileaks insider Daniel Domscheit-Berg describes Assange as a paranoid megalomaniac whose lack of personal hygiene and table manners suggest he was ‘brought up by wolves’."