Sunday, January 30, 2011

Inside the Egyptian Revolution: Muslim Brotherhood Co-opts Movement

Joel Rosenberg comes up with another insightful analysis:

Inside the Egyptian Revolution: Violence is Rising Because the Muslim Brotherhood is Co-opting the Movement

In the past several days, the dynamic of the protests in Egypt has changed rapidly, and not for the better. What started out as a genuine and positive pro-freedom movement is being steadily coopted by the Muslim Brotherhood and other violent and extremist forces.

There is now a growing risk that the overthrow of the Mubarak regime could lead either to an authoritarian military regime, or a Radical Islamist regime. We must pray neither scenario comes to pass.

The people of Egypt would be further oppressed. The U.S., Israel and the West would be endangered. Bottom line: This is a very complex and fast-moving crisis, and it could get much worse.


This commentary provides several explanations of the various "groups" within Egypt, including the "radicals", the "reformists", the "revivalists" and the "resisters", just to name a few. Then we come to the conclusions:

That said, let’s focus again on the crisis at hand. What we are witnessing in Egypt is an historic clash between true Reformer Muslims who want free elections and free markets, and Radical Muslims who want to use the protests to overthrow the Mubarak regime and install a violent, extremist Islamist government.

The Revivalists in Egypt are, for the most part, staying underground. True to their nature, they are remaining apolitical and are devoting themselves to much prayer for the future of their country and the souls of their friends and neighbors.

For the first first few days of last week, most of the initial protestors on the streets of Egypt were peaceful, respectful, somewhat educated, and poor to middle class. I believe they were genuinely calling for an end to the Mubarak regime’s corruption and authoritarian rule in order to achieve more freedom, more opportunity, a better economy, more and better jobs, and a democratic government that would respect and protect their human rights and civil rights and set them free from the stagnant, stultified, oppressive Egyptian system they have suffered under for so long.

However, beginning on Thursday and accelerating throughout the day on Friday, the situation began to change dramatically.

The leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood (which began in Egypt in the 1920) had initially been caught off guard by sudden and intense rise of the protests and had not been involved in planning or developing these protests. But sensing an opportunity, they decided to move decisively and try to coopt the movement for their own purposes.

They mobilized their followers throughout the country and told them to take to the streets. That’s when the complexion of the protests took a turn for the worse, characterized by:


- Violent attacks directed at the police – Agence France Presse reported on Saturday that an estimated 60 percent of Egyptian police stations have been set on fire
- Rioting, instead of mere protesting
- The emergence of gangs on the streets wielding machetes and knives
- Government office buildings being set on fire
- Cars being set on fire
- The looting of the Egyptian Museum, with vandals ripping the heads off of two ancient mummies
- Looting of shops, businesses and homes
- Muslim Brotherhood members escaping from prison –[see this article as well]
- UPDATE: Some 8,000 prisoners escaped from a prison in the east of the country and one report said “prison guards have joined the protests allowing dozens of Muslim Brotherhood members to walk out of jail.”
- A rising civilian death toll as the police have been forced to defend themselves and protect other citizens — as of Sunday, there were more than 100 people dead, and more than 2,000 wounded


To contrast with what we observed in Iran last year:

These are not the actions of a true pro-freedom movement. Almost none of this happened last summer when millions of Iranians took to the streets to protest the fraudulent re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. To the contrary, the Iranian people, to their great credit, initiated what was overwhelming a classic non-violent, principled protest movement against the Radical regime.


And this:

For all of Mubarak’s sins, he is not a Radical. He doesn’t want to launch a jihad against the U.S., Israel or the West. He has maintained the peace treaty with Israel. He has worked to counter the Hamas movement in Gaza. He is strongly opposed to the Iranian nuclear weapons program and has worked closely with the West to counter it.

The Obama administration needs to be careful to support positive change in Egypt and support human rights there, without cutting the legs out from underneath Mubarak precipitously, the way President Carter did to the Shah of Iran in 1979.

The Shah had his many flaws, no question about it. But Carter’s actions helped trigger the Islamic Revolution and led to the rise of the Ayatollah Khomeini, the loss of an American ally, and the rise of a terror-exporting country that has gained in lethality ever since. We dare not make the same mistakes with Egypt.

I am praying, therefore, that the Lord would be merciful to the people of Egypt, and that He would give wisdom to Mr. Mubarak and his senior advisors. My ideal at this point is that Mubarak would hand the keys to the kingdom to a group of Reformers, men truly committed to steadily expanding hope, growth and opportunity for all their people, and doing so in a way that creates order and stability, not an opening for the Muslim Brotherhood to seize control.


That possibility seems very remote at this point, unfortunately. It looks like the Muslim Brotherhood will maintain control of this situation as they have the infrastructure and motivation. It would seem very difficult to uproot their influence at this point. We shall see.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Scott

I have nothing against Mr. Rosenberg, but for him to pray
that certain things DO NOT happen
does not make sense IF those items
were meant to occur prophetically.

As for me, I will just watch, since I believe we have prophecy
being fufilled here.

Stephen >>>>>

Anonymous said...

Scott, please go here.....

you will like this one I think

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=205931

Stephen >>>>>>>>>>>>

Scott said...

Oh yea - I saw that article - I think this reveals the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood...This is very much part of their MO - blame Israel - Blame the US..We weren't hearing that until recently - around the time that they co-opted this movement. Very predictable IMO

Anonymous said...

HI and bless to all people war aganist evil usa and israil and orher who want dead people for walth and poplution.
sisters and brothes we are group of students from iran and we wish to hope all people on the world life good and freedom of requist on the promision on the tv and other equimpent.
you must to help we for war aginist enemy aslam anf god ,dod who creat people and animals.

your maile is for connent and addition on the the larage group:
mostafa.latifi@hotmail.com

Alice said...

Hi Scott! Thank you for your blog! I've been lurking for quite a while now and really appreciate all you do.

Stephen, you didn't make that last comment, did you? Strange..... I don't understand much of what was said--can't tell if they are for or against Israel and the US. Anyone else grasp it better than me?

In any case, I hope that they know Jesus because He is coming soon!!!

in Christ,
Alice

Scott said...

Alice,
Thanks for the comments - greatly appreciated. I don;t think that was Stephen, he usually signs his comments - plus, I have no idea what was being conveyed in that comment.

Regardless - you said it all when you said "I hope that they know Jesus, because He is coming soon!!" - I agree with that wholeheartedly - and thats the bottom line!

Thanks again - God Bless
Scott

DrNofog said...

Alice,

Anonymous said...

HI and bless[ings] to all people [who] war against evil USA and Israel and others who want dead /people [switch order] for wealth and poplution [pollution or population control???].

Sisters and brothers, we are group of [Israel-hating] students from Iran and we wish to hope all people on the world [a] life good and freedom of requist [request/information/expression???] on the promision[promotion?] on the tv and other equimpent.

You must to help we[us] for war against [the] enemy [of] Islam and [our false]god [allah, the moon-god, the god of war], god who creat[ed] people and animals [like us... ;) ].

[Our] your email is for connect[ion] and addition [to]on the[our] large group: mostafa.latifi@hotmail.com

Mostafa, may our Messiah Jesus/YHVH, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, have mercy on your lost soul and grant you light to call upon Him for forgiveness and eternal life.

Expected Imminently said...

Mostafa
مسيح مرد را بر طبق كتاب مقدس كتاب مقدس, به خاك سپرده شده, سپس دوباره در روز سوم بر طبق كتاب مقدس بودند. عيسي مسيح زنده است و بزودی پس از بازگشت به زمين به تخريب دشمنان خود بود. باور به خدا در عيسی مسيح نجات خواهد داد و او از دوزخ و بشما زندگي جاويد است. عجله هست و نه زمان به هدر رود.

Expected Imminently said...

Hello Scott
Hopefully, this is what I had translated into Persian.

Jesus Christ died for your sins according to the Bible Scriptures, He was buried, then He rose again on the third day according to the Bible Scriptures.
Jesus Christ is alive, and is soon returning to earth to destroy all his enemies.
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and He will save you from hell and give you Eternal Life. Hurry, there is no time to waste.

Alice said...

Okaaaay...wow! This is really something...

Great job, Expected Imminently! I am praying for them!

Expected Imminently said...

Hello Alice

Bless you for your encouragements all round.
I'm not too sure youngsters in Iran read Persian today? Never mind, someone who does may appreciate the Gospel.

Well done to DrNofog for his rendition of a very strange word arrangement.

Glad you are posting Alice. :)
God bless
Sue

Alice said...

Thanks for clarification, Sue! I didn't see my name at the top of DrNofog's post and I only skimmed it. I misunderstood and thought the same people had hijacked DrNofog's name and posted yet again. Must read more carefully in the future! ;)

But you are right--DrNofog did a GREAT job! Thanks, DrN!

Good to be here and "meet" you all before we meet in heaven!!!

Alice

DrNofog said...

Well, after deciphering the message and rereading it, it seems that his "bless[ings]" was for "...all people [who] war against evil USA and Israel... so I guess that cuts me out...

But then again, I most certainly don't want any kind of "bless[ings]" from that Allah-baster character [I thot he/it was a mineral of some kind... ;D ] as I'm pretty sure I read somewhere around Revelation 20:10 where YHVH casts Allah "into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever"...

Oooo, now I recall! It's an ancient crescent moon idol that pre-dates Mo-hammered by about 1000 years or so... :-D

Alice said...

Lol! DrNo, you are VERY funny!

Anonymous said...

Its silly when christians call Allah a false moon God. Any islamically educated person would almost think that were a joke... except they have come across the silly assumption before. Its silly when christians call Allah a moon god when the word translated in enlish means God and arab chistians call Jesus the son of Allah. Maybe if chritianity was created so the the brothers can communicate with each other they'd be more educated. May Allah bless the knowledgeable christians, and guide the ones who feel right without education. And may Allah have mercy on your souls. Its silly when a christian says Allah is a moon god when they don't realise the potential in jesus being a sun god. The sun is behind his head in most pictures, if not all. Just like other sun gods just look them up if you have a brain that let's you open your eyes. The worship day is SUNDAY. THE SON, I MEAN SUN, WALKED ON WATER (sunset over the ocean). THE SUN WITH ITS CROWN OF THORNS LIKE SUN RAYS... AND THE SUN HAS RISEN FROM THE DEAD... YEA IT DOES EVERY DAY. Sunday isn't even the sabbath its the first day of the week go look in a dictionary. Anyone who doesn't seek doesn't find. So your feelings in your heart are the biggest fairy tales if it isn't backed up by knowledge you actually worked to get.

Anonymous said...

Dear ANONYMOUS,fairy tales are those you have been taught your entire life in your religion.Jesus Christ our Savior is not one of the sun gods.Our Lord Jesus Christ is the ONLY GOD,the ONLY SAVIOR.We as Christian don't follow writings made by illusionist poets or paintings by hallucinators.We follow the true word of Jehovah wroted in the ONLY holy book THE BIBLE,the ONLY sacred writing that can be proven.We believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for us,and we believe that only through Him we obtain forgiveness and salvation.And Yes we seek,we seek His knowledge and Salvation because is all we need to know to have an everlasting life.Lets say that after all is said and done you are right and we the followers of Jesus Christ are wrong.We don't lose nothing.Now,if you're the one wrong and We're right,we won't be losing nothing either,BUT YOU?????.We are the one praying for the Lord to forgive you,so you can find salvation.whoever touches Israel will touch the apple of God’s eye and will have to face the full consequences of it.The end is near,soon you'll see on which side the truth is.I just hope and pray you get to see it full of Joy as we the followers of Christ will.JESUS is Love!!