The US And The Muslim Brotherhood
“Why did the US put the Muslim Brotherhood in power?”many Egyptians ask. For most Americans the question doesn’t even make sense.
It was not the confusions and contradictions of Egyptian electoral politics that pushed the Muslim Brotherhood into power. Morsi was put into power by the United States. Resistance against the Brotherhood protesters is thus also resistance against US domination of Egypt. Threats by the US to halt aid or introduce other sanctions are just last-ditch efforts by Washington to keep its ally in place.
That is the way many Egyptians see relations between the US and Egypt right now in this period of violence and uncertainty.
The latest iteration of this is an editorial this week in the UAE newspaper Al-Khaleej:
The American Administration is practicing a dangerous policy in the region, namely in regards to the post revolutionary Egypt, by using all sorts of means and tools such as threatening the use of force and political and economic pressures. This all aims at containing the countries of the region and placing them under the American control in a way that primarily serves America’s and the Zionist entity’s interest.
The editorial goes on to reassure readers that the Egyptian people will never submit to American blackmail.
The Arab sheikhdoms have made it clear how pleased they are not to have another “Islamic democracy” in the region that might give their own people ideas, but this op-ed is more than a piece of propaganda. It represents just one instance of a widespread discourse that links the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood to the national interests of the US and Israel.
I have written about this before, last July.
Then Yasmine Moll posted to Facebook:
Watching Egyptian television channels I learned the following extraordinary facts that I must immediately share: Jan. 25 – in fact all of the revolutionary movements in the region, from Yemen to Libya to Tunisia to Syria and so on – was an actually an American/Israeli plot to control, divide and conquer the Middle East. The Americans and Israelis thought the best way to do this would be to get rid of the ever reliable Mubarak and put into power the Muslim Brotherhood, who as we all know are great long-standing fans of Uncle Sam and Zionism. Once the Brotherhood gained power (never mind the elections bit, they were probably rigged by, um, the military?) Obama then sent Morsi $26 million dollars so that Morsi is better able to take the political control that he, by all hysterical accounts, already had too much of. And oh yeah, this is the best bit – Hamas, as it turns out, is actually in bed with the Israelis. These two parties had cut a deal with the Brotherhood to make Sinai the new Palestinian state. Thank God General Sisi discovered these nefarious plots in time and put an end to all the nonsense. Good man, that Sisi.
And it’s not just Egyptian TV. Editorials in al-Ahram and in many Gulf newspapers also “speculate” on why the US (and the Zionist entity) put Mursi in power. Threats to cut funding to the military are US retaliations for them ousting Americas allies
And the radio stations are also doing the same – that leaves no mainstream media outlet to challenge or even just ask logical questions of these narratives
“The Egyptian army is still strong, patriotic, stubborn and defying the American and Western wishes. Consequently, it is important that it be broken, so that the West can dictate its policies and achieve its goals in Egypt and the region. Therefore, the war in Syria is a mere rehearsal for the elimination of the Egyptian army and the launching of Egypt’s transformation into a failed state, like the other countries in the region!”
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