Radical Movements

Islamic Jihad’s Attacks, Hamas’ Dilemma

By Jonathan Spyer March 17, 2012

In by far the sharpest escalation since late 2008, scores of rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel during recent days following Israel’s killing of the Gaza-based leader of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) Zuhair al-Qaisi and one of his lieutenants. Al-Qaisi was in the last stages of planning a major terror attack when he was killed. The rocket attacks, creating a dilemma for Gaza’s Hamas rulers, are mainly being carried out by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad with … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Israel-Palestinian Issues, Radical Movements, Understanding the Middle East

How to Make the ‘Bad Guys’ into ‘Good Guys’ By Pretending They’re Moderate Guys

By Barry Rubin March 14, 2012

There are two types of revolutionary Islamists in the Middle East today: the Muslim Brotherhood and the “Salafists.” Of course, the Muslim Brotherhood is in fact a Salafist group, in the sense that it wants to use Islam as it can be most strictly and repressively interpreted and create a dictatorship based on a radical interpretation of Sharia law. And that is the first important point to understand. The difference between Brotherhood and “Salafists” is purely tactical. The … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Media Coverage of the Middle East, Radical Movements

Is Egypt About to Elect an Islamist President?

By Barry Rubin February 26, 2012

Registration to run for president of Egypt begins March 10. The military moved it up from April 15 to show that it is handing over power to the civilians. As I’ve said before, I’ve never seen any evidence that the army is not going to turn over control of the country to a new, elected president. All of the mass media and political hysteria to the contrary, the generals don’t want to hold onto the government. Has the Brotherhood’s success in parliamentary elections gone to its head? … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Egypt, Middle East Politics, Radical Movements

Manufacturing Heresy: How the Mildest Muslim Liberalism is Turned into a Capital Punishment Offense

By Barry Rubin February 19, 2012

Please also read my article The Hamas Split and the Palestinian Political Mess “A merchant in Baghdad…sent his servant to market….The servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the marketplace…I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me….Lend me your horse, and…I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse…and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. The merchant went down to the marketplace and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Middle East Politics, Radical Movements

Arab Liberals Lament: Here’s How the Muslim Brotherhood is Fooling the West

By Barry Rubin February 10, 2012

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 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Radical Movements, Understanding the Middle East

The Essence of Contemporary Leftism And Islamism Revealed: Freedom or Slavery to Those Who Claim to Know Best?

By Barry Rubin February 10, 2012

Here’s a fascinating exchange telling us not only about the contemporary state of Islam, Islamism, and the political issues involving them but also the debates and conflicts shaping Western civilization today. It also taught me about the common theme between revolutionary Islamism and the revolutionary leftism that today masquerades as liberalism. The interviewee is Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, a leading Islamist presidential candidate in Egypt and the Salafists’ favorite. I’ll annotate his … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Radical Movements, Understanding the Middle East

Egypt Et Cetera: When the Moderates are Radicals You’re in Trouble

By Barry Rubin February 6, 2012

Dear readers, I’d like to share with you a secret. Every day I read and hear things by people who claim to be experts on the Middle East. I have read them on the land; I have read them on the sea; I have read them in the air. And they will never surrender to reality. Here are the two main causes of error: --They think the Middle East is just like the West so they can extrapolate from their own experience. When someone would say, “If I were Yasir Arafat, I’d….” My response … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Egypt, Radical Movements, U.S. Policy on the Middle East, Understanding the Middle East

The Muslim Brotherhood Moderation Myth Revealed, Then Quickly Dropped Down the Memory Hole

By Barry Rubin February 2, 2012

It is amazing how mass media coverage of the Middle East switches gears and implicitly admits to having been wrong while continuing with the same themes. Or sometimes, buried deep inside an article, there’s a flash of truth that conflicts with everything else that’s been said, even by the same reporter. But then the light goes out; the stygian dark returns; and it was as if that flash had never taken place. In working on a new edition of my book, Islamic Fundamentalists in Egyptian … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Media Coverage of the Middle East, Radical Movements, U.S. Policy on the Middle East

Egypt’s Parliament 75 percent Islamist; Egypt-Israel Peace Agreement is Dead Even if Treaty Still Exists

By Barry Rubin January 23, 2012

We’re starting to get a good picture of what the lower house of Egypt’s parliament will be like, though it will take another month to be certain. Close to 50 percent of the seats will be held by the Muslim Brotherhood. Another 25 percent will be held by the al-Nour party of Salafists. With 75 percent the two Islamist parties will be able to do as they please. But, they—or at least the Brotherhood—are determined to be cautious. Note that there is a big difference between actually being … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Egypt, Israel, Radical Movements

Hizballah Backs Assad – and Pays The Price

By Jonathan Spyer January 20, 2012

In early January, 2011, Hizballah and its allies took up the reins of government in Lebanon, having ensured the collapse of the coalition led by March 14 leader and then Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri. Hizballah needed a coalition which it thought would staunchly oppose the Special Tribunal on Lebanon, investigating the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri. But many at the time discerned a more significant meaning in the rise to government of the March 8 coalition. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Middle East Politics, Radical Movements, Syria