Middle East: Muslim Brotherhood’s review exposes ‘undercover operations’ - by Turki Aldakhil- Al Arabiya English

Since the Obama administration and those revolving in its orbit used to consider the Brotherhood as a “model of moderate Islam,” it took the Brotherhood a long time before it could acknowledge its defeat and political bankruptcy. However, the plan changed with the Trump administration and his current administration, which fully believes in Brotherhood’s threats.

Trump’s consultants are discussing “terrorism” of the Brotherhood group and the possibility of blacklisting it. During his first phone call with President Donald Trump, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz warned him of the group’s plans to harm US-Saudi relations. This conversation marked a transformation as it indicated that the Arab and the Muslim world will no longer keep silent over the group’s ideology.

The Brotherhood has realized that enough was enough and that remaining silent is not an option. The group admitted all its disastrous failures when it published a review entitled “Pre-vision evaluations, a look at the past,” few days ago.

The review was drafted by the group’s office of guidance and it consisted of 3,500 words and divided into four main parts – the absence of organizing priorities in public work and its effects on the revolution, relation with the revolution, relation with the state and Muslim Brotherhood’s partisan practices.

This review reflects the difficult situation the Brotherhood finds itself in. It addressed the group’s performance since 2011 and up until 2017. The organization has acknowledged that many things such as the absence of balanced relations with other social entities on the integrative, competitive and friendly levels, the absence of a comprehensive political projects for change and management of the state and the absence of academic work in terms of managing and analyzing information.

This is in addition to the absence of anything that indicates practical political ambitions or ambitions to develop political ideology or discourse on it and not seizing opportunities to build openness. It also touched on not seriously working to build public opinion on the Brotherhood members working in state institutions.

Read more: Muslim Brotherhood’s review exposes ‘undercover operations’ - Al Arabiya English

Egypt Isn’t Stable according to Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project - by Richard Wike

There is little drama to the upcoming Egyptian presidential election, which will take place on May 26 and 27. Former Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is certain to emerge victorious. While international observers and his Islamist rivals will question the legitimacy of his victory, Sisi will emerge from the vote in control of the Egyptian state.

Much of the media coverage from Egypt since Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood were pushed out of power nearly a year ago has focused on Egypt’s sometimes virulent nationalism and the emerging cult of personality around Sisi.

Tired of instability, frustrated with a poor economy, and experiencing buyer’s remorse from electing Islamists, the Egyptian people — so the argument goes — turned to Sisi and the military to save them from extremism, restore order, and bring back the optimism that followed the toppling of Hosni Mubarak.

Read more: Egypt Isn’t Stable | Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project

EU-Digest August thru September Poll shows: 66.33% say military coup in Egypt was legitimate

In a recent EU- Digest poll where respondents were asked if the recent military coup in Egypt was legitimate "given the circumstances",  66.33% said it was and 33.33 % said no, because "Morsi was democratically elected".

This month as a follow-up EU-Digest poll will once again focus on Egypt with the following question and provide multiple answers possibilities. .

Will the Egyptian military eventually relinquish its dictatorial powers and let the Muslim Brotherhood back into the democratic process?
a) Yes
b) No
c) Yes, but only with US arm twisting
d) No, military will never relinquish power

Middle East: Waking From The Middle East Nightmare - by Javier Solana

The Middle East is caught in a seemingly endless spiral of instability. The possibility of military intervention in Syria, together with the deteriorating situation in Egypt since the army’s coup, has placed the region on a razor’s edge. Moreover, despite the changes in Iran since its presidential election in June, international negotiations over its nuclear ambitions remain a dead letter.

Paradoxes abound, as the United States’s traditional Middle East allies (Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, Egypt, and the Gulf states) have taken opposing – and sometimes seemingly contradictory – positions on the region’s key conflicts. And, in all of today’s hotspots, the assertion of interests by neighboring or nearby countries has complicated matters further.

Saudi Arabia, fearing severe domestic consequences from the Muslim Brotherhood’s empowerment in Egypt, does not want to see an Islamist movement legitimized democratically. So it has taken a consistently harsh position against the Brotherhood, despite the latter being more moderate than the Saudis’ own brand of Islam.

Israel, for its part, is exerting pressure in two ways. First, it is supporting the Egyptian coup and international recognition of the military regime, thereby ensuring – it hopes – greater stability along the Sinai border.

Second, it is making progress in its negotiations with the Palestinians dependent on events in Egypt and elsewhere in the region, such as Iran. US Secretary of State John Kerry has invested considerable political capital in the revival of peace negotiations, and Israel can use that to its advantage as well.

The civil war in Syria, meanwhile, has inflamed the Sunni-Shia fault line that traverses the entire region, and that defines, for example, the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran. In fact, while Saudi Arabia opposes elected Islamists in Egypt, it supports insurgent Islamists in Syria, owing entirely to Iran’s support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The Egyptian coup has already proved to have been a mistake. The military seems to be reverting to the governing methods – and even the feared security institutions – of former President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule. Even Mubarak himself has now been released from prison.

The army’s repression of the Muslim Brotherhood is more a question of competition for power than of religion. As the only organized force in the country that could seriously challenge the military, the Brotherhood is the greatest threat that the Army faces, as demonstrated by Mohamed Morsi’s victory in the election that made him president a year before he was overthrown.

And, on top of it all, the problem posed by Iran’s nuclear program remains unresolved. That may not be surprising, given the violence and turmoil elsewhere in the region. But, since Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, took office at the beginning of August, the West, to put it bluntly, has not demonstrated sufficient will to explore possible openings.

Read more: Waking From The Middle East Nightmare

Middle East: Egypt’s anti-coup alliance plans protests

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and other anti-coup groups have called for mass demonstrations against the military-backed interim government, as crackdown against Brotherhoood leaders continue.

Authorities detained Ahmed Aref, a spokesman for the group, and Hassan al-Brins, a member of parliament representing the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday, reported Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith in Cairo.

Supporters of the anti-coup alliance have dubbed the latest protest a "Friday of martyrs", with 28 mosques in the Cairo area named as points of departure for the demonstrations.

In recent days, Brotherhood protests that once attracted tens of thousands of people at locations across the country have ebbed, suggesting the group's famed organisational strength may have been damaged by the arrest of its leaders.

They have also been subject to a violent crackdown on the part of authorities, with at least 900 people reported killed in the last eight days, as security forces have moved to end anti-coup demonstration.

Read more: Egypt’s anti-coup alliance plans protests - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

The Middle East Turmoil Trap - by Javier Solana

Instability continues to spread in the Middle East, with the military coup in Egypt the latest episode to trigger political tremors throughout the region. With its 85 million people and strategically vital location, Egypt is the most important country on the Mediterranean’s southern shore. Continuing the democratization process that began there in 2011 is urgent.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Islamist government, led by Mohamed Morsi, demonstrated all too well its incompetence and incapacity to ensure an inclusive democratic transition. But the solution offered by Egypt’s military is far from ideal. Coups always tend to exacerbate problems, not solve them, and this one is no exception.

The first consequence is that Egyptian society is even more divided over the question of political legitimacy. Morsi’s supporters cite the legitimacy of his victory in a democratic election a year ago – and the illegitimacy of the army’s coup and detention of the deposed president – while his opponents defend the legitimacy of the massive, countrywide protests against him.

The Muslim Brotherhood tried to go too far too fast. Its Islamist agenda put crucial state institutions – namely, the army and the judiciary – on edge and clashed with the liberal, modernizing demands of its opponents. The Tamarod movement, which organized the protests that led to Morsi’s ouster, celebrated the military’s decision to intervene.

That precedent is, without doubt, dangerous for a fledgling democracy. The Islamists must have representation in order to ensure that they do not renounce the ballot box as a means of pursuing their objectives.

Neither the Islamists nor the military can build a new regime against the will of a significant part of the population. Despite Morsi’s poor performance in office – a year in which he presided over grave economic deterioration – a solution that served the cause of national and regional stability would have been preferable.

Read more: The Middle East Turmoil Trap by Javier Solana - Project Syndicate

Egypt - USA: Egypt Islamists march as senior U.S. official visits - by Maggie Fick and Peter Graff

The first senior U.S. official to visit Egypt since the army toppled its elected president meets officials on Monday to urge them to swiftly restore democracy, while thousands of supporters of the ousted Islamist leader take to the streets.

Deputy Secretary of State William Burns arrived in a divided capital where both sides are furious at the United States, the superpower which supports Egypt with $1.5 billion in annual aid, mostly for the army that deposed President Mohamed Mursi.

Crisis in the Arab world's most populous state, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 and straddles the strategic Suez Canal, has alarmed allies in the region and the West.

Washington is torn between its professed support for democracy and its clear uneasiness at the rise of Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood, so far refusing to say whether it views Mursi's removal as a coup, which would require it to halt its aid.

Islamists, who have maintained a vigil demanding Mursi be reinstated, have called a mass protest for Monday, as have Mursi's secularist opponents. Demonstrations in Cairo have been largely peaceful for the past week after at least 92 people were killed in the days after Mursi was toppled.

Two rows of armored personnel carriers were in place near the mosque square in northeast Cairo where Mursi supporters have maintained their vigil. Barbed wire was blocking the street leading from the protest site to the Republican Guard barracks, scene of the worst violence a week ago when uniformed snipers were filmed firing from the rooftops into a crowd.

Read more: Egypt Islamists march as senior U.S. official visits - Yahoo! News

Egypt: "The Turkish Compass": In Egypt, It's Not About "Hillary Clinton's Age But the Age of Hillary Clinton - by Andrew C. McCarthy

"Ramesh, I don’t know about “Hillary Clinton’s Age  but I do know, when I look at what’s happening in Egypt, that we are living in the Age of Hillary Clinton.

I elaborated on Mrs. Clinton’s pronouncement in a Corner post a little over a year ago, citing to what Madame Secretary was telling the Arabic press (al-Ahram reporting) and tying it into the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood implementation of Erdogan’s strategy in Turkey: gradually impose sharia by exploiting Western progressives’ hostility to military governance – which is the only kind of governance in which Western liberalism has a chance to take root in a majority Islamic-supremacist society:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is doing her part to help the Muslim Brotherhood implement the Turkey Strategy in Egypt. As I’ve pointed out before, if you want to see what’s going to happen in Egypt, look at Turkey, where the military was Atatürk’s bulwark against what would otherwise be the certainty that Islamists would overwhelm the pro-Western civil society the Kemalists labored against Islamic norms to build. (Caroline Glick makes a similar argument in a characteristically sharp post.)

Read more: In Egypt, It's Not About "Hillary Clinton's Age" But the Age of Hillary Clinton | National Review Online

Egypt’s coup: The second time around - Muslims, Coptic Christians, the rebel movement - not happy with the "Brothers"

President Morsi in better times

Egyptians like to think their blood is finer than the stuff that circulates in other veins. Along the Nile, someone with “heavy” blood is a dour, pedantic bore. To have “light” blood is to be quick-witted, cheeky and carefree. The national preference is for the light sort.

The hounding from power of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood leaves the most populous and influential Arab country in a dangerous state of flux, and it will have sweeping implications for politics across the Muslim world—Egypt has always been a bellwether for its region. Now that the army has shunted Mr Morsi aside, there is a real question as to whether the country will move towards a warmed-up version of military-backed rule or towards a more inclusive democracy. And with the ordinary people of Egypt empowered by the experience of revolution, that trajectory may be decided as much by how they aspire to see themselves and how they judge each other as by decisions made in barracks or smoky rooms.

Yet judging by the ecstatic roars with which the crowds in Tahrir Square have greeted flypasts by army helicopters, a great many Egyptians have decided to bury their doubts and ugly memories and accept the army’s intervention as in the national interest. With a 94% approval rate in one recent opinion poll, the army remains by far the most trusted institution in the country. Many believe the generals’ promise that they have no desire to linger in politics. Many also see them as better equipped than squabbling politicians to get Egypt’s revolution back on track.

These people yearn for a return to stability. They also long for a more comforting and inclusive notion of what it is to be Egyptian than the Brotherhood held. The Islamists’ rule posed questions about Egypt’s national identity that decades of dictatorship had buried. The underlying quandary was whether Egyptians should be defined chiefly by their faith, as Islamists see it, or rather as free participants in a pluralist society with shared values.

In the past, Egypt’s Islamists have proven most dangerous and prone to violence when shut out of the system. The country needs to find ways to avoid such exclusion this time—which, in the wake of a coup, may be hard. And reform of the parts of public life dominated by the army, always an important post-Mubarak goal, will now be more difficult than ever. For now, most Egyptians feel their own blood a little lighter. But given the depth of the challenges their country faces, they will need to find something to unite them that runs deeper than temperament and shared antipathy, and to dip into their traditional source of strength: patience.

Read more: Egypt’s coup: The second time around | The Economist

Middle East: Egyptian opposition backs calls to 'topple the authoritarian regime' - by Samer al-Atrush

Egypt’s main opposition group on Saturday backed calls to oust the ruling Islamists after deadly clashes and as President Mohammed Morsi scrambled to contain fallout from footage of apparent police brutality.

The National Salvation Front said it “completely sides with the people and its active forces’ calls to topple the authoritarian regime and the Muslim Brotherhood’s control.”

The NSF also demanded that Mr. Morsi be prosecuted for “killings and torture,” while urging Egyptians to stage peaceful protests.

It said Mr. Morsi should be put on trial after an “impartial investigation” and ruled out dialogue with the presidency until “the bloodletting stops and those responsible for it are held accountable.”
But in a possible sign of differences in a troubled coalition that comprises liberals and leftists, NSF members disagreed on the statement’s intent.

“We are calling for the downfall of the regime of tyranny, not the regime,” said Khaled Dawoud, the NSF’s spokesman, explaining it meant “the abuse of citizens and torture and ignoring the demands of the opposition.”

Read more: Egyptian opposition backs calls to 'topple the authoritarian regime' - The Globe and Mail

Egypt opposition vows to fight on against Islamist charter

Egypt's opposition, facing defeat over a new constitution in a referendum this weekend, urged its supporters to reject the Islamist-backed charter and pledged to fight on to amend it during elections expected next year.

Forty-eight hours before the second round of the plebiscite, the main opposition coalition of liberals, leftist, Christians and secular Muslims called for a "no" vote against a document it views as leaning too far towards Islamism.

The first day of voting last weekend resulted in a 57 percent majority in favor of the constitution, promoted by President Mohamed Mursi as a vital step in Egypt's transition to democracy almost two years after the fall of Hosni Mubarak.

The second stage on Saturday is expected to produce another "yes" vote as it covers areas of the country that are seen as more conservative and likely to back Mursi.

The National Salvation Front, the main opposition coalition, said a "no" vote meant taking a stand against attempts by the Muslim Brotherhood, Mursi's political backers, to dominate Egypt.

Read more: Egypt opposition vows to fight on against Islamist charter Asharq Alawsat Newspaper (English)

Egypt outlaws ‘romantic’ songs on state TV, fearing turmoil as constitution vote looms - by Olga Khazan

The standoff between Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and his opponents on the eve of the vote on whether to adopt a constitution threatens to derail Egypt’s transition to democracy. Egypt’s opposition has called for its supporters to vote “no” on the country’s draft constitution on Saturday, saying that the document was flawed because its drafters did not seek input from all of Egypt’s religious and ethnic groups.

Perhaps because of this politically tumultuous mood, the Egyptian television and broadcasting union have banned airing any “romantic or passionate songs” on its 23 state-owned channels, according to the state-run Ahram Arabic Web site.

Instead, only “patriotic” music will be allowed, the agency said. The more emotional songs may be aired after midnight, “because it is not appropriate to show these kinds of songs with the current situation of the country.”

Read more: Egypt outlaws ‘romantic’ songs on state TV, fearing turmoil as constitution vote looms

Egypt reserved on Iran's courtship

Egypt's president is under sharp criticism for his domestic policies. But his actions on the international stage have drawn praise. Iran is particularly pleased about warming relations - and has the most to gain.

When Mohammed Morsi was elected as Egypt's president in June 2012, the regime in Tehran was quick to send congratulations. After years of icy ties under Hosni Mubarak, Iran finally saw the opportunity to get on better terms with the regional Arab heavyweight.

The prominence of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood raised hopes among the regime in Iran of an "Islamic Awakening." "Iran sees the Arab Spring as an opportunity to promote its own revolutionary Islamic vision for the region," Elizabeth Iskander, research fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies in Hamburg, told DW. However, this is proving to be an illusion.

Morsi has his own agenda to follow when it comes to foreign policy. His first visit abroad after taking office was to Saudi Arabia, one of Cairo's significant financial supporters since the Arab Spring. But Morsi also played a key role in brokering a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza last month and was showered with praise by the US.

Read more: Egypt reserved on Iran's courtship | World | DW.DE | 07.12.2012

Gulf cools towards Muslim Brothers - Alain Gresh

Dubai’s chief of police, General Dahi Khalfan al-Tamim, claims that the Muslim Brotherhood is “a small group that has strayed from the true path.” He also says that the revolution in Egypt “would not have been possible without Iran’s support and is the prelude to a new Sykes-Picot agreement” (1). And that Mohammed Morsi’s election in Egypt was “an unfortunate choice.” Like many leading figures in the Arab world, Al-Tamin uses Twitter, where he has said: “If the Muslim Brotherhood threatens the Gulf’s security, the blood that flows will drown it.”

Throughout this summer, Al-Tamin criticised the Brotherhood, which he calls “a sinful gang whose demise is drawing near”, and called for their assets and bank accounts to be frozen (2). The authorities in the UAE, of which Dubai is a part, have brought around 60 of the Brothers to court, charged with plotting against the regime.

The pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat belongs to Saudi crown prince Salman’s family. Despite its reputation in the West, it has almost no autonomy in matters of Arab politics. The day after Mohammed Morsi’s swearing-in on 30 June, its editor, Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed, asked some questions (really those of the Al-Saud family) (3). Would Egypt’s new head of state fight terrorism and oppose Al-Qaida? Would he continue Egypt’s mediating role over Palestine? Would he genuinely support the Syrian opposition, given his opposition to any foreign military intervention? Would he back Jordan’s king Abdullah against the challenge from the Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood?

Al-Rashed wrote: “As Iran has long been a strong ally of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, will the new president decide to resume relations with Tehran under the pretext that Iran has embassies and ambassadors in the Gulf states?... Will he remain silent about Iran’s ideological and religious activities that have intensified ever since the ousting of Mubarak, as seen in Tehran’s support for local groups and attempts to spread Shia ideology among some Egyptian circles? This is something Al-Azhar [Sunni Islam’s leading institution based in Cairo] has already criticised, warning that Egypt could be threatened with sectarian conflict.”

These warnings, and many others in the Gulf press, have attracted little attention in the West, perhaps because they run counter to the prevailing view: that there is a broad alliance uniting the emirs of the Gulf and the Islamist movements in their wish to impose strict religious order and sharia, as though a shared conservative vision of Islam supersedes political considerations and diplomatic rivalries, national differences and divergent strategies.

Read more: Gulf cools towards Muslim Brothers - Le Monde diplomatique - English edition

Anger in Egypt Over Power Grab by President Morsi - by Liam Stack

Protesters torched the offices of Egypt’s ruling Islamist party in several cities on Friday during an outpouring of public anger one day after President Mohamed Morsi issued a sweeping decree granting himself broad new powers and putting his decisions above any challenges by the country’s courts.

Protesters also set fire to the offices of the ruling Freedom and Justice Party in the seaside city of Alexandria, long a stronghold of Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Mr. Morsi was a leader until he resigned to run for president. Party offices also burned in the Suez Canal cities of Port Said, Suez and Ismailia.

Read more: Anger in Egypt Over Power Grab by President Morsi - NYTimes.com

Libya: Unofficial counts show liberals leading Muslim Brotherhood in Libyan election - by Maggie Michael

Libya’s first nationwide elections in nearly five decades brought hints Sunday of an Arab Spring precedent: Western-leaning parties making strides over Islamist rivals hoping to follow the same paths to power as in neighbours Egypt and Tunisia.

While final results from Saturday’s parliamentary election could still be days away under a two-tier selection system, unofficial and partial counts from Libya’s biggest cities suggested liberal factions were leading the Muslim Brotherhood and allies in a possible first major setback to their political surge following last year’s uprisings.

If the Libyan trend holds — which is still far from certain — it would challenge the narrative of rising Islamist power since the fall of Western-allied regimes from Tunis to Cairo. It also could display the different political dynamics in Libya, where tribal loyalties run deep and groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood at times co-operated with the rule of Moammar Gadhafi.

Read more: Unofficial counts show liberals leading Muslim Brotherhood in Libyan election - The Globe and Mail

Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi sworn in as Egypt's president

Islamist Mohammed Morsi has been sworn in before Egypt's highest court as the country's first freely elected president, succeeding Hosni Mubarak who was ousted 16 months ago.

Morsi, the Arab world's first freely elected Islamist president, became Egypt's fifth head of state since the overthrow of the monarchy some 60 years ago.

He took the oath on Saturday before the Supreme constitutional Court in their Nile-side courthouse built to resemble an ancient Egyptian temple. Morsi's inauguration speech at Cairo University was attended by top military generals, politicians and members of Egypt's disbanded parliament.

Calling himself "an employee of the nation and a servant to the people," he vowed to put his energies into "protecting the Egyptian state and reforming it."

Read more: Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi sworn in as Egypt's president - World - CBC News

Egypt elections 2012: Muslim Brotherhood wins as 3 are killed in gunfight on Israeli/Egyptian border

Three were killed in a gunfight on the Israeli/Egyptian border today - as the Muslim Brotherhood declared it had won Egypt's elections.

Militants fired on an Israeli crew building a border barrier on the frontier, killing one of the workers - while Israeli soldiers shot dead two of the infiltrators.

The incident raised Israeli concern about lawlessness in Egypt's Sinai desert since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Read more: Egypt elections 2012: Muslim Brotherhood wins as 3 are killed in gunfight on Israeli/Egyptian border | Mail Online

Egypt holds historic elections, voters turn out in droves

Shaking off years of political apathy, Egyptians turned out in long lines at voting stations Monday in their nation's first parliamentary elections since Hosni Mubarak's ouster, a giant step toward what they hope will be a democracy after decades of dictatorship.

The vote promises to be the fairest and cleanest election in Egypt in living memory, but it takes place amid sharp polarization among Egyptians and confusion over the nation's direction. On one level, the election is a competition between Islamic parties who want to take Egypt in a direction toward religious rule and more liberal groups that want a separation between religion and politics.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest and best organized group, along with other Islamists are expected to do well in the vote.

For more: Egypt holds historic elections, voters turn out in droves - NY Daily News

Libya's Coming Islamist Government - by Daniel Wagner

Like the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings this year, the Libyan uprising presented a liberal, democratic face to the world, leaving the impression that what will replace the ancien regimes in these countries would be roughly representative not only of western-style democracies, but also of the aspirations of the average person in the street. Now that the dust has mostly settled, this appears not to be the case. Not only is it clear now, as in the case of Egypt, the military-led 'transitional' government intends to cling to power for at least another year, but the newly installed government in Tripoli may end up fulfilling the worst fears of the West by becoming an Islamist-led government.

Islamists appear to be gaining control -- or have already gained control -- of the emerging government in Libya. The new Tripoli Municipal Governing Council is led by a member of the Muslim Brotherhood -- Abel al-Rajazk Abu Hajar. The country's most influential politician -- Ali Sallabi -- is an Islamic scholar. And the country's most powerful military leader -- Abdel Hakim Belhaj -- is the former leader of a group believed to be aligned with Al Qaeda. Belhaj is seeking to unseat the nominal prime minister of the interim government, Mahmoud Jibril, the U.S. trained economist who has criticized the Islamists. Is there any real reason to believe that the evolving government is likely to be either moderate or democratic? The 'democratic' forces within Libya have already appear to have been crushed.

For more: Daniel Wagner: Libya's Coming Islamist Government