Stephens reports that "Nicholas Kulish wrote on Feb. 4 that members of the Brotherhood 'come across as civic-minded people of faith.'" To the WSJ's credit, Stephens reviews the true history and nature of the Brotherhood.
"The depiction of [Khomeini] as fanatical, reactionary and the bearer of crude prejudices seems certainly and happily false, ... What is also encouraging is that his entourage of close advisers is uniformly composed of moderate, progressive individuals. ... Having created a new model of popular revolution based, for the most part, on nonviolent tactics, Iran may yet provide us with a desperately needed model of humane governance for a third-world country."
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Muslim Brotherhood ... we've been here before
The New York Times never fails to fail, as Bret Stephens reminds us today in the WSJ. Back in 1979, Prof Richard Falk writes in the Times:
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6 comments:
I used to think that that 'history repeats itself' stuff had at least a couple buffer generations in-between cycles.
Looks like I was wrong.
I'm glad you posted this. I was only 16 at the time, but I have a vague recollection of such reporting.
Thanks.
I wasn't born at the time but I know what Iran has turned out to be.
I guess these latest "revolutions" are for our generation that has been blinded and stupified.
Jason,
Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
I was old enough at the time to question that matter. At the time Khomeini followers bolted a movie theatre closed and burned it down killing all the women and children (because they were women and children who went to the theatre). When I confronted my leftist friends (including some Iranians) who were supporting to revolution they said, "don't worry we'll get rid of the fundamentalists when we get in power."
Ah, yes, "don't worry!"
Yeah, and we don't have to worry about the Muslim Brotherhood.
A friend of mine, a Christian from Egypt, tells me he thinks there is a unique balance in Egypt which will preclude the Muslim Brotherhood from taking power. He says officers in the Military own 1/3 of the businesses in Egypt and, as such, their interest is in a relatively secular Egypt.
Frankly, this reasoning does not make sense. Businesses can do fine under Islamic government. Especially an Oligarchic cooperation between business, the military, and the clerical powers. Now that I think about it, that sounds like a perfect recipe for Islamic government.
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