Islamist Predictability

While it suited their purpose pre-election in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood indicated it was comfortable working alongside the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. Agreeable to joining with them in working toward a resolution of the protests. Which would inevitably result in parliamentary elections.

To which, for the first time in its existence since the 1920, the Muslim Brotherhood, the best-organized 'political' party in the country, the Freedom and Justice party, would be allowed to give contest.

Now that the Muslim Brotherhood has successfully parlayed its careful planning and social-service strategies to the Egyptian masses whom the past regime of Hosni Mubarak had not been of great economic and social benefit, by emerging with huge advances, alongside the even more fanatic Salafist party, there is no longer any perceived need to be so genial to the military.

The Muslim Brotherhood feels comfortable now in being able to contest the ruling military alliance's plans.

Those plans, just incidentally, include a denial of permitting the two parties, the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party, and their Salafist rivals, to take complete parliamentary control, including the re-writing of the country's constitution, setting aside the primacy of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

It is the army's intention to help draft the new constitution. In a manner that would continue to give them the privileges of decision-making and regime-domination that they have enjoyed for the past forty years. Their intention, to share rule with a 50-member "civilian advisory council", which they claim will be involved in protecting the rights of non-religious Egyptians, and Coptic Christians.

Both of which demographics will be slated to suffer under Islamist rule. "The military council is determined to turn against the will of the people", harrumphed the Brotherhood's spokesman. And although by now they should know better, activist groups who were behind the Arab Spring revolution of Tahrir square are fully in support of the Brotherhood's rejection of the military's plans.

The irony here is that the military plans to uphold the rights of secular and Christian Egyptians against the Sharia-led rule of the Islamists. An echo of which could be noted for the Turkish military which did likewise, in Ataturk's name always ensuring that no Islamists took rule in Turkey, until the advent of Tayyip Erdogan's ascent to rule with his Justice and Development Party.

Now, just as the deposed and emasculated Turkish military is helpless under the thumb of its ruling party, justice and development has seen that a long co-operative friendship with the State of Israel has been replaced with grim and bitter rejection. And now that the Muslim Brotherhood's
Freedom and Justice party is in the ascendancy in Egypt, that country's long peace treaty with Israel is in jeopardy.

"A long time has passed since the Camp David accord was signed, and like the other agreements it needs to be reviewed, and this is in the hands of the parliament," said Mahmoud Hussein, the group's secretary-general.

"Generally, Israel does not honor the agreement," he added.

It is strange how values held dear by Western democracies can be verbally embraced by their detractors for whose agenda they are inimical, yet using words like 'freedom' and justice' and 'development', while what they turn to in their stead is 'oppression', 'injustice', and 'rejection' of human rights and peace opportunities.