Be sure to check out the revamped website of the Arab Reform Bulletin, which now aims to be a continuously updated site with news as well as the monthly analysis we’ve come to know and love.
Of particular interest in the current issue is an article by Hossam Tammam, a leading Egyptian analyst of Islamist [...]

Former Arabist contributor to the blog and all-around smart guy Josh Stacher has penned a report on Egypt’s Muslim Brothers for the UK’s Institute for Public Policy Research:
Within and between western governments, a heated policy debate is raging over the question of whether or not to engage with the world’s oldest and most influential political [...]

Just in from Reuters: EGYPTIAN MILITARY COURT HANDS JAIL TERMS TO 25 FROM MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD, ACQUITS 15 - BROTHERHOOD LAWYER
Ikhwanonline has special front page for occasion. Some background in English from Ikhwanweb at “Final Session of MB Military Tribunal today” and “Journalists and MB Supporters Harrassed Prior to Military Verdict”
Pending detail of who got [...]

The other fallout from yesterday’s events, and the crackdown on the MB of the last two months:

Egypt Islamists to boycott election
CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt’s main opposition movement the Muslim Brotherhood said on Monday it will boycott Tuesday’s municipal elections after it was allowed to field only 20 candidates for thousands of seats.
“We call on the [...]

I like Sameh Fawzy, a smart Coptic activist and researcher who has written at length about Islamist groups, the concept of citizenship, and many other issues. In his latest article for the Daily News Egypt he talks about Coptic attitudes towards the municipal elections, the problem with the clergy intervening on behalf of the regime [...]

The latest Times Literary Supplement has a review piece on several books about al-Qaeda, notably its ideology. Here’s a passage worth highlighting from Jihadi studies:

“Although his discourse has evolved, there are some constants, one of which is Palestine. For some curious reason, there has emerged a perception – particularly in the US – [...]

From Supreme court threatens Islamic party’s government in Turkey:

Turkey was thrown into crisis yesterday when the country’s supreme court moved to oust the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and close down his political party, the country’s biggest and most successful.
The 11-judge court, a bastion of the secularist establishment, decided unanimously to hear a case calling [...]

Adam Shatz reviews a new biography of Abu Musab al-Suri, one of al-Qaeda’s most important theoreticians - Laptop Jihadi:

Al-Suri’s world-view isn’t original, although it is no less chilling for that: a Qutbian brew of political grievances (Israeli atrocities in Palestine, the US sanctions against Iraq), toxic prejudice (non-Muslims, but especially Jews and crusaders) and sexual [...]

Interesting interview with the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood leader, suggesting Syria would abandon Iran alliance if the regime fell:

Ikhwanweb: Farouk Al-Sharaa described the Saudi role in the region as “paralyzed” while he backs Iran . How do you expect the balance of power in the region will be if a change happens and an [...]

The new issue of Middle East Report is out, with a focus on youth. It features an excellent piece by Marc Lynch on young Muslim Brothers, which is available online, as is a reflection on how Arab youths are perceived as a sociological / political unit (one for instance sometimes presumed to always be a [...]

Divisions in Muslim Brotherhood:
THE lowly shoe is considered a degrading weapon in Egypt. To be beaten with a shoe adds insult to injury.
So when Mohamed Mahdi Akef, the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, the banned Islamist group whose members have frequent encounters with the police, threatened critics with his shoes last year, it was [...]

International Crisis Group - Hizbollah and the Lebanese Crisis:
Looking back over the past ten months, Lebanese can feel somewhat relieved. The massive demonstrations in December 2006, followed by a general strike and clashes between pro- and anti-government forces with strong sectarian overtones, as well as a series of assassinations and car bombs, brought the nation [...]

Your best friend hates you: prolific Muslim Brother Ibrahim Houdeiby’s latest article, perhaps his best one yet, on Egypt’s promotion of anti-Americanism and how it relates to the “engage the MB” debate. He concludes with an interesting argument:
In the era of “neo-terrorism,” or micro-terrorist groups, this increasing hostility only means a threat to American national [...]

Cairo Moving More Aggressively To Cripple Muslim Brotherhood:
CAIRO — After imprisoning or prodding into exile Egypt’s leading secular opposition activists, the government is using detentions and legal changes to neutralize the country’s last surviving major political movement, the Muslim Brotherhood.
Brotherhood leaders and rights groups contend the government is clearing the stage of opponents in politics, [...]

Muslim Brother Ibrahim al-Houdaiby has responded to Mona al-Tahawy’s critical column in the Forward on the group. In this pieces he distances himself from Supreme Guide Mahdi Akef’s remark that she appeared “naked” because she was unveiled — not the first time I hear Ibrahim condemn al-Houdaiby in favor of the person many see as [...]

Mona al-Tahawy has a personal story of dealing with the Muslim Brotherhood and explains why she backs their political rights even as she (rightly) finds their views distasteful: I Will Stand Up for the Muslim Brotherhood.
I think, even more than the arrests, the sign that there is really a fierce campaign taking place against the [...]

I have just received the following email from a friend in the Muslim Brotherhood:
I just received the news of the arrest (or re-arrest) of Essam El Erian, Chief of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political bureau, who was banned from travelling to Turkey this morning. A number of leaders were also arrested, including Mahmoud Hussien, a member [...]

Charles Levinson unearths this disturbing-but-funny-but-disturbing MEMRI clip from Hamas TV about getting children to behave better with animals. It is truly bizarre, but I wouldn’t draw any wider conclusions from it aside from wondering whether there can be a worse place for animals than Gaza zoo (look at how small the lion’s cage is), which [...]

Two questions about the story below: 1) While remembering that many governments, even in democratic countries, require demonstrations to be registered for public safety reasons, is this merely an attempt to control the situation in a chaotic area (and where certain clans may be still be bitter about Fatah’s defeat) or is Hamas taking the [...]

Our friends Samer Shehata and Joshua Stacher have a new piece on the Muslim Brotherhood’s relationship with the Egyptian regime at MERIP. It’s a thorough overview of the last two years of mounting repression against the MB, tracking down the post-parliamentary election crackdown, the Fall 2006 labor and student election crackdown, the “Ikhwan Militia” scandal, [...]