New Yorker: Where is the MB leading Egypt?

↪ Peter Hessler: Where is the Muslim Brotherhood Leading Egypt? : The New Yorker

Too bad it's behind a paywall, because Peter Hessler's Letter from Cairo in the latest issue of the New Yorker is the best piece on Egypt the magazine has had in a long time. I've met Peter once (he came to interview me over a year ago when he arrived in Cairo) and I've been eagerly waiting to see his reporting. I knew his China reporting was excellent and that he spoke Chinese very well. I was impressed that he took the time to learn Arabic before starting to write about Egypt, as well as taking the time to get to know the country. It's a luxury few journalists have nowadays.

The piece is reported over the last month in particular, with scenes from the protests at Ettihadia and other events. It's pretty brutal on the Brotherhood's behavior, largely rightly — it has not fallen for the false "balance" that some other outlets have in their coverage of the most recent crisis. Tracking the Brotherhood's claims and acts, he lists many instances of dubious or duplicitous behavior while not taking the hysterical anti-MB version of events either.

Here's an excerpt lifted from the iPad edition: