US warming up to Brotherhood? Tuesday, 12 July 2011 01:01

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last week that Washington will have limited contact with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. There’s not much surprise there. The Arab Spring has forced the world to recalibrate its ties with the region. And Clinton admitted that much.

“Given the changing political landscape in Egypt, that it is in the interests of the United States to engage with all parties that are peaceful and committed to nonviolence, that intend to compete for the parliament and the presidency,” she said during her visit to Budapest. “And we welcome, therefore, dialogue with those Muslim Brotherhood members who wish to talk with us.”

Clinton added this was not a new US policy but rather “we are re-engaging in because of the upcoming elections.” But she emphasised that “there will be certain expectations set and certain messages delivered.”

The US government is, all of sudden, re-starting its negotiations with Islamic parties, not only in Egypt, but probably in Tunisia, Syria, Libya and Yemen too after the US-backed regimes in these countries have either been replaced or are on verge of collapsed.

The US is obviously looking for an opportunity in the changed scenario to shape the politics of the region as they had done previously. Maybe, the new US agenda is to come closer to the Islamic parties in the belief that they can change these parties into something similar to that of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party — Islamic but democratic and pragmatic.

In the post-Arab Spring Middle East, the US policy makers seem to see two types of governments emerge. One ruled or dominated by modern Islamic parties such as in Egypt, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Sudan and Somalia and kingdoms such as the GCC countries, Morocco and Jordan. However, they need to look back and learn from what happened when they shifted their support from the Shah of Iran to the Islamic revolution and when they trained the mujahedeen to fight the Russians in Afghanistan during the Cold War.

By announcing that it will be engaging with the Muslim Brotherhood, however limited in nature, the US is seen indulging in the same old practice, only with a different set of actors.

The US should, instead, concentrate on supporting civil society and help the people’s movements in the region. People in the Middle East are generally more sceptical and distrustful of US policy because although it claims to change its policy, it seems to be following the same script as before. This leads people in the region to believe that the US change in policy is a trial balloon and that they are still using the reference book that Henry Kissinger, the renowned American diplomat, used.

The biggest test for the US will be during the UN General Assembly meeting in September when the Palestine statehood proposal comes up for debate and vote. Whether or not the US uses its veto will indicate for this region if there is an actual change in US policy.

The Peninsula