New Poll: ‘Trouble for the West’ as Egyptians On Pace to Elect Muslim Brotherhood
Posted on July 28, 2011 at 7:32am by Jonathon M. Seidl
Remember Amr Moussa? He’s the Egyptian presidential candidate — who is also a part of the Muslim Brotherhood — who said in May that Hamas — the terror group — is not a terror group. Now, a new Newsweek/Daily Beast poll finds that he‘s the likely winner in Egypt’s upcoming election, and his party is likely to gain power. And according to Newsweek, that’s bad news for Israel and America.
“The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest Islamist group, is poised to win the largest share of the vote in parliamentary elections,” the Daily Beast writes, “the man who appears to have a clear shot at the presidency, Amr Moussa, has made his name criticizing Israel; and a large majority of respondents favor amending or revoking the cornerstone of regional stability, the Camp David Accords.”
According to the poll of just over 1,000 respondents, the Muslim Brotherhood’s “Freedom and Justice Party” garnered the most support at 17 percent. The same support ringed true for Moussa:
On paper, the Newsweek/Daily Beast survey found a close race: Former Arab League chief Amr Moussa leads the pack with the support of 16 percent of likely voters, former diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei and former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik follow with 12 percent each, and a smattering of others trail in single digits. But Moussa clearly has wider appeal: When we surveyed likely voters with just the three front-runners, the former foreign minister, who talks tough on Israel, garners 47 percent, with “Undecided” running even with the remaining two. [Emphasis added]
So what did these Egyptians think about Israel? The poll says most want to change the staple peace agreement in the region, the Camp David Accords:
The antipathy to their neighbor the north was palpable. Only 3 percent of those surveyed had a positive impression of Israel, only 2 percent said Israel cares about Egypt’s interests and a mere 1 percent said Israel had responded to the recent revolution in a positive way. This has repercussions on the linchpin of regional stability, the Camp David Accords: 70 percent want to amend or cancel them, while only 17 percent want to keep them as is. [Emphasis added]
Who do they like instead? How about Turkey, which has embraced Islamic law.
“Among regional powers, it was viewed as having demonstrated the most support for the revolution, as well as the most concern about Egypt’s interests and the most positive effect on the world,” the article says.
It‘s no wonder that the Daily Beast opens it’s piece with this conclusion: “the political climate in Egypt is moving in a new direction that is inimical to American and allied interests—notwithstanding the billions of dollars in aid that the United States continues to provide.”
That, it says plainly, spells “trouble for the West.”
Read more results from the poll here.
12 comments:
Shocking!
I just am so shocked
I am sure they are just as shocked at State and the WH
Who could ever have predicted this outcome?
Oh well, just another Obama day
So Israel can take the Sinai back.
Wait, I thought they wanted Democracy?!?!?!?!?
And you believed them! Haha! Fooled ya!
Sheesh, 1979 and again, now.
God, I sure am gullible.
Bah. Have a drink. It's not the end of the world as we know it.
Yet. . .
"Who do they like instead? How about Turkey, which has embraced Islamic law." No, Turkey has still a secular legal system.
So your all assuming the words of 1008 people reflects the reality on the ground, think again.
Such polls reflect those who were asked, those who actually wanted to respond (big difference in types) and how it was asked. How about gender, women tend not to be asked in such countries but in Egypt they have the right to vote and do and are notoriously North African in that they do not vote as a family but independently.
If the poll is taken seriously as a reflection of trends, remember this: "the Brotherhood, whose Freedom and Justice Party scored a plurality of support (17 percent). More ominously, just 35 percent said that a Muslim Brotherhood majority would be a bad thing (27 percent said it would be good, 38 percent weren’t sure)."
Thus we can say that potentially 73 per cent reject The Brotherhood or at least, there are twice as many who class them as a bad thing rather than a good thing.
Now, re-read your comments....
The likely hood is that Egypt will follow the line that Turkey has. The military will allow a free and fare election on the basis that they are the protectors of the constitution and will basically make it clear that even if the Brotherhood wins, they must act within that constitution and if they can do a good job, not create turmoil or war and if they do, the military will step in.
The problem of course is the Brotherhood itself and the AKP of Turkey is nothing like that, even though the blogs in the west like to pretend otherwise....
Obama wants to sell(or give) more Abrams M1 tanks to Egypt. It will be used against Israel.
http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=35084
Other instances of intolerance punctuated the life of Christians in Turkey during the past 12 months. On Oct. 16 Compass Direct News reported on the trial of two Christians, accused of having insulted Islam.
Defense Attorney Haydar Polat said the trial was a scandal, pointing to the fact that in proceedings three of the witnesses for the prosecution admitted they did not even know the two Christians on trial.
Hakan Tastan and Turan Topal were arrested in October 2006 following charges that they had slandered Turkishness and Islam while talking about their faith with three young men in Silivri, a town about an hour’s drive west of Istanbul. They could be jailed for up to 2 years if found guilty of the charges.
The matter is still not over, with proceedings adjourned until Jan. 28, 2010, due to the court having repeated its summons to three more prosecution witnesses who failed to appear at the hearing.
Then, on Dec. 4 Compass Direct News published a report on a survey that showed more than half of the population of Turkey opposes members of other religions holding meetings or publishing materials to explain their faith.
The survey also found that almost 40% of the population of Turkey said they had "very negative" or "negative" views of Christians.
U.S. to vote on ‘return of churches’ in Turkey
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011
“The Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives is planning to hold a vote Wednesday on an amendment calling for Turkey to ‘return stolen Armenian and other Christian churches to their rightful owners,’” Hurriyet Daily News reports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-VmkQHncs4
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harut-sassounian/em60-minutesem-exposes-tu_b_401047.html
Damien, you know, there is famous Daily Sketch cover whose headline is "THE MAN THE WORLD LOOKS TO", I'll leave to you to find it.
The most important thing about that cover is not that it signifies appeasement, it signifies two other things. That appeasement has never lost a vote, and that the meaning of this is that the power of hoping against hope that things will turn out all right is one of the strongest forces in human nature.
Gentlemen's bet .. if the vote is fair the MB polls AT LEAST a solid plurality in Egypt.
In every vote taken in the ME, EVERY SINGLE ONE, in every poll whether by these guys, PEW or any other organization, the REAL DESIRE of the largest segment of the population is that the ascendant form of Islam today play a larger role in the daily lives of the people both in terms of religion and INSEPARABLY as IT MUST BE, in the govt.
Is there any doubt that HAMAS truly does represent AT A MINIMUM the desires of the Gazans, if not all of what might be a Palestine (west bank + gaza) one day?
We have to be sanguine enough here in liberal democracies to recognize two things
1) Our policies in the past have made it IMPOSSIBLE for us to OVERTLY change or influence the will of the people there in the ME
2) Democracies DO NOT ALWAYS MEAN THE END OF WAR, in fact might reveal as it does between Israel and the Arabs, a TRUE war of the peoples.
I used to believe that in a democracy the people of the ME would worry more about roads, schools and jobs and turn out any govt that did not aid in reaching those endeavours.
However, as EVENTS HAVE EMPIRICALLY DEMONSTRATED, even in Turkey, that simply does not apply in the ME.
The will of the people in AGGREGATE is that kaffirs are bad and must be treated so .. IN AGGREGATE.
Otherwise, the Fourth would have landed and in Turkey and what transpired in Iraq would have been completely short circuited as they cut off everyone from the North.
Otherwise Turkey would NEVER have allowed that flotilla knowing what would transpire with their PREVIOUSLY semi-ally.
Otherwise the military technology and national STRATEGIC interest therein they purchase from Israel would be a primary goal to maintain.
Instead the govt obeys the will of the people to rid the Levant of Jewish sovereignty.
A goal which serves no national interest, but fulfills, solely, a religious mandate.
That's how it is
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