Egypt’s new Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammad Mursi has a lot of electoral promises to live up to. There’s an ailing economy to deal with, dwindling foreign reserves, growing unemployment, a drying-up of the tourist industry and a stagnation of foreign investments — each of which must be tackled first and tackled now. Read more »
Egypt
Nayef’s demise: Relief for the Brothers?
The demise of Saudi Crown Prince Nayef will have significant repercussions not only in the Gulf but also on the whole region, including Egypt. Over the past 18 months, both Saudi Arabia and Egypt have seen major developments: the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak, the death of former Saudi Crown Prince Sultan, a new Egyptian Parliament and its recent dissolution, the death of the second Saudi crown prince and now a new Brotherhood president in Egypt. While one country has seen changes induced by a popular uprising, the other was the result of divine intervention. Read more »
The Brotherhood goes to Saudi
Unlikely circumstances came together in the past few days to mend ties between Saudi Arabia and Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. Since the fall of Hosni Mubarak and the rise of the Brotherhood in Egypt, relations between the two states stagnated before spiraling following the arrest in Saudi Arabia of an Egyptian human rights lawyer, Ahmed al-Gizawy. Read more »
Saudi-Egyptian breakdown: What’s at stake?
The sooner Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states realize that the “new Egypt” is here to stay and that the Mubarak days are long gone — and adjust their policies accordingly — the sooner they will be able to rebuild their bonds, this time not with the regime, but with the people, whose votes will decide the regime in place. Read more »
Qatar and Saudi Arabia at odds over Shater’s nomination
The Muslim Brotherhood’s surprise announcement nominating Khairat al-Shater for the presidency has ruffled feathers not only in Egypt but also here in the Gulf. The two Gulf States that perhaps are most at odds with each other over this nomination are Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The stakes between Egypt and these nations are high. Read more »
The Brotherhood and Gulf security
I was invited to meet leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood following an opinion article I had written for Egypt Independent earlier this month. The piece included for the first time explicit requests made from an Arab Gulf State foreign minister to the Brotherhood for relations between them to be normalized. This offer was in return for assurances that the Brotherhood would not seek to “export the revolution” to the Gulf, that it would not compromise on Gulf security and that future governments develop a systemic economic plan so the Gulf states could commit to further investments in Egypt. Read more »