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For Islamists, Dire Lessons on Politics and Power
(New York Times) David Kirkpatrick and Ben Hubbard - Islamists are drawing lessons from Egyptian President Morsi's ouster that could shape political Islam for a generation. For some, it demonstrated the futility of democracy in a world dominated by Western powers and their client states. But others, acknowledging that the coup accompanied a broad popular backlash, faulted the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood for reaching too fast for so many levers of power. "The message will resonate throughout the Muslim world loud and clear: democracy is not for Muslims," Essam el-Haddad, Morsi's foreign policy adviser, warned shortly before the military detained him. The overthrow of an elected Islamist government in Egypt, Haddad wrote, would fuel more violent terrorism. In Egyptian Sinai, thousands of Islamists rallied under the black flag of jihad and cheered widely at calls for "a war council" to roll back Morsi's ouster. "The age of peacefulness is over," the speaker declared.