Epstein Secrets

st political force and the largest Parliamentary faction to field a Presidential candidate. But it was. The announcement sent an earthquake through Cairo's already wildly careening political scene. • happy to admit that Iwas taken by surprise. What was the Brotherhood thinking? The nomination of Sha

iro's already wildly careening political scene. • happy to admit that Iwas taken by surprise. What was the Brotherhood thinking? The nomination of Shater seems to have been a response to threats and opportunities a rapidly changing political arena, rather than the hatching of a long-term plan. But ma

The ultraconservative Al-Nour Party is yet to announce its candidate of choice. Researcher of Islamic movements Abdel-Reheem Ali told DNE that Al- Shater's nomination will only affect the Islamist vote as liberals, leftists, and the revolutionary youth will never vote for him. "Al-Shater's candidacy

s the President of Egypt? I've been studying Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood for many years, and have interviewed most of its senior leaders (including Shater) multiple times. And I'll admit that I was surprised. So were most other MB-watchers I follow. That's in large part because it contradicts what I h

ticularly if he was seen to be working for you. We became pretty chummy with all these guys. Traveling with secretaries of state, we always went to Cairo first to consult with our good friend Hosni. Successive CIA station chiefs had very close personal relationships with the king of Jordan. There was

"Egyptian renaissance," which they joyfully unfurled on cue. Meanwhile, senior officials at the head table drank from coffee mugs emblazoned with Shater's rather imposing headshot. Shater's last name means "clever" in Arabic -- a fitting moniker for the self-made millionaire -- and one handmade sign

ict of Shubra al-Kheima, a Brotherhood stronghold, to hear what their candidate would do upon capturing the Egyptian presidency. The rally, one of Shater's first since announcing his candidacy, managed to be both tightly organized and raucous -- Muslim Brotherhood cadres of all ages drowned out the n

o fears that the generals might use the election as an opportunity to put one over their most powerful challenger — rumors have abounded lately in Cairo about the possibility of a presidential run by Omar Suleiman, Mubarak's former intelligence chief and figurative "Hand of the King." Alternately, th

s cannot be appealed) and implied its head is in the military's pocket. A second source of extreme uncertainty is the election itself. Assuming al- Shater's candidacy and the balloting move forward, Egypt simply has no experience in competitive presidential campaigns, making it very hard to predict ho

of just how much the political landscape has changed since the days when the U.S. pinned its hopes on a Mubarak regime that imprisoned the likes of Shater, the Times reports that the Brotherhood's candidate is in regular contact with U.S. Ambassador Anne Paterson, and that U.S. officials have praised

ve been among the m=st eager activists; the judgment on the fans from Port Said, who were held=responsible for the deaths of 72 people at a game in Cairo last year, sent a crowd swarming to the prison w=ere they were kept. Panicked police opened fire, killing 30 people. They f=red again at the mass fu

old men=at the top had been overdue retirement. But his popularity has waned as he=has become ever more closely identified with the Brotherhood. Mr Shater, a heavy-=et veteran of Mr Mubarak's prisons, is widely seen as more powerful than=the prime minister. The Brothers' chief foreign-affairs spokesman

an Spectator Elections on the Nile George H. Wittman 5.18.12 -- The Egyptian military and organized Islamic political groups came out of the 2011 Cairo Spring as the real power brokers of the country. Gone are the student and youth crowds that dominated Tahrir Square, along with the women of all a

on commission disqualified many of the top candidates who had announced their intentions to run and the Brotherhood had been given the tip that el- Shater would be considered a definite reject. In a surprise shift, the more ideologically strict Salafists countered with the comparatively moderate Abdel