Muslim Brotherhood: The Pawn on the Chessboard

In the last few articles we have extensively covered the Syrian theatre and its after shocks on the broader middle east. The events in Syria must not be seen in an isolation but as a part of wider game to deconstruct and reshape the middle east into Anglosphere’s sphere of influence. The game is just not about some territory but about sustaining oil, petrodollar and stopping hegemonic rise of Sino-Russian axis in the Middle East and North African region extending upto Sahel. These plans for regime change, trade wars, disruptions to global economy are not built in day but long over months and years. For every plan to be executed you need set of useful idiots who are created, nurtured and once the utility is over they are destroyed. From Brzezinski freedom fighters in Afghanistan to Al Qaeda terrorist in 9/11 from Jabhat Al Nusra’s Al Joulani to the reformer Ahmed Al Sharaa in Syria. The script is the same only the actors change. To understand the wider chess board of the play we need to decipher the role of Muslim Brotherhood protagonists globe trotting in suits.

In our book “The New Global Order” (2016), we had mentioned the report “The Project Of New American Century” of the year 2000, where it is stated that the US military’s four core missions as 1-defend the American homeland; 2- fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theatre wars; 3- perform the constabulary duties associated with shaping the security environment in critical regions; and 4- transform the US forces to exploit the revolution in military affairs. It said that barring another Pearl Harbour; this would be a long-drawn-out process. It also suggested and justified regime changes for dangerous regimes such as North Korea, Iran, Syria and Libya, and endorsed the advent of democracy in communist China. It also spoke of space and biological warfare which included the creation of US Space Forces to dominate space and cyberspace

Cut to 9/11 a few months later America is drawn into a war in Afghanistan, Iraq, later Libya and now Syria with the final target remaining i.e. Iran. In our book in the year 2016, we had documented the interview of General Welsey Clarke a four-star NATO General in the year 2007 wherein he revealed that upon his visit to pentagon just after 9/11 one of the members of Joint Staff then told him “I just got this down from upstairs (Secretary of Defence’s office) today. This is a memo that describes how we are going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran”. He was rather taken aback by this unnecessary warmongering but recalled a conversation he had a decade earlier with Paul Wolfowitz, the then number three Pentagon official in 1991 in which Wolfowitz had stated, “we’ve got about 5 or 10 years to clean up those old Soviet regimes- Syria, Iran, and Iraq, before the next great superpower comes along to challenge us”!

PSD 11 & Muslim Brotherhood Project

Thus the endless war on terror began with states being taken down, regimes upturned in Middle East & North African Region and the Arab Spring was a just a catalyst for such drastic change. The Arab Spring movement in 2010 was anything but spontaneous and to orchestrate such mass scale events across a region you need useful idiots, there enters Muslim Brotherhood a radical Islamist organisation which was founded in 1937 accused of terrorist attacks and assassinations and banned in many countries across the world. The American dalliance with this new pawn on the chessboard began in 2009 when Disclosures of the US policy directives in reference to PSD– 11 (Presidential Study Directive), a classified document reveal that the Obama administration had conducted an assessment of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2010 and 2011. Samantha Power, Gayle Smith, and Dennis Ross led PSD-11 were part of review. The Obama administration had always maintained close ties with the Muslim Brotherhood rather the State Department had meetings with its key figures in Washington DC.

The PSD-11 has left behind a legacy of utter chaos and lawlessness. It has provided a breeding ground for terror groups to prosper. Many groups have gone on to acquire greater power post the implementation of PSD- 11. Muslim Brotherhood is a banned terror organization in many GCC countries. It is at the heart of the conflict in Egypt and elsewhere and has been active in all the Arab Springs. Apart from the soft corner of the US, the Brotherhood received its funding initially from Qatar. Qatar has now officially cut ties off with the Brotherhood though it still remains integral to Turkey. Necmettin Erbakan founded Mili Gorus in 1969, the Turkish Muslim Brotherhood. In 1996, Erbakan facilitated the rise of a new Islamic power bloc of eight Islamic countries- Libya, Iran, Egypt, Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Malaysia to spread the Brotherhood’s network. The

Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaeda, and ISIS share a core ideology. ISIS sprung from al-Qaeda in Iraq and al-Qaeda’s founders were students of early Brotherhood ideologues, such as theoretician Sayyid Qutb. As a result, violent extremist groups such as ISIS serve as an extension of core Brotherhood ideology, according to Egyptian Minister of Religious Endowments Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa. Jordanian analyst Fehmi Jadaane also believes that the ideologies of ISIS and the Brotherhood are fundamentally one and the same. Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966) was a leading theoretician of the Muslim Brotherhood whose works inspired a range of violent Islamists, including Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. Western critics have labeled Qutb the father of modern Islamic fundamentalism.

According to the 9/11 Commission Report, Qutb was a particularly “strong intellectual influence” on bin Laden. In his book Knights under the Prophet’s Banner, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri praised Qutb for beginning the jihadist movement. Qutb believed that humanity had a choice between jahiliyya and Islam. He also believed there could be no middle ground between the two—that Islam represented God while jahiliyya represented Satan. Central to all three groups is the concept of a caliphate, a state ruled by Islamic law headed by an individual anointed as the caliph (literally successor). The last Islamic caliphate dissolved in 1924 with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the emergence of the various nation-states that today comprise the modern Middle East. Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Bana rejected the nation-states created after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. He instead advocated pan-Arab nationalism and the creation of a single Islamic caliphate.

The Muslim Brotherhood tries to “build a popular base that believes in the Islamic system and is aware of its main ideas.” The Brotherhood’s primary tools to effect change are dawa (proselytization) and political participation. In Egypt’s 2012 elections, for example, the Brotherhood capitalized on goodwill built from decades of providing social services to win Egypt’s presidency. While the Brotherhood, al-Qaeda, and ISIS each believe in a caliphate, they differ in their approaches to accomplishing this shared vision. In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt severed relations with Qatar, citing Qatari support for the Brotherhood and other terrorist groups. The countries also designated several Brotherhood-linked individuals based in Qatar, including Brotherhood ideologue Yusuf al-Qaradawi. In response, al-Qaeda issued a video called “the mask has fallen,” condemning the actions against Qatar and the Brotherhood.

Egyptian Minister of Religious Endowments Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa believes Islam should be kept separate from political affairs. Gomaa has called the Brotherhood’s year in power “the worst” in Egypt’s modern history. He warned in 2014 that ISIS and the Brotherhood were heading toward a formal alliance, and predicted that Brotherhood leaders recently released from Egyptian prisons would form violent groups that would “incite from Qatar, conspire from Libya, mobilise the international organisation [of the Muslim Brotherhood] in Turkey and ally with the Islamic State [ISIS].” While countries like Saudis, Emiratis, Egyptians and even the Iranians were collaborating to stall the Muslim Brotherhood advance to overthrow the gulf arab monarchies; the Americans, Turkish and probably even the Israeli’s had other plans.

Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda & ISIS – Birds of a Feather flock together

While officially the Muslim Brotherhood maintains to foist a political Islamist order in form of the Ottoman caliphate yet it propagates the ideology of violence by supporting groups like Hamas & Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Some members of Al-Qaeda and ISIS were first introduced to violent strains of Salafism through the Brotherhood before graduating to overtly jihadist Islamist groups. Chief among these is ISIS’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Al Baghdadi progressed from the Muslim Brotherhood’s Salafism to the violent Salafism of al-Qaeda, ultimately breaking from al-Qaeda to establish ISIS. ISIS and the Brotherhood have shared a common enemy in the form of the Egyptian government since the July 2013 ouster of Egypt’s Brotherhood-centric government. Egypt outlawed the Brotherhood later in 2013, designating it a terrorist organization. Muslim Brotherhood members in Libya have reportedly joined ISIS and al-Qaeda training camps. According to a January 2016 news report, young members of the Brotherhood receive between $150 and $250 per day to take part in the Libyan training camps

The Brotherhood’s role as a bridge to jihadist organizations is perhaps most visible in the group’s ties to Al-Qaeda. The United States sanctioned Sheikh Abd al-Majeed al-Zindani in 2004, for example, for a “long history of working with bin Laden, serving as one of his spiritual leaders.” Al-Zindani also led the Brotherhood’s al-Islah political party in Yemen. The most famous former Brotherhood member to join Al-Qaeda is the group’s co-founder, Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden belonged to the Brotherhood’s chapter in the Arabian Peninsula, according to al-Qaeda co-founder Ayman al-Zawahiri. Ayman al-Zawahiri co-founded al-Qaeda with Osama bin Laden in 1988. Years earlier, he had joined the then-outlawed Brotherhood as a teenager in Egypt, for which he was arrested at age. Al-Zawahiri went on to join the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) in 1973, and he was arrested with other EIJ members in 1981 for the assassination of President Anwar al-Sadat. Al-Zawahiri is a former leader of the EIJ, which merged with al-Qaeda in 2001.

Al-Qaeda’s former affiliate in Syria, the Nusra Front, is a rebel group dedicated to replacing President Bashar al-Assad’s government with an Islamist regime. The Nusra Front’s leader, Abu Muhammad al-Golani (Al Jolani), has been critical of the Brotherhood for deviating from traditional Islamic teachings, yet the Nusra Front has been documented using materials from the Brotherhood in the group’s religious indoctrination program. In 2016, the Nusra Front formally changed its name to Jabhat Fatah al Sham and renounced and formal ties to al-Qaeda. The Brotherhood’s Syria faction praised the decision as a step toward making the Syrian revolution “truly local.” The following year, Golani praised the shared ideology of al-Qaeda and the Brotherhood. While they may differ in their tactics, both groups derive their ideologies from the same sources!

This is same Ahmed Al Sharaa alias Al Jolani who the world is legitimizing as a reformist in Syria these days. He is nothing but Muslim Brotherhood protagonist in suit & tie sponsored by Turkey and Qatar and being a useful idiot of the western powers to induce more chaos in Middle Eastern region. The Muslim Brotherhood chaos won’t stay limited to Middle East or North Africa, it will come to North Africa, Egypt, Caucuses, Central Asia and even South Asia. Muslim Brotherhood is a trans national terror organisation with Ottoman Caliphate plans. This makes Brotherhood and its affiliated Islamist terror groups as useful idiots to induce endless cycle of violence and chaos in West Asia, Africa and even South Asia.

The Pawn on the Geo-Political Chessboard

To fulfil the American project of new century and to retain its dominance, seeding chaos in the MENA region was necessary and what better than jihadists in formal suits tie with mask of reformation while pursuing the ideology of political Islam. The rise of Muslim Brotherhood as a new pawn on the chessboard has to be credited to western countries specifically America & its NATO allies. It is well known America is now facing stiff competition from China and Russia in the MENA region, while Russia is working with Saudis & Emiratis in OPEC+ the Chinese on the other hand are plucking out mines and bases in Africa expanding its footprint with BRI project. The Saudi decision to apply for BRICS and the chatter for a BRICS currency meant that America had to make its move to protect its hegemony via Petro-Dollars and stop the middle east from falling into Sino-Russian orbit.

The events of 07^th October 2023 and Israeli dismantling of Shia Crescent now make total sense in the larger geo political matrix. But to fulfil the objectives the shia militias who were the resistance force on the ground had to be taken out and with the help of Turkish sponsored rebels like HTS lead by Ahmed Al Sharaa & SNA the Syrian regime of Bashar Al Assad had to be thrown out. This is where the Americans came up with the plan of exploiting Turkey, by fueling the desire of its President Erdogan to restore its old Turkish dream of reviving its ancient Ottoman Turkish Empire. The Europeans and the Americans rapprochement with the Muslim Brotherhood meant that they turned a blind eye to the apparent and hidden agreements that are taking place between the Libyan Accord Group and Turkish President Erdogan of a fundamentalist revival of old Ottoman Turkish Empire with the blessing and assistance of the NATO military alliance. The next target after dismantling of Assad regime in Syria seem to be Egypt where the aim is to use Muslim Brotherhood as a pawn to replace relatively less radical secular Arab dictatorships in the MENA region with more radical fundamentalist groups under the supervision of a revisionist Turkey.

In our book “The New Global Order” (2016), we had talked about the project “The Greater Middle East”, wherein we had stated as follows, “During the time of the Bush Administration, a new term was coined: The New Middle East by then Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. The Project New Middle East/ Greater Middle East focused on the strengthening of Anglo-American military dominance over the resource rich Middle East. The means as always would be chaos. This would benefit not only the US in its stature as the sole superpower, but would also be very lucrative for the Pentagon and the MIC. The same was also evident in Colonel Ralph Peter’s 2006 map of the Greater Middle East. The map has created a balkanization of the Middle East as a means of pacification. It was cited as a humanitarian and righteous redrawing to address the concerns of all the tribes and sects of the people in the Middle East. The map has been used at various training programs for NATO’s Defence College for senior military officers. Critics called the map and the measures to achieve it draconian while Colonel Peters called it “necessary pains” for the welfare of the Middle East”.

To fulfil the project of the new American century before the next great power arrives, USA & NATO launched many wars and followed it up with a plan to dismantle secular arab dictatorships and install radical Muslim brotherhood sponsored groups in power that would induce more chaos in the region, leading to endless conflicts. To fulfil this part America needed a willful actor and who better than its NATO ally Turkey. By fueling Erdogan’s ambition of reviving Ottoman Caliphate, the west gave winds to the ambitions of Muslim Brotherhood. Hence, Turkey was the cornerstone that was used in the Middle East to achieve part of the American, Israeli and Western intelligence plan, of making Turkey the erstwhile Ottoman successor as sole voice of Arabs in the gulf region. The role of Turkish President Erdogan can be compared to the hero Dorian Gray in Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece, wearing a mask of purity and holiness.

Erdogan dreams of recreating the old Ottoman Turkish Empire, with the help of these banned Brotherhood elements in Egypt and all Arab countries and states, in preparation for establishing their new Middle East. America & the west want to use Turkey as a pawn in the bigger game to create chaos in MENA region stopping Chinese & Russian sphere from expanding. The setback to Russia in Syria and the regime change in MENA region should be seen in that light. Now it makes total sense why PSD-11 of Obama Administration (2010) to install Muslim Brotherhood regime(s) was never declassified. Even President Trump didnt declassify PSD-11 during his term. Thus it can be said that the plan to craft ‘New American Century’ was made under Bush Jr and put into motion after 9/11 with targets like Iraq, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Sudan etc including Iran. Obama carried forward the said agenda with Arab Spring & PSD 11, Biden succeeded in it. Will Trump will be the one under whom the mullah regime & IRGC is taken out in Iran by aiding Netanyahu’s ultimate goal? We shall hopefully know soon!. Presidents come & go but the agenda remains the same on how to secure America’s hegemony across the world for whatever be the costs.

What comes Next!?

The big question that hangs is, will Erdogan stick to being a US & NATO lackey or once he has achieved neo-ottoman caliphate in some shape in Mesopotamia and Levant, Sahel region he will ditch the West for his belief in ideology of Muslim Brotherhood. Time will tell a story as to how long the backstabber Erdogan stays true to his plans with US & NATO. Most Likely he will desert alliance of NATO and switch to CPT Axis (China, Pakistan & Turkey) Axis which we talked about in our Book in 2016 forming an alliance with Communist China. China wont mind Turkish Ottoman empire till it keeps Uyghur jihadists in check.

France’s leading intelligence agency official, Bertrand Chamoulaud, in a recent interview has warned that the Islamist movement, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood, is expanding its influence in the country with the ultimate aim of establishing a caliphate governed by Sharia law. According to Chamoulaud, over 100,000 worshippers attend mosques run by the Muslim Brotherhood, who spread their ideology through non-violent means, relying on a smooth, persuasive discourse rather than resorting to violence. The group is using societal tensions to infiltrate various sectors, including sports, health, and education. The sane voices in the Anglosphere are far less now and even though the French have sounded caution it is unlikely to stem the rise of Brotherhood sponsored Islamic fundamentalist groups and if you raise snakes in your backyard for others don’t expect them to not bite you.

The Muslim Brotherhood, an international organisation promoting Islamist ideology, is the main source of funding for Jamaat E Islami in Bangladesh. Both of them share Islamist ideology emphasising the implementation of Sharia law and the establishment of an Islamic state. Both are anti-secularism and have anti-Western sentiments. By funding the Jamaat, the Muslim Brotherhood aims to expand its Islamist influence in South Asia, particularly in Bangladesh. There is growing engagement between Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and China. China is engaging Jamaat a Muslim Brotherhood offshoot in Bangladesh to keep a check on Uyghur elements while it wont mind if Muslim Brotherhood does its dirty work via Bangladesh using the carders of ISKP & AQIS who are being abetted by Pakistan’s ISI in borderlands of Afghanistan.

With the advent of Muslim Brotherhood & the Neo Ottoman victory in Syria, Turkey is now playing mediator in North Africa like Sudan solving rift between Sudan & UAE. But can Erdogan be relied upon as an Honest Broker. Given its Muslim Brotherhood ideology, it will be interesting to see how GCC states react. America & Israel have cleverly used Turkey & the brotherhood as a pawn vis-a-vis Iran & GCC keeping the wider middle east region on the tenterhooks thereby limiting China & Russia’s influence in MENA region & Africa. India should be careful too given the fact that Bangladesh, Myanmar will be used as base to encircle it along with by using Brotherhood and its allied groups like Jamaat, ISKP & AQIS to stymie its peaceful economic rise after recent detente with China ! It must be clear to our establishment that USA does not want another China in India and China also does not want another China in Asia. Thus, our establishment will have to give away their policy inertia on defence preparedness and plan for chaotic global order where Cold War 2.0 beckons us with Multi-Polarity in Bi-Polarity as the core. History has a strange pattern of repeating itself over again & again and we are certainly headed towards next round of chaos much of which we had forewarned and explained lucidly in our book “The New Global Order” in the year 2016 itself!