The British government has allegedly delayed reports from an investigation into Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood. Ministers are apparently concerned it could damage the UK's relationship with its Gulf state allies.
I'm expecting it is pointing to uncomfortable funding flows... but I was wrong!
According to reports in the Financial Times, government officials may fear that the findings will contradict the position on the group taken by Britain's allies in the region, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
| Not to mention Qatar and Iran... |
The report, led by Britain's ambassador to Saudi Arabia Sir John Jenkins, said that the group should not be classified as a 'terrorist organization', in stark contrast with the beliefs of most of the Gulf States.
they are still refusing to designate fascist Islamism, the political ideology, as the enemy. They don't care if you want to overthrow secular society and install a caliphate, as long as you're the political wing and preach it peacefully... and yet at the same time they complain they can't fight the spread and need to crush all civil liberties, the right to a fair trial etc. This is just a joke. a very unfunny joke. They are doing exactly the wrong thing on both counts. Target the ideology and leave the civil rights in place!
The Brits had trouble targeting fascists in the mid-1930s. Chamberlain and most of his fellow Tories preferred Hitler and Mussolini to Stalin and the Internationale. Yes, yes, the fascists were not very nice, they'd allow, but the alternatives -- either allying themselves with the Bolsheviks or (even worse) re-arming the country to make a stand for liberal democracy -- required them to tell uncomfortable truths, to the public and to themselves. So they didn't until Munich finally opened their eyes, at which point it was rather late. Remember Churchill was a pariah then for saying exactly what needed to be said.
Today we have trouble targeting Islamicists. Blair and Cameron and the rest are uncomfortable admitting to themselves that their policies of appeasement, multiculturalism and conscious disregard of history have failed. Flooding the country with 'Asian' -- that is, Pakistani, Arab and North African Muslims -- has been a disaster. Doing business with rich Arabs has not prevented the British economy from struggling. British influence around the world has waned as its military has atrophied. The British Navy is now no more than a flotilla; the army no more than a Home Guard. Christianity is under moral assault, Judaism is under physical assault, and the progressive seculars have yet to see that they're next. They're too busy riding the tiger.
As Mark Twain once noted, history may not repeat but it sure does rhyme. |
The unpublished report also says that there is 'little evidence' to suggest Brotherhood members are involved in terrorist activity' according to reports from the Financial Times..
"Sir John will say that the Brotherhood is not a terrorist organization. The Saudis and Emiratis will then be very upset with us," the source told the paper.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron had initiated an inquiry into the political Islamist group in April this year, claiming that he wanted to divert people away from religious extremism.
"What I think is important about the Muslim Brotherhood is that we understand what this organization is, what it stands for, what its beliefs are in terms of the path of extremism and violent extremism, what its connections are with other groups, what its presence is here in the United Kingdom. Our policies should be informed by a complete picture of that knowledge," he told the British media.
According to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the purpose of the report was to examine "the Muslim Brotherhood's origins, philosophy, activities, record in and out of government; its organization and activities in the UK and abroad which might put at risk, damage, or risk damaging UK national interests."
The PM launched the investigation after coming under heavy pressure to do so from allies in Middle East, a No.10 source told the Times.
The FCO has denied any deliberate move to delay the report, with a spokesperson telling RT that the review was still taking place.
"The review into the Muslim Brotherhood hasn't been delayed. The main findings were completed by July as requested by the prime minister and work is now underway across government to consider the implications of these findings," the spokesperson said. |