The Muslim Brotherhood ascends

From Tunisia to Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood is emerging as the winner of the Arab Spring. There are differences, of course, between the parties that make up this network taking over the Sunni world. The Brotherhood in Tunisia, for example, is far more liberal than its counterpart in Egypt and certainly nothing like its counterpart in Syria, which has been radicalized due to decades of oppression and the current "jihad” against the Bashar al-Assad regime.

The fact, however, is that there is increasing cross-border solidarity between the parties and movements that fit into this mold as a result of the vast network that has existed for years and is now coming into its own. Neither can Turkey under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) be considered apart from this.

As matters stand, Turkish sympathies under the AKP lie very visibly with Sunni Hamas, for example, and less with the Shiite Lebanese Hezbollah, and with the Sunnis in Syria as opposed to the remaining portion of the population made up of Alawites and Christians.

It is also noteworthy that Turkey is far more active where the oppression is against Sunni elements, even if they happen to be as far away as Myanmar, than it is, for example, with the fate of oppressed Shiite elements, say in Bahrain or Saudi Arabia.

The irony for Western Islamophobes is that the establishment in the West, and most notably the United States, is also siding with the Sunni regimes of the Middle East, regardless of terrorism from radical Sunni elements such as al-Qaeda or the Taliban. (...)