Cameron pulls report on Muslim Brotherhood at last minute

The report was likely to recommend that Britain not classify the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. This would annoy the Saudis and the Egyptians, who see the Brotherhood’s quest to establish a caliphate as a threat to their power (which is quite obviously true in regard to the Egyptian regime, which supplanted a Muslim Brotherhood government). But if they are too tough on the Brotherhood, it will annoy Qatar, which is positive toward the Brotherhood and just signed an intelligence sharing agreement with Britain. What’s a witless dhimmi Prime Minister to do?

Note also: “Britain is the command and control centre for the Brotherhood in Europe. Nowhere else comes close — that is undeniable.”

“David Cameron pulls Muslim Brotherhood report,” by George Parker, Financial Times, March 16, 2015:

David Cameron has made an eleventh-hour intervention to postpone the publication of a controversial report into the Muslim Brotherhood in an attempt to avert a potential row with Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

The long-awaited report was due to be published on Monday afternoon but Mr Cameron’s move now means it is unlikely to be released before the UK general election on May 7, if at all.

It was expected to conclude that the Muslim Brotherhood should not be proscribed as a terrorist organisation, although its activities in Britain should be more transparent and kept under review.

The Brotherhood has been banned by Saudi Arabia and the UAE; some ministers say the two Gulf countries pressured Mr Cameron into setting up the investigation in the first place.

Just hours before its scheduled publication, Mr Cameron pulled the report, saying it should instead be released alongside the coalition government’s new counter-extremism strategy. Some officials in the Foreign Office had expressed concern the report could undermine Britain’s relations with key Gulf allies….

The political sensitivities of the report are considerable: ministers are aware that if it is too tough it could annoy Qatar, which has backed the Brotherhood. Qatar has also just signed an intelligence sharing agreement with the UK.

The organisation also has support from Turkey, where some Brotherhood leaders fled after a 2013 coup in Egypt ousted the Brotherhood-led government in Cairo.

Steven Merley, editor of Global Muslim Brotherhood Watch, said: “Britain is the command and control centre for the Brotherhood in Europe. Nowhere else comes close — that is undeniable.”…