M2RB: Lady GaGa
Can't read my
Can't read my
No, Obama can't read my poker face...
Can't read my
No, Obama can't read my poker face...
Is Mohammed Morsi a peacebroker or a virulent anti-Semite? A
former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, who has known Morsi for 13
years, believes that behind the Egyptian president's veneer of goodwill
towards Israel lies a deep-seated hatred.
By Dieter Bednarz and Volkhard Windfuhr in Cairo
Mohammed Morsi can be very sympathetic, even toward Jews, as
evidenced by an extremely friendly letter the Egyptian president sent to
Israel last October. The president had personally written the letter of
accreditation, for his new ambassador in Tel Aviv, to his counterpart
Shimon Peres, whom he addressed as a "Dear Friend." In the letter, Morsi
clearly invoked the "good relations" that "fortunately exist between
our countries," and pledged to "preserve and strengthen" them.
The government in Jerusalem had not expected such warm words from a
president who had emerged from the Muslim Brotherhood. Unsure whether
they were perhaps the victims of a forgery, the Israelis published the
letter. But Cairo confirmed that it was indeed genuine, and Jerusalem
reacted with relief. The Jewish state had lost a reliable partner with
the ouster of Morsi's predecessor Hosni Mubarak, and now there was hope
that perhaps Morsi would not confirm all of Israel's fears.
But the Egyptian president, who is visiting Berlin this week and will
meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel, a champion of Israel, appears to be
a man with two faces. He is conciliatory as Egypt's leader, saying that
he wants to be the "president of all Egyptians," even though only about
a quarter of the country's 50 million eligible voters voted for him.
And, of course, he insists that his country will fulfill all of its
obligations from the Mubarak era, including both the peace treaty with
Israel and a policy of close cooperation with the United States.
In mid-January, however, Western diplomats and politicians saw a very
different Mohammed Morsi, a man filled with hate for the "Zionist
entity," the term Islamists use for the Jewish state. An almost
three-year-old video, published by the Washington-based Middle East
Media Research Institute (MEMRI), depicts an Islamist who is practically
foaming at the mouth, as he rants about the Israelis in an interview
with an Arab network. Speaking in a deep and firm voice, he calls them
"bloodsuckers" and "warmongers," and says that there can be no peace
with these "descendants of apes and pigs."
It was apparently more than just a regrettable moment of madness for
Morsi, claims a prominent former member of the Muslim Brotherhood. After
all, he says, the current president served as general inspector of the
Muslim Brotherhood for years, which put him in charge of the group's
online service. That service includes quotes about Israelis and Jews
that testify to the same hatred as the lapses in the video.
Despite outrage internationally and at the White House over the
video, Morsi was unperturbed by the furor over his remarks. In the end,
his spokesman said that Morsi's words had been taken out of context, but
offered no further explanation or apology. When SPIEGEL reporters
appeared at the presidential palace in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis
last week after having received approval for an interview with Morsi,
they were turned away.
Here, Morsi can be seen in a 2010 photo standing next to Abdel-Jalil
el-Sharnoubi. Sharnoubi says he isn't surprised by Morsi's old hate
video. "Agitation against the Israelis is in keeping with the way Morsi
thinks," he says. "For the Morsi I know, any cooperation with Israel is a
serious sin, a crime."
All a Pretense
To comprehend the Egyptian president and grasp how the Muslim
Brotherhood shapes its members, it helps to speak with men who knew
Morsi during his time with the Islamist organization -- and who also
have the courage to speak openly about the group. Abdel-Jalil
el-Sharnoubi, 38, talks about how dangerous this can be. Last October,
after he had spoken about quitting the Brotherhood to Egyptian
newspapers and in TV appearances, masked men opened fire on Sharnoubi's
car with submachine guns.
For Sharnoubi, a lanky man, keeping a constant eye out for suspicious
characters has become second nature. He takes a cautious look around as
he walks into the Café Riche in downtown Cairo, and when he sits down,
he makes sure that he has a good view of the entire establishment. He
orders tea, rolls himself a cigarette and then tells the story of his
time with the Muslim Brotherhood and the current president, to whom he
derisively refers as "doctor."
When they first met in 2000, both men were already successful.
Sharnoubi, the son of an imam in the Nile delta, joined the Brotherhood
at 13. He eventually advanced within the regimented organization to
become a member of its information committee. Morsi, for his part, had
made it into the Egyptian parliament. Because members of the Muslim
Brotherhood were not allowed to run for political office under Mubarak,
Morsi masqueraded as an "independent." The two men had had "a lot of
contact with each other" to further their goal of spreading the
Brotherhood's message as widely as possible, says Sharnoubi.
For information expert Sharnoubi, Morsi was "a typical man from the country, a fellah
with peasant origins who quickly integrated himself into the machine."
At the time, claims Sharnoubi, Morsi was "downright submissive to the
Brotherhood's leadership." Morsi was apparently completely opposed to
the Brotherhood becoming more open, as Sharnoubi had advocated. "He
fought against any internal democratization."
It seemed "inconceivable" to Sharnoubi that Morsi's group would one
day assume power in Egypt. In fact, he says, he would have "found it
even less likely" that Morsi, a modest member of parliament, would
become president. Even in the highest government position, Morsi cannot
have shed the Brotherhood's mission like an old suit, says Sharnoubi. "A
man like Morsi, with such deep convictions, can't do that. If we hear
anything else from him, it'll be a pretense." He explains that Morsi
owes his survival under autocrat Mubarak to this "talent for
assimilation," and that he is a "master of disguise."
'Any Cooperation with Israel is a Serious Sin'
There is too much at stake now, says Sharnoubi. There are the aid
payments from Europe and the United States, which Egypt's ailing economy
urgently needs. And Morsi himself also needs the West's goodwill. If
there is a "power struggle with democratically minded forces," he says,
the president will depend on intercession from Washington, Brussels and
Berlin.
Sharnoubi wasn't surprised by the Morsi hate video. "Agitation
against the Israelis is in keeping with the way Morsi thinks. For the
Morsi I know, any cooperation with Israel is a serious sin, a crime."
Morsi's choice of words is also nothing new, says Sharnoubi. As proof,
he opens his black laptop and shows us evidence of the former Muslim
Brotherhood member's true sentiments.
Indeed, the video gaffes do not appear to be a one-time occurrence.
In 2004 Morsi, then a member of the Egyptian parliament, allegedly raged
against the "descendants of apes and pigs," saying that there could be
"no peace" with them. The remarks were made at a time when Israeli
soldiers had accidentally shot and killed three Egyptian police
officers. The source of the quote can hardly be suspected of incorrectly
quoting fellow Brotherhood members: Ichwan Online, the Islamist
organization's website.
Few people are as familiar with the contents of that website as
Sharnoubi, who was the its editor-in-chief until 2011. The current
president became the general inspector of the organization in 2007, says
Sharnoubi. In this capacity, Morsi would have been partly responsible
for the anti-Jewish propaganda on the website, which featured the
"banner of jihad" at the time and saw "Jews and Zionists as
archenemies." The threats are attributed to the undisputed leader of the
Brotherhood, Mohammed Badi. According to the website, Badi's creed is:
"Resistance is the only solution against Zionist-American arrogance and
tyranny."
It was under the editorship of Sharnoubi, who stresses that he
condemns the "Israeli government's settlement policy," that Morsi gave a
self-promoting interview in May 2009. Referring to the Israelis, the
current president said: "They all have the same nature. They are equally
shaped by shrewdness, deception and hate." He added that their only
objectives are "killing, aggression and subjugation."
Tahrir Square, January 2013
Former fellow Muslim Brotherhood member Sharnoubi expects "no words
of regret, at least not sincere ones," for his offensive remarks in the
scandalous film. Anti-Israeli rhetoric, he says, is a "cornerstone of
the Brotherhood's ideology."
Sharnoubi assumes that cordial moves like the letter to Peres have
only one goal: "To secure and expand the dominance of the Brotherhood."
Only recently, the president issued a decree that gave him absolute
powers, and Morsi currently controls all three branches of government.
"He has secured more power than his predecessor Mubarak ever had."
Sharnoubi's vision of a future Egypt under the Muslim Brotherhood is
horrifying. "They will infiltrate all areas of our society: government
offices and ministries, schools and universities, as well as the police
and the military. They will eliminate their enemies."
Isn't he exaggerating?
"Not in the least," says Sharnoubi, noting that the Brotherhood is
already infiltrating the security apparatus. "The Brotherhood will never
give up its power without a fight."
When he leaves the café, Sharnoubi looks toward Tahrir Square, where
there is no end to the turmoil. Last Friday, once again, there was
rioting and there were clashes between Morsi opponents and the police,
and some were killed or injured. For Sharnoubi, this is "merely a small
foretaste of an imminent popular uprising."
Related:
Egyptian Press Confirms Washington Infiltrated By Islamists
Poker Face - Lady Gaga
Mum mum mum mah
Mum mum mum mah
I wanna hold em' like they do in Texas please
Fold em' let em' hit me raise it baby stay with me (I love it)
Luck and intuition play the cards with Spades to start
And after he's been hooked I'll play the one that's on his heart
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh, oh-oh-e-oh-oh-oh
I'll get him hot, show him what I've got
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh, oh-oh-e-oh-oh-oh,
I'll get him hot, show him what I've got
[Chorus:]
Can't read my,
Can't read my
No he can't read my poker face
(she's got me like nobody)
Can't read my
Can't read my
No he can't read my poker face
(she's got me like nobody)
P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face
(Mum mum mum mah)
P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face
(Mum mum mum mah)
I wanna roll with him a hard pair we will be
A little gambling is fun when you're with me (I love it)
Russian Roulette is not the same without a gun
And baby when it's love if its not rough it isn't fun, fun
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh, oh-oh-e-oh-oh-oh
I'll get him hot, show him what I've got
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh, oh-oh-e-oh-oh-oh,
I'll get him hot, show him what I've got
[Chorus]
P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face
(Mum mum mum mah)
P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face
(Mum mum mum mah)
I won't tell you that I love you
Kiss or hug you
Cause I'm bluffin' with my muffin
I'm not lying I'm just stunnin' with my love-glue-gunning
Just like a chick in the casino
Take your bank before I pay you out
I promise this, promise this
Check this hand cause I'm marvelous
[Chorus x3]
[x3]
P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face
(Mum mum mum mah)
P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face
(Mum mum mum mah)
Mum mum mum mah
I wanna hold em' like they do in Texas please
Fold em' let em' hit me raise it baby stay with me (I love it)
Luck and intuition play the cards with Spades to start
And after he's been hooked I'll play the one that's on his heart
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh, oh-oh-e-oh-oh-oh
I'll get him hot, show him what I've got
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh, oh-oh-e-oh-oh-oh,
I'll get him hot, show him what I've got
[Chorus:]
Can't read my,
Can't read my
No he can't read my poker face
(she's got me like nobody)
Can't read my
Can't read my
No he can't read my poker face
(she's got me like nobody)
P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face
(Mum mum mum mah)
P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face
(Mum mum mum mah)
I wanna roll with him a hard pair we will be
A little gambling is fun when you're with me (I love it)
Russian Roulette is not the same without a gun
And baby when it's love if its not rough it isn't fun, fun
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh, oh-oh-e-oh-oh-oh
I'll get him hot, show him what I've got
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh, oh-oh-e-oh-oh-oh,
I'll get him hot, show him what I've got
[Chorus]
P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face
(Mum mum mum mah)
P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face
(Mum mum mum mah)
I won't tell you that I love you
Kiss or hug you
Cause I'm bluffin' with my muffin
I'm not lying I'm just stunnin' with my love-glue-gunning
Just like a chick in the casino
Take your bank before I pay you out
I promise this, promise this
Check this hand cause I'm marvelous
[Chorus x3]
[x3]
P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face
(Mum mum mum mah)
P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face
(Mum mum mum mah)
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