Gulf News has published an article titled “Muslim Brotherhood in the Gulf: An attempt To Steal The Show” providing useful detail on the Global Muslim Brotherhood in the UAE and other Gulf countries. The article begins:
The governments of the Arab Gulf states have been sceptical of the Arab Spring. For many political observers this scepticism stemmed from the fact that most of these states enjoyed strong personal and political relations with the presidents of Egypt, Yemen and Syria. Others contend that commercial ties and finance were behind this support while another group opined that losing the support of Arab republican regime allies could mean a gain for Iran. There may yet be another reason behind the scepticism displayed by the Arab Gulf monarchies, that of the possible resurgence of a new threat in the form of the Muslim Brotherhood movement in their own backyard. Among the countries where this threat is believed to exist is the United Arab Emirates, as recent developments have indicated. In March this year, 133 UAE academics, journalists and civil society activists signed a petition addressed to the UAE president calling for an elected parliament with legislative powers. UAE national observers commented in private that this petition that was signed by individuals was most likely going to be stillborn as a number of those whose names appears on the list are suspected of being members of the UAE branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. The logic went that should the UAE government acknowledge the demands of a petition that included these individuals it would automatically be acknowledging and conferring legitimacy on the demands of elements of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Read the rest here.