The Very Latest In Threatening Crescents

Ringing the alarm over a "dawning Muslim Brotherhood crescent" in North Africa, Lee Smith offers up a classic bit of self-contradiction:

Some argue that in spite of its anti-Israel and anti-Western rhetoric, Erdogan’s Freedom and Justice Party really is a model moderate Islamist organization. After all, there’s no ban on alcohol in Istanbul bars, and Turkish women aren’t compelled to wear the headscarf. Unfortunately, these domestic issues have virtually no bearing on vital U.S. interests. What should matter to U.S. policymakers is that Erdogan is the architect of an adventurist foreign policy and has promised to send warships to protect future aid flotillas. Erdogan, who uses anti-Israel rhetoric to stir the passions of the Arab masses, is no moderate, but a demagogue who has patterned his career after the modern Middle East’s most famous radical, Gamal Abdel Nasser.

So Erdogan’s a dangerous Islamist… because he’s a demagogic nationalist just like Nasser. The same Nasser who outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood and imprisoned, tortured, and executed hundreds of its members. Got it.

For a less hyperventilatory take on Islamists’ increasing political participation in the region, read Hussein Ibish and David Rohde.