Excerpts: Egypts interim P.M. now says yes to Muslim Brotherhood. Obama on
hold re Syria strike. Jordan no launchpad for Syria attack August 29, 2013

+++SOURCE: NBC News via Egypt Daily New s 29 Aug. ‘113:”Egypt backs off
dissolving Muslim Brotherhood amid new calls for protests”,Reuters

SUBJECT: Egypt’s interim P.M. now says yes to Muslim Brotherhood

QUOTE: “Interim P.M.”Egypt should not ban the Muslim Brotherhood or exclude
it from politics”

Egypt should not ban the Muslim Brotherhood or exclude it from politics, the
interim prime minister has said, reversing his previously stated view.

The apparent about-turn after the army's overthrow of Islamist president
Mohammed Morsi fuelled speculation that the military-installed government
may now seek a political settlement to the crisis.

But also coincided with a new call for protests by Mr Morsi's supporters.

Hazem el-Beblawi, the interim prime minister, had proposed on August 17 that
the Brotherhood, the Arab world's oldest and arguably most influential
Islamist group, should be dissolved, and said the government was studying
the idea.

But in an interview with state media this week, Mr Beblawi appeared to row
back.

He says the government would instead monitor the group and its political
wing and that the actions of its members would determine its fate.

"Dissolving the party or the group is not the solution and it is wrong to
make decisions in turbulent situations," the state news agency MENA quoted
Mr Beblawi as saying.

"It is better for us to monitor parties and groups in the framework of
political action without dissolving them or having them act in secret."

Brotherhood's decades of operating in the shadows

But he tempered his comments in a separate interview with the newspaper
al-Shorouk, saying parts of Egyptian society "think that the Brotherhood
does not truly desire reconciliation", and urging it to "face up to
reality".

The government has portrayed its attack on the Brotherhood as a fight
against terrorism, and Mr Beblawi said ordinary citizens were "afraid of
reconciliation with people who use force".

There has been no sign from the Brotherhood, most of whose leaders are now
in jail or on the run, that it wants to engage with the army establishment
that bulldozed it out.

Founded in 1928, the Brotherhood was banned by Egypt's then military rulers
in 1954.

Though still outlawed during the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, it ran a
large welfare network and its members ran as independents in limited
elections.

After decades of operating in the shadows and winning support with its
charities and preaching, the Brotherhood registered itself as a
non-governmental organisation in March in response to a court challenge by
people contesting its legality.

It also has a registered political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP),
set up in 2011 after Mr Mubarak's overthrow in an uprising.

Protests for 'peaceful civil disobedience'

The Brotherhood won all five national votes held since 2011, including Mr
Morsi's election as president last year.

But Mr Morsi alienated swathes of Egyptians during his year in power and,
after mass protests, the army removed him on July 3.

With the Brotherhood in shock, protests that it called last Friday[23 Aug.]
mostly failed to materialise.

The National Coalition to Support Legitimacy and Reject the Coup, which
includes the Brotherhood and demands Mr Morsi's reinstatement, promised
protests in the streets and squares of all of Egypt's 27 provinces this
Friday30 Aug.].

It wants to "activate a plan of peaceful civil disobedience".

Meanwhile, Egypt's cabinet approved an additional 22.3 billion Egyptian
pounds (AUD$3.58 billion) in spending on investment projects to boost the
economy over the coming 10 months.

The army-backed interim government is keen to improve conditions for a
deeply polarised population battered by more than two years of political and
economic turmoil.

Despite a mushrooming budget deficit, it is under intense pressure to avoid
unpopular austerity measures.

+++SOURCE” Naharnet (Lebanon) 29 Aug.’13:”Obama Not Ready to Order Syria
Strike but Gives up on U.N”, Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: Obama on hold re Syria strike

FULL TEXTPresident Barack Obama said Wednesday[28 Aug] he had not yet signed
off on a plan to strike Syria, but action appeared likely after Washington
abandoned the hunt for a last-minute U.N. mandate.

Political uproar in London, meanwhile, cast doubt on whether Britain will
join American military action to punish President Bashar Assad's regime for
a chemical weapons attack, should the response take place before next week.

And a team of U.N. inspectors pressed on with its hazardous work in
Damascus, testing victims of the alleged poison gas attack, which killed
hundreds of people last week and threatens to draw reluctant Western states
into a vicious civil war.

Obama, who has warned that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would cross
a U.S. "red line," said Washington had definitively concluded that the Assad
regime was to blame for last week's attack.

A senior White House official told Agence France Presse that the
administration will brief senior US lawmakers on Thursday about classified
intelligence about the chemical attack.

Asked how close he was to ordering a U.S. strike, expected to start with
cruise missile raids, Obama told PBS NewsHour: "I have not made a decision."

But he warned that U.S. action would be designed to send a "shot across the
bow" to convince Syria it had "better not do it again."

He admitted that the limited strikes envisioned by the White House would not
stop the killing of civilians in Syria but said he had decided that getting
involved in a civil war that has already killed 100,000 people would not
help the situation.

The U.S. leader, who wants to seal a legacy of ending foreign wars, not
getting into new ones, argued that it was vital to send a clear message not
just to Syria, but around the world.

"We do have to make sure that when countries break international norms on
weapons like chemical weapons that could threaten us, that they are held
accountable."

Earlier, Washington bluntly signaled that a U.N. Security Council resolution
proposed by Britain that could have given a legal basis for an assault was
going nowhere, owing to Russian opposition.

"We see no avenue forward, given continued Russian opposition to any
meaningful Council action on Syria," State Department deputy spokeswoman
Marie Harf said.

"We cannot be held up in responding by Russia's continued intransigence at
the United Nations, and quite frankly the situation is so serious that it
demands a response," Harf said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron was meanwhile slowed by a parliamentary
revolt and was forced to pledge he would not order military action until the
report by U.N. inspectors has been published.

Cameron plans to put his case to lawmakers on Thursday[29 Aug.], but with a
majority in doubt on the issue a second vote, possibly early next week, will
now have to take place before British forces can join the fray.

White House officials would not immediately say whether Washington would
wait for Britain before launching any military action.

+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 29 Aug.’13:”Jordan will not be a ‘launchpad’for
Syria attack – government”

SUBJECT: Jordan no ‘launchpad’ for Syria attack

QUOTE:” ‘our unfailing policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of
our neighbours’ “

AMMAN — Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Mohammad
Momani on Wednesday[28 Aug.] said that Jordan wants a political solution for
the Syrian crisis that guarantees its territorial unity and the safety of
its people.

“Our position regarding the Syrian crisis is based on our concern for Jordan’s
higher national interests and our unfailing policy of non-interference in
the internal affairs of our neighbours,” Momani, who is also the government
spokesperson, said.

The minister also reiterated that Jordan would not be used as a “launchpad”
for any military intervention in Syria.

“Jordan renews its calls for a political solution in Syria and urges the
international community to intensify efforts to reach such a solution,”
Momani added.

He stressed that Jordan’s military and security forces are entirely capable
of defending the country from any external threat and preserving the Kingdom’s
security, noting that the Jordan Armed Forces have proved their readiness
and professionalism in confronting attempts to smuggle Syrian arms into the
country.

The minister added that as a result of the Syrian crisis, Jordan has had
significant pressure put on its economy and security, calling on the
international community to assist Jordan economically as it is struggling to
provide adequate humanitarian assistance to the Syrian refugees it is
hosting, whose number has exceeded 560,000.

Jordan hosts the second largest refugee camp in the world, Zaatari, which
lies 80km northeast of Amman near Mafraq.

============
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA