The Economist discusses the current troubles of the Muslim Brotherhood:

Since its founding in Egypt in 1928 the Muslim Brotherhood has suffered repeated bouts of repression, defections by jihadist radicals and liberal moderates alike, and fractious disputes over regional crises, such as Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Still, the secretive but highly disciplined group has retained both a loose international command structure and powerful affiliates in half a dozen Arab countries. Yet, while posing as relative centrists in the broad Islamist spectrum, the Brothers are being tested as never before.

One challenge comes, oddly, from the fact that for the first time a Brotherhood branch finds itself not in its usual morally cosy role of opposition party but actually running a government. Hamas, the Brothers’ Palestinian offshoot, has ruled Gaza since 2007, when it ousted the secular nationalists of Fatah in a swift, ruthless coup.

Read the full post here.