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Republican Senators Reintroduce Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act

US Senator Ted Cruz (Reuters)
US Senator Ted Cruz (Reuters)
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Republican Senators Reintroduce Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act

US Senator Ted Cruz (Reuters)
US Senator Ted Cruz (Reuters)

A draft bill presented by several US Republican Senators to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization sparked controversy, as many officials warn of its repercussions on Washington's relations with several friendly and allied countries.

US Senators Ted Cruz, Jim Inhofe, and Ron Johnson led a move that reintroduced the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act.

The bill urges the Department of State to use its statutory authority to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).

Cruz said that it's time that "we join our allies in the Arab world in formally recognizing the Muslim Brotherhood for what they truly are—a terrorist organization."

"I'm proud to reintroduce this bill to urge the Biden administration to designate them as such and advance our nation's fight against terrorism."

The Senator stressed that "we have a duty to hold the Muslim Brotherhood accountable for their role in financing and promoting terrorism across the Middle East."

Earlier, Cruz criticized the Biden administration and Democratic senators from the House Committee on Appropriations for withholding $130 million worth of military aid to Egypt until Cairo released some Muslim Brotherhood political prisoners.

He also "blasted" President Biden's nominee for Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs, Barbara Leaf, slamming the Senate Democrats for trying to release "Muslim Brotherhood propagandist" who is "anti-semite and hate preacher."

US and Egypt will launch the strategic dialogue on Monday with the two delegations led by Foreign Ministers Anthony Blinken and Sameh Shoukry in Washington.

However, Republican and Democratic lawmakers objected to such bills, saying that classifying the group as terrorists may not be helpful because it is no longer a unified organization.

They warn that such classification might harm the US relations with many friendly and allied countries, led by Turkey. They also note that some Muslim Brotherhood affiliates who are not classified as extremists are members of Arab governments and parliaments.

In December 2020, Cruz submitted a similar bill to the Senate under the Trump administration. Several Arab countries classify the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group.

Saudi Arabia's Council of Senior Scholars said the organization is a terrorist and does not represent Islam.

"The Muslim Brothers' Group is a terrorist group and [does not] represent the method of Islam, rather it blindly follows its partisan objectives that are running contrary to the guidance of our graceful religion, while taking religion as a mask to disguise its purposes to practice the opposite such as sedition, wreaking havoc, committing violence and terrorism," the council said in a statement.

The UAE Fatwa Council also confirmed that every group or organization that seeks to sedition or calls and practices for violence is a terrorist organization, regardless of the name and messages.

In 2014, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and seven members of Congress introduced the first bill to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. Three years later, Cruz and several senators reintroduced the bill.

The bill calls for imposing sanctions against "persons who knowingly provide material support or resources to the Muslim Brotherhood or its affiliates, associated groups, or agents, and for other purposes."

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Putin Issues Warning to US with New Nuclear Doctrine

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Yevgeny Balitsky (not pictured), the Russian-installed Governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, at the Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia, 18 November 2024. (EPA/ Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool)
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Yevgeny Balitsky (not pictured), the Russian-installed Governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, at the Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia, 18 November 2024. (EPA/ Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool)
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Putin Issues Warning to US with New Nuclear Doctrine

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Yevgeny Balitsky (not pictured), the Russian-installed Governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, at the Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia, 18 November 2024. (EPA/ Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool)
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Yevgeny Balitsky (not pictured), the Russian-installed Governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, at the Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia, 18 November 2024. (EPA/ Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool)

Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a warning to the United States on Tuesday, lowering the threshold for a nuclear strike just days after the administration of Joe Biden reportedly allowed Ukraine to fire American missiles deep into Russia.

The updated doctrine, formally known as "The basics of state policy in the field of nuclear deterrence", outlines the threats that would make Russia, the world's biggest nuclear power, contemplate using such weapons.

Russia would consider a nuclear strike if it, or its ally Belarus, faced aggression "with the use of conventional weapons that created a critical threat to their sovereignty and (or) their territorial integrity", the new doctrine said.

The previous doctrine, set out in a 2020 decree, said Russia may use nuclear weapons in case of a nuclear attack by an enemy or a conventional attack that threatened the existence of the state.

Other innovations included considering any conventional assault on Russia by a non-nuclear power supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack. Any mass aerospace attack with aircraft, cruise missiles and unmanned aircraft that crossed Russia's borders could also trigger a nuclear response.

"Aggression against the Russian Federation and (or) its allies on the part of any non-nuclear state with the participation or support of a nuclear state is considered as their joint attack," the doctrine said.

"Aggression of any state from a military coalition (bloc, union) against the Russian Federation and (or) its allies is considered as aggression by the coalition (bloc, union) as a whole."

The Kremlin said Russia considered nuclear weapons as a means of deterrence and that the aim of the updated text was to make absolutely clear to potential enemies that the inevitability of retaliation should they attack Russia.

Together, Russia and the US control 88% of the world's nuclear warheads. Putin is Russia's primary decision-maker on the use of Russia's nuclear arsenal.

WAR

Weeks before the November US presidential elections, Putin ordered changes to the nuclear doctrine.

Those changes have now been formally approved by Putin. Analysts said at the time that the change to the doctrine was an attempt by Putin to draw a red line for the West.

The war in Ukraine, which entered its 1,000th day on Tuesday, has triggered the gravest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis - considered to be the closest the two Cold War superpowers came to intentional nuclear war.

The reported decision on the use of US missiles by the outgoing Biden administration - though yet to be confirmed by Washington - has escalated tensions over Ukraine. Washington says Russia's deployment of North Korean soldiers in Russia is an escalation.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, commenting on reports that Kyiv may use US-made ATACMS missiles in support of Ukraine's military incursion into Russia's Kursk region, said on Tuesday that the Russian military was monitoring the situation very closely.

Putin said on Sept. 12 that Western approval for such a step would mean "the direct involvement of NATO countries, the United States and European countries in the war in Ukraine" because NATO military infrastructure and personnel would have to be involved in the targeting and firing of the missiles.

"Nuclear deterrence is aimed at ensuring that a potential adversary understands the inevitability of retaliation in the event of aggression against the Russian Federation and/or its allies," Peskov said.

The United States in 2022 was so concerned about the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons by Russia that it warned Putin over the consequences of using such weapons, according to Central Intelligence Agency Director Bill Burns.

Russia has begun mass production of mobile bomb shelters that can protect against a variety of man-made threats and natural disasters including radiation and shockwaves.