MORE LIKE IRAN? – AT 11:20 P.M. ET:  Egypt is drifting more and more toward becoming a new Iran.  The Muslim Brotherhood, a militant, dangerous organization, has been declared legal, and is now moving toward participation in politics, using some blatantly fraudulent front names:

The Muslim Brotherhood's political party, set up to run in polls, was declared legal in Egypt on Monday, state news agency MENA said, for the first time since the movement was founded eight decades ago.

"The commission on party affairs has given its approval for the formation of the Freedom and Justice Party," it said.

Yeah, right.  Freedom and justice.  The brotherhood was born in fascism, was an ally of Adolf Hitler, and today is a front operation for jihadists.

The Muslim Brotherhood was officially illegal but mostly tolerated during the rule of president Hosni Mubarak, ousted in a popular revolt on February 11. It was set up in 1928 and an official ban imposed in 1954.

As the best-organised political movement in Egypt, the Brotherhood announced on April 30 the formation of a "non-theocratic party" to contest up to half of parliament's seats in a September election.

The Freedom and Justice Party announced last month that it had almost 9,000 founding members.

COMMENT:  It's become pretty clear that the modern visionaries who tried to point Egypt in a new direction at the start of the Arab Spring are going to be keenly disappointed.   Egypt may well become the new Iran, drifting back to medieval times.

June 6, 2011