I noted the other day that there’s increasing talk of a move to engage Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, as a supposedly moderating force for democracy in the Middle East. That is a bad idea. Hamas is essentially an armed wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the takeover of Gaza by Hamas has raised fears that Egypt’s supposedly peaceful and moderate Muslim Brotherhood will now militarize. In fact, even before the Hamas takeover in Gaza, there were reports of a move toward militarization in Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.

Here’s an article in Egypt’s Al-Ahram painting Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood as moderates–in comparison to Al-QAeda.. The line here resembles the argument of those in the U.S. who want to engage the Brotherhood. I am not reassured. They key difference seems to be that, while Al-Qaeda is against democracy, and models its treatment of women on the Taliban, Hamas is slightly more liberal on the topic of women, and believes in “a combination of political work and military pressure.” Export that combination of political work and “military pressure” to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.