Well, Michael, I’m not exactly a fan of the Muslim Brotherhood, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with the US establishing some sort of contact with that organization. As I’ve said before, we live on a rough planet inhabited by rough people. We may not like it, and we may not accept it, but we do need to deal with it. What matters is that those on the US side who hold/initiate such discussions do so without illusion or false expectation. Whether the State Department is capable of such an approach is an entirely different question, but that doesn’t alter the key point: Holding discussions is not in itself a sign of weakness. What matters is what is said in those meetings.