The Brothers, known to Arabs as the Ikhwan, are hardly newcomers to the political scene.

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"The Ikhwan influence was still there, " he says, using the Arabic name for the Brotherhood.

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Perhaps so, but the generals also seem to distrust the Ikhwan, and show it by trying to blunt their influence wherever possible.

ECONOMIST: The Arab spring

For one thing, events in the Middle East have thrust to the forefront concerns about the Muslim Brotherhood (MB or, in Arabic, Ikhwan).

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Although far from certain, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood (the "Ikhwan") probably did not instigate the demonstrations, and may well have been caught off guard like so many others.

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But the Ikhwan's goals are the same in every case.

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Moosa himself is associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, some of his public statements, both in the Duke "Office Hours" interview and elsewhere, are in complete alignment with Ikhwan positions.

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American officials had long shunned contact with the Ikhwan.

ECONOMIST: The Arab spring

But the rest of us cannot safely ignore what those ambitions are, or the abundant evidence that the Ikhwan is, indeed, intent on realizing them - and disciplined, organized and ruthless enough to try to achieve them.

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