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Why Egypt's Generals Will Tread Carefully This Time

(Foreign Affairs) Jeff Martini - The Egyptian military is still licking its wounds from the year and a half in which the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces directed Egypt's transition to democracy. The military leadership hasn't forgotten that many of the same anti-Morsi demonstrators were shouting "down with military rule" during the SCAF's stint in power. The military would likely seek some acquiescence from the Islamists in its next move. An intervention absent Islamist support would risk an Algeria-like scenario, in which the military's overturning of an Islamist electoral victory led to a civil war. To mitigate against the possibility of a violent response, the military could try to coax the Muslim Brotherhood to the bargaining table with the opposition. However, the Muslim Brotherhood has no interest in sharing power with the opposition, which it continues to see as a small minority trying to overthrow an elected leader. The writer is a Middle East analyst at RAND.
2013-07-03 00:00:00
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