![\"imperialdesigns\"](\"http:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/wp-content\/dropzone\/2013\/05\/imperialdesigns.jpg\")
<\/a>Egyptians. For them, the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak was far from over. So, amid renewed demonstrations against Egypt\u2019s elected head of state, the military removed President Morsi on \u201cbehalf of the people.\u201d<\/p>\nThere are problems with this narrative, however. The truth is that the Egyptian people are bitterly divided into the Morsi camp and the opposition, which in itself is fragmented. That Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood still enjoy substantial support among the poorest sections, especially in the countryside, is not in doubt. In the wake of the military coup, large demonstrations in support of the deposed president cannot be disregarded. And then the military crackdown against the Brotherhood leadership.<\/p>\n
In one of the bloodiest incidents in Egypt\u2019s recent history, more than 50 Morsi supporters were killed when soldiers shot at a crowd, said to be praying outside the headquarters of the Republican Guards. Bloodshed continues on a daily basis. Morsi and other senior figures of the Brotherhood are either in custody or at large. He is under investigation for \u201cspying, inciting violence and ruining the economy.\u201d The leaders\u2019 assets have been frozen.<\/p>\n
These events do not bode well for Egypt and the wider Middle East. The military is back in power, and the most significant political movement, with grassroots support, is the target of repression. Leading opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood are collaborating with the military. This draconian political experiment has failed decade after decade in Egypt, and the record of military coups leading to a smooth transition to real democracy is poor. The same educated liberal-secular middle classes that were in opposition to Morsi\u2019s rule will soon be opposing the military regime. It is only a matter of time.<\/p>\n
The two greatest risks for Egypt and the region are further radicalization and volatility.\u00a0There are credible reports that the military overthrow of President Morsi happened under the Obama administration\u2019s close watch. On July 6, the\u00a0New York Times<\/i>\u00a0published an account of the final hours of Morsi\u2019s presidency, written by David D. Kirkpatrick and Mayy El Sheikh. According to their account, the United States, through an Arab foreign minister acting as emissary, made a final offer which would avoid a military coup: the appointment of a new prime minister and cabinet that would take over all legislative powers and replace Morsi\u2019s chosen provincial governors.<\/p>\n
For Morsi, it was a coup in all but name, and he refused. A telephone call between President Morsi\u2019s top adviser, Essam el-Haddad, and President Obama\u2019s national security adviser, Susan Rice, followed. Rice informed him that a military takeover was to begin. The State Department had no comment on America\u2019s role.<\/p>\n
Washington\u2019s response in the aftermath, and the announcement that the United States would go ahead with the supply of F16 aircraft to the military, suggest that Washington\u2019s priority is to see \u201ccontrolled change\u201d in Egypt. In President Obama\u2019s preferred scenario, any Deepak Tripathi<\/i><\/b><\/i>\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/i>is a British historian of the Cold War, the Middle East and the United States in the post-Soviet world. His latest books Imperial Designs: War, Humiliation and the Making of History (Potomac Books, imprint of the University of Nebraska Press)\u00a0<\/i>and<\/i>\u00a0A Journey Through Turbulence (Dignity University Press), have just been published. His works can be found at:\u00a0http:\/\/deepaktripathi.wordpress.com<\/a>\u00a0and he can be reached at:\u00a0deepak.tripathi.writer@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/a>change will be under the supervision of the army, with a lesser role at best for the Muslim Brotherhood in governance in future. Washington\u2019s latest remedy, in its fundamentals, is no different from the past, since President Anwar Sadat broke with the Soviet Union in the 1970s, and subsequently joined the U.S. alliance.<\/p>\n