Let me add a twist to the latest developments in Egypt. My view lately was that the Islamists made a major mistake in taking full responsibility for managing the transitional period after Mubarak, a period that no one can manage successfully and who ever takes responsibility for it will eventually pay the price in the loss of electoral votes in the next elections.
By that time, things would have stabilized enough to allow the economy to stop losing and possibly start to show some improvement and who ever takes power can blame the mess on those that proceeded him.
With this military backed removal of the Brotherhood Party, the Brotherhood Party has been salvaged form a very tough spot they had put themselves in (although I am sure they don’t currently see it this way). Now they can stay in opposition and wait, being the victims of a conspiracy.
The liberals and military will now have to achieve the very difficult task of managing a very difficult transition period with a coalition and the strong Brotherhood Party in the opposition.
In the mean time the brotherhood party has to and will most probably be shuffled and taken over by a younger leadership that is more up to date with the current mood of the younger public. That will position the brotherhood for the next elections or the one after.
The brotherhood party has been spared the responsibility of the tough times, they will be forced to change from within, their competitors now made the big mistake of moving in too early and taking responsibility for this impossible task at the end of which the Egyptian public would be tiered of coalition governments, of old liberal political leadership and of economic hardship , and no one will look again to the Army for help again, everyone will finally realize that the Army really doesn’t have the solution.
The public would have, by then forgotten the mistakes of the brotherhood party and this will set the stage for their come back, sort of what happened in Turkey with Arbakan, who managed aggressively early and managed with old school style, army removed him, interim governments were coalitions, the youth of the Islamic party split and formed a new party and within 10 years they were in power.
So don't write off the Islamists…