As you may know by now, the Egyptian military has suspended the constitution and removed President Mohamed Morsi from office. In announcing this coup to cheering crowds, the military chief of staff had the visible backing of a major Sunni cleric, a representative of Salafist Islamists, and the Pope of the Coptic Church (the main Christian institution in Egypt).
There’s talk of the military and its supporters imminently unveiling a “roadmap” for restoration of civilian rule and new elections. And it’s unclear whether Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood will submit without violence. But it is reasonably clear from the constant fears being expressed by protesters that the U.S. would keep Morsi in power that America will not widely be blamed for the coup, which Islamists elsewhere are very likely to denounce as proof that (in the bitter words of one Morsi aide today) “democracy is not for Muslims.”
