Egypt

Since the July 2013 coup against Mohamed Morsi, Cairo has been particularly brash in its approach to security and appears more willing to project force abroad.

At a time when Sisi's subsidy reforms are gaining traction, Washington's withdrawal of support does nothing to advance a human rights agenda and hurts U.S. security interests.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi signed a preliminary agreement to jointly build Egypt's first nuclear power plant, after the two leaders met in Cairo on February 9-10. This announcement comes after multiple reports last November about Russia's state nuclear power company Rosatom's agreement to help

For the moment at least, many Egyptians have become so fearful of change that they are content to live with their broken state, which they view as preferable to further collapse.

Even if Cairo wanted to normalize relations with the Assad regime, its need to stay on good terms with Saudi Arabia and the UAE would seriously constrain how far it could go in that direction.

Although past uprisings have been quickly snuffed out, the latest calls for mass protests have been more strategically savvy and explicitly violent than usual.

Islam's growing role in the military is likely part of an ideological battle to reclaim the spiritual mantle from the Muslim Brotherhood, but manipulating religion for political gain has a history of backfiring in Egypt.

A former senior official at the U.S. embassy in Cairo describes how Sisi's background is shaping his approach to domestic politics, counterterrorism, Israel, and other issues.

New polls show that the group has curried little favor in key countries, but the nuances behind the numbers have important implications for U.S. policy toward Syria, Iran, and other actors.