NEW YORK TIMES: In polo shirt, shorts and sandals, President Obama headed to the golf course Friday morning with a couple of old friends, then flew to Camp David for a long weekend. Secretary of State John Kerry was relaxing at his vacation home in Nantucket.Aides said both men were updated as increasingly bloody clashes left dozens dead in Egypt, but from outward appearances they gave little sense that the Obama administration viewed the broader crisis in Cairo with great alarm. While the violence distressed American leaders, the unspoken truth is that many of them are at least conflicted and in some cases not all that unhappy about the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi…
The relative calm in Washington also reflects a longer-term shift in American relations in the Middle East. While Egypt was once seen as the singular strategic player in the region, today other countries play a larger role. The overriding American interest in Egypt is preserving its three-decade peace with Israel, which officials believe the military is committed to doing.
No major American political figure has overtly endorsed the military seizure of power, but Mr. Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood had few friends in Washington when he was elected a year ago and even fewer by the time he fell from power this week. Uncomfortable from the start with the rise of Islamists, even if by a vote broadly deemed democratic, the White House and Congress increasingly viewed Mr. Morsi as autocratic and even incompetent… (more)
