Just as the West sees only the dictatorial character of the Syrian regime without paying much attention to the barbarism of the rebels and the true agenda of some of them, it has also misunderstood events in Egypt. The dominant narrative has been that of a coup which has removed a popularly elected president and replaced him with military puppets. The military is then seen to have moved violently against the peaceful demonstrations of the Brotherhood. 

Such an understanding of the situation is not borne out by expatriates living in Egypt, by diplomatic commentators or by church leaders whose people and buildings have suffered grievously because of the Muslim Brotherhood's "peaceful" demonstrations. There seems little awareness that the Egyptian elections that followed Hosni Mubarak's removal took place in a power vacuum, when the Muslim Brotherhood was just about the only organised political force in the country. In spite of this, President Morsi's victory was only by the narrowest of margins and, partly because of the system, he was elected by a minority of the electorate. 

Against this, the movement to have him removed managed to obtain 22 million signatures and brought millions of people out into the streets of Cairo, Alexandria and other cities. Morsi's promise to be inclusive never translated into action: there was continuous forced Islamisation, government was paralysed and the economy was a shambles. The Brotherhood's slogan — Islam is the answer (Islam al-hal) — was proving to be pretty hollow. In the absence of a parliament, how was the situation to be remedied and an unpopular president removed?