Amerikaanse invloed in Egypte neemt snel af

Morsi’s sweeping change of military leadership — sacking the defense minister and service chiefs who had been appointed by former president Hosni Mubarak — appears to have taken the United States by surprise.

It is certainly curious ... that Egypt receives $1.3 billion annually from the U.S. in military aid, not to mention the fact that the U.S.-Egypt relationship is largely built on military to military ties and security issues, and Morsi did not feel the need to even give the U.S. a heads up that this was coming down the road. I understand the need to keep a move like this quiet before it happens, but there’s no way this was a snap decision; it’s not like Morsi woke up yesterday morning and just felt like replacing Egypt’s entire military leadership. That the administration or DoD did not know about this beforehand [...] says a lot about the limits of American influence these days.