All Policy Analysis by Eric Trager

Washington's message to Cairo's emerging leaders should be that U.S. support is conditional on their cooperation in maintaining peace with Israel and preserving political pluralism and religious and minority rights.

Given that Egypt's incoming Islamist legislature will seek to change the state from a presidential to a parliamentary system, the presidency may soon be irrelevant, and ElBaradei might find himself well positioned -- and well qualified -- for the top slot.

Given the Muslim Brotherhood's anti-Western outlook, Washington must prepare for the strong possibility that it will hold only limited influence with Egypt's next government.

Egypt's liberals have lost control of their revolution.

The Brotherhood's efforts to project itself as a responsible actor in Egypt do not align with the inflammatory views freely expressed by its members.

The Salafist view of equality in Egypt is clear: so long as we all live by sharia, we're all equal. Eric Trager reports from Giza.

With only a few months of preparation and a rumored cache of Saudi funding, Egypt's even more extreme Salafist Nour Party is giving the Muslim Brotherhood a run for its money.

The second revolution has failed because, since a ceasefire went into effect on November 24, it has been remarkably well contained.

Judging from the first day of voting, the Muslim Brotherhood's theocratic political vision, empowered through elections, seems to be in Egypt's immediate future.

As a new round of violence erupts in Egypt, Washington must prepare for the possibility that chaos and uncertainty will dominate the political scene for months to come.