All Policy Analysis by Eric Trager

Given the opposition's growing rage and the Brotherhood's increasingly confrontational stance, the upcoming nationwide protests are unlikely to end well.

Although Washington has long sought to moderate the Brotherhood's behavior through quiet diplomacy, Morsi's inflammatory political appointments suggest that this approach has failed.

The Muslim Brotherhood has no interest in adding an international crisis to its many domestic crises, so a strong U.S. response to today's court decision would likely bear fruit in Cairo.

Even as it prods Egypt's political actors to dial down the tension, Washington should help the country's military leaders prepare for even greater instability.

Washington Institute fellow Eric Trager sat down with Foreign Policy Association blogger Reza Akhlaghi to discuss how Egypt's leaders view Iran's regional strategy and the upcoming presidential election.

Assuming the Brotherhood is "democratic" and "nonviolent" has left the international community unprepared for the very undemocratic and violent reality. Alison Pargeter is not so deluded.

President Morsi and the Brotherhood are deploying Islam primarily as a rhetorical device for maintaining internal unity and distinguishing themselves from their rivals.

During his Cairo visit, Secretary Hagel should press the Egyptian military for a franker exchange of views, including on aid, the Sinai, and political transparency.

A new military takeover would not provide any more of a path to stability than the increasingly autocratic Muslim Brotherhood, yet this may be where Egypt is heading.

Washington should tell Morsi that politicized prosecutions and other autocratic moves are increasing the risk of wider violence.

The Muslim Brotherhood may have the votes for now, but Egypt is a ship without a rudder.

The following article is one of three to emerge from " Dateline Egypt and North Africa: Updates from the Field," a Policy Forum hosted by The Washington Institute on March 5. The other two are Aaron Zelin's op-ed " Tunisia's Post-Revolution Blues" and David Pollock's PolicyWatch " Rule the Casbah

As Secretary Kerry makes his inaugural Middle East trip, states across North Africa face rising tensions among the forces for democracy, stability, and Islamic political ascendancy. In Egypt and Tunisia, revolutions have given way to uncertainty and violence, while Morocco's model of stable reform -- a monarch with an Islamist

Some believe Egypt's uprising began on January 25, 2011, but the Brotherhood begs to differ.

The Egyptian president's trip to Berlin is an opportunity for the West to call him out on worrisome trends.