When King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia died Jan. 23, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood issued a statement that was conspicuously warm. One might have thought that considering the broad support the late king gave to the Egyptian state-led crackdown of the Brotherhood in Egypt, such a declaration would be negative at best.
Within a few weeks, however, rumors abounded that the new king, Salman, was far friendlier to the Brotherhood than his predecessor, which might then impact the Egyptian state’s relations with Riyadh. But at least at present, Cairo doesn’t feel the need to be too uncomfortable, though certainly something has changed.
When the Egyptian military establishment removed President Mohammed Morsi from office in July 2013, two strong trends could be found within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
The first was the minority position taken by Doha, which has been sympathetic to Islamism in most shapes and sizes. The second was the position of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi — the leadership of the Saudis and the Emiratis being united in their antipathy toward the Brotherhood on the one hand, and their deep-rooted support for the new political dispensation in Egypt on the other. The consensus built on those two points is now over.
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