In the past, the late President Anwar Sadat said that the Americans held 99 percent of the cards of the game, by which he meant the Palestinian issue. But there are some who have grown accustomed to using this expression every time a problem erupts or a crisis takes place in Egypt, imagining, then promoting, publicizing and seeking to convince others, that the solution would come from the Americans. Yet the Egyptians, in the January 25 Revolution, surprised themselves and others, including the Americans, by toppling the Mubarak regime. And on June 30, they struck a blow at American expectations and did away with interests that the Americans thought would be achieved. On the whole, any solutions to the Egyptian crisis far from an American solution would be useful. Indeed, experience has proven that Washington never puts forward a political solution to a problem in another country without nearly getting its entire people killed. Thus, between Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Yemen, Bosnia and Syria, the US administration has put forward political solutions that have led to the death of thousands of people, as a result of applying its advice on the ground. With regard to the Arab Spring, all of the parties who thought that Uncle Sam would provide the magical solution have either been overwhelmed by their own mistakes and gotten lost, or have failed, as a result of the American "catalog" being rejected by the people, or are on their way to getting lost or failing. If the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt continues to wait for an American solution, then it is making a losing wager. This is not just because America has become, after the recent developments in Egypt, in a position in which it is unable to provide solutions, suggestions or advice, but also because Washington can deal with the Muslim Brotherhood whether it is in power or in the opposition, and with its prominent figures before and after the January Revolution! It can reach deals or strike bargains with them, and can coordinate or conspire with the group's Guidance Bureau. Yet the "American ally" is also not very well acquainted with the nature of the Brotherhood, and with the extent of the relationship that exists between its members. This is not to mention the fact that the Americans do not measure the capabilities of other parties in the equation on a sound basis, but rather on the basis of their loyalty to the White House. It does not matter to them whether this or that suggestion achieves the interests of the Brotherhood. All that matters is America's interests. Suffice it to point out that all American efforts and trips back and forth between Washington and Cairo since the crisis erupted as a result of the constitutional declaration last November have only resulted in additional failure for the Muslim Brotherhood. Indeed, it has lost the rule of Egypt and reached the situation it finds itself in today, where the best it can hope to gain is not to be excluded and to be accepted by people as one of the parties on the political scene, and for the overlooking of scenes of killing in which hundreds fell victim, whether from among its own members or from the other parties: the army, the police and the people. As for relying on the power of the Americans and the international community, it has proven to be useless, as it remains soft power that will not affect the insistence of those in power in Egypt, supported by the people, on moving forward with their political roadmap. Egyptians across the social spectrum may disagree over some of this roadmap's clauses or specifics, but they agree on excluding those in the Muslim Brotherhood implicated in violence, having incited or practiced it, from participating in it. Yes, the Americans speak of the necessity for all parties to participate in a process of negotiations to resolve the crisis. And some may believe this to agree even with the official viewpoint and with that adopted by political forces opposed to the Brotherhood – viewpoints that speak of not monopolizing power or of containing the youth of the Muslim Brotherhood. Yet to imagine a table that would bring together interim President Mansour, Prime Minister Beblawi, or even General Sisi and the Muslim Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie, or deposed President Mohamed Morsi is something that has been overtaken by events and has become a matter of pure fiction. Yes, US President Barack Obama was right when he said that Egyptian-American relations would not return to what they had been before Morsi and the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood were toppled. Indeed, the Americans have lost what they had invested and what they thought, based on miscalculations, they would gain. Yet the course of relations between Washington and Cairo will change for what will again be Egyptian reasons, after it has appeared that 99 percent of the cards on Egyptian issues were held by the Egyptian people, not by the Americans, and after Egyptians have come to realize that Washington's support of the January Revolution or its accepting its results had not been due to its support of democracy or concern for the choices made by the masses, but rather because the Mubarak regime had lost the means to survive. It seems as if the Egyptians have found the formula that suits them in their relationship with Washington, having become convinced that their issues would never be resolved by the White House, and that the solution for the Muslim Brotherhood is for it to become "Egyptianized", because experience has proven that Egypt would never be "Brotherhoodized".
