A tinder box

As the Egyptian drama kicks off again and the streets become awash with tear gas and badly injured people carted away to makeshift hospitals. This is an event that has been incubating for weeks as the ex president Morsi supporters camped in a number of areas in opposition to his arrest. We now have the hard-liners in the Army backed provisional government coming out on top and clearing the streets of the largely Islamic supporters who gathered under the banner of the Muslim Brotherhood.
When the military rule of Mubarak was defeated and elections held, it was always difficult to have a proper balance since there had been no democratic government for decades and political parties were none existent, except for the Muslim Brotherhood who as a religious group were quasi political. Their organisation gained an election win, although as in all democratic elections, the government formed, only represented a section of society.
The difficulty arose when the Islamic party began to change their stance and began to forward an Islamic agenda. It was this clash of values between Islamic and none-Islamic sections of society, that initially, when Morsi took over was believed to be inclusive and would take all shades of opinion into consideration. As he became more confident, Morsie began to challenge the constitution and the political hegemony  that had brought him to power.
The people eventually turned out on the street and we saw the amazing sight of millions throughout the country move and demonstrate on the street. The threat of open conflict between the anti Muslim Brotherhood and the pro Muslim Brotherhood ensured the Military take control and after repeated attempts to persuade President Morsi to moderate his position he was eventually put under house arrest. It was also inevitable that the Military would move against the Morsi supporters camped in the street and this morning they moved in.
Behind the scenes lie the power brokers in the Middle East.  The sects and monarchy's that have enormous power and influence through their oil money, play a role in many disturbances throughout the Middle East and of course, make the area very inflammable.