Power shifting and sharing

Diplomatic approaches of new Egyptian government still evolving despite US' U-turn on talking to Muslim Brotherhood

Following Mohamed Morsi's narrow victory in Egypt's presidential elections on June 24, the international community has been anxiously watching the complex power struggle taking place between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which assumed power after the ousting of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

Mubarak was long viewed by the US as a strategic ally in the Middle East, and Washington extended unrestrained support to the Egyptian strongman's crackdowns on domestic extremist Muslim forces for decades. Not so long ago the White House even declared that, "Washington did not and will never talk with the Muslim Brotherhood".