Max Fisher writes in the Washington Post: ” it’s difficult to see how canceling these military exercises would change the Egyptian military’s calculus. The generals care about the biannual exercises, but it’s not a particularly high priority. They clearly believed (probably wrongly) that it was in their own best interests to crack down on the Islamist sit-ins. They surely understood that they would pay a high price for this violence. If the generals are willing to accept 500-plus civilians deaths and the strong possibility of sectarian violence, maybe even a return to the Islamist insurgencies of the 1990s, then it’s hard to imagine they’ll be fussed by missing out on some military exercises with the United States.”