There is an additional aspect that makes Sisi similar to Putin: both come from careers in intelligence. Sisi's entire career has been in military/general intelligence and he knows how to manipulate and control very effectively.
SCAF has already given him permission in run for President: There was a very public statement of that, which makes SCAF take sides in a political race-- something SCAF has never overly done before -- quite worrisome.
Aside from Egypt's inability to use its fossil fuels for political/foreign policy gain, as it is so dependent on external sources, SCAF/Sisi are likely to use the military to operate aspects of the economy (even more than is already done). For example, all the contracts for repairing railways etc this Fall were given to the military, which uses free (conscript) labor. The businessmen in Egypt who operate private TV stations are not challenging Sisi, unlike moguls in Russia (at least in the past) -- they are fawning all over him.
The agreement with Russia has been in process since some time in September; I guess they had to get the Saudi and UAE funding in place before Sisi's trip to Russia. But it certainly does reinforce the image of Sisi as the new Nasser, an image that is being cultivated daily.
There is an additional aspect that makes Sisi similar to Putin: both come from careers in intelligence. Sisi's entire career has been in military/general intelligence and he knows how to manipulate and control very effectively.
SCAF has already given him permission in run for President: There was a very public statement of that, which makes SCAF take sides in a political race-- something SCAF has never overly done before -- quite worrisome.
Aside from Egypt's inability to use its fossil fuels for political/foreign policy gain, as it is so dependent on external sources, SCAF/Sisi are likely to use the military to operate aspects of the economy (even more than is already done). For example, all the contracts for repairing railways etc this Fall were given to the military, which uses free (conscript) labor. The businessmen in Egypt who operate private TV stations are not challenging Sisi, unlike moguls in Russia (at least in the past) -- they are fawning all over him.
The agreement with Russia has been in process since some time in September; I guess they had to get the Saudi and UAE funding in place before Sisi's trip to Russia. But it certainly does reinforce the image of Sisi as the new Nasser, an image that is being cultivated daily.