In Egypt these days ...

Muslim Brotherhood prepares for protests as US warns Egyptian military

Somehow I think we've been here before. Following the announcements by the Egyptian military, the Muslim Brotherhood is preparing to take to the streets to protest what sounds like considerable overreach by the military.

The announcements proclaimed that the new president would only be transitional and that the military would be fully responsible for their own budget and management, regardless of what the president may or may not do. At the same time, the military reiterated its agreement to hand over power, or at least, whatever power exists outside of the military.

The US has warned the military that failure to hand over power could result in the loss of billions of dollars each year, though the wording and meaning is still vague. While the US is eager to move forward with a new government, there remains a level of concern over what may happen with a Muslim Brotherhood regime.

More from The Guardian on potential street protests in Egypt.

The Muslim Brotherhood has vowed to face down Egypt's ruling generals in a "life or death" struggle over the country's political future, after declaring that its candidate had won the presidential election and would refuse to accept the junta's last-ditch attempts to engineer a constitutional coup.

As final ballot results trickled in and unofficial tallies suggested that Mohamed Morsi had secured approximately 52% of the popular vote, the Brotherhood deployed its harshest language yet against the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf), promising to bring millions of Egyptians back on to the streets if attempts to rebuild the old regime continued.

"Over the past 18 months we were very keen to avoid any clashes or confrontations with other components of Egypt's political system because we felt that it would have negative consequences for the democratic system and for society as a whole," said Fatema AbouZeid, a senior policy researcher for the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party and a media co-ordinator for the Morsi campaign. "But now it's very clear that Scaf and other institutions of the state are determined to stand in the way of what we're trying to achieve, and we won't accept this any more. Egypt will not go back to the old regime through any means, legal or illegal.