THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Egypt's Mohammed Morsi made the first foreign visit of his presidency to Saudi Arabia in what political observers called an apparent effort to offer assurances about his aims as the most visible symbol of the rise of political Islam in the region.
The visit by Mr. Morsi, who won the presidency as the candidate of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, takes him to a security-minded monarchy wary that homegrown Islamist movements will take encouragement from the political rise of Islamist blocs in countries transformed by Arab Spring uprisings.
Mr. Morsi's choice for his inaugural foreign trip amounts to a sign to the Gulf's rulers that he won't seek to tip the regional power balance toward Iran, the country Saudi Arabia regards as its biggest threat, analysts said.
Mr. Morsi arrived in the coastal city of Jeddah on Wednesday, and was greeted by Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud. He later met with King Abdullah, according to the Saudi state news agency.
Saudi leaders have signaled an openness to working with a man who, though he quit the Muslim Brotherhood after his election in June, is seen as a representative of an Islamist movement they hoped never to see in power. "Saudi Arabia will receive President Morsi as president of Egypt. We don't receive him as a representative of Ikhwan," said Abdullah al-Shammri, a Saudi political analyst close to the government, using the Arabic for the Muslim Brotherhood. "Saudi Arabia cares about his practices, his policies. It will not care about his background."
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies were shaken in February 2011 when street uprisings and a withdrawal of military support toppled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who during his three-decade rule suppressed the Islamist blocs that now worry Gulf leaders. » | Ellen Knickmeyer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Matt Bradley in Cairo | Wednesday, July 11, 2012
