1. Power Grab: General Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, the putschist regime’s defense minister, aspires to the position of president of Egypt.

2. Social Status: The army wants to safeguard its own special status high on the social ladder.

3. Economic Empire: The military must maintain the advantages and economic gains it has accumulated over 60 years.

4. Secret Budgets: The military wishes to maintain the confidentiality of its budget.

5. Fear of War: The military feared President Morsi would involve the army in war adventures they – wrongly – imagined he would undertake.

6. Western Influence: The putschists’ ideologies and interests coincide with the West’s.

7. Gulf Support: Arab states fearful of democracy and the true Islamic model aided and abetted the military coup in Egypt.