The global narrative on Egypt this morning: Coverage of Egypt’s bid for a USD 12 bn assistance package from the International Monetary Fund is the lead story on Egypt in the global press this morning, with a piece by the Associated Press’ Brian Rohan getting very wide pickup on an otherwise quiet weekend for Omm El Donia. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal (among many others) took note of the one-year sentence handed Hesham Genena on charges he “spread false news” and the New York Times reviews Uri Bar-Joseph’s biography of Ashraf Marwan

With talk bubbling once more of the conditions under which some measure of reconciliation with the Ikhwan may be possible, Eric Trager takes down Shadi Hamid’s “Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam Is Reshaping the World” concluding in a review for the Wall Street Journal: “Unfortunately, the Brotherhood hasn’t learned from its errors. Brotherhood leader Amr Darrag tells the author that the group’s biggest mistake was “trying to fix the system from inside gradually,” and a Brotherhood youth says that Morsi should have “purified” the state institutions and media. In other words, if the Brotherhood gets another chance, it will work even harder and faster to exclude competitors.”