The sideshow that is Ahmed Shafik leads coverage of Egypt in the international press on an otherwise mixed news day that includes talk of US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis’ visit to Cairo, continued discussion of the Al-Rawda massacre in Sinai a week ago and our alleged war on [redacted]. Elsewhere this morning:

Dependence on Russian wheat may not be in Egypt’s best interest: “Egypt needs to start thinking with more than its wallet when it comes to buying wheat,” according to a piece by Agrimoney. While sourcing most of its wheat imports from Russia may have helped the country following the float of the EGP, reliance on Russian wheat in the long run may not prove to be smart. Why? Look no further than Putin’s whims and propensity to conflate issues. “As Moscow’s (now resolved) spat with Ankara shows, after Turkey two years ago shot down a Russian jet, being a large agricultural client of Russia is no guarantee against the country imposing trade barriers.”

John Kerry claims Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Israel tried to get the US to bomb Iran: leaders of Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt all pressured the US to bomb Iran long before the start of negotiations on the 2015 nuclear deal, former US secretary of state John Kerry said at a forum on nuclear arms at Washington National Cathedral, RT reports.