The Egyptian government has returned to K Street. The Glover Park Group has been hired by Egypt to “provide public diplomacy, strategic communications counsel and government relations services" for the country's government, according to documents obtained by The Hill. The lobby and communications firm filed those records with the Justice Department on Friday.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has said that Washington's will consider resuming military aid to Egypt "on the basis of performance" that encourages democracy through elections. The US suspended some of its $1.5bn in annual military aid on Wednesday, but Kerry said on Thursday the deliveries could resume if Cairo moves to restore civilian rule.

The U.S. has put a hold on delivering tanks and fighter jets to Egypt, officials said Wednesday in an apparent show of Washington’s disapproval of a violent crackdown of protesters by its traditional Middle East ally. In a statement, the U.S. Department of State said certain “large-scale military systems” would not be sent to Cairo “pending credible progress toward an inclusive, democratically elected civilian government through free and fair elections.”

American citizen and former United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) soccer coach Bob Bradley took over as the Egyptian Men’s National Team coach in 2011. Since June 2012, Bradley has led the Egyptian team to six straight wins to remain unbeaten in the World Cup qualifying group stage of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). They are now in a final two-game playoff with Ghana for one of the five CAF slots to the 2014 tournament in Brazil. If Egypt wins, it will be their first trip to the World Cup since 1990, and only their third appearance ever.

Canadians John Greyson and Tarek Loubani, jailed in Egypt since their Aug. 16 arrest, have had their imprisonment extended for another 45 days, according to a friend who spoke with the pair's lawyers in Egypt. The two men are on the 13th day of a hunger strike in Tora prison, south of Cairo.

An Egyptian court on Monday ordered the Muslim Brotherhood to be banned and its assets confiscated in a dramatic escalation of a crackdown by the military-backed government against supporters of the ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.

In many ways, the Middle East makes a strange -- and at times perilous -- hotbed for caricature. Many of the region's leaders have a poor reputation for humor, and often, the list of banned topics makes for a long read. For those that dare to satirize a taboo, the punishments can be harsh: arrest, torture, exile, even death.

Egyptians call it the “deep state.” And it was there all along for anyone who wanted to see it throughout the two and a half years since the world watched Egyptians take to the streets in what was so widely viewed as a revolution by the people, for the people.