General Al-Sisi Resigns, Makes Presidential Run Official

General Abdel-Fatteh Al-Sisi, the man in control of the Egyptian military through the ousters of former Presidents Hosni Mubarak and Mohamed Morsi, made it official on Wednesday when he resigned from the military and announced his candidacy for the presidency. The election is scheduled for next month and Al-Sisi is the overwhelming favorite. He told a national television audience that he intends to build a “modern and democratic” state and offered a fig-leaf to his opponents, saying that no personal scores will be settled. Excluded from the peace offering are the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists who remain the principle foe of the regime. This week saw a mass death sentence of more than 500 Brotherhood-related defendants on trial for the deaths of demonstrators killed on August 15.  The trial of an additional 700 got underway as soon as the first verdicts were announced.