It is misleading to say, for example, the US has such and such agenda or the West wants this or that. When we are talking about nations, we should know that they have no role in the decision-making process. At most we can say that the power of the American State is being mobilized by the global capitalist elite for this or that purpose, and it has almost nothing whatsoever to do with the United States as a nation, nor the will or interests of the American public.
The lower tiers of the imperial system are comprised of local elites whose interests and aspirations coincide with those of their global imperial masters. This is the updated version of the British imperial system of “indirect rule”. Basically you have the domestic super rich colluding with the international super rich in ways that are mutually profitable for each, at the expense of the local population. The domestic elite understand that their position in society depends upon this collusion. In the age of globalized capital, the constituency of any government in the developing world is not the local electorate, but rather it is the hordes of foreign investors, to whom all campaign promises must be kept.
You can notice, for instance, a recent headline, “Egypt’s government has to deliver growth to survive”. As made abundantly clear by the article, “growth” here means opportunities and profits for foreign investors. One would normally imagine that the consent of the governed would determine the survival of a government that claims to be democratic, but clearly any regime’s existence is dependent upon its ability to serve the corporate bottom line.
In Egypt, the largest sector of the local elite is the military executives of the Coup Incorporated. Obviously, the army has a massive stake in the Egyptian economy, and this is perhaps the main reason for the Coup in the first place.