Western Interests In Egypt

Summed up in one old black and white photo

Following the Egyptian military crackdown the price of Brent Crude hit a four month high of $111.23

While Egypt is not a major oil producer/exporter 7% of all crude and 13% of all LNG transits the Suez Canal.

Also of relevance to western interests is the Sumed pipeline, a roughly 200 mile pipeline fro Suez to Alexandria, although this is owned by a consortia of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE.

The question then among the western democracies and other interests is how important is it?  Is stability in Egypt more important than democracy?