Yesterday Secretary of State John Kerry visted Pakistan. In an interview with Geo TV he remarked on Egypt:

SECRETARY KERRY: […] The military was asked to intervene by millions and millions of people, all of whom were afraid of a descendance into chaos, into violence. And the military did not take over, to the best of our judgment so – so far. To run the country, there’s a civilian government. In effect, they were restoring democracy. And the fact is —

QUESTION: By killing people on the roads?

SECRETARY KERRY: Oh, no. That’s not restoring democracy, and we’re very, very concerned about, very concerned about that. And I’ve had direct conversations with President Mansour, with Vice President ElBaradei, with General al-Sisi, as have other members of our government. And I’ve talked to the Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy, so I’ve been in touch with all of the players there. And we have made it clear that that is absolutely unacceptable, it cannot happen.

Now, as you know, these situations can be very confusing and very difficult. We’re working very hard right now with Lady Catherine Ashton, with various officials, with other foreign ministers of other countries, in order to try to see if we can resolve this peacefully. But the story of Egypt is not finished yet, so we have to see how it unfolds in the next days.

The story of Egypt is certainly not finished yet. The military has ordered the interior ministry to clear the Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins. That will likely be a bloody affair and the U.S. will merely comment on it. "Absolutely unacceptable" will be the public stand. The private call to General Sisi will probably be "congratulations, well done."

But saying the military in Egypt "were restoring democracy" is not only about Egypt.

Indeed the context of an interview in Pakistan is very important here. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was recently elected for the third time. Sharif is a conservative Islamist and is not pro-American. Both of his former premierships were terminated by the Pakistani military. In 1993 he pressed to step down by the military and during his second term in 1999 then Chief of Staff General Musharraf removed Nawaz Sharif in a military coup.

Despite Kerry's visit and somewhat friendly words to Pakistan there is a lot of trouble brewing between the U.S. and Pakistan over U.S. drone strikes and the U.S. infringement on Pakistan's sovereignty. The U.S. is also very much against Sharif's support for the Afghan Taliban and his plans for reconciliation with the Pakistani Taliban.

The military "restoring democracy" remark can thus be understood as an invitation to the Pakistani military to repeat in Pakistan what happened in Egypt. Prepare some "popular protests", launch a coup against Sharif, put in a compliant "civil" government and you will be lauded by the United States government for "restoring democracy".

That is certainly what the Pakistani military in Rawalpindi will take away from Kerry's interview. A few month from now, when Sharif starts to implement his agenda, strings can be pulled and confidential phone calls made to again coup against a somewhat popular elected government. All in the name of "restoring democracy."

One also wonders what the rather paranoid Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan may think about Kerry's "restoring democracy" remark. Were those protests over Gezi Park, which Erdogan blames on foreign intervention and the "interest lobby" aka the Jews, really about one of the few green spots in Istanbul or were the about "restoring democracy"?