The Guardian: Egypt's president wants more independence from US

On the eve of his first visit to the United States as Egypt's president, Islamist Mohammed Morsi said he will demonstrate more independence from the U.S. in decision-making than his predecessor Hosni Mubarak and told Washington not to expect Egypt to live by its rules.
Morsi sent that message in an interview with the New York Times after a wave of violence erupted across the Muslim world over an amateur film produced in the U.S. that was deemed offensive to Islam and its prophet Muhammed. The film raised news tensions between Washington and Egypt.
Morsi criticized U.S. dealings with the Arab world, saying it is not possible to judge Egyptian behavior and decision-making by American cultural standards. He said Washington earned ill will in the region in the past by backing dictators and taking "a very clear" biased approach against the Palestinians and for Israel.

He stressed that unlike his predecessor, Mubarak, he will behave "according to the Egyptian people's choice and will, nothing else."
Morsi dismissed criticism that he responded too slowly when protesters managed to scale the walls of the heavily fortified U.S. Embassy in Cairo on Sept. 11. The demonstrators replaced the American flag with a banner carrying the Islamic declaration of faith.
Morsi said he needed to deal with the situation "wisely" and took time to avoid a backlash from an angry but small crowd of protesters.

While he praised President Barack Obama for moving "decisively and quickly" to support Arab Spring uprisings against longtime authoritarian leaders, he said Arabs like Americans want to live "free in their own land, according to their customs and values, in a fair and democratic fashion."