With the Obama administration dithering on Syria and then embracing a
new round of engagement with Iran, the turmoil in Egypt, which was the
top foreign news story this past summer, has largely been out of the
headlines since August. In the intervening months, the Egyptian military
has been following up on the coup in which they ousted the Muslim
Brotherhood government of Mohamed Morsi by suppressing the Islamist
group. Though all indications point to the military retaining the
support of most Egyptians—they only intervened to topple Morsi after
tens of millions took to the streets to protest the Brotherhood’s push
to transform the world’s most populous Arab country into an Islamist
state—the situation remains fluid. In the last week alone some 900
Egyptians, including 100 police and military personnel, have been killed
in violence sparked by Brotherhood protests. This latest outbreak is
apparently the last straw for an Obama administration that had supported
Morsi and discouraged the coup. As the New York Times reports, administration officials are saying that within days the U.S. will formally cut military aid to Egypt.
The aid cutoff will be trumpeted by the administration as a sign that
it is serious about supporting democracy and upholding the rule of law.
But if the goal here is to help end the violence in Egypt or bolster
stability in the region, this is the worst mistake President Obama can
make. U.S. influence in Egypt is already minimal, but a gesture that
will be interpreted as encouraging the Brotherhood protests will be seen
as evidence that, despite Washington’s denials, Obama really does favor
the Islamists. After handing Russia’s Vladimir Putin and the Assad
regime’s Iranian allies an unexpected and unearned victory in Syria, it
appears the administration is determined to pursue its grudge against
the military even if it undermines what’s left of U.S. influence in the
region as well as undermining the Egypt-Israel peace treaty.
(Click link below to read more)
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- This site is the inspiration of a former reporter/photographer for one of New England's largest daily newspapers and for various magazines. The intent is to direct readers to interesting political articles, and we urge you to visit the source sites. Any comments may be noted on site or directed to KarisChaf at gmail.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
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