In comments today in the state-run media, Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy warned that US-Egyptian relations are in “turmoil” since last week’s decision to cut Egypt’s military aid.
Fahmy went on to warn that the “unrest” caused by the strain in relations had the potential to have consequences region-wide, and urged the US to “better evaluate their relationship in the future.”
The US announced the cut a week ago today, keeping most of the $1.5 billion in annual military aid intact but cutting deliveries of certain heavy weapons. The US was legally obliged to cut all aid after Egypt’s military coup, but the Obama Administration refused to do so, and it was only after repeated massacres of protesters that the limited cuts happened.
Israel angrily condemned the cuts, insisting that human rights concerns in Egypt have to take a back seat to regional stability. Israel has formed close ties with the new junta, backing its military offensive against the Sinai Peninsula.
What an act! Knowing that they cannot be seen as US asset, this is an act for internal purposes. Also, US has to distance itself while the killing of civilians is underway, to keep hands clean. But in reality, the coup leaders are Saudi-US assets.
Indeed. All Kabuki, all the time.
My question: are they fooling the people they're trying to fool, or are they just going through the motions out of force of habit and arrogant unconcern. They have all the guns, spies, courts, prisons, and money. If they get caught in their lies, they figure they can deal with the fallout.
In "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", an allegory of just this sort of situation, the boy's job is guarding the sheep. Then he starts his little game. Then after a while a critical mass of villagers catches on. Then the boy gets eaten.
In the modern version, the boy sells the sheep, buys lots of guns, and turns the people into sheep,… or fertilizer, if/when they object.
The shipment to Egypt of free fighter-jets for example, that Obama just canceled, surely those power hungry generals would have no qualms against using them to bomb a parade or two, what with a student or religious protest now classified as an act of terrorism.
So, circumstances beyond his control are forcing Obama to show for the first time some moral courage. As to what impact this will have on the grand scheme of things, only time will tell.
Egyptian democratic experiment strangled in its infancy, thanks to powerful interests in the region who prefer a dictatorship. Sad.