The US has decided to deny Egypt almost $100 million in aid and hold back another $195 million until it sees improvements in Cairo's track record on human rights and democracy. Which basically is our fought because of letting Egypt get rid of the Muslim Brotherhood that was fully elected by the people of Egypt during the reign when Clinton was Secretary of State. Installed was a military dictatorship such as Mubarak and Sadat were.
The Trump administration is looking to strike a balance between acknowledging Egypt's importance as a strategic partner and frustration with passage of a new NGO law it sees as curbing democracy and freedoms. The importance though is the route and access to the Suez Canal and the mal treatment of the Coptic Christians. Another Christian-Muslim thing. Stir up stink and sell weapons and cutting the budget.
"We have serious concerns regarding human rights and governance in Egypt," an administration official said. "At the same time, strengthened security cooperation is important to US national security."
Washington has given Cairo nearly $80 billion in military and economic assistance over the past 30 years and will continue to support Egypt in defeating extremists, fighting terrorism and bolstering its economy, the official said. But what human rights are they talking about, taking up for the Coptic Christian minority, key word here, is Christian. This will be a big blow to Israeli and Egyptian relations and Egypt has many cards to play in a backlash against the US.
Washington is central both to Middle East peace efforts, a priority for the President, and to resolving an ongoing dispute between Washington's Gulf allies, which US officials worry could hamper the fight against ISIS.
The funding decision, first reported by Reuters, comes as President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner is set to arrive in Egypt Friday as part of a Mideast trip focused on Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and on resolving the spat between Qatar on one hand and Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain on the other. But then who and how did Kushner become a foreign envoy and what qualifications does he hold for the job, but being an Orthodox Zionist. No one will ever save the Palestine-Israeli peace problem until Israel stops building settlements on the West Bank and treating the Palestinians with a little more respects and human right by Israel, give me a break. Qatar should have never suffered under the Trump administration's promoting of it in Saudi Arabia false narratives and demands for a small strategic country to Saudi Arabia and in which the US holds military bases within that country.
The move against Egypt marks another notable turn in Trump's foreign policy stance, given that his administration made clear early that human rights were not going to be given primacy over economic or strategic interests. Russia will move on this opportunity taking advantage of the US stupidity or is it just a given to the Russian inclusion.Part of the Trump pay back for getting him elected.
That changed when the administration felt "blindsided" by Egypt's decision to move forward in May with a law that restricts nongovernmental organizations to development and social work, an administration official told CNN. Members of groups that do anything else, including democracy development, face up to five years in jail under the law. The Egyptian military dictatorship should be removed and free elections should take place again and not be toppled by US or any countries interference. Egypt is wrong in holding back democracy in their country, a blame to the Obama administration in not taking up for the past elected government of Egypt. Trump and Tillerson is right in this point.
Trump approved the decision to withhold aid earlier this month, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signed off within the last week, the official said. Assurances at the highest levels
During Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's April visit to the White House, members of the delegation "at the highest levels" had assured the White House the law would not be passed, the administration official said. The decision to deny Egypt aid is the administration's response.
The aid includes $195 million in Foreign Military Financing, allocated for fiscal year 2016, that's meant to help Egypt address threats to its security and bolster the global anti-terrorism efforts.
Tillerson has directed that that funding will now be held in reserve "until we see progress from Egypt on key priorities," the official said. "We remain concerned about Egypt's lack of progress in key areas, including human rights and the new NGO law," the official said.
As a result, Washington will also redirect another $65.7 million in Foreign Military Financing and $30 million in Economic Support Funds that had been meant for Egypt and give them, instead, to "other key security partners."
The official said it hadn't been decided which partners would get the funds, but stressed that the move won't undermine Cairo's security.
It's a sharp change from earlier this year, when both Trump and Tillerson said that national and economic interests should often take priority.
"We are not here to lecture," Trump told Saudi Arabia's rulers in a speech during his May visit to the country, his first foreign trip. "We are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be or how to worship.". No. we are just here to kiss you ass for oil and weapons sales and support a monarch that is worse then Egypt.
Earlier that month, Tillerson had told State Department employees that "if we condition too heavily that others must adopt this value that we've come to over a long history of our own, it really creates obstacles to our ability to advance our national security interests, our economic interests."
Groups such as Amnesty International have documented widespread repression and human rights abuses, including torture, by the Egyptian security forces and an effort by the government to quell dissent.
Tillerson has directed that the frozen $195 million in military aid can be accessed "at any time," provided Egypt makes progress, the official said. Asked whether it would be enough for Egypt to reverse the NGO law, the official said, "I don't know what it will take. We'll know it when we see it."
The Egyptian Embassy did not return calls for comment.
No comments:
Post a Comment