the govt. of Egypt is not our friend, nor is it the friend of the Egyptian

[donsu]

people.

the govt. of Egypt is in cahoots with the criminal neo con bushmilhousegang.

trouble is brewing as they will dance to the neo con's tune.

what are your thoughts on this situation?

[Guy Fawkes]

1. My first thought is that you've completely skewed somthing...

without any links to news stories, op-eds, articles of any kind... and no explanation of what you mean.

[Kagemusha]

2. Without those elements this is against the new GD rules too.

Free advice: Countries are loyal to themselves.

[billbuckhead]

4. BUSHCO's friends aren't exactly the American people's friends

The media is always referring to America's Arab "friends" like Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, a dubious assertion when talking about promoting democracy.

[Guy Fawkes]

6. As far as the Middle East is concerned...

Egypt and Jordan are centrist. I haven't seen either country calling for the destruction of the US or Israel, and I doubt they'd jump into a fight in the ME on any side (unless it directly involved them).

[billbuckhead]

9. That's because American taxpayers, pay them to be neutral

[Guy Fawkes]

10. Wanna back that up with fact?

And I don't mean Wikipedia or some way-outfield blog.

[Laotra]

13. See for yourself

From US .gov sources how much "development aid" and military support US gives to the Egyptian dictator. Second only to Israel.

[htuttle]

14. Here's an article from the CS Monitor about aid to Egypt (from 2004)

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0412/p07s01-wome.html

But many say that USAID needs to alter its approach if it is going to push successfully for substantive reform in Egypt. Ismail Sabry Abdallah is the former Egyptian minister of development and planning, and negotiated the first USAID contract on behalf of Egypt in 1974.

Now an independent economist, Abdallah says USAID needs to decrease support for the Egyptian government, and increase its support for civil society in order to realize the sort of economic and political reforms that the United States and the Egyptian people desire.

"(USAID) is distributed by the Egyptian government in an anarchic way, through personal contacts and political influence," Abdallah says.

Some statistics from the article, pointing out Egypt as the second largest recipient of US aid:

Top recipients of US aid each year
Iraq - In 2004, it will become the largest recipient of US aid, receiving $18.4 billion.
Israel - The largest recipient of US largesse in 2003, getting $2.1 billion in military aid annually; $600 million in economic aid.
Egypt - Out of a US foreign aid budget of about $14 billion in 2003, Egypt was the second largest recipient with $1.3 billion in military aid; $615 million for social programs.
Colombia - Got $540 million to battle the drug trade, and local terrorist groups.
Jordan - Got $250 million in economic support; $198 in military financing.
Peru, Ukraine, Russia - Received approximately $200 million each in economic and military aid annually.

Finally:

"Egypt remains as anti-investment as it has ever been because we have never made our aid program conditional," says Walker.

At Sunday's meeting in Crawford, Texas, geopolitics may temper any US push for Egyptian reform as Bush seeks cooperation from Mubarak on Iraq and Israel's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip.

Doesn't mean we are 'paying them to be neutral', but we certainly ARE paying them. Quite well, apparently.

[Guy Fawkes]

19. Thank you.

Interesting how everyone else refused to give me links. But like you say, this doesn't prove we are "paying them to be neutral." Fact is, we probably give at least a little bit of money to just about every country on Earth.

[billbuckhead]

20. It's just a coincidence Egypt is number 2 in foreign aid? Why not Mexico?

It's just a coincidence they sit on the fence.

[donsu]

5. no specific article - just asking for discussion and I explained what

I meant.

the W.H. recently wined and dined the son of the Egyptian pres. who is thought to be the one to take over for his father.

(giving that as one example)

[Guy Fawkes]

8. You don't explain how that makes them bad for the Egyptian people...

or bad as a country in general. Sure, the administration may have hosted the Egyptian Pres.'s son, but it could be because we don't have a strong relationship with them, and Bush wants to strengthen it. This is called "diplomacy" and it happens all the time. If Bush wants to send Kim Jung-Il a birthday cake, I'm all for it- it may even get him (Kim) to calm down a bit on the world stage.

[donsu]

11. the Egyptians have been protesting the govt. and have been

arrested and treated badly.

[Guy Fawkes]

12. Link? AP, BBC.... the Onion? Anything!?

[donsu]

15. don't ask me to educate you - do it yourself

nt

[Laotra]

16. Link

www.google.com

Try "egypt oppression" or better terms if you can think of them.

[cali]

17. And that would be my first thought as well.

Another essentially content free OP.

[nam78_two]

3. context??!!!

:shrug:

[MADem]

7. The government of Egypt is a strongman government, much like

many others in the region. Nowadays, under Mubarak, it is actually MORE representative than it was under the hero Anwar Sadat, or Nassar, for that matter, but that is not saying much. You do know these guys, all of them, were MILITARY (Egyptian Air Force) and they are, for all intents and purposes, military dictators wearing nice suits made in London. They can call them "President" but they feel the "Commander in Chief" role more deeply...make NO mistake.

People forget what it was like when Israel and Egypt were at each other's throats. Egypt is our friend, simply because they aren't stirring shit up. We pay them well to maintain that status quo, too.

If anything, they're too soft on their political terrorist prisoners, preferring to EXPEL them rather than keep them locked up. That's how a bunch of assholes ended up working with Osama in Afghanistan.

Mubarak could give two shits who the President of the United States is, so long as the goddamn check is in the mail. His relationship was the same with Clinton, with Bush 1, with Reagan.

All politics is local, even in Egypt.

[Laotra]

18. Why no demands for democracy?

From the general tone of your post I get the impression that you're OK with tyrants and dictatorships as long as their "your friend". No doubt because you know that currently the main opposition to the Mubarak dictatorship are the democratic islamic forces, which would get power if honest elections were allowed?