• Senator McCain urges cuts to Egypt's foreign aid to gain back American 'influence' there
    4 replies, posted
[quote](CNN) – It’s high time for the United States to cut off its $1.3 billion in aid to Egypt as the military regime cracks down violently on protesters, Sen. John McCain argued Sunday. The Arizona Republican added the U.S. has lost its credibility in the region after failing to follow its own law that requires suspending aid to states overtaken by a military coup–though the U.S. has not officially described the recent regime change in Egypt as a coup. "We have no credibility. We do have influence, but when you don't use that influence, then you do not have that influence,” McCain said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” McCain, along with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, traveled to Egypt earlier this month at the request of President Barack Obama to implore military leaders to begin holding elections and transition into a democracy.[/quote] [url]http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/08/18/mccain-u-s-has-no-credibility-in-egypt/?hpt=po_c1[/url]
The aid should be cut to the Egyptian military, but to gain influence isn't a good reason.
[QUOTE=Sgt Doom;41891295]The aid should be cut to the Egyptian military, but to gain influence isn't a good reason.[/QUOTE] even if we cut military aid, any aid sent there would most likely be taken from the military.
Um, I think he's missing the point here. The Arab Spring is great and all(democracy yay!) but there are certain realities that must be observed. Some countries, Bahrain comes to mind, can NOT be allowed to have this Arab spring thing. That's because they are strategically important to the US, and therefore the world, and we can't risk gambling that the new leadership will be friendly to the US and allow us to keep operating there(bases and whatnot). Egypt, I believe, is in this category. What ever leadership takes over there, it HAS to be friendly to US strategy, especially regarding Israel. We simply cannot afford to allow hostilities to break out there between the Israelis and a large neighbor like Egypt. That's where I think this Morsi guy screwed up. He made it obvious that this was going to be a hostile leadership where US interests are concerned. He apparently forgot that the US and Egyptian military have very close ties. It's true that the US would rather have a civilian leadership in charge, with the military supporting it, but the US will be encouraging the Egyptian military to shut out the Muslim brotherhood by whatever means necessary. McCain's approach is to just walk away and let the chips fall where they may. That's really, really stupid in my opinion.
[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;41891623]Um, I think he's missing the point here. The Arab Spring is great and all(democracy yay!) but there are certain realities that must be observed. Some countries, Bahrain comes to mind, can NOT be allowed to have this Arab spring thing. That's because they are strategically important to the US, and therefore the world, and we can't risk gambling that the new leadership will be friendly to the US and allow us to keep operating there(bases and whatnot). Egypt, I believe, is in this category. What ever leadership takes over there, it HAS to be friendly to US strategy, especially regarding Israel. We simply cannot afford to allow hostilities to break out there between the Israelis and a large neighbor like Egypt. That's where I think this Morsi guy screwed up. He made it obvious that this was going to be a hostile leadership where US interests are concerned. He apparently forgot that the US and Egyptian military have very close ties. It's true that the US would rather have a civilian leadership in charge, with the military supporting it, but the US will be encouraging the Egyptian military to shut out the Muslim brotherhood by whatever means necessary. McCain's approach is to just walk away and let the chips fall where they may. That's really, really stupid in my opinion.[/QUOTE] I would also like to point out that Morsi's shenanigans were quite very fishy as well (and probably not exactly democratic either). I don't understand why did army start shooting at the protesters and such, but the move of stripping Morsi of all power is one I can't take as an objectively bad one. There should be new elections with very through international observation to ensure things stay clean.
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