U.S. Stuck in Middle East Morass
Now here's a dilemma:
The U.S. government remains stuck in the Middle East morass, the latest example of which is Egypt's civil strife. Now, to exacerbate the situation even more, the Israeli government openly supports the Egyptian military government, even as the U.S. announces that it is unhappy with the killing of Islamic militants over the last couple of weeks by that Egyptian military.
Remember here that the Israeli government is considered one of the U.S. government's key allies, and Egypt is also considered the top ally of the U.S. in the Middle East (next to Israel, of course). So the two key allies of the U.S. working together - you might think - should make the U.S. government happy, right? Not really, since the Obama administration decided it would "take a stand" and chide the Egyptian military's use of lethal force - might even, in fact, suspend foreign aid to the Egyptian government.
But wait, Israel, important ally of the U.S., doesn't want the U.S. to suspend aid to the Egyptian government, since that might diminish the army's power, and thence expose Israel to a strengthened Islamic contingent headed by the Muslim Brotherhood, the bane of Egypt's military.
So what does the U.S. government do now? A guess: nothing. There won't be a suspension of aid to Egypt. Not that I know for sure, but remember that the two largest recipients of U.S. foreign aid in the entire world are Israel and Egypt. The U.S. government was behind the Israelis and Egyptians decision not to liquidate each other back in the days of Anwar Sadat, Egypt's president, the same president who was assassinated in 1981 by - you guessed it - members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Can you see why I refer to this as a "morass"? There's really no easy or good way out of all this. On the other hand, there is always the possibility that the U.S. government could turn around and recognize the mess it's gotten into and announce that it will cease giving money to these governments, will pull out its military forces, will stop getting its sticky fingers into this and all the other morasses it seems to be stuck in around the world.
But it won't, of course.
The U.S. government remains stuck in the Middle East morass, the latest example of which is Egypt's civil strife. Now, to exacerbate the situation even more, the Israeli government openly supports the Egyptian military government, even as the U.S. announces that it is unhappy with the killing of Islamic militants over the last couple of weeks by that Egyptian military.
Remember here that the Israeli government is considered one of the U.S. government's key allies, and Egypt is also considered the top ally of the U.S. in the Middle East (next to Israel, of course). So the two key allies of the U.S. working together - you might think - should make the U.S. government happy, right? Not really, since the Obama administration decided it would "take a stand" and chide the Egyptian military's use of lethal force - might even, in fact, suspend foreign aid to the Egyptian government.
But wait, Israel, important ally of the U.S., doesn't want the U.S. to suspend aid to the Egyptian government, since that might diminish the army's power, and thence expose Israel to a strengthened Islamic contingent headed by the Muslim Brotherhood, the bane of Egypt's military.
So what does the U.S. government do now? A guess: nothing. There won't be a suspension of aid to Egypt. Not that I know for sure, but remember that the two largest recipients of U.S. foreign aid in the entire world are Israel and Egypt. The U.S. government was behind the Israelis and Egyptians decision not to liquidate each other back in the days of Anwar Sadat, Egypt's president, the same president who was assassinated in 1981 by - you guessed it - members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Can you see why I refer to this as a "morass"? There's really no easy or good way out of all this. On the other hand, there is always the possibility that the U.S. government could turn around and recognize the mess it's gotten into and announce that it will cease giving money to these governments, will pull out its military forces, will stop getting its sticky fingers into this and all the other morasses it seems to be stuck in around the world.
But it won't, of course.
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