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Monday, April 3, 2017

Does The USA Abandon Egypt?

In the Daily Beast today, there is a "report" on the situation in Egypt and why president Sisi of that country is a bad ally for the USA to have.  It's an amazing piece that seems devoid of both humanity and reason.  The reason for the report is the upcoming meeting between the presidents of the USA and Egypt.

The reporter wants President Trump to keep his distance from Sisi because the Egyptian has not protected the minorities in Egypt from attack by ISIS as he promised he would do.  Unbelievable!  Sisi's predecessor, Muhammed Morsi, was the leader of the Moslem Brotherhood and he institutionalized discrimination in Egypt against the country's ten million Coptic Christians.  When Morsi was ousted and replaced with Sisi, the Christians supported the change -- no surprise there.  Sisi moved the state away from policies that discriminated against Christians.  Meanwhile, ISIS got a foothold in the Sinai peninsula.  Sinai is a desert area with very few people in a space about four times the size of New Jersey.  It is an easy place to hide and a difficult place to police.  There have been a series of terrorist attacks throughout that area.  One of them is highlighted in the report in the Daily Beast as "proof" that Sisi has failed to protect Christians.  But isn't that getting things backward?  There is no doubt that Egyptian security forces are trying to rid the country of ISIS.  The fact that they have not yet succeeded is not a reason for the USA to stay away from Egypt.  Quite the contrary, the fight against ISIS in Egypt is a great reason for the USA to help the government of Egypt.

Remember, Egypt is the largest Arab country in the world.  It is also one of the two main Arab countries that have made peace with Israel.  As such, it is a key player in the region.  America wants (and needs) good relations with Egypt.

The truth is that the reporter in the Daily Beast is most upset because a closer relationship with Egypt would undo the bizarre Obama policy of penalizing Egypt because it got rid of Morsi and his support for Islamic fanaticism.  Those on the left have to realize that just as every policy under Trump is not a good thing, neither was every policy under Obama.  America cannot and should not run its foreign policy on the basis of political opposition to Trump.

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