Nearly 900 people are confirmed dead in Egypt as the ongoing power struggle between an interim military-backed government and supporters of ousted Muslim president Mohammed Morsi rages on …
Vacationing U.S. President Barack Obama – who supported Morsi’s ascension to power – began taking steps to cut America’s economic to Egypt this week, although that money accounts for a very small percentage of the $1.5 billion in assistance the North African nation receives annually from U.S. taxpayers.
The vast majority of America’s annual investment – $1.3 billion – comes in the form of military aid.
Obama has not indicated any desire to take that money off the table – although the interim Egyptian government is said to be “reviewing” various foreign aid packages in light of international criticism of its crackdown.
Last month Morsi was overthrown by military leaders in a bloodless coup after millions of Egyptians took to the streets demanding his ouster. Two years earlier the so-called “Arab Spring” toppled his successor, former president Hosni Mubarak – a longtime U.S. ally.
As we’ve said from the beginning of this drama, we oppose foreign aid on principle. And as for the question of who should lead Egypt, that’s up to Egyptians to decide.
If they want to kill each other in the process, it’s not up to us to stop them … (ditto for any other sovereign nation).
11 comments
Nasser and Sadat were actually pretty lucky installations by the Brits/NATO and the US. But as is typical with the sands of time (particularly as it relates to those who live on welfare)…
I guess Mother Rrrrusia will be stepping up to the plate. 8th inning. Anybody changing there bets?
Nasser and Sadat were actually pretty lucky installations by the Brits/NATO and the US. But as is typical with the sands of time (particularly as it relates to those who live on welfare)…
I guess Mother Rrrrusia will be stepping up to the plate. 8th inning. Anybody changing there bets?
Yep and those “sweet, fun loving, just want to get along with everyone” Muslim Brotherhood boys lined 25 policemen in the Sinai up and executed them.
The money we give Egypt goes two places; into the pockets of the elite ruling generals (a relatively small percentage) and to the corporate constituents of Congress who make the war material that Egypt buys.
What do we get out of it?
Head of the line access to the Suez Canal for our warships, over fly rights and staging bases. Since Egypt and Israel are two of the very few places in the Middle East that we can do those things, that’s important.
We also get customers for our defense contractors that allow them to stay open between defense buys. Having the ability to crank up the switch on weapons manufacturing and actually have something produced quickly is important.
Is it worth $1,300,000,000? Probably not. Is it worth something – most definitely.
I would disagree colonel. If we weren’t running around playing cops and bad guys, we wouldn’t need so much artillery. Just read a story where they are dumping billions and billions of dollars in surplus at the afganny wind down. Clearly at least some small portion of it would be usable reducing the need to purchase more.
Technology doesn’t disappear anymore when you stop production of this or that. And with technology we can gear up faster than any other nation on the planet. It would take near zero effort for Deere to gear up. The Abrams folks figured out how to stay alive without the need to build as many more tanks as it would to keep them in business by production alone.
Make the free market free again. A few Humvee’s and 50’s on the streets of Chicago would help the bloods and crips understand who’s in charge.
Don’t know about “billions and billions” but we will leave behind anything we could get cheaper if we bought it new at home. I’ve seen one estimate of $6.9 billion to bring everything home. For reasons that I can’t fathom, “our ally” Pakistan will get first dibs on some of the surplus (they have their own little terrorist/Taliban issues to deal with and are getting “blowed up” quite regularly)
We have something in the neighborhood of 50,000 vehicles and 100,000 TEUs (Twenty foot Equivalent Unit connex box loads – a connex is generally 8x8x40 or 8x8x20, we use the “20s” when possible because they’re easier to handle) in Afghanistan. Of the 50,000 vehicles, none of the HMMWVs or non tactical vehicles will be
brought home, they’re worn out. Only the most modern of the MRAPs (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) and assorted othe combat vehicles will be brought home. The armor on some of them is made via a classified process of a classified blend of materials so those vehicles will be brought home or cut up and the parts “not classified” will be sold off or destroyed.
The bad thing is that all of it has to be driven out on flatbeds then transloaded to ships or trains or flown home. If we drive it, Afghanistan and Pakistan want a piece of the action in the form of a tax or tariff as unbelievable as that sounds. It will be far cheaper to leave behind / give away / destroy anything that can’t be used against us.
Course we haven’t even begun to talk about remediation of the ground and facilities we’ve used…
Yep and those “sweet, fun loving, just want to get along with everyone” Muslim Brotherhood boys lined 25 policemen in the Sinai up and executed them.
The money we give Egypt goes two places; into the pockets of the elite ruling generals (a relatively small percentage) and to the corporate constituents of Congress who make the war material that Egypt buys.
What do we get out of it?
Head of the line access to the Suez Canal for our warships, over fly rights and staging bases. Since Egypt and Israel are two of the very few places in the Middle East that we can do those things, that’s important.
We also get customers for our defense contractors that allow them to stay open between defense buys. Having the ability to crank up the switch on weapons manufacturing and actually have something produced quickly is important.
Is it worth $1,300,000,000? Probably not. Is it worth something – most definitely.
I would disagree colonel. If we weren’t running around playing cops and bad guys, we wouldn’t need so much artillery. Just read a story where they are dumping billions and billions of dollars in surplus at the afganny wind down. Clearly at least some small portion of it would be usable reducing the need to purchase more.
Technology doesn’t disappear anymore when you stop production of this or that. And with technology we can gear up faster than any other nation on the planet. It would take near zero effort for Deere to gear up. The Abrams folks figured out how to stay alive without the need to build as many more tanks as it would to keep them in business by production alone.
Make the free market free again. A few Humvee’s and 50’s on the streets of Chicago would help the bloods and crips understand who’s in charge.
Don’t know about “billions and billions” but we will leave behind anything we could get cheaper if we bought it new at home. I’ve seen one estimate of $6.9 billion to bring everything home. For reasons that I can’t fathom, “our ally” Pakistan will get first dibs on some of the surplus (they have their own little terrorist/Taliban issues to deal with and are getting “blowed up” quite regularly)
We have something in the neighborhood of 50,000 vehicles and 100,000 TEUs (Twenty foot Equivalent Unit connex box loads – a connex is generally 8x8x40 or 8x8x20, we use the “20s” when possible because they’re easier to handle) in Afghanistan. Of the 50,000 vehicles, none of the HMMWVs or non tactical vehicles will be brought home, they’re worn out. Only the most modern of the MRAPs (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) and assorted othe combat vehicles will be brought home. The armor on some of them is made via a classified process of a classified blend of materials so those vehicles will be brought home or cut up and the parts “not classified” will be sold off or destroyed. Just by way of comparison, a “normal” container ship holds around 7,000 TEUs.
The bad thing is that all of it has to be driven out on flatbeds then transloaded to ships or trains or flown home. If we drive it, Afghanistan and Pakistan want a piece of the action in the form of a tax or tariff as unbelievable as that sounds. It will be far cheaper to leave behind / give away / destroy anything that can’t be used against us.
Course we haven’t even begun to talk about remediation of the ground and facilities we’ve used…
Christians raped since musloid brotherhood take over. Christians murdered since musloid brotherhood takeover. Christian churches burned since musloid brotherhood takeover. Egypt constitution rewritten since musloid brotherhood takeover. Sharia law to be implemented since musloid brotherhood takeover. Morsi decrees special powers over judges, legislators since musloid brotherhood takeover. Egyptians protest. Egypt army arrests Morsi. Musloid brotherhood protests, takeover streets, shoot at Egyptians. Egyptians shoot back. They are killing the right people, the musloid brotherhood.
http://youtu.be/sileK9ijZu4
Christians raped since musloid brotherhood take over. Christians murdered since musloid brotherhood takeover. Christian churches burned since musloid brotherhood takeover. Egypt constitution rewritten since musloid brotherhood takeover. Sharia law to be implemented since musloid brotherhood takeover. Morsi decrees special powers over judges, legislators since musloid brotherhood takeover. Egyptians protest. Egypt army arrests Morsi. Musloid brotherhood protests, takeover streets, shoot at Egyptians. Egyptians shoot back. They are killing the right people, the musloid brotherhood.
http://youtu.be/sileK9ijZu4
And my Give-A-Shit meter must be broken because the needle is not registering any change.