The cases for and against cutting U.S. aid to Egypt, explained
<snip>
There is little indication that the Obama administration is about to cut aid to Egypt. Still, Obama left the door open enough to revitalize a long-running debate in Washington over the aid package and whether it does more harm or more good. Here, then, are summaries of the best cases for and against.
(1) Egypt is a big, strategically important country and the U.S. has a lot at stake in maintaining a working relationship with its government and military. Anti-Americanism is very high there, so it’s reasonable to think that the relationship would worsen if it wasn’t for this billion-plus annual payment tying the two countries together.
<snip>
Other reasons to keep the aid: (3) Wealthy Arab Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would probably love to fill any void the U.S. leaves. Who knows where they might want to steer Egyptian domestic and foreign policy? (4) Cutting aid is, as academic Gregory Johnson put it, is a “one-shot deal.” The U.S. can only cut aid once. (5) Cutting aid would diplomatically isolate Egypt, where many are already skeptical of the West, making leaders less afraid of doing things that could make the country more of a pariah state.
<snip>
The case for cutting aid, in five parts
(1) The Obama administration clearly does not want the Egyptian military to stage coups or shoot at largely peaceful civilian protests. But when it refuses to call a coup a “coup” and when it responds to 600-plus crackdown deaths with a rhetorical condemnation but little policy change, the administration risks communicating that it is at least to some extent willing to tolerate these sorts of actions. A decision against cutting aid is also a decision for continuing aid, which is itself a passive but implicit show of support for things that the U.S. does not actually want to support.
(2) It would be a symbolic gesture on behalf of human rights and democracy in a part of the world where they often get short shrift. As Lynch wrote in his piece calling for the U.S. to cut aid, “Taking a (much belated) stand is the only way for the United States to regain any credibility — with Cairo, with the region, and with its own tattered democratic rhetoric.” What happened in Egypt on Wednesday was really bad and, in this view, the U.S. should in principle not have anything to do with the government that did it.
<snip>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/08/15/the-cases-for-and-against-cutting-u-s-aid-to-egypt-explained/
= new reply since forum marked as read
