Egypt's President Wants More Independence From US

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) -- On the eve of his first visit to the United States as Egypt's president, Islamist Mohammed Morsi said he will demonstrate more independence from the U.S. in decision-making than his predecessor Hosni Mubarak and told Washington not to expect Egypt to live by its rules.

Morsi sent that message in an interview with the New York Times after a wave of violence erupted across the Muslim world over an amateur film produced in the U.S. that was deemed offensive to Islam and its prophet Muhammed. The film raised news tensions between Washington and Egypt.

Morsi criticized U.S. dealings with the Arab world, saying it is not possible to judge Egyptian behavior and decision-making by American cultural standards. He said Washington earned ill will in the region in the past by backing dictators and taking "a very clear" biased approach against the Palestinians and for Israel.

"Successive American administrations essentially purchased with American taxpayer money the dislike, if not the hatred, of the peoples of the region," he told the paper in the interview published late Saturday, drawing a clear distinction between the American government and the American people. Those administrations "have taken a very clear biased approach against something that (has) very strong emotional ties to the people of the region that is the issue of Palestine."

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_EGYPT_US?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-09-23-10-27-15

[dipsydoodle]

1. Well that's makes clear

the price of their aid.......................interference in their own internal affairs.

[azurnoir]

10. interesting excluding Iraq and Afghanistan Egypt is the second largest recipient of American aid

Israel is the first largest yet we seem to only meddle in one of the two's internal politics, the other does what it wants and appears to be meddling in our internal politics

[former9thward]

11. I don't think we have a problem meddling in Egyptian politics when we want.

Obama: Egypt Transition Should Begin & Mubarak Must go Right Now

[azurnoir]

13. yes Obama did that after it became obvious that Mubarak was going to have to step down

and in no small part to stop the aid received from the US being replaced by aid from another country, Saudi Arabia stepped up, and I am sure there are 'others', that would not have minded Egypt becoming their new best friend

[former9thward]

17. There are always reasons.

The point is we do not hesitate to try and influence what is happening in another country whether we are giving them aid or not.It is just with Israel and Egypt we have a carrot to use instead of a stick.

[AAO]

2. I'm having a hard time finding much wrong his sentiment

"Successive American administrations essentially purchased with American taxpayer money the dislike, if not the hatred, of the peoples of the region," he told the paper in the interview published late Saturday, drawing a clear distinction between the American government and the American people. Those administrations "have taken a very clear biased approach against something that (has) very strong emotional ties to the people of the region that is the issue of Palestine."

[fun n serious]

3. I lived in Egypt for two years

The Egyptian people have never really defended the Palestinians. Neither has any other country in the Arab world.

[Lucky Luciano]

4. I spent a little time in Egypt. People seemed to look down

on the Palestinians as a lower class, but since they are Islamic, they hated the oppression that the Palestinians had to deal with. If the Palestinians were Christians, they would not give a flying fuck if they were all hung by their ankles daily by the oppressors.

[fun n serious]

5. You're right

They hated the oppression like you said but were unwilling to do anything about it. Saudi Arabia stays away from this issue as well.

[JoeyT]

7. If the Palestinians

were Christians, the same people over here insisting they don't have a right to exist would be screaming about how persecuted Christians are and demanding we step in and annihilate whatever country was messing with them.

Imagine the reaction to a Christian country having food and medicine cut off to it by a Muslim one. Our right wingers and a lot of our moderates would explode.

So the hypocrisy is a two-way street.

[azurnoir]

9. really IF the Palestinians were Christians? ah hate to spoil things for you but

there are Christian Palestinians quite a few of them in fact

[Lucky Luciano]

12. Yes of course, but the majority are not. nt

[azurnoir]

14. thanks I'm glad you understand that

couldn't tell by your previous comment

[wutang77]

18. The only experiance with people from the middle east/north Africa and their reaction to

to the Palestians, was my french professor. He is Morrocan and took me and another student out to his favorite Maroc resturant, we were talking about all things muslim/middle eastern. You could see the pride he had for all of it, then the topic of what he thought of the Palestinians, he rolled his eyes and laughed and asked us to change the subject. Now this guy was known as a strong liberal who would always get into debates with his students, no friend of Israel. It made me think that maybe there isnt much love for them in there own culture.

[BrainMann1]

6. Good

now live up to your words.

[smirkymonkey]

8. That's fine. No more of our tax dollars going to aid them.

[jsr]

15. For starters, quit accepting U.S. taxpayer money

and quit asking for it.

[Selatius]

16. Hosni Mubarak was the one who got the bulk of that money.

Outside of Israel itself, Egypt was the largest recipient of military aid in the region under the Mubarak dictatorship. Whereas Israel would get close to 3 billion a year in subsidies, Egypt would get close to 2 billion a year.

I could be wrong, but I don't think Morsi will be in such a position to get such generous subsidies from the United States unless he sells out to US corporate interests in the region like Mubarak did.