Egyptians brush off faint Obama sanctions

By Zhang Mengxu Source:Global Times Published: 2013-11-6 23:13:01

Last month, the Obama administration bashfully announced plans to deal with the current situation in Egypt. The US temporarily suspended the provision of M-1/A-1 tank kits, a dozen F-16s, AH-64 Apache helicopters, and an unspecified number of Harpoon missiles.

Also, it is not proceeding with the planned transfer of $260 million in cash to the Egyptian government. The suspension will last until it sees Egypt moving toward democracy.

After the announcement, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Badr Abdelatty said, "The decision was wrong. Egypt will not surrender to American pressure and is continuing its path towards democracy as set by the road map."

Afterward, Egypt had a week-long holiday. After three months of chaos, Egyptians are very much in need of some time to relax and forget about political strife. The partial suspension of US aid did not create many waves in the country.

There are at least two reasons behind the Egyptian government's mild attitude toward the US decision.

After the Egyptian revolution in 2011, the mentality of the Egyptian public has changed. They feel ashamed about their country's yielding to the US during the Hosni Mubarak era. They think the revolution brought not only an end to an autocratic era, but also a chance for country's independence and aspiration on the world stage. If the transitional government behaves too hastily in seeking US assistance, it is sure to lose marks with the public.

Second, after the Egyptian military overthrew the government of former president Mohamed Morsi, Gulf countries promised $12 billion assistance right away. In comparison, the US' annual $1.55 billion aid is only a drop in the bucket.

US President Barack Obama must have struggled with imposing such measures.

He wants to maintain a strategic alliance with Egypt; but he also has to consider voices in Congress that advocate heavy sanctions. After thinking it over, the US announced these perfunctory and symbolic sanctions. It's not hard to imagine how effective they can really be.

The key of the sanction plan is only to temporarily stop the hand-over of some weapons. The US and Egypt will continue cooperation in a number of areas such as training Egyptian military forces, anti-terrorism, anti-proliferation and security in Sinai Peninsula.

From Washington's perspective, as long as Egypt moves toward democracy, assistance can be resumed.

The parliamentary and presidential elections next year are almost certain. It will be time for the US to commit its promise then.

Egypt needs US assistance, while the US needs Egypt's strategic position.

General James Mattis who retired this year as head of the US military's Central Command once commented about the strategic value of Egypt, "We need them for the Suez Canal, we need them for the peace treaty with Israel, we need them for the over-flights, and we need them for the continued fight against violent extremists." The Egyptian transitional government and military are well aware of this.

Israel, as Egypt's neighbor, supported the Egyptian military ousting Morsi. It even told Egypt not to worry about the US sanctions, as that if the US goes too far, Israel will mobilize the pro-Israel lobby in Washington.

Since Morsi's fall, Egyptian society has become more and more split, and all factions have a more negative attitude toward the US.

Morsi supporters believe the US is hypocritical: While the US calls for democracy, it gave tacit permission to the Egyptian military to oust their elected president. Those opposing Morsi think the US is arrogant and pompous: It knows little about the situation in Egypt and turned a blind eye to what Morsi did over in the past year.

If the US really wishes for a stable Egypt and a more solid strategic relationship, sanctions won't help much. The real problem for Egypt is the economy.

The US should act sincerely to help Egypt restore its economy, the effect of which would be much greater than Senator John McCain's recent preaching in Cairo.

The author is a reporter with People's Daily who is currently stationed in Egypt. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

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