I can see why some influential Republicans on Capitol Hill would be reluctant to support the administration’s request to provide $450 million in emergency aid to Egypt. The recent mob attack on our embassy in Cairo, and President Mohammad Morsi’s slowness in condemning the attack, are hardly an advertisement for the new regime. But ask yourself this: Is Egypt likely to produce more or fewer terrorists if its economy collapses?
The question answers itself, and to the extent that an emergency infusion of cash from the U.S. and IMF can tide over the Egyptian economy for a while, it is likely to promote stability and deter the potential radicalization of Egyptian youth. It may even buy time for the new Muslim Brotherhood government to implement some of the free-market reforms it promised during the campaign, if it is so inclined and if it can overcome intense internal resistance from many sectors including the army. Conversely if the Egyptian debt crisis blows up, a la Greece or Iceland, the results are likely to be much more serious than in those countries, given the number of Salafist radicals already present in Egypt and given Egypt’s important strategic position as the largest Arab state.
Foreign aid is intensely unpopular among American voters and it has often backfired and failed to produce growth, as Governor Romney noted in a recent speech. But in this case the U.S. aid is not designed to promote long-term growth; it is designed to tide Egypt over to prevent an immediate crisis. And extending more aid to Egypt actually enhances our leverage over the new government—something that President Obama was able to take advantage of after the embassy attack to tough talk with Morsi, forcing Egypt’s president to strongly condemn the anti-American violence and to order a more vigilant role by the security forces in protecting the American diplomatic outpost.
Max, are you serious? You are an obsessive neoconservative (meaning, a liberal Republican). You are obsessed with "democracy promotion", which seldom works especially in Mohammedan "countries"(really tribes). n nWant a better suggestion? Let's have less and less to do with the Islamic world, and espcially stop their immigration for a good period of ten years or so then wait and see if they change their behavior – don't bet on it.
If the President of the U.S. were to use the funds to deliver a message that there are expectations, that the funds may not be coming with the following strings attached, but Morsi should be aware of the political reality that the funds will be cut off by Congress, and the President won't be able to oppose the cut off, if the treaty with Israel falls apart or Morsi keeps stirring up the hate mobs in Egypt with more speeches about America must give up their Bill of Rights, and, by the way, killing Christians for sport is frowned upon — then help them to stability. But, with Obama, as President, what message is he conveying, what sympathy is he offering — since he obviously still believes the world and especially Islam just LOVE him so much! n nI don't know what else the U.S. can do — but I wish a different President was doing it.
"…an emergency infusion of cash from the U.S. and IMF can tide over the Egyptian economy for a while, it is likely to promote stability and deter the potential radicalization of Egyptian youth." n nOnce again Max connects economics to "radicalization" which, of course, is a nicer way of avoiding the term terrorism. Regardless how many studies have refuted the connection between poverty and terrorism it nevertheless continues to be employed by both the Right and the Left to justify what is no longer tenable. n nBefore forking over 450 million dollars to the Muslim Brotherhood government, perhaps it might be useful to wait a spell; let's arbitrarily say 6 months, just to see what direction President Morsi nintends to take Egypt in. If he and his advisers continue to sprout off about the need to unilaterally alter Camp David then we can not only save that 450 million but that 1.5 billion Egypt receives each year as a condition of that peace treaty. n nForcing Egypt’s president to condemn anti-American violence with a bribe hardly seems the stuff to inspire Americans to continue to paying for the privilege of being hated.
Same tired old argument, buying off people in an attempt to avoid problems that they themselves cause. I predict that would be as "successful" as Johnson's creaiton of the soi disant Great Society. Was a trillion dollars well-spent to avoid short-term fears of riots in the '60s, at the cost of creating an undeclass utterly dependent on goverment (read: taxpayer) largesse and, per Moynihan, destroying the black families of America? I think Max has severe difficulty learning from history…Danegeld only buys problems further down the road.
Maybe I'm missing something, but since when has money bought us friends? Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt? I'm with Lumiere – let's see what 6 months brings
Absolutely. n nLet's look at how many misconceptions and mirages can exist in one sentence fragment: n n"it is likely to promote stability and deter the potential radicalization of Egyptian youth. It may even buy time for the new Muslim Brotherhood government to implement some of the free-market reforms it promised during the campaign" n nAs if 450million means anything to a basket case economy that requires 12 billion to avoid starvation. n nDoes anyone seriously believe the Muslim brotherhood is interested in capitalistic free market reforms? n nThey are interested in near starvation, and population control through Sharia and the control of ration cards. n nRead David Goldman, Max, and learn something. Not every problem in the world requires American blood or treasure. n n
Hoover organized food aid for the Lenin Bolshevik regime in 1921-1922 during the Povolzhye famine and it had zero political effect. The leverage to provide security for our embassies comes out of respect, military might, and the fear of your potential foes, not money. Or it just doesn't come. By this logic Hezbollah would have respected American diplomatic and military sites if Reagan had just had the foresight to give them an aid package in 1982. And Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line were fainting from hunger when they took over the American embassy in Tehran in 1979.
No thank you… Their friends in the Middle East can give them money… In fact no more foreign aid what-so-ever… I am sick of it, we're broke and we don't need to give money to these nations that hate us…
If 50 BILLION over 30 years brought us Morsi and the Muslim Jihad, what does Max think 450 million will do?
I don't understand: Egypt is buying nuclear subs from Germany, they're talking about mordernizing the rest of their armed forces, and they still need money from us?
Exactly. As funds are fungible, Obama is basically covering the cost of an advanced German submarine purchase for Egypt, while there are cooking oil riots breaking out there. n nI'm sure we just don't understand 'smart power'.
Well, there's logic and there is a logical conclusion! nThe logic (sic) is: Is Egypt likely to produce more or fewer terrorists if its economy collapses? nLogical Conclusion: Give Egypt $5 billion (or 50) to get rid of the problem forever (yeah! Right!) nLogic: Since aid to Israel has produced no anti-American suicide bombers… nLogical Conclusion: The problem is solved; no more aid to Israel (yeah! right!) nMitt Romney has proposed a good solution which should drive the freeloaders inside and outside America crrrrazzzzy… nAid, financial support, dole WILL BE CONTINGENT on behaviour!
Really, I do not have an idea of where to start with this. Max, your are ridiculous. Egypt has cleanly crossed over to the other side, that is it. No more US money or weapons, may I add. That includes spare parts for weapons. Why, I am glad you asked. r n If there was a concerted effort to attack Israel this year, before Obama has to vacate the throne, Egypt will be one of the attackers of Israel, obviously; with our weapons. By the way, in case you have not figured it out, that is why Egypt signed the treaty with Israel at Camp David. The Egyptians are not stupid Max. They knew the only way of getting rid of Israel once and for all, which is nearly all they care about, was to get the American/Western military hardware, so it could be on par with Israel. That would be all it would take, given the contributions of the other enemy states in the region. r n Also, Max, I believe we are about to fund an Egyptian nuclear program. No, NO. STOP BORROWING MONEY FROM ONE ENEMY, IN ORDER TO GIVE IT TO ANOTHER ENEMY.r n How pathetic.
let's pay them to leave us alone. sure works with the lunch money and the schoolyard bullies
Mr. Boot: Egypt is collapsing, and there is very little we can do about it. One thing we can do is to send the message to all and sundry that we will not reward those who hate us. Give the money to Libya; give the money to African regimes struggling with Islam. Hell, dump it in the sea, for all the good it will do in buying off the jihadis.
Max, do you mean to say that the Muslim Brotherhood, the Ikhwan, are really sincere about believing in free market principles? Suppose they are. So what? What about all the negatives concerning the Ikhwan? If they are sincere about the free market but want to start a war to destroy Israel and want to slaughter the Egyptian Coptic Christians and want to deny rights to women, does Max want to give the money anyhow?
if the USA sent a ship full of wheat in sacks that read "Grown in the USA", at least the black market in Egypt would get an economic stimulus. n nThis kind of thinking "it is likely to promote stability and deter the potential radicalization of Egyptian youth." is beyond naive.
I saw the headline before I saw the author and I thought "Max Boot". Yep. I was right.
Such unanimity of commenters. n nI won't break ranks. Only add that Boot has it exactly wrong with his fears of what might happen if we allow Egypt to go into "crisis." Newsflash: Egypt is IN crisis now. It has been in crisis since Mubarak fell and probably before that, too. n nIt is actually far more likely that an Egypt that is collapsing financially is going to revert to what virtually all authoritarian societies revert to in crisis: military rule. In the case of Egypt, the takeover of Egyptian government by the military is a good thing for the U.S. and Israel. The MB has not yet had time to consolidate its hold on the Egyptian military, so it is highly likely (though not certain) that the military will throw out the MB (or co-opt them) and restore order and then promptly come to the U.S. and the West begging for aid. It is at THAT point that the U.S. has maximum leverage to impose all sorts of conditions and behaviors. Not before then. n nLet the crisis unfold and communicate secretly with the Egyptian military that the U.S. would not be opposed to a period of military rule in Egypt to provide stability and to ensure that Islamists like the MB and worse do not take hold. This can't happen, however, until the people on the streets can see for themselves that the MB is running the country into the ground and the people see a military takeover as a necessary evil.
"Aid to Egypt Makes Sense" n nBefore I opened the story and just read the headline, I knew there was only one man on earth still clinging to his broken dream of "Arab democracy." It had to be Maxxxx Boot.
Mr. Boot can't be serious. Egypt is going over to the dark side, and he thinks we should give it another half a billion, to go with the billions we've already given, to help them along the way. Why on earth should we keep funding the people who want to destroy us.
Our foriegn aid policy bites the big one. I totaly disagree with giving money to foreign governments, you might as well make a big pile of it out in front of the capital building and put a match to it for the good it will do. If Egypt needs to rebuild some buildings or other infrastructure then give them concrete, structural steel and so on and let them furnish the labor and build what they need. If another country says it needs to improve it's agricultural system, give them tractors, tillers, fertilizing equip. & fertilizer and irragation equipment. Giving them money seldom accomplishes what they say they need it for, it gets wasted and them their hand is out again for more. We have the same thing going on politically, the gov. gives out money and everybody lines up and then lines up again and again and so on. But if you give them the food to nurish themselves and training to get a job so they can do for themselves. In addition if make the climate right for business start-up or business expansion then those that get the training or are already trained will be employed and become taxpayers instead of tax consumers.
Grandiouse idea to pay Muslim Brothers for obedience is I`m sure not the simple appeasement but the part of Obama`s plan of the strong Islamist Egypt as the instrument for pressure on Israel and the West.