Canceling the upcoming military exercises with Egypt seems like a prudent and necessary move in light of the ridiculous and completely evil level of violence the generals just unleashed on pro-Morsi demonstrators. It’s mostly symbolic, of course, but circumstances call for some kind of symbol that we disapprove strongly with using snipers on political protestors.
This is the most fraught and difficult foreign policy environment I’ve seen since the last days of the Shah, and I was delivering newspapers on my bike back then. The only faction that might be considered good in Egypt right now is group that protested against the Morsi government’s heavy-handedness and asked the military to intervene. But look at the result.
Last year, it was the military’s refusal to fire on the protestors that forced Mubarak from power, but they have no compunction about shooting supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. Armed and trained by, and allied with the United States, the Egyptian military’s actions reflect on us.
Yet, we don’t want theocratic forces to prevail in Egypt, either. What we want is political reconciliation, but that is looking impossible right now. Moreover, we don’t want to lose our influence in Egypt because it will be replaced either by Saudi, Russian, or Chinese influence. And there is the peace process that is currently going on between the Israelis and Palestinians to consider. And Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel which involves our ongoing military support for Egypt.
Without good options, it’s about management. And symbolism.
