The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com

L’aide américaine pour la paix, la stabilité et la démocratie ? Pas dans les chiffres, en tout cas : 1,3 milliards chaque année pour l’armement militaire, 20 millions pour la promotion de la démocratie. #Égypte #États-Unis

US aid to Egypt : What does it buy ? - CSMonitor.com
►http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/DC-Decoder/2011/0215/US-aid-to-Egypt-What-does-it-buy

Here’s another distinguishing thing about US aid to Egypt: The vast majority of it is earmarked for the military. In recent years Egypt has received about $1.3 billion in military aid annually. Of that, about one-third goes to weapons maintenance, one-third to weapons upgrades, and one-third to weapons purchases, according to CRS. You’ve probably seen Egypt’s US-designed M1 tanks in news footage from Tahrir Square. Egypt has also bought American-made Apache helicopters, F-16 jet fighters, and Knox-class frigates.

US aid “covers as much as 80% of the [Egyptian] Defense Ministry’s weapons procurement costs,” estimates CRS.
What about aid to Egypt intended to promote democracy? Oh yeah, that. It’s been cut in recent years, and since 2009 has sat at about $20 million annually. Most of that has gone to Egyptian-approved government-to-government projects.

The bottom line here is that the impact of US democracy efforts in Egypt “has been limited,” in the words of a recent State Department Inspector General report.

Un allié d’Israël ne peut pas être un dictateur. Fine analyse de Joe Biden.

Joe Biden says Egypt’s Mubarak no dictator, he shouldn’t step down... - CSMonitor.com
►http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Backchannels/2011/0127/Joe-Biden-says-Egypt-s-Mubarak-no-dictator-he-shouldn-t-step-down

Ahead of a day that could prove decisive, NewsHour host Jim Lehrer asked Biden if the time has “come for President Mubarak of Egypt to go?” Biden answered: “No. I think the time has come for President Mubarak to begin to move in the direction that – to be more responsive to some... of the needs of the people out there.”

Asked if he would characterize Mubarak as a dictator Biden responded: “Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things. And he’s been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interest in the region, the Middle East peace efforts; the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing relationship with – with Israel. … I would not refer to him as a dictator.”

#Égypte #Joe_Biden

WikiLeaks cable portrays IAEA chief as ’in US court’ on Iran nuclear program
►http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/1202/WikiLeaks-cable-portrays-IAEA-chief-as-in-US-court-on-Iran-nuclear-progra

“The leaked October 2009 cable was quoted on Wednesday by the Guardian of London, one of a handful of media organizations that received in advance a trove of more than 250,000 classified US State Department documents currently being released by WikiLeaks.”

“The cable reportedly stated: “Amano reminded [the] ambassador on several occasions that he would need to make concessions to the G-77 [the developing countries group], which correctly required him to be fair-minded and independent, but that he was solidly in the US court on every key strategic decision, from high-level personnel appointments to the handling of Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program.””

“A previous US cable from July 2009, also described by the Guardian and, like the one quoted above, not yet published by WikiLeaks, describes how Amano saw his role as different from that of ElBaradei. Amano saw the top post as a “neutral and impartial party to Iran’s safeguards agreement rather than as ‘an intermediary’…” the cable states. “He [Amano] stressed that the IAEA could not replace the P5[+]1 political framework for dialogue with Iran, nor vice versa.””

““He’s a wizened diplomat, [and] of course if we saw the cables going to France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China, maybe they’d say exactly the same thing; in other words, he may have been dancing on a pin to satisfy all,” says Mr. Large.”

J’avais déjà référencé un câble évoquant Amano:
►http://seenthis.net/messages/5931

#cablegate #AIEA #Iran

Le discours anti-coptes a été popularisé par le prix Nobel de la paix Anwar Sadat :

The start of clashes between the two groups can be traced back three decades to an increase of Islamic rhetoric by then-president Anwar Sadat, who began to refer to himself as a “Muslim president for an Islamic country,” fomenting religious sectarianism.

▻http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/0108/Egypt-Why-Christian-Muslim-clashes-are-different-this-time