The New York Times Mixed Messages in Egypt's Military Aid In announcing sweeping changes to Egypt's military aid package on Tuesday, the Obama administration used both punishment and incentives to set a new tone for a frayed relationship with a crucial ally. The United States took a long-overdue step that amounts to shredding Egypt's credit card. Starting in fiscal year 2018, Egypt will no longer be eligible for cash flow financing, a mechanism that allowed the nation to place multimillion-dollar orders for American-made military equipment years in advance, under the assumption that Congress would continue to set aside $1.3 billion in military aid year after year. Taking away that privilege will make it easier for the American government in the future to suspend, limit or condition aid, if it chooses to. Also starting in 2018, American officials will be able to exert greater control over the type of weapons Egypt gets, which will allow the United States to focus aid on counterterrorism capabilities and toward investments in maritime and border security. The Egyptian government has historically favored acquiring tanks and warplanes in seeking to build a strong conventional military force. Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/01/opinion/mixed-messages-in-egypts-military-aid.html?_r=0 Bloomberg View Arming Egypt Is a Necessary Evil President Barack Obama's decision to lift the partial embargo on military aid to Egypt is a harsh nod to reality. The Obama administration has long claimed it would lift the embargo only if Egypt showed "credible progress" toward restoring democracy. Yet given the various crises in the Middle East and North Africa, the shutoff of arms to Egypt no longer made sense. Read more: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-04-01/arming-egypt-is-a-necessary-evil Haaretz Egypt's Dubai envy won't save its economy The plan, unveiled by Egyptian Housing Minister Mostafa Madbouly at the Egypt Economic Development Conference, is to build a new capital in the desert east of Cairo, no less. And not just a capital, but one of superlatives. In 10 or so years, if the plans keep to schedule, the as yet unnamed city will house between five and seven million people on a 700-square kilometer site. The gigantism and bravado of the plan all sound like Las Vegas. But Egyptian leader Abdul Fattah al-Sisi's real inspiration is quite obviously the Gulf city-state of Dubai, which has transformed itself from a backward fishing village into a place whose strategy could be described in three words: over the top. If Egypt wants to look around the region for a model, it would do better to turn to Turkey. Turkey's economic achievements over the last decade have often been overpraised, not the least by its prime minister himself. Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/david-s-harp/.premium-1.650021 Reuters Egypt's grand mufti: No justification for terror in any religion There is no true religion that does not regard the sanctity of human life as one of its highest values, and Islam is no exception. Indeed, Allah made this unequivocal in the Qur'an. He emphasized the gravity of the universal prohibition against murder, stating that when a person takes even one life, "it is as if he has killed all mankind." Egyptians are still torn by grief for the 21 countrymen who were horrifically beheaded in Libya. It was an exceptionally sad day for the Egyptian nation to have to watch a video of its citizens massacred by a group of thugs. The scenes of bloodbath are heart-wrenching in their severity. This grisly crime finds no justification in any reasonable understanding of any religion. Only extremists who have perverted the essence of Islamic teaching could countenance the idea that our religion of mercy and reason might allow the killing of innocent workers earning money so their families can live dignified lives. Read more: http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/03/31/no-justification-for-terror-in-any-religion/
