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Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: Soul Crusher on September 25, 2012, 06:12:39 AM
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Egyptian President Morsi Tepid on U.S.-Egypt Relationship
By Lara Seligman
Updated: September 25, 2012 | 8:43 a.m.
September 25, 2012 | 7:37 a.m.
AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo
U. S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, left, and Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi /p>
Egypt’s new president Mohamed Morsi on Monday described the relationship between the U.S. and Egypt as somewhere between friends and enemies, pointing to President Obama’s remarks that the two countries are not allies.
When asked by CBS’s Charlie Rose how he would characterize U.S.-Egypt relations, Morsi was evasive. He said that the two countries are not enemies, but he would not necessarily consider the U.S. an ally.
“This is dependent on the definition of an ally,” Morsi told Rose on CBS This Morning, speaking through a translator. “The understanding of an ally as a part of a military alliance, this is not existent right now. But if you mean by allied partnership and special diplomatic relationship and cooperation, we are that ally.”
Morsi’s remarks were in response to Obama’s comments on the Spanish-language station Telemundo last week, when he said that “I don’t think that we would consider [Egypt] an ally, but we do not consider them an enemy.” The president’s statement was a reaction to demonstrations outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo last week.
The State Department later amended the president’s statement, saying that Egypt is considered a major non-NATO ally.
Morsi’s characterization of U.S.-Egypt relations comes on the heels of reports on Monday that Obama had cancelled a meeting between the two leaders.
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http://www.nationaljournal.com/egyptian-president-morsi-tepid-on-u-s-egypt-relationship-20120925
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Great idea for a thread.
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Great idea for a thread.
Yup - a thirty 30 ally who kept peace in the ME and the crazies under wraps all gone due to the disastrous policies of the ghetto street rat in the WH
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Egypt’s President Morsi tells U.N.: Insults to Muhammad ‘unacceptable’
Washi8ngton Post ^ | Wednesday, September 26, 5:09 PM | Anne Gearan
Posted on Wednesday, September 26, 2012 5:45:11 PM
Insults to the Islamic prophet Muhammad are part of an organized assault on Muslim religious and cultural values and cannot be brushed aside, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi said Wednesday, rejecting the case for free speech made by President Obama just a day earlier.
“The obscenities that I have referred to that were recently released as part of an organized campaign against Islamic sanctities are unacceptable,” Morsi said, referring to a crude Internet video that mocks Islam.
We reject this. We cannot accept it,” Morsi said, his voice thin with anger. “We will not allow anyone to do this by word or deed.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
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Egypt's Morsi assumes major role in Mideast
Associated Press ^ | 9/26/2012 | STEVEN R. HURST
Posted on Wednesday, September 26, 2012 9:44:49 PM by Hunton Peck
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Egypt's new President Mohammed Morsi assigned himself the heavyweight's role in the Middle East on Wednesday, declaring in his first speech to the United Nations that the civil war raging in Syria is the "tragedy of the age" and must be brought to an end.
In a wide-ranging address that touched on all major issues confronting the region, Morsi also decried Israeli settlement-building on territory Palestinians claim for a future state and condemned a film produced in the United States that denigrates Islam's Prophet Muhammad.
He urged all U.N. member nations to join in an effort to end what he called "the catastrophe in Syria" that pits the regime of Bashar Assad against opposition forces trying to end 40 years of dictatorship. More than 30,000 people have been killed in the 18-month conflict.
Morsi has called for Assad to step down and said Wednesday that "the bloodshed in Syria and the humanitarian crisis that has unfolded must be stopped."
Morsi, an Islamist and key member of the once-banned Muslim Brotherhood, opened his remarks to the U.N. General Assembly by celebrating himself as Egypt's first democratically elected leader who was swept into office after what he called a "great, peaceful revolution" that overthrew Hosni Mubarak.
He then quickly inserted himself into the thorniest issues in the Middle East, demanding that the United Nations grant membership to the Palestinians, with or without a peace agreement with Israel.
"The fruits of dignity and freedom must not remain far from the Palestinian people," he said, adding that it was "shameful" that U.N. resolutions are not enforced.
The Palestinians are expected to again ask for U.N. recognition and formally make application to the world body in November, after the U.S. presidential election. President Barack Obama said when the Palestinians sought recognition...
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
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Christians 'flee Egypt town after death threats'
http://www.france24.com/en/20120928-christians-flee-egypt-town-after-death-threats
Egyptian Christian Copts gather at the Bishoy Monastery in March 2012. Several Christian families have fled their homes in Egypt's Sinai peninsula after receiving death threats from suspected Islamist militants, officials and residents told AFP.
AFP - Several Christian families have fled their homes in Egypt's Sinai peninsula after receiving death threats from suspected Islamist militants, officials and residents told AFP on Friday.
Last week, flyers began circulating in the town of Rafah on the Gaza Strip border demanding that its tiny Coptic population move out, residents said.
Officials at the local church informed the authorities of the threats, but no actin was taken, they added.
Days later, a shop belonging to one of the families was fired on with automatic rifles, witnesses said.
The events prompted the families to leave Rafah but there were conflicting accounts over whether they had done so voluntarily or been evicted.
"The families have left Rafah and gone to El-Arish," one official said on condition of anonymity.
Another official denied that any Coptic families had left at all.
Representatives of the families, many of whom hold government jobs as well private businesses, sat down with the governor of North Sinai earlier this week and asked to be transfered to the nearby town of Al-Arish, the official said.
The events come amid heightened sectarian tensions in the country, particularly in the lawless Sinai peninsula where the armed forces launched an unprecedented campaign in August to root out Islamic militants.
Father Mikhail Antoine of El-Arish church told AFP "the families moved voluntarily because they feared for their lives after the threats."
He said the Coptic population of North Sinai numbered 5,000 to 6,000, adding that around seven Coptic families had been living in Rafah before the move.
Copts have been nervous since Islamists came to power following an uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak last year.
They have also been fearing the backlash from an anti-Islam film apparently produced by a Copt in the United States that sparked violent protests worldwide, and that they believe will lead to further persecution at home.
Egypt's Christians, who make up six to 10 percent of the country's population of 82 million, have regularly complained of discrimination and marginalisation. They have also been the target of numerous sectarian attacks.
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White House Move to Give Egypt $450 Million in Aid Meets Resistance
New York Times ^ | 9/28/2012 | STEVEN LEE MYERS
Posted on September 28, 2012 6:30:06 PM EDT by jonatron
The Obama administration notified Congress on Friday that it intends to give Egypt’s new government an emergency cash infusion of $450 million, but the move immediately encountered resistance from lawmakers wary of foreign aid in general and of Egypt’s new course under the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The aid is part of $1 billion in assistance that the Obama administration has pledged to Egypt to bolster its economy and its transition to democracy following the overthrow last year of Hosni Mubarak, the country’s autocratic president.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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How do you unwind after a long day of spinning your wheels?
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US Embassy issues terror warning for Americans in Egypt
Citing credible threat to women engaged in missionary activities, diplomats urge citizens to exercise vigilance
By Yoel Goldman and APSeptember 29, 2012, 11:56 am7
http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-embassy-issue-terror-warning-for-americans-living-in-egypt
Egyptian protesters run for cover from tear gas during clashes near the US Embassy in Cairo earlier this month (photo credit: AP/Khalil Hamra)
The US Embassy in Cairo issued a terrorist threat warning on Friday for American citizens living in Egypt.
The diplomatic mission stated on its website that it has “credible information suggesting terrorist interest in targeting US female missionaries in Egypt.”
The embassy urged US citizens to “exercise vigilance, taking necessary precautions to maintain their personal security.” Americans in Egypt were also advised to maintain valid travel documents and to regularly monitor the US Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs website, which lists updated travel warnings and alerts.
On August 4, the US issued a travel warning to Americans to “take precautions in travel to the Sinai.” It warned that “overland travel from Israel to the Sinai in particular is strongly discouraged.” That warning came soon after Israel urged its citizens to get out of the Sinai. The next day, Sinai terrorists killed 16 Egyptian border guards in an assault at the Egypt-Gaza-Israel border.
Also on Friday, the chairwoman of the House of Representatives committee that oversees foreign aid said she would block $450 million in US assistance to Egypt in light of tense relations between the two countries.
“This proposal comes to Congress at a point when the US-Egypt relationship has never been under more scrutiny, and rightly so,” the chairwoman of the Appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, said in a statement. “I am not convinced of the urgent need for this assistance and I cannot support it at this time. … I have placed a hold on these funds.”
The relationship between the United States and Egypt has been rocky since the overthrow of US ally President Hosni Mubarak last year. The Egyptian government angered Washington when it cracked down on numerous democracy advocates and groups, including three US-funded nongovernmental organizations, earlier this year.
More recently, demonstrators breached the US Embassy in Cairo to protest an anti-Islam video, and some in Congress have called for cutting off aid. The United States provides Egypt with $1.55 billion annually — $250 million in economic aid and $1.3 billion in military aid