A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

CNN Reporting US Will Cut Some Aid to Egypt

CNN is reporting that the US will cut some (but not all) of its military aid to Egypt in response to the violence of the last weekend. I'm as disgusted by the violence against demonstrators as anyone, but this is our sole remaining leverage with an Egypt increasingly soured on us. I hope we remember how we punished Nasser for his Czech arms deal in the 1950s by cutting funding of the Aswan Dam.

Within a year he nationalized the Suez Canal and the Russians built the dam anyway. We sure showed Nasser. And made an enemy for a generation.

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