Obama's handling of the crisis in Egypt and the potential consequences

[DaveofCali]

It seems like the Obama Administration was caught offguard by the situation in Egypt and it's response has already been criticized. I've already read comparisons of the situation already to Carter's handling of Iran. The potential consequences are if there's a regime change in Egypt to one that is less friendly to the U.S., and that it'd spark other uprisings around the Middle East (leading to more governments less friendly to the U.S.) that would lead to two things: Israel suddenly being threatened and its response may be unpredictable or dangerous rather, and of course it would hurt the U.S. in being able to control Islamic Radicalism and Terrorism (thus, increase the national security threat to the U.S.) A further destabilized Middle East is a dangerous thing, and Obama cannot afford to make a wrong key move here.

Think of the potential consequences politically for Obama as well.

A complementary article: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/sc-dc-0130-egypt-obama-20110129,0,635763.story

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[Lucinda]

2. Thanks for the link!

I haven't been following the response to Obama's statement :hi:

[jenmito]

3. I haven't seen ANYONE compare Obama's handling of this to Carter. I've seen the majority

of news anchors and their guests saying Obama is saying what needs to be said in this delicate situation, and that the admin. is siding with the protesters regarding Mubarak's choosing of a VP.

[laugle]

7. Try watching

PBS for a change. It has indeed been compared to Jimmy Carter and the Iran fiasco that helped lead to his defeat of a 2nd term. Carter supported the Shah and it lead to his overthrow and a subsequent Islamic regime/Ayatollah which continues today........

The comparison is a valid one, since the overthrow of Mubarak could produce the same/similar results....

This will be the first major test of Obama's foreign policy skills.....stay tuned.....

[jenmito]

11. Oh-someone on PBS compared him to Jimmy Carter?!

I guess I (and many, many other people) missed that. It hasn't been put that way at ALL in the MSM, or in the article linked to in the OP, for that matter.

And from the linked article: "Obama, in statements siding with the demonstrators, has been clearly trying to avoid the mistake the United States made with Iran, siding with the authoritarian Shah until he was swept from power, in a way that left bitter feelings."

[Raine1967]

4. Except he WASN'T caught off guard...

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/454295/egypt_update:_us_knew_of_regime_change_plan_in_2008,_obama_confronted_mubarak_repeatedly/#paragraph2

AXELROD: Obviously these are the challenges of the presidency in a very difficult world. And, but the way he’s confronted it, is he went to Cairo and talked about the need, the universal human rights of people. He’s -- on several occasions directly confronted Pres. Mubarak on it. And pushed him on the need for political reform --

TAPPER: To get ahead of this.

AXELROD: -- in his country. Exactly to get ahead of this. This is a project he’s been working on for 2 years and today the president is working hard to encourage restraint and a cessation of violence against the people of Egypt.

and this:


Axelrod also reiterated that should the existing Egyptian government continue to practice infractions against its people, the US will potentially revoke its aid. However, according to the Huffington Post, the Obama Administration has been doing just that, but on the pro-democracy side -- cutting budgets for NGOs and civil society programs and evoking mixed reactions from human rights activists.

In its first year, the Obama administration cut funding for democracy and governance programming in Egypt by more than half, from $50 million in 2008 to $20 million in 2009 (Congress later appropriated another $5 million). The level of funding for civil society programs and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) was cut disproportionately, from $32 million to only $7 million. Though funding levels for 2010 are not yet available, they are expected to show an increase to $14 million, says Stephen McInerny, the director of advocacy at the Project on Middle East Democracy. He notes that the Bush administration slashed economic aid to Egypt in the 2009 budget but kept the funding for democracy and governance programs constant, while Obama cut funding to those programs in an effort to make the cuts more proportional and under pressure from the American embassy in Cairo.

[great white snark]

5. +1. Thank you Raine1967.

Facts matter.

[Davis_X_Machina]

6. Not at DU. n/t

[stevenleser]

8. A Democratic President ALWAYS receives domestic criticism when they do the right thing

the right thing in this case, IMHO, is nothing other than exhorting all sides to sit down and negotiate instead of using violence.

Repugs will criticize this because, of course, they want a military intervention where we impose a solution that in GOP eyes is most advantage to the US.

[jefferson_dem]

9. Interesting.

I was just trolling around freeperville and that place is riddled with comparisons of Obama and Carter.

[Raine1967]

10. Really??? I am shocked.

:sarcasm:

What is sad, to me, is that there are a lot of 'progressives' implying the very same thing.

and I am not talking about DU. I am talking about the intertubes. We have a serious problem. This President knows exactly what he is doing wrt this situation.

He's a smart man. he's been on top of this for a while.

[wisteria]

12. He is handling this as he should. This is not his country and he is not their leader.

But, I do agree this situation could have dire consequences on the stability and leadership in the Middle East. One thing Egypt doesn't need is a leader like the crazy Iranian president.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

13. Obama is handling this situation perfectly

and don't forget we have a wonderful Secretary of State!

RW newspeak!