David Schenker, ultra conservative writer and a think tanker, throws the whole kitchen sink at President Morsi in a new Los Angeles Times article. In general, I get very uncomfortable defending Morsi’s policies or tactics as I disagree with most of them but below, I’m merely explaining Schenker’s hypocrisy and selectively in using facts to scare conservative and independent Americans. Excerpts:
I always thought American
conservatives are in general against giving foreign aid, so I find it strange that
Schenker is worried that Egypt, according to his flawed analysis, is trying to
make do without aid from the US and loans from Western financial institutions
when the head of the IMF was just in Egypt negotiating a $4.8 billion new loan and the World Bank just signed a $200 million new loan to Egypt. Moreover, El-Shater in an interview with Al-Jazeera made it clear that the Muslim Brotherhood actually wants more aid from the West to compensate for supporting Mubarak in the past. Bizarre logic indeed but contradicts Schenker's argument.
But Egypt was always a member of
the Nonaligned Movement and continued to be a member even under Mubarak regime
and when tensions with Iran were much higher. Moreover, the UN Secretary
General is attending together with more than other 120 countries
representatives. I’m not saying that Morsi’s visit is not significant and I’m
personally still unclear about its objectives given the events in Syria (Iran’s
support of Assad), the anti shi’a movement in Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood
(Iran is usually accused of supporting shi’a in Egypt and the rest of the Middle
East) and risk of alienating Saudia Arabia, other Gulf countries, the US and
Israel.
I can continue dissecting the article (e.g., the whole access by the Chinese to American technology as a reason for China’s interest in stronger ties with Egypt is laughable) but I suggest you read the whole piece.
