Their presidents hugged on the tarmac but the talks were kept brief -- another sign, perhaps, that relations between Egypt and the US have rarely been cooler. The strains with a longtime ally are affecting everything from Middle East peace hopes to foreign aid.
US President George W. Bush spent the night in each of the other five countries he visited on his eight-day Middle East tour -- including two nights in oil-rich Saudi Arabia. But his last stop in Egypt was the shortest -- a few hours in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik.
Egypt historically has been a top US Middle Eastern ally. But growing frustration in the US over Egypt's lack of democratic reform and inability to prevent weapons from being smuggled via border tunnels to the Gaza Strip has soured the once chummy ties.
At the same time, Egypt's role as the key Middle East mediator has seen its status slip to another power player -- Saudi Arabia.
Perhaps the most bitter issue is Washington's move for the first time to put conditions on the US$2 billion in aid, including US$1.3 billion in military assistance, that Washington gives annually to Egypt, the second largest recipient of US aid after Israel.
US Congress and Bush -- who signed the bill into law last month -- agreed to withhold US$100 million from Egypt until it stops smuggling, implements judicial reforms and curbs police torture.
The pinning of conditions has angered Egyptian officials. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit has accused Israel of stirring up US lawmakers against Cairo.
Mubarak, who generally publicly ignores US criticism, has struck a defiant tone in recent months. In a nationwide speech in October, he vowed Egypt would not bow to foreign pressure, clearly referring to the US.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
RSS