There is no question that Egypt is in turmoil. On the surface it looks like a military coup by an American-backed army that is intent on murdering anyone remotely associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. I don’t know if that is true. I can only draw conclusions from what I see on the news and the inferences that arise from what I don’t see or am not specifically told. One thing for certain is that both sides are pointing at America as the bad guy. This is leading to a swell of anger from our populous and a desire to defund the region entirely. I don’t know everything about politics, but I do know a little bit about the hustle game, and I know that when people have a reason to stay calm, they do. I argue that the money we provide helps maintain stability in the region and goes a long way to ensuring that the violence doesn’t spread across the country and beyond its borders.
The President has come under fire for not declaring the situation in Egypt a coup, a thus ending all funding to the region. I applaud him for maneuvering around these obstacles like Adrien Peterson. Hard and fast rules are not always the answer for every possible scenario. We call this a coup and we legally must defund Egypt. We defund Egypt and their relationship with Isreal changes. The temperature in the region shifts from internal strife to one of a unified enemy that just happens to be our ally. It is easy to imagine that a country, like Syria, where the only thing everyone can agree on is the fact that Isreal needs to catch a missile. Our presence in the region prevents that missile from being launched. Our separation from Egypt prevents us from flying over the region freely to engage enemy targets, which is to say that missile gets launched.
I’m simplifying. There is a lot more complexity here and a lot more at stake than another Middle Eastern war. Oil moves through the region safely in part because of military power. There are more factors even beyond that. Clearly this issue is not as simple as saying ‘ooh, you couped!’ and pulling out all of our cash. There are going to be repercussions at every level and people are going to get hurt. Tough choices for tough times. The President is making the right one by continuing to walk the line and allow Egypt time to sort this mess out, even if we’re labeled as the bad guys for doing it.
Some Thoughts:
- Helicopter parents and closed-minded individuals damage the value of education by creating situations in which the freedom to teach isn’t that free. I get why High School is useless short of rote memorization. You cannot teach someone how to be thinker when you’re busy protecting your right to be a teacher.