Obama in Egypt: 'Kissinger's Apprentice' (TagesAnzeiger, Switzerland)
"It's as if in foreign policy, Barack Obama apprenticed under
Henry Kissinger. Under no circumstances will we 'stand by and watch a country
go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people,' commented the great
master on Salvador Allende's looming 1970 election
victory in Chile. Replace 'communism' with 'Islamist' - and just like that,
history repeats itself. Who would have thought it?"
Washington: The bloodbath in Egypt has destroyed the hopes
Washington invested in the Arab Spring. It also shows how much Barack Obama's
influence in Cairo has waned.
The
terrible events in Cairo, as well as the Obama Administration's contradictory
behavior toward the Syrian civil war, illuminate an American Near East policy that
looks increasingly confused and impotent. Whatever Washington's expectations
for the Arab Spring may have been: After yesterday's outbreak of violence,
disillusionment has set in, and the hope that the Arab peoples would in the
near future manage to escape their history of corrupt despots, military
dictatorships and religious zealots has evaporated.
So
far, the Obama Administration has not even defined what took place in Cairo
early last month, when elected President Mohammed Morsi was ousted. Various
government spokespeople downplayed these events, saying it was by no means a
coup - after all, how the events were classified would first have to be
determined. Economic and military aid for Egypt, $1.5 billion a year, mind you -
was not suspended, although such a suspension is clearly mandated by U.S. law. Instead,
the promise of the Egyptian military for a quick return to democracy was taken
at face value.
Obama's
commitment has its limits
The
degree to which American influence in Cairo has waned is now clear: Calls made
almost daily by Chuck Hagel to General Abdel Fatah
al-Sisi, repeatedly warning against a bloody
crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, have had no effect. The general has rolled
the dice, and after yesterday's events, a return to the status quo ante hardly
seems possible.
As
was the case in Syria, Washington's options in Egypt are limited, even more so
because Barack Obama's commitment to the Near East also has its limits: This
president has never made peace with his predecessor's unholy war in Iraq. Obama
knows that for the unforeseeable future, the American electorate has no desire
to be pulled into a Near East adventure. Even in the case of Libya, the
president felt his room to maneuver constrained until he gave into French and
British pressure and provided back-up to the European allies.
Therefore,
what is increasingly emerging in Syria will likely also apply to Egypt:
Washington is focused on stability, and under no circumstances will radical
Islamist forces be permitted to come to power or occupy geographical niches.
Democracy is wonderful, but ends when states falls into the wrong hands. It's
as if in foreign policy, Barack Obama apprenticed under Henry Kissinger. Under
no circumstances will we “stand by and watch a country go communist due to the
irresponsibility of its people,” commented the great master on Salvador Allende's looming 1970 election
victory in Chile. Replace “communism” with “Islamist” - and just like that,
history repeats itself. Who would have thought it?
