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Money Can't Buy Egypt's Diplomatic Love
(Foreign Policy) Colum Lynch - Last week, U.S. President Barack Obama pledged more than $2 billion in debt relief and investment assistance to Egypt. But what does that money actually buy? Since the fall of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian government has launched an overture to Iran and mediated negotiations on a new Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas. Egypt has sought to weaken American and European efforts to condemn Syria in the UN Human Rights Council. And Egypt has every intention of using the UN to maintain pressure on Israel. Egypt's UN ambassador, Maged Abdelaziz, said, "This new approach is putting us more on the map of the international scene and the regional scene." He noted that Obama's commitment to provide additional funding reflected the "will and wish on the part of the United States to maintain and support such an Egyptian role."