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Anti-U.S. Hostility Ramps Up in Egypt
(Wall Street Journal) Maria Abi-Habib and Adam Entous - Posters in Cairo's Tahrir Square, a center of pro-government rallies, depict President Barack Obama with a beard and turban, exclaiming his "support for terrorism." Egypt's state and privately owned media outlets, already no strangers to demonizing the U.S., have embarked on a particularly critical campaign. The moves highlight the depth of public distrust of U.S. policies, and draw from a "reservoir of anti-Americanism and conspiratorial theories," said Vali Nasr, dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and a former senior Obama administration adviser. "The Mubarak people are unhappy with the way he was shoved off without a thank you. The military thinks we coddled the Brotherhood and didn't intervene to control them. And the Brotherhood thinks that we never supported them when they needed support, and then gave the green light to the military," Nasr said. According to several observers, Egypt's new military-backed government is using the same playbook as the Mubarak regime, with state-owned media fixated on what they call U.S. meddling in Egyptian affairs in a bid to rally the nation and divert attention from government shortcomings.