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Russia/Egypt - close military deal; closer ties at expense of USA

But he was a dictator and that's what's always pointed out when someone makes similar claims about Saddam Hussein.

Saddam Hussein was a problem that President Clinton was suppose to take care of, Clinton ignored the problem and left it for G.W. Bush to take care of.
 
But he was a dictator and that's what's always pointed out when someone makes similar claims about Saddam Hussein.

Not all dictators are equal. A child should be able to understand this.

And no one claims Saddam provided stability. His government was inherently unstable, he invaded neighbors twice, genocide twice, etc etc etc. Saddam providing stability is a myth told to children in mosques. Iraq was not stable domestically or regionally. It was, in fact, the largest source of international conflicts in the region.


Let's note once again:

Genocide is not stability.
Invading neighbors is not stability.
Seventeen UNSCR Ch7 violations is not stability.

Why did Saddam have a fake WMD program? To prevent Iran from invading... not stability.
 
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Saddam Hussein was a problem that President Clinton was suppose to take care of, Clinton ignored the problem and left it for G.W. Bush to take care of.

Saddam Hussein was both friend and foe. Depended on our agenda at the time.
 
Not really. But it should have been. Though that's only because I'm not much inclined towards fascist dictatorships.

Well it was and is, it's just that Russia and China called bull****!
 
"Used as a friend" interesting language!

We used Saddam Husein to help keep the oil flowing for our European allies and Japan while having them killing Iranians at the same time.

Then at the same time we sold obsolete weapons to Iran so they could keep killing Iraqis.

It was a win win situation.
 
We used Saddam Husein to help keep the oil flowing for our European allies and Japan while having them killing Iranians at the same time.

Then at the same time we sold obsolete weapons to Iran so they could keep killing Iraqis.

It was a win win situation.

Yes I knew clearly what you meant, and what we did. It's criminal as all hell on a personal level, but explained right away as foreign policy. Murder, theft and deceit, because we can.
 
Conservatives mad about military support to Egypt, mad about stopping military support to Egypt. :lamo
 
Russia is not capable of being the strategic ally that Egypt requires. Moreover Egypt's extremely close and crucial relationship with Saudi Arabia makes this doubly impractical. This is due to the very close relationship Saudi Arabia has with the United States and more importantly their fiercely negative relationship with Russia. This is a clever effort by Egypt to lever the United States and give some pushback. In the long haul it will not lead to a fundamental regional realignment.
a good analysis. SA is not quite as close as they were with the US, looking to branch out. Mostly to France, but things can get funny really quickly.

There wouldn't be any need to "leverage" the US if we had kept a close connection -I do understand the Russian navy cannot be a presence in the ME like the US navy.
But there was no reason to even allow the Russian influence - Putin will "leverage" any thing he can there.

I'd prefer we kept our strategic relationship as close as possible to Egypt -this (suspension) was just a bad move by Obama.
 
Saddam Hussein was a problem that President Clinton was suppose to take care of, Clinton ignored the problem and left it for G.W. Bush to take care of.

Why was it Clinton's job and not Bush Sr's?
 
Saddam Hussein was a problem that President Clinton was suppose to take care of, Clinton ignored the problem and left it for G.W. Bush to take care of.

What problem are we referring to. Saddam's OIL priced in EUROs or Saddam's OIL or Iraq's OIL or OIL in general and the HUGE profits to be made.
 
We used Saddam Husein to help keep the oil flowing for our European allies and Japan while having them killing Iranians at the same time.

Then at the same time we sold obsolete weapons to Iran so they could keep killing Iraqis.

It was a win win situation.

And we sold poison gas precursors to Saddam and provided satellite intelligence of the location of the Iranian armies so he could accurately deploy his poison gas. Just a great bunch of guys, don't you think?
 
Why was it Clinton's job and not Bush Sr's?

You can't throw a republican under the bus, that would be a bad little partisan. Actually it was nobodies job. As Apache readily stated, Iraq was about oil as far back as the 80's and its truly mind boggling that there are still people denying that. April Glaspie got the criticism, but I'm satisfied she informed Saddam Hussein as per her instructions, as ambassadors aren't usually working rogue. The message to Saddam was intentionally vague giving him the false belief that how he handled border disputes and slant drilling claims was not an American issue. Arab to Arab conflicts aren't the business of the US. Foolish for him by this time to have believed anything coming from Washington, but he did. And his subsequent action, which I do not support AT ALL, brought the US down his chimney. Apache summed up US foreign policy with regards to Iraq nicely above.
 
Yes I knew clearly what you meant, and what we did. It's criminal as all hell on a personal level, but explained right away as foreign policy. Murder, theft and deceit, because we can.

There was a Cold War objective with Iran. Keeping Soviet influence out of Iran and continuing the war of stopping communist expansion in Latin America. It was a chess game played well by the Reagan administration.
 
a good analysis. SA is not quite as close as they were with the US, looking to branch out. Mostly to France, but things can get funny really quickly.

There wouldn't be any need to "leverage" the US if we had kept a close connection -I do understand the Russian navy cannot be a presence in the ME like the US navy.But there was no reason to even allow the Russian influence - Putin will "leverage" any thing he can there.

I'd prefer we kept our strategic relationship as close as possible to Egypt -this (suspension) was just a bad move by Obama.

What are you talking about ? Remember on 9-11-12 (Benghazi) No CSG or ARG was in the Mediterranean Sea. The last 11 Presidents before Obama always had a Carrier Battle Group and an Amphibious Ready Group with a reinforced Marine rifle battalion in the 6th Fleet AOR (Mediterranean Sea) 24/7. On 9-11-12 there were only three Arliegh Burke destroyers in the 6th Fleet AOR.

Last August during the Putin-Obama stare down where Obama blinked, the U.S. Navy wasn't able to surge a CSG into the Mediterranean Sea and was only able to deploy two destroyers to the 6th Fleet AOR increasing the 6th Fleet size to five destroyers. The Soviets were able to put a dozen warships into the Mediterranean Sea including a Slava class cruiser. American Nimitz class carriers and it's escorts are kind of scared of Slava class cruisers since they were built for only one mission, sinking American super carriers and it's escorts.

Under the Obama administration the 6th Fleet usually only have three Arleigh Burke class destroyers on station in the Med and their primary mission is providing anti ballistic missile defense for Europe. I'm sure we have a few attack subs in the Med but so does Russia.

The Russian Navy has a larger presence in the Med than the U.S. Navy. It's been like that for five years now.
 
I doubt you voted to give him a first chance either, but your voice is only one of many.

True, I was one of the well informed voters back in 2008.

I even knew that it was Tina Fey who said "I can see Russia from my house" and not Sarah Palin.
 
You can't throw a republican under the bus, that would be a bad little partisan. Actually it was nobodies job. As Apache readily stated, Iraq was about oil as far back as the 80's and its truly mind boggling that there are still people denying that. April Glaspie got the criticism, but I'm satisfied she informed Saddam Hussein as per her instructions, as ambassadors aren't usually working rogue. The message to Saddam was intentionally vague giving him the false belief that how he handled border disputes and slant drilling claims was not an American issue. Arab to Arab conflicts aren't the business of the US. Foolish for him by this time to have believed anything coming from Washington, but he did. And his subsequent action, which I do not support AT ALL, brought the US down his chimney. Apache summed up US foreign policy with regards to Iraq nicely above.

Other than the part he left out on where we stopped the Russians from filling the void, and gaining the influence in the region.
 
you should give a damn. Russian influence in the ME is not a good thing, (except for Syria -a long time client state). Russian wlll gladly take any spheres of influence abdicated by the US.

the US has to be seen as a reliable partner -this isn't our usual interventionism, this is about the stability of Egypt, which has terrorists operating in the Sinai.
Why Obama's move was so idiotic-Egypt is the most secular Arab state, and has natural ties to western states. Allowing Russia to become a major supplier of weapons, distances our influence.
We need Eqypt's co-operation on any Israeli/Palestinian negotiations.

Eqypt is a bulwark against Islamist fundamentalism, as witnessed by the deposed Morsi, once he went into s full scale power grab.
With our destruction of Libya, this further reduces US ability to operate counter-terrorism strategy in Africa, if we lose any intelligence cooperation.


You are correct AT.....and they have already been in discussion of allowing the Russians a Military base inside Egypt.


Russia eyes Egypt’s ports in bid to boost military presence’
Cold-shouldered by Washington, Cairo could be just the thing Putin needs to secure more influence in the region, report says....

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An Egyptian diplomatic delegation was in Moscow over the weekend for meetings with Russian officials. According to the Times, the purpose of the trip was to lay the groundwork for a visit to Cairo by Putin.

Egypt, whose relationship with the US has been suffering in the wake of recent political turmoil in the country, has been on the lookout for a new military patron, and Russia’s need for a larger, more reliable port of call in the Middle East could present a confluence of interests for Cairo and Moscow.

On October 19, Israel’s Channel 2 reported that Egypt was looking to Russia to supply it with arms after the US froze much of its military aid in protest over the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Morsi.

Dissatisfied with Egypt’s progress toward reinstating a democratic government, the US announced earlier this month that it was freezing a sizable portion of the $1.5 billion it provides Egypt each year.

US officials said the aid being withheld included 10 Apache helicopters, at a cost of more than $500 million, M1A1 tank kits and Harpoon anti-ship missiles. The US had already suspended the delivery of four F-16 fighter jets and canceled biennial US-Egyptian military exercises.

Israel has reportedly argued “directly and bluntly” with the Obama administration against cutting aid to Egypt, telling Washington it was making “a strategic error” in reducing financial assistance to Cairo.

A renewed alliance with Moscow – the Soviet Union was Cairo’s chief backer for much of the second half of the twentieth century – could also infuse Egypt’s ebbing economy with much-needed tourism and investments.

Read more: 'Russia eyes Egypt's ports in bid to boost military presence' | The Times of Israel 'Russia eyes Egypt's ports in bid to boost military presence' | The Times of Israel
Follow us: @timesofisrael on Twitter | timesofisrael on Facebook

October 27, 2013, 3:23 am <<<<<!
 
True, I was one of the well informed voters back in 2008.

I even knew that it was Tina Fey who said "I can see Russia from my house" and not Sarah Palin.

Ooh, you're so smart that you knew that. A regular Einstein.

I knew it too, but you don't see me bragging that I was so smart because of that.
 
Why not Jimmy Carter when it comes to Iran ?

Didn't say it wasn't but given your penchant for dropping it on the next President, we'll just say it's Reagan's fault.
 
a good analysis. SA is not quite as close as they were with the US, looking to branch out. Mostly to France, but things can get funny really quickly.

There wouldn't be any need to "leverage" the US if we had kept a close connection -I do understand the Russian navy cannot be a presence in the ME like the US navy.
But there was no reason to even allow the Russian influence - Putin will "leverage" any thing he can there.

I'd prefer we kept our strategic relationship as close as possible to Egypt -this (suspension) was just a bad move by Obama.


Nah not really......Egypt and Russia have been getting closer all within the last 8 months. Sounds like some propaganda BS.


Egypt military chief heads to Moscow in rare visit.....

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Egypt's army chief headed to Moscow on Wednesday amid reports of a $2 billion arms deal in the making that would significantly expand Russia's military influence with a key U.S. ally in the Middle East.

The visit by Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is a rare one for the Arab nation's military commander - and his first outside the country since he rose to prominence after the popularly-backed coup that ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last July.

In Moscow, el-Sissi was scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and speak at a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart, Egypt's state news agency MENA reported.

According to the state-owned daily Al-Ahram, the purpose of el-Sissi's visit was to conclude a $2 billion arms deal funded mainly by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Gen. Hossam Sweilam, a retired Egyptian army general who maintains close contact with the military, also said the deal would be finalized in Moscow.

The visit comes nearly three months after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shogiu visited Cairo

Read more: Egypt military chief heads to Moscow in rare visit | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: Breaking News, Lebanon News, Middle East News & World News | THE DAILY STAR)

February 12, 2014 <<<<<.


Do you think that 2 Billion deal beats out our 1.5 and the partial amount we took away from them?
 
And we sold poison gas precursors to Saddam

Saddam was sold anthrax vaccination for cows to prevent the population from starving and chlorine to purify water and prevent the population from dying of thirst and unclean water. That Saddam weaponized those commodities, which were required to be supplied under the sanctions resolution, is not the fault of anyone but Saddam. He choose to allow the cows to die and the people to go without water so that he could create WMDs.
 
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