Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
While the West calls for peace in Cairo, the Saudis are supporting Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who led the ouster of Mohammed Morsi. The Kingdom has pledged to make up for any loss in foreign aid resulting from the militarys brutal crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. On Monday, the countrys foreign minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal issued a hard-hitting statement via the Saudi Press Agency pushing back on the West. To those who have announced they are cutting their aid to Egypt, or threatening to do that, (we say that) Arab and Muslim nations are rich and will not hesitate to help Egypt, said Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency. Arab states will never accept manipulation of their fates or tampering with their security and stability by the international community.
The European Union is considering whether to halt $6 billion in aid to Egypts new government, and in Washington, pressure continued to mount on the Obama administration to consider further steps. Several lawmakers said Obamas decision last week to cancel planned joint military exercises with Egypt and to delay delivery of four F-16 fighter jets doesnt go far enough. German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday suggested halting previously approved arms shipments to Egypt as part of a coordinated European response. Her development minister today told German radio that Berlin will make no further pledges this year of aid to Egypt, and that Germany wont negotiate this year any debt relief for the country.
Saudi King Abdullah, (l.), has pledged to make up for any foreign aid Egypt loses from the West.
Some analysts believe the Arab Spring and its aftermath is increasingly exposing an acrimonious division between the Gulf countries and the West over the future of the Middle East, one that is likely to worsen and threaten the ties linking the West and the royal families of the region. The split between the Saudis and the West over Egypt is not only underscoring policy differences over the Muslim Brotherhood, they say, but is highlighting a growing divergence of interests between Washington and the European capitals and Riyadh when it comes to political reform in the region.
For the House of Saud, stability and security trumps reform which could threaten the Saudi royals own hold on power, whether change comes in the form of democracy or Islamists. The Saudis remain very dubious about American policy toward the Arab awakening, believes Bruce Riedel, a director of the Intelligence Project at the Brookings Institution, a Washington DC-based think tank. Riedel, a former CIA analyst, argues: They want a more robust American role in arming the rebels in Syria, support for Sissi in Egypt and unrestrained backing for the Sunni monarchy in Bahrain. Washington and Riyadh no longer share the same assessment of the threat, and that means trouble will continue in the oldest American alliance in the Middle East.
Read more: Gulf nations split with West to back Egyptian military | Fox News
Saudi Arabia has led the way in supporting the Egyptian militarys actions, first in removing the Muslim Brotherhood administration early last month and in its subsequent steps against supporters of the ousted Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi. Its warning came as policymakers in the U.S. and Europe mull the question of continuing financial assistance to Cairo following the violence in recent days, in which more than 1,000 people have been killed in clashes between security forces and Morsi supporters. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal issued a lengthy statement Monday defending the militarys actions and informing countries that have threatened to withdraw aid that Arab and Muslim countries will not hesitate to help Egypt. As you [Western countries] enjoy security, calm and stability, do not consider them as too much for us.
Faisal drew comparisons to the situation in Syria, implying that some of the same governments that are condemning the military in Egypt are not taking firmer action in support of those trying to topple the Assad regime. Saudi Arabia is a key supporter of the anti-Assad opposition. Regrettably, we see that the international position towards the current events in Egypt is contrary to their attitudes towards the events in Syria, he said. Where is the concern for human rights and the sanctity of blood and carnage that takes place every day in Syria which led to the killing of more than one hundred thousand Syrians and destruction of whole Syria without hearing whispering from the international community [ ?]
In the statement, released through the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Faisal said such attitudes will not be forgotten by Arab and Muslim world. Those who condemn the Egyptian crackdown and believe flimsy propaganda will not be viewed as acting in good faith or out of ignorance, but we will consider them as hostile attitudes against the interests of the Arab and Islamic nations and their stability. Let those states that are taking negative stances know that the blaze and destruction will not be confined to Egypt, but will affect all those who supported trouble, he said.
Asked at a press briefing Monday whether the Obama administration thought Faisal was referring to the United States in his comments, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said she could not speculate on that. Obviously, every country makes their own decision about whether theyre going to continue to provide aid, what aid they will provide, and weve certainly seen that, she said. Well make our own decisions here, based on our own national security interests, our own concerns about regional stability. And that review is ongoing.
Fanning the fire of sedition
