<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=iso-8859-1"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">But it's not 'the Pentagon' as an independent actor that's setting policy. The policy of controlling the world's major energy producing region (including the governments that emerge from the Arab Spring) is set by - and for the benefit of - the American 1%, and enacted by its chief minion, the US president. <div><br></div><div>They have no interest in "restoring democracy," except under the specialized definition where (1) democracy = doing want the US government demands, and (2) the appearance (but usually not the reality) of democracy is helpful in getting a population to acquiesce in USG policy rather than pursuing their own interests. <br><div><div><div><br></div><div>But of course you're right that we should demand that the Obama administration stop paying for murder and terror in Egypt, as part of the demand that it stop committing murder and terror around the world. </div><div><br></div><div>--CGE</div><div><br></div><div>On Aug 19, 2013, at 2:51 PM, Robert Naiman <<a href="mailto:naiman@justforeignpolicy.org">naiman@justforeignpolicy.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"><div dir="ltr"><br>Suppose that the U.S. cut off aid to Egypt's military, as required by U.S. law, and suppose that in retaliation the Egyptian military said to the Pentagon, "OK, big boy, from now on you have to give us the same notice for overflights as you give everybody else, and your warships have to wait in line at Suez just like all the other ships." And suppose this continued until democracy was restored.<br>
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<div><br></div><div>I can certainly see how that would be sad for the Pentagon. But from the point of view of everyone else in America who isn't the Pentagon - everyone who has to stand in line all the time - would it be so terrible? Would we die? Could we somehow muddle through?</div>
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<div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/08/19/1232299/-If-We-Cut-Aid-to-Egypt-s-Military-Would-We-Die" target="_blank">http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/08/19/1232299/-If-We-Cut-Aid-to-Egypt-s-Military-Would-We-Die</a><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
</font></span></div></font></span></div></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><div><br></div><div><br></div></font></span></div></div>-- <br>Robert Naiman<br>Policy Director<br>Just Foreign Policy<br><a href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/" target="_blank">www.justforeignpolicy.org</a><br>
<a href="mailto:naiman@justforeignpolicy.org" target="_blank">naiman@justforeignpolicy.org</a><br>
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