Mohamed Minshawi-Washington
The silence of US President Donald Trump on the disturbing developments in his relations with Egypt is a mystery to many experts in the American capital Washington.
Uncharacteristically, the president continues to remain silent on the policies of his favorite ally, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, despite Washington's rare tensions, criticism and threats against Cairo in recent days. Which is rare since Trump came to power in 2017.
While waiting for the president's tweet about the negative developments in his country's relations with Cairo, no one can work hard and know whether Trump will continue to praise his favorite dictator or stand next to the Pentagon, the State Department and Congress, and demand hardening with him.
In an editorial on Wednesday, the Washington Post said, "Unfortunately, journalists expected little from President Trump, who called Sisi his favorite dictator."
Under Trump, Washington did not criticize the Egyptian regime's policies of suppressing freedoms and preventing freedom of expression, which included the arrest of hundreds of journalists and activists, and the closure of many independent news sites.
The Trump administration has also remained silent about the dramatic development in Egypt-Russia relations, which was evident in Cairo's doubling of the pace of Russian arms purchases, and the two countries' agreement to build a huge nuclear plant in the Dabaa region of northern Egypt funded and built by Moscow.
The Law of Katsa
Two issues have prompted Washington in the past few days to change its tone toward Cairo. First, warnings emerged from the Senate and then from senior officials of the Defense and State Departments, warning the Egyptian regime against buying Russian Sukhoi 35 bombers.
Clark Cooper, the assistant secretary of state for political and military affairs, said the United States could impose sanctions on Egypt and deny it future military sales if it buys Russian Su-35 warplanes.
Members of Congress are angry that an ally that has received billions of dollars in aid to buy weapons from a rival state. Economic and military to Egypt worth 1.4 billion dollars.
The threats were preceded by bipartisan senators sending a letter to the defense and foreign ministers demanding action against Cairo.
The United States can impose sanctions on any country that violates a law known as "Katsa" or "confront America's enemies through sanctions" passed in 2017 by a large majority approaching consensus and endorsed by Trump.
Under the "Katsa" law to impose sanctions against persons responsible, government or private, if they violate US law by buying advanced equipment from Russia, Iran or North Korea.
Egyptian authorities have raided the offices of the one of the last remaining independent media outlets in the country and detained multiple journalists. |
Repression of freedoms and information
The second case concerns criticism from Washington by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who called two days ago for Egypt to release the detained journalists, noting that the United States will continue to raise human rights in Egypt.
At the same time, David Schenker, assistant secretary of state for Middle East affairs, called on Cairo to "ensure respect for the implementation of the new NGO law, and not hinder civil society laws, US aid programs, and economic growth."
The criticism was preceded by a number of senior members of Congress strongly criticized the Egyptian regime's policies towards media freedom and human rights violations, where Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said that the violations of the rights of journalists in Egypt is unacceptable.
"The Egyptian authorities raided the offices of one of the last independent media outlets in Egypt and detained several journalists. This is an unacceptable attack on the free press and the rest of Egyptian democracy," Schiff said on Twitter.
American pressure
Jason Brownley, an American academic at the University of Texas in his book "Preventing Democracy, the Policies of the American-Egyptian Alliance," links Washington's policies and attitudes toward democracy issues in Egypt with Washington seeking Egyptian concessions on regional issues.
On the other hand, Andrew Miller, the former official in charge of Egypt to the National Security Council - under President Barack Obama - between the criticism of Egypt for issues of freedoms and human rights, and the issue of Sukhoi aircraft.
Miller told Al Jazeera Net "Finally, the US administration started asking Egypt to respect the freedom of the press, for two main reasons. Egypt inside Washington asked the administration to intervene. "
"I don't think Egypt's call - to respect press freedom to release the detained journalists - has anything to do with Egypt's desire to get Russian Sukhoi 35 planes," Miller said.