US Aid to Egypt is Counterproductive

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US Aid to Egypt is Counterproductive

By Tawfik Hamid

www.tawfikhamid.com

Since the Jan 25 Revolution Egypt has been gripped by deepening economic crisis. The Obama administration has recently announced $250 Million in aid to the country. The question that MUST be raised is whether such aid will be useful or, on the contrary, it will be counterproductive?

Deep analysis of the current economical situation in Egypt reveals that the current economic problem in Egypt is largely due to wrong political decisions of the Islamist President and his supporting the Muslim Brotherhood (MB).

For example, because of their ideological believes, MB did not encourage tourism industry which was a vital step to improve the economy of the country. Additionally Morsi attitude toward business people like Mr. Swiris and others have scared investors and resulted in more economic damage.

Furthermore, since Morsi took all power into his own hand and placed himself above the Law; allowed thugs to surround theSupreme Constitutional Court of the country and prevent its judges from doing their job without raising a finger to protect them (of course, those same judges were poised to rule against his power grab); turned a blind eye to his supporters' vicious attacks (and murders) of those who were peacefully demonstrating against his tyrannical declaration in front of his palace- the country went into more instability and thus into accelerated economic collapse.

Breaking his pre-election promise to his political opposition that he would include them in creating the constitution and in sharing in the decision making of the country created more instability and just added more fuel to the fire of the economic collapse.

The most recent arrest warrant for satirist Bassem Youssef did not make things any better either.

The US offer to give the Muslim Brotherhood led government a financial aid has major negative consequences.

First, the aid will be seen by President Morsi and the MB as an endorsement for and blessing to their destructive and divisive political policies. These political policies have significantly contributed to the current economic downfall. This simply means that Mr. Morsi and his Islamist group will feel that they are rewarded for such policies and accordingly will not have any incentive to change such policies. The aid will simply in this case work as a positive rather than a negative reinforcement for these wrong political policies. This means that the aid will encourage the MB to continue in their wrong political approach and thus the country will just move faster in its path of economic failure.

Second, giving aid to such an Islamist government -that is currently suffering from political collapse and serious loss of its power and popularity- will not save the economy of Egypt and will only risk the ability of the US to improve its relations with the opposition who may come to power if the MB continued the same destructive political attitudes.

On the contrary putting conditions on the US to Egypt will add more pressure on the MB government to develop a less divisive political attitude that will ultimately bring more stability to the country and thus improve its economy. This approach will also bring more trust in the US among the Egyptian people who are turning rapidly against the MB and also among the opposition groups who mistrust the US intensions in the country and thus open the gates for a more constructive dialogue between the US and Morsi opposition.

It is unlikely that putting conditions on the US aid to Egypt will bring a backlash against the US interests in the region as the MB will not dare to confront the US while it is in such economic crisis as such a confrontation at this stage will end the MB hopes to prove that "Islam is the solution" which will be the biggest blow to their dominating religious ideology.

In brief, the best way to aid Egypt in the meantime is not to give it aid as giving aid to Morsi government without asking them to do political reforms will only give the Muslim Brotherhood the impression that their policies are correct and will thus delay any progress in political reforms that are vital to bring the needed economic recovery. On the contrary, putting conditions on the US aid to Egypt- as the European Union did- will create pressure on Morsi government to adopt better political approach that can hopefully bring more stability and thus help the country economically.

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