Butter before F-16s

Submitted by Nick (United States), Jul 30, 2013 at 23:31

Growing economies are nice, but it is Egypt's military that is cracking down on the smuggling tunnels into Gaza, which bring Iranian missiles and other weapons. Morsi allowed the tunnels to stay open, turned a blind eye to weapons from Sudan going in, and even allowed Iranian warships to pass through the Suez, some carrying weapons exports.

It will also take a strong military to prevent a civil war between Egypt's Muslims and Christians, once the military makes the effort. Only if they can force their Muslims to make peace with their Coptic population, now about 9 million, will they ever begin to tackle their fundamental problems like food and water, and regain a secure future.

The Christians make up a disproportionate share of business owners. Once they feel the need to take flight, as Christians in Iraq, Syria and other Muslim countries have done recently, Egypt could implode economically and be engulfed in a civil war. And most of their Christians have no place to go. The country needs internal stability, food and water security, and peace with its neighbors, before it can regain its footing and grow again. As they have no enemies, they certainly don't need more F-16s from the U.S.

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