EU stops some arms sales to Egypt - (the title says, but it is wrong)

Euobserver,com ^ | 21 August, 2013 | Andrew Rettman

[ScaniaBoy]

EU countries have punished the Egyptian army for massacring Muslim Brotherhood protesters by stopping sales of items "which might be used for internal repression."

They said other arms exports, and joint security projects, can go ahead, with each member state free to "review" and "reassess" which ones it wants to pursue.

EU countries also plan to "review" financial aid to Egypt.

They noted that payments for schemes designed to help NGOs and "vulnerable groups," such as women in rural areas, will go ahead, however.

The decisions came at an emergency meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels on Wednesday (21 August) in reaction to the Egyptian military's crackdown last week.

The violence saw soldiers kill at least 800 protesters, some of whom were burned alive in tents or shot by snipers. On the other side, Muslim brothers killed some 40 members of the security forces and destroyed Coptic churches and public buildings.

Wednesday's EU statement called for a "democratic" and "inclusive" solution to the crisis.

For her part, EU foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton said twice she is personally willing to go to Cairo if it would help.

"We want to continue to be able to have a strong relationship with Egypt … and if we could be of any assistance, we would do so, I would do so," she said.

With anti-Muslim-Brotherhood groups in Egypt increasingly hostile to the EU due to its criticism of the army, Wednesday's statement made a number of pro-military concessions.

Bloomberg reports that one draft version referred to the "alarming number of people killed" and called on soldiers to "desist from the use of lethal force." But both phrases were cut.

The final version also referred to "acts of terrorism such as the murder of policemen in the Sinai, destruction of many churches and the targeting of the Coptic community" - lumping together the murder of Egyptian police by unknown militants in the Sinai peninsula with violence by urban pro-brotherhood supporters.

British foreign minister William Hague voiced the EU's dilemma, saying it had to show the army there are "consequences" for its actions, but "not to take sides," if it is to have a peace building role.

Dutch foreign minister Frans Timmermans noted "it would not be wise" to deliver arms to Egypt while the crisis unfolds.

But he predicted security co-operation will resume "in the long run" because Egypt is too important to Europe to let it slide into instability.

He said another negative scenario would be a return to the 1990s, in which the Muslin Brotherhood felt "very comfortable" as an underground opposition force and the security establishment felt equally comfortable keeping down all dissent.

"All those young Egyptian people with aspirations, who just want to prosper and to be free, all their aspirations would be lost," he said.

The UK's Hague and French foreign minister Laurent Fabius on Wednesday also urged Syria to give access to UN weapons inspectors to verify reports it killed over 1,300 civilians using chemical weapons on the outskirts of Damascus.

Hague said: "There is no excuse for Syria to refuse access to the UN team."

Fabius gave credibility to the Syrian opposition account of the attack, saying: "We cannot accept a massacre using these kinds of weapons … The last time gas of this type was used was in the Iraq conflict by [late Iraqi dictator] Saddam Hussein."

For its part, Russia took Syria's side in rejecting the rebels' claims.

"We are faced with a new provocation, which was planned well in advance," its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told press.

[ScaniaBoy]

The EU hypocrites peace builders are at it again.

Do you know what "items which might be used for internal repression" are?

Plastic shields, tear gas, water cannons, etc. I'm not sure even fine caliber ammunition is included in the ban. In any case, when you hear Egyptian police authorities claim that they had to use live ammunition on protestors because they had no tear gas available you know who to thank. (And if it turns out that there are more ex-MB's due to that, I'm all for it, but somehow I don't think it was the intention of Hague, Fabius, Bildt, Ashton et al.)

Anyway, I'm sure Israel can sell some tear gas to Egypt if needed. Will help Israel's economy that only grew at an annual rate of 5.1% last quarter. (He, he.....and that's without the euro....LOL)

[Watsonj1]

It was o. K. to give arms and money to the Muslim Brotherhood however.

[Liz]

A STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE In 2009, Obama made a self-serving, suck-up speech in Cairo----apologizing for America's historical role in the Middle East. Obama calculatedly set the stage for Egyptian president Mubarak's overthrow.

When the worst-case scenario happened, when Obama's personal choice---Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Morsi, was elected president----Obama sap-happily sent his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, to Cairo to personally kiss-up to Morsi (perhaps at that time hatching their plans to destroy Westen civiliation in compliance w/ Muslim Brotherhood dictates?).

Obama had added a treacherous ill-advised component to US foreign policy----sucking up to the very people who want to kill Americans and destroy American churches. Obama was prostrate in obeisance before Muslim leaders---portraying teeming Muslim majorities there as ""victims" of Western colonialism and Cold War policies. Obama stupidly promoted democracy among populations of conflicting cultures w/ thousands of years of religious and territorial factionalism.

THAT SUCKING SOUND YOU HEAR "The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of coexistence and cooperation, but also conflict and religious wars," Obama said in the June 2009 speech in Cairo. " More recently, tension has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies, without regard to their own aspirations."

Fast forward to 2013: in the past 72 hours alone, the savage Muslim Brotherhood torched some 57 Egyptian churches and Christian businesses. Obama ignored the bloodbath and spent the crisis dining out, golfing, power-partying, and vacationing in exclusive Martha’s Vineyard on the taxpayers' dime.