Egypt is in President Obama's doghouse. The ill-advised investment made by the Administration in the country's short-lived experiment with "democratic Islamism" has been wiped out by a military coup / populist rebellion (or whatever else one wants to call it). Team Obama has been settling scores by giving Egyptian dignitaries the cold shoulder, and is now cutting back on some of the US-made military toys that the Egyptian armed forces love to parade around. The direct effect of these moves may be negligible, but a strained or worse relationship with the United States would over time expose Egypt to being ever more diminished on the international stage, while hardening the links of its politics, economy and culture to regressive Gulf Arabs. Neither a fickle Obama nor a self-absorbed, xenophobic and inept Egyptian body politic hold out much promise of breaking the ice.
Step in Israel. Egyptians will never admit to being reliant upon Israel, let alone thankful to the Zionist Enemy, but it is Israeli standing in the White House and the halls of Congress that is and will continue to prevent things from getting much worse for US-Egyptian relations. Cairo, Washington, Jerusalem and the world are much better off for it.
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