This is a problem:
The United States expressed deep concern on Thursday after Egyptian police raided 17 offices of pro-democracy and human rights groups, including several funded by the United States, and urged Egyptian authorities to immediately halt "harassment" of non-governmental organization staff.
"We are very concerned because this is not appropriate in the current environment," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, adding that senior US officials had been in touch with Egyptian military leaders to express their concern over the raid.
Perhaps we need to offer space in our embassy for these groups to increase their safety.
I don't assume the worst, but I am very concerned about Egypt.
UPDATE: Let's hope our influence holds:
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the U.S. ambassador in Egypt, Anne Patterson, spoke with top Egyptian officials including the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces on Friday to press U.S. demands that the non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, be allowed to resume normal operations,
"The ambassador has sought and received Egyptian leadership assurances that the raids will cease and property will be returned immediately," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in emailed comments.
If we can defend rule of law, even winners who are bad for us (and the region and even Egyptians) can be held accountable by voters. In the short run, the Islamists and Islamist-friendly groups have credibility from many years of opposing Mubarak's regime. In the long run, people won't like them much. The problem is holding the ring until the long run arrives to minimize the damage they might do. In the medium run, unless the forces that defend rule of law are successful, the Islamists could use elections to get inside the government prior to seizing power, as Hamas did in Gaza (or the Nazis in Germany, for that matter).
I assume Panetta was involved to discuss the effects of losing our military support. Remember, Egypt's military uses US equipment. Losing our support would mean that over time the military would erode. Yet three decades after switching from being a Soviet ally to being an American ally, Egypt still has Soviet-designed equipment in their arsenal. So the Egyptians surely know that they'd doom their military to a generation of new turmoil if the Egyptians do something that loses them our support. And the Soviet Union is no longer there to provide the cash for new weapons. Russia would be happy to sell the stuff but the old terms are long gone. Nor is China likely to pick up the tab for Egypt. And after having American weapons, China's stuff won't seem so shiny even when freshly unwrapped.
