Christian Science Monitor quotes Rafik Hariri Center Senior Fellow Amy Hawthorne on Secretary of State John Kerry’s meeting with newly elected Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the issue of US aid to Egypt:
Now, as in the past, the US is aiming to reduce tensions by softening its criticism on human rights issues, says Amy Hawthorne, a resident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, who previously worked on Egypt policy at the State Department.[…]
But the return of Washington’s aid is unlikely to be accompanied by increased leverage on human rights and political freedom. “There is little to suggest such an approach will have any positive effect on Egypt’s political situation, just as this same approach had no effect on Mubarak,” says Hawthorne.
“By all indications, Egypt is heading in the exact opposite direction, towards the consolidation of a new authoritarian regime.