Huffington Post quotes Rafik Hariri Center Senior Fellow Amy Hawthorne on the US decision to resume partial military assistance to Egypt:
“The decision to send the Apaches without any clear reciprocation from Cairo on human rights is yet another signal to the Egyptian government that it can wear down U.S. pressure on democracy issues if it persists long enough,” said Amy Hawthorne, a Middle East expert at the Atlantic Council who previously worked at the State Department coordinating support for the Arab Spring.
“As President Obama explained in his U.N. General Assembly speech last September, the United States considers its ‘core’ interests in the region as connected to U.S. security interests,” she said. “And it views democracy and human rights as separate, secondary concerns.”
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ْْْْHawthorne warned that the U.S. is taking a short-sighted view by focusing on security concerns in Egypt and overlooking human rights violations.
“The U.S. administration does not believe that progress on human rights and democracy is required to protect its security interests in the region,” she said. “In the short term, this may be correct in a narrow sense, but in the longer term, failure to develop inclusive, just governance systems could destabilize the region significantly and create an even more difficult environment for the United States.”