Egypt Defies U.S. by Setting Trial for 19 Americans on Criminal Charges

Egypt’s military-led government said Sunday that it would put 19 Americans and two dozen others on trial in a politically charged criminal investigation into the foreign financing of nonprofit groups that has shaken the 30-year alliance between the United States and Egypt.

“The government will not hesitate to expose foreign schemes that threaten the stability of the homeland,” she said.

www.nytimes.com...

Looks like Egypt has had enough of the NGOs trying to fund and fuel social unrest.

The US is having a fit over Egypt arresting these people for doing something illegal.

I guess the US aren't content with all the Draconian laws in place here... now they have to tell other countries how to enforce theirs.

Interesting story, but we are missing a link to the source material.

reply to post by YouAreLiedTo

nvm, you noticed...

Originally posted by boncho
Interesting story, but we are missing a link to the source material.

Apologies!

Fixed it.

A couple interesting points in the story:

The criminal prosecution is a rebuke to Washington in the face of increasingly stern warnings to Egypt’s ruling generals from President Obama, cabinet officials and senior Congressional leaders that it could jeopardize $1.55 billion in expected American aid this year, including $1.3 billion for the military. But for Washington, revoking the aid would risk severing the tie that for three decades has bound the United States, Egypt and Israel in an uneasy alliance that is the cornerstone of the American-backed regional order.

There must be a ton of stuff happening behind the curtains right now with the people handling US - Egypt relations.

The Americans facing criminal charges include Sam LaHood, director of the Republican Institute’s Egypt operations. He is the son of Ray LaHood, the secretary of transportation and a former Republican congressman from Illinois.

This is another interesting part. One of the people accused is the son of a congressman.

Talk about international incident.

Just saw this on the news.

Its so obvious the west is fuelling the unrest in the middle east.

I think it is going to blow up in their faces.

the "aid" was to support their dictator, mubarak, for 40 years.

the same one who probably had a hand in assassinating sadat and the same one that is on trial for war crimes.

more than likely, a few of them will get the death penalty.

I suspect that the Suez canal will be a bone of contention and the west will take over itsmanagment should the regime get too damn uppity.
The comming Iran Confrntation will start a few other moves in other unexpected directions i believe.
Should war break with Iran, i think the entire might of the west will be used to swiftly as possible ovewhelm some of the other countries around isreal....
Lebannon, Syria,Saudi Arabia even may not be immune to this kind of dirty pool.....
truthfully, i see a much wider scope of conflict, with a much more inflated agnda than merely Irans puny military.....The kind of assets that will be assembled against Iran, will be very easily used to subdue a few of the small countries which have no way of protecting themselves....
Yemen,Libya,Somalia, and other gulf states too....
The entire northern part of Africa, and the coasts of the gulf will become one huge battleground for the oil beneath it.

This was also very weird, they sent a delegation there to discuss the matter, but recalled them back later.
source

WASHINGTON -- A delegation of Egyptian military officials in town for high level meetings with their American counterparts canceled a series of meetings on Capitol Hill at the last minute Monday.

Edit:
I just found this, the latest development, apparently Egypt will stand down.
source

Egypt's government will back down in a stand-off with Washington over U.S. funding for civil society groups because allowing the dispute to drag on could jeopardize aid worth billions of dollars, two Egyptian officials said.

Something really weird is happening behind the curtains IMO.

I heard through the grapevine...

reply to post by ModerateSkeptic


Update:

Egypt is going through with it.

www.washingtonpost.com...

Egypt’s prime minister said Wednesday that the government would not drop a criminal probe into U.S.-funded pro-democracy organizations, and officials said the Egyptians and Americans charged in the case could face up to five years in prison.

The US Government is going to screw themselves out of any "allies" they have left in the region pretty soon.

Especially with the Pakistan drone attacks...

The NGOs are nothing but trouble, do not trust any