Hussein, Hillary, and Kerry: How’s that Egyptian Arab Springy thingy working out for y’all?

Breitbart: Anti-Muslim Brotherhood Protests in Egypt: Largest Political Event in World History

The demonstrations that began Sunday in Cairo, Egypt against the Muslim Brotherhood government of President Mohamed Morsi have attracted “millions” of supporters and many counter-demonstrators as well, making the protest the largest political event in the history of the world, according to the BBC.

The protests in Tahrir Square and throughout Egypt exceed those that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 in the key event of the Arab Spring. Two years later, after constitutional reforms and elections that saw Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood move to aggrandize their power, the public backlash is immense.

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The Daily Beast: Kerry’s Secret Gift to Egypt

Last month John Kerry quietly approved huge arms shipments to Egypt—despite Cairo’s ongoing violation of human rights. Josh Rogin reports.

While employees of American NGOs sat in Egyptian prisons, Secretary of State John Kerry quietly waived the law that would prevent the U.S. from sending the Egyptian military $1.3 billion worth of weapons this year.

Congress erupted in anger June 4, when Egyptian courts sentenced 43 NGO workers, including 16 Americans, to jail terms of up to five years for working in NGOs not registered with the government. Only one of those Americans, the National Democratic Institute’s Robert Becker, actually stayed in Egypt to await the verdict. He was given two years in prison. The other American organizations targeted included the International Republican Institute and Freedom House. All of those organizations had been operating in the open in Egypt for several years before the government raided their offices and forced them to flee the country in December 2011.

But what most in Congress didn’t know was that on May 10, Kerry had waived the restrictions lawmakers had put in place to make sure that U.S. military aid to Egypt wouldn’t continue unless Egypt made progress on its path to democracy, rule of law, and human rights. The State Department’s notification of Kerry’s move, which was never released to the public, was obtained by The Daily Beast.

The law that allows the State Department to give Egypt $1.3 billion each year in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) specifies that to get the money, the secretary of State must certify that Egypt is honoring its peace treaty with Israel as well as “supporting the transition to civilian government including holding free and fair elections; implementing policies to protect freedom of expression, association, and religion, and due process of law.”

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Even though The Daily Beast is a biased, hard-left site, they may have a point…

…despite the fact that “American NGOs” such as the Soros-funded “Freedom House” do not have clean hands. These NGOs are tools of misguided interventionism on the part of US elites, and do not serve the interests of the American taxpayers and citizenry. It is the right and the duty of every foreign country to expel the operatives of these “American NGOs” forthwith.

I am not qualified to say whether Kerry technically violated the terms of the 2012 US Appropriations Act in certifying the Muslim Brotherhood government of Egypt to receive US weapons. Whether or not Kerry’s decision to rubberstamp the aid was unlawful, it was both strategically and morally wrong. But there’s more blame to go around; Congress should never have appropriated military aid to Egypt or any other Muslim country in the first place. Islam is not compatible with anything that we would consider “human rights.” Moreover, because of the nature of Islamic doctrine, military aid to a Muslim country arguably fits the definition of treason under the US Constitution. Now it’s blowing up in our faces.

Daily Caller: Egyptian opposition slams Obama, US ambassador

As the chaos in Egypt worsens, anti-Islamist protesters are becoming increasingly frustrated with President Barack Obama’s perceived support for the Muslim Brotherhood.

This past weekend, millions of Egyptian citizens took to the streets in order to protest the Islamization of their government. President Obama has failed to take a clear stance on the mass demonstrations in Egypt against Muslim Brotherhood-aligned President Mohamed Morsi, urging restraint on all sides.

“We’d like to see the opposition and President Morsi engaged in a more constructive conversation around how they move their country forward, because nobody is benefiting from the current stalemate that exists there,” Obama said during a press conference in Pretoria, South Africa, this past weekend.

Middle Eastern policy expert at the Brookings Institution, Khaled Elgindy, told The Daily Caller that the opposition camp largely see the U.S. as “swapping out Mubarak for Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.”

“They believe this is another situation where the U.S. is supporting an authoritarian or undemocratic ruler against the will of the people,” Elgindy said.

The Obama administration’s alleged support of the Brotherhood-led government is deeply unpopular with protesters, who some sources estimate numbered up to 14 million on Sunday.

Mamdouh Badr is an Egyptian activist who works as a lawyer in Dubai, and has produced videos for the Tamarod, or “rebel” anti-Islamist movement. Badr, who is currently attending the protests in Egypt, told The Daily Caller the crowds were highly critical of U.S. foreign policy.

“In downtown Cairo there were signs about the U.S. interfering in Egypt’s internal policies, backing the MB, asking Obama to stop supporting terrorism in Egypt, to stop supporting the MB as a terror organization in their opinion,” he said.

“I think people are very focused now that the U.S. is a big player in the game. Five-six years ago, you wouldn’t find people as outraged about the foreign powers’ effect,” said Badr.

Others noted a distinct anti-U.S. flavor to the protests as well.

One more distinguishing remarks of today is that there is a HUGE anti-US overtones!! HUGE!! #Egypt #June30

— Mai Shams El-Din (@maishams) June 30, 2013

The U.S. ambassador in Egypt, Anne Patterson, was also highly unpopular with the opposition, as she is widely perceived as supportive of the Brotherhood.

On June 18, she was reported as covertly urging Christian Copts to refrain from attending the protests. Numerous signs showed Patterson’s face with a large red cross on it, and one even urged Egyptians to “kick this bitch out of Egypt.”

In ittihadeya- a sign against US ambassador Patterson pic.twitter.com/fDyd19rXnv

— Kristen Chick (@kristenchick) June 30, 2013

At least 16 were killed during the weekend protests, and enraged protesters burned down the Muslim Brotherhood’s headquarters. Earlier, on Friday, several were killed in Alexandria, including the 21-year-old American college student Andrew Pochter.

As protesters plan further mass demonstrations until Morsi steps down, Obama urged Egyptians to follow peaceful means as they strive for democracy.
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Despite the Egyptian military’s 48-hour ultimatum, Obama has not taken a stance as to whether or not Morsi should step down.