One day after
the killing by the Egyptian army and security forces of hundreds of civilian
protestors, U.S. President Barack Obama Wednesday announced the cancellation of
joint U.S.-Egyptian military exercises scheduled for September.
Cancellation of the biannual
Operation Bright Star marked the first concrete step taken by Obama to distance
Washington from the Egyptian military since the latter ousted President Mohamed
Morsi Jul. 3 and
installed an interim government which it increasingly appears to dominate.
-snip-
The cancellation of Bright Star
“falls short of what the circumstances on the ground merit, given the bloodshed
and how many civilians have been killed,” Mona Yacoubian, an Egypt expert at
the Stimson Centre, told IPS.
The administration,
she added “should very strongly consider a suspension of aid until the
situation improves.”
To read the full story, click here.