The Egyptian military arsenal is growing more diverse

[parsa92]

This is not only interesting from an arms point of view, but politically does it mean that Cairo is signalling to Washington that it can forgo Washington’s generous $1.5 billion worth of annual military aid if need be?

https://suite.io/paul-iddon/6ppc285

 

[Mark F]

This is not only interesting from an arms point of view, but politically does it mean that Cairo is signalling to Washington that it can forgo Washington’s generous $1.5 billion worth of annual military aid if need be?

https://suite.io/paul-iddon/6ppc285

Quite frankly, Egypt has been too dependent for too long on the U.S. for arms, potentially putting them in the same boat they were in when the Soviet Union provided most of their arms needs, then stopped providing aid and support. The Saudi's figured this out a long, long time ago. If they buy a battalions worth of tanks from the U.S., they buy another battalions worth from the French. If they buy a squadron of fighter planes from the U.S. then they by another from the British, etc, etc, etc,...

 

[DA60]

This is not only interesting from an arms point of view, but politically does it mean that Cairo is signalling to Washington that it can forgo Washington’s generous $1.5 billion worth of annual military aid if need be?

https://suite.io/paul-iddon/6ppc285

Not likely, that $1.5 billion is between 1/4-1/3 of Egypt's entire military budget.

 

[Mark F]

Not likely, that $1.5 billion is between 1/4-1/3 of Egypt's entire military budget.

But a rather larger chunk of the procurement budget.

 

[Helix]

This is not only interesting from an arms point of view, but politically does it mean that Cairo is signalling to Washington that it can forgo Washington’s generous $1.5 billion worth of annual military aid if need be?

https://suite.io/paul-iddon/6ppc285

cut them off. when i saw that the tear gas canisters being fired at crowds during the revolution had "made in the USA" labels on them, i cringed. now they are a military dictatorship, and should be getting zero tax dollars from us.

 

[joG]

cut them off. when i saw that the tear gas canisters being fired at crowds during the revolution had "made in the USA" labels on them, i cringed. now they are a military dictatorship, and should be getting zero tax dollars from us.

In the world as it is the Russians or Chinese would fill the gap happily.

 

[Helix]

In the world as it is the Russians or Chinese would fill the gap happily.

cool. if they want to devote a huge chunk of their resources to endless war, let them. i'd rather have health care, college for the kids, and domestic infrastructure.

 

[joG]

cool. if they want to devote a huge chunk of their resources to endless war, let them. i'd rather have health care, college for the kids, and domestic infrastructure.

The problem is that our life style including health care depends on the level of security and freedom of markets and safty of shipping out there in the free for all. You abdicate and risk losing, what you thought was your right.

Nope. You will have to come up with a better solution than trying to walk away.

 

[Helix]

The problem is that our life style including health care depends on the level of security and freedom of markets and safty of shipping out there in the free for all. You abdicate and risk losing, what you thought was your right.

Nope. You will have to come up with a better solution than trying to walk away.

no, i don't. the interventionists have signed us up for war so often that it has become perpetual. these same interventionists aren't willing to pay another dime in taxes to fund it, though.

read Sun Tzu.

2. When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men's weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength.

3. Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain.

4. Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor damped, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue.

5. Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.

6. There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.

true then, and true now. bring our troops home, and let Saudi Arabia spend its own money policing the region. we have no place in a sectarian conflict that is more than a thousand years old, and the problems in the region cannot be fixed externally. we need to nation build here at home.

 

[joG]

no, i don't. the interventionists have signed us up for war so often that it has become perpetual. these same interventionists aren't willing to pay another dime in taxes to fund it, though.

read Sun Tzu.....

Security is a never ending and lastly bloody affair. It is like police work.

PS: I read Sun Tzu and a number of others.

 

[cpwill]

no, i don't. the interventionists have signed us up for war so often that it has become perpetual. these same interventionists aren't willing to pay another dime in taxes to fund it, though.

read Sun Tzu.

true then, and true now. bring our troops home, and let Saudi Arabia spend its own money policing the region. we have no place in a sectarian conflict that is more than a thousand years old, and the problems in the region cannot be fixed externally. we need to nation build here at home.

Well, if we want to put knowledge of warfare down, this is actually my profession. How many times have you deployed, developed actual OPLANS, worked with allies, hunted the enemy?

Want to know how our military is reacting to ISIL? This is the most shared picture on my facebook right now:

The idea of an enemy that is identifies themselves and will stand up and actually fight? My Iraq vet buddies are super-jelly. Our weapons aren't dulled, nor our strength and treasure exhausted by these campaigns. This State is more than equal to this Protracted Campaign.

"No instance" of a country having benefited from prolongued warfare? I don't know, I don't see many frenchmen in charge of Vietnam these days...


and JoG is right. If you enjoy your nice, comfy, first world lifestyle, well :shrug: the cost is the security necessarily to provide it.

 

[Occam's Razor]

This is not only interesting from an arms point of view, but politically does it mean that Cairo is signalling to Washington that it can forgo Washington’s generous $1.5 billion worth of annual military aid if need be?

https://suite.io/paul-iddon/6ppc285

Egypt will never be cut off from the aid spigot. Why? The Suez Canal for one. But the bigger reason is, we have a military industrial complex too big for peace. No joking or kidding.

 

[Helix]

Security is a never ending and lastly bloody affair. It is like police work.

i pay taxes to support my local police force. they come from my town. Saudi Arabia needs to be able to say the same.

PS: I read Sun Tzu and a number of others.

now absorb it, and apply that knowledge.

 

[joG]

i pay taxes to support my local police force. they come from my town. Saudi Arabia needs to be able to say the same.


.....

And? What does that have to do with it?

 

[Helix]

And? What does that have to do with it?

because Saudi Arabia, as a regional power, has a responsibility to police its own region. they are not entitled to a pro bono foreign military any more than you or i are entitled to a pro bono police force in our own neighborhoods.

 

[joG]

because Saudi Arabia, as a regional power, has a responsibility to police its own region. they are not entitled to a pro bono foreign military any more than you or i are entitled to a pro bono police force in our own neighborhoods.

Police its own region like the Austrians did the Balkan before 1914?

 

[Helix]

Police its own region like the Austrians did the Balkan before 1914?

WWI was a pointless war, driven by alliances and brinksmanship, which directly led to the horrors of WWII. in one hundred years, it seems, we've learned less from it than we should have. however, the current war in the Middle East is more analogous to the escalation in Vietnam, which we've also learned very little from, it seems.

a regional hegemon is responsible for the stability in its region. it cannot expect a foreign power to do its job, especially not for free.

 

[US Conservative]

cut them off. when i saw that the tear gas canisters being fired at crowds during the revolution had "made in the USA" labels on them, i cringed. now they are a military dictatorship, and should be getting zero tax dollars from us.

Things were much better when thousand year old coptic churches were being torn down, eh?

No cringing then I suppose.

 

[Helix]

Things were much better when thousand year old coptic churches were being torn down, eh?

No cringing then I suppose.

nice deflection.

so, let's hear the plan. then we'll talk about how much more you're willing to pay in taxes to fund expanded US interventionism in the Middle East.

 

[US Conservative]

nice deflection.

so, let's hear the plan. then we'll talk about how much more you're willing to pay in taxes to fund expanded US interventionism in the Middle East.

I knew your reply before you did.

You have already admitted your schemes to use any US military spending for marxist redistribution.

 

[Helix]

I knew your reply before you did.

You have already admitted your schemes to use any US military spending for marxist redistribution.

so, how much are you willing to pay to fund an expansion of foreverwar?

after we establish that, we can start talking strategy and cost.

 

[Occam's Razor]

I knew your reply before you did.

You have already admitted your schemes to use any US military spending for marxist redistribution.

Are you admitting to schemes to use redistribute treasury of the we the people to support a neo-fascist attempt at global hegemony? A failing one?

The U.S. has overthrown more democratically elected regimes than all other nations combined. And often replaced them with pseudo democratic dictators, and always in areas of economic interest.

The military/military supply paradigm is no longer based in policy, but in profit motive. All companies must grow profits, so be assured, there will be lots more war. Our military is used to secure "american interests".. Which are first and foremost corporate profits.

The conservatism I was raised with says that you conserve the values and principles of your fore fathers and the founding fathers. And from the founding through the first century, we had a policy of no foreign entanglements. We had a policy of no standing armies. We had a principle that the treasury of we the people should be spent on the general welfare, not the general safety of we the people.

The redistribution has already taken place... You grumbling because we want it back is myopic and deceptive.

 

[MMC]

because Saudi Arabia, as a regional power, has a responsibility to police its own region. they are not entitled to a pro bono foreign military any more than you or i are entitled to a pro bono police force in our own neighborhoods.

The Saud cannot police Egypt.....and they cannot Police anything but the waters around them? They don't have the capability to go out and cover the Persian Gulf or Arabian Sea.

 

[Helix]

The Saud cannot police Egypt.....and they cannot Police anything but the waters around them? They don't have the capability to go out and cover the Persian Gulf or Arabian Sea.

well, then they need to invest in their military and take care of it themselves. perhaps they can team up with another regional hegemon to do it. either way, it is not the role of the US to be their pro bono military.

 

[MMC]

well, then they need to invest in their military and take care of it themselves. perhaps they can team up with another regional hegemon to do it. either way, it is not the role of the US to be their pro bono military.

How many years before they can create a Navy to handle it all? They can't handle the Sectarian War they started, let alone protect shipping. There is no country over there that can do it.

Even if they Teamed up.....they still can't do it. They are teamed up now and cant do it. What will change?

They wont be able to stop the Jihadists/Terrorists. No one wants them getting ships and planes, Right?

Now that's not to say it just isn't our problem. its others to......about time they pay for the adventure and their interests.