Egypt’s defense minister and commander in chief of the armed forces, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, was standing before a packed auditorium, sporting a smile. “Allow me to express my gratitude to those who lent Egypt a hand,” said the No. 1 officer in Cairo. “I’ll mention their names one by one so that we can congratulate each one of them individually,” Sisi added. It happened Sunday evening [Aug. 18], in a Cairo auditorium filled to capacity with army and police officers. One by one, he called out the names of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain. Similarly to an award ceremony, his subordinates responded with thunderous applause.
Gen. Sisi’s show of gratitude toward his friends in the Arab world was not just an act of courtesy but also a jab at Washington. Three days earlier, on Thursday [Aug. 15], US President Barack Obama turned to the public, giving Sisi a cold shoulder live on television. Announcing the cancellation of a joint naval maneuver between the two countries, the American president also condemned the regime’s ironfisted crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood activists.
