Saudi Arabian Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister, announced that Saudi Arabia would be willing to replace any aid that Egypt might lose if the US and the European Union cut off aid in disapproval of the military coup. The Saudi offer is a real slap to the US, ostensibly a strong Saudi Arabian ally. It also aligns the Saudis with the Israelis who also support the military takeover. The offer separates Saudi Arabia from Turkey and Qatar who support the Muslim Brotherhood. The situation in Egypt, like the one in Syria, is quickly becoming a regional war as outsiders begin to place their bets on the outcome.
The threat of a cutoff of US aid to Egypt does not simply rattle the Egyptian military. The threat will also seriously unnerve the US defense contractors that supply the Egyptian military. Here are the top ten US defense contractors that get paid by US taxpayers via the Egyptian military:
1. Lockheed Martin — Fort Worth, Texas and Orlando, Fla.
2. DRS C3 and Aviation — Horsham, Pa.
3. L-3 Communication Ocean Systems — Sylmar, Calif. and Garland, Texas.
4. Deloitte Consulting — Arlington, Va.
5. Boeing — Mesa, Ariz. and St. Louis.
6. Raytheon — Tucson, Ariz. and Andover, Mass.
7. AgustaWestland — Reston, Va.
8. US Motor Works — Cerritos, Calif. and Grand Prairie, Texas.
9. Goodrich Corp. — Chelmsford, Mass.
10. Columbia Group — Washington, D.C.
One can be certain that these corporations will be lobbying the US government not to stop its military assistance to Egypt.
There is serious flooding, not only in the US southeast, but also in the far eastern parts of Russia and in many parts of China. The flooding has forced the evacuations of almost a million people and is not expected to subside quickly. Extreme weather seems to be the order of the day. A study by the World Bank estimated that coastal cities in the world may suffer more than a trillion dollars of losses because of flooding by 2050.
World Politics News 
Leave a comment