16 Dez This isn’t anything sinister
After Approving Spy Gear For Egypt
WASHINGTON Top Obama administration officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry, met with their Egyptian counterparts in Cairo on Sunday for high level talks, the latest sign that the White House is seeking to move on from its previous criticism of Egypt’s autocratic regime.
buy canada goose jacket cheap The meeting camejust weeks after the State Department approved the controversial sale to Egypt of a sophisticated,military grade mobile surveillance systemthat Egyptian activists fear may be used against the country’s citizens. President Barack Obama initially welcomed democratic protests in Egypt and criticized the country’s military after it ousted controversial Muslim Brotherhood leader and then President Mohammed Morsi, the nation’s first democratically elected president, in a 2013 coup. The administration has since abandoned that position almost entirely. buy canada goose jacket cheap
canada goose The sale www.canada-goose-outlet.biz of the surveillance system is one example of how American security interests have trumped Egyptian democracy activists’ complaints about regime excesses. The State Department says that Egypt will only use the equipment on the Egyptian border with war torn Libya, where a branch of the Islamic State group is mushrooming. But the current Egyptian government sees domestic critics as existential threats at least on par with the extremist group. canada goose
canada goose factory sale With the world’s largest Arab nation still reeling from the consequences of the 2013 coup, Egypt’s new rulers are cracking canada goose deals down on dissent. canada goose factory sale
canada goose clearance sale “We may have an agreement that this kind of equipment is for external use only, but of course these security services did and can again turn it anywhere,” Bockenfeld said. canada goose clearance sale
Canada Goose online The State Department won’t say exactly what the surveillance system will do. The Egyptian Embassy and several defense contractors that make surveillance devices did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Canada Goose online
canada goose uk outlet Egyptian citizens say that even without additional detail about what spying capabilities canada goose outlet their government may gain, the news has them on edge. canada goose uk outlet
canada goose coats “Surveillance equipment worries me in the hands of vindictive, irresponsible actors,” said, an Egyptian journalist and blogger canada goose coats who spoke to The Huffington Post through an encrypted chat program. “When you give power to men Canada Goose online of violence, you’re encouraging them to be more violent. When you don’t hold people accountable, they act with more impunity.” canada goose coats
canadian goose jacket Such concerns are unlikely to scuttle the deal. Now that the State Department has approved the sale, the transfer of the surveillance system is a fait accompli unless Cairo changes its mind. The next step is a monthslong process that will involve discussions between officials in the two governments and the approval Canada Goose Jackets of a military contractor. human rights concerns related to the aftermath of the 2013 coup. officials that they wanted the surveillance gear, a senior congressional aide told HuffPost. canadian goose jacket
buy canada goose jacket Lifting the hold was widelyinterpretedas a sign that Obama was seeking to leave tensions over the coup in the past and develop a closer relationship with President Abdel Fattah el Sissi, the retired Egyptian general who won an internationally criticized election following the army takeover. Analysts see the approval of the sale as cheap Canada Goose another sign of that ongoing shift. buy canada goose jacket
canada goose store Kerry’s remarks Sundayoffered further evidence for that view. canada goose store
uk canada goose “It’s a great privilege for me to be here, and I’m very pleased to be back in Cairo. And I want to thank President el Sissi and Foreign Minister Shoukry for their very warm welcome and, most importantly, for the quality of the discussion that we had today and also for the tremendous work that the Egyptian government has done in creating the combined agenda of both security and the economic front as well as all the other issues that were on the table for a very frank, very candid discussion,”the secretary of state said. uk canada goose
Asked by The New York Times about Egypt’s buy canada goose jacket cheap human Canada Goose Outlet rights situation, Kerry added, canada goose store “There are, obviously, circumstances where we have found reason to have grave concern, and we have expressed it very Canada Goose sale publicly. I don’t think we’ve shied away from that. But we have multiple issues that we need to work on simultaneously. and the new regime grow closer, Egyptian civil society activists are nervous about what could happen to their already diminished freedoms.
Many had chosen, like the former computer engineer Eskandar, to leave their jobs and commit themselves to activism when Egypt’s revolution erupted in 2011. Now, years after optimistic pro democracy protests swept the country, el Sissirules with an iron fist. Egyptians from across the political spectrum who are considered dissenters have been targeted or locked up. That group includes suspected members of the now banned Muslim Brotherhood, secular revolutionary activists and members of the press who print news the government deems unflattering.
Eskandar says Egypt’s purchase of the American surveillance system may not be a game changer so much as a boost: The government already closely monitors his private conversations by phone, email and social media like Facebook. His personal life isn’t private anymore and he’s far from the only one. He says he knows of revolutionary activists who have been called into state security only to have their recorded, private phone conversations used as blackmail against them. is well aware of the situation in Egypt, and officials frequently comment on the Egyptian government’s most blatant abuses. But the White House sees engagement with the country as essential nonetheless. military support to Egypt to its pre coup level, about $1.3 billion.
Canada Goose Parka To canada goose coats on sale secure that waiver, the canada goose clearance sale administration was legally required to explain just how undemocratic it believes Egypt is. So this past May, Kerry blasted the country in a report to Congress. Canada Goose Parka
Canada Goose sale “While Egypt has implemented parts of its ‘democracy roadmap,’ the overall trajectory of rights and canadian goose jacket democracy has been negative,” Kerry wrote in an unclassified version of the May 12 report, published in June by The New York Times.”A series of executive initiatives, new laws, and judicial actions severely restrict freedom of expression and the press, freedom of association, freedom of peaceful assembly, and due process, and they undermine prospects for democratic governance. Since July 2013, human rights NGOs and civil society activists describe a shrinking space for peaceful dissent, leading some of them to self censor many of their political activities that could be deemed controversial, or even leave the country. Except in rare instances, police and security forces have not been held accountable for alleged human rights violations.” Canada Goose sale
cheap canada goose uk Kerry’s report notes a few positive developments, but it is mostly a list of Egyptian misdeeds, from delays in parliamentary elections to arbitrary killings of demonstrators and the use of torture canada goose black friday sale and rape by the police. The document reflects a country where even the act of peaceful protest the fuel Canada Goose Parka of the 2011 revolution that toppled longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak has now become illegal. Anyone caught demonstrating without direct permission from Egypt’s government risks landing inside a jail cell, caught in a legal system widely slammed as a mockery of justice. cheap canada goose uk
Despite all this, the State Department maintains that the sale of the new surveillance system which it had to approve and then notify Congress about won’t make the situation worse.
“That’s not the intended use. This isn’t anything sinister. This is border security stuff,” a State Department official told HuffPost. “This is the kind of stuff that [the Department of Homeland Security] uses to monitor the border.”
Canada Goose Jackets “As needed, as warranted, we will buy canada goose jacket work with that country’s defense department depending on the system, depending on the particular situation. We may periodically go out to a site where they have a certain product stored and conduct a physical inventory,” the official said Canada Goose Jackets.