Actually, Egypt is a terrible ally (New York Times)

[Trango Towers]

Straight from Wikipedia!


I think it is not geographically from the Mid East, but politically, it very much is.

Geographically it's Africa

 

[Mhmoud]

Geographically it's Africa

And also Asia. Sinai is in Asia.

 

[JKangoroo]

And also Asia. Sinai is in Asia.

Sinai is not asia Sinai lies exactly on the african Plate

 

[Mhmoud]

Sinai is not asia Sinai lies exactly on the african Plate

Quoting Wikipedia again:
"The Sinai Peninsula or simply Sinai(/ˈsaɪnaɪ/;[1][2] Arabic: سيناء‎ Sīnāʼ ; Egyptian Arabic: سينا‎ Sīna, IPA: [ˈsiːnæ]; Hebrew: סיני‎ Sinai; Coptic: ⲥⲓⲛⲁ) is a peninsula in Egypt, the only part of the country located in Asia."
Now let us stop all this pedantry on whether it is in Africa or Asia. It is in both.

 

[Amun]

Internet confusion after Egypt footballer wins Africa award

• 5 January 2018

Image copyrightPAUL ELLIS AFP/GETTY
Image captionLiverpool's Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Salah won the African Player of the Year award on 4 January, 2018, the first Egyptian to achieve the feat since 1983
A discussion is taking place on social media over whether an Egyptian football player should have been named the African Player of the Year 2017.

Egyptian-born Mohammed Salah, 25, was awarded the title in Accra, Ghana, on 4 January by the Confederation of African football (CAF) after a public vote.

In what appears to have started as a joke, some football fans on social media questioned Salah's win because they believe Egypt is not an African country.


Although Egypt sits in the north of the African continent it is considered by many to be a Middle Eastern country, partly because the main spoken language there is Egyptian Arabic, the main religion is Islam and it is a member of the Arab League.

In 2012 Al Arabiya news reported that many Egyptians they interviewed for a feature on identity classed themselves mostly as Arabs, Muslims, descendants of the Pharaohs or a combination of all three, but not African.

The BBC World online's Egyptian news is also covered by its Middle Eastern team, though the stories also appear on the Africa regional pages.

Perhaps the confusion is compounded by the country's geographical location, sitting in Africa but surrounded by countries located on the southern and eastern seashore of the Mediterranean, such as Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, which despite their north African location are regarded by many as Arab.

The portion of Egypt known as the Sinai Peninsula also borders Israel and the Gaza Strip. In addition, the Sinai Peninsula is also considered part of Asia.

Image copyrightGOOGLE MAPS
The year 2017 was the first time football fans and the general public were allowed to vote for the Africa Player of the Year award. Previously African coaches, journalists and national team captains voted for the winners.

Egypt have won the Africa Cup of Nations more than any other side, and in 2017 Salah enjoyed a successful year for both club and country.

He was key in helping the Egyptian team qualify for the World Cup in Russia this year and he was joint top scorer in the World Cup qualifiers scoring five goals.

He has also had a productive season with English premier league team Liverpool scoring 23 goals in just 29 appearances.

Previous winners of the title include Riyad Mahrez, Yaya Toure, Samuel Eto'o and Didier Drogba.

By Rozina Sini, BBC's UGC and Social News Team

@JKangoroo.
@Mhmoud read this bro....it is as simple as that

 

[Ceylal]

When Vice President Mike Pence visits Egypt on Wednesday, he will follow in the footsteps of countless American officials who have stopped in Cairo to laud the “strategic partnership” between the United States and Egypt.

This has become a vacuous and badly outdated talking point — the kind we both drafted during our years in the government. Mr. Pence shouldn’t pay lip service to it.

American and Egyptian interests are increasingly divergent and the relationship now has far less common purpose than it once did. Mr. Pence should make clear to Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Egypt’s president, that the two countries need a reset, beginning with a major reduction in American military assistance.

In addition to saving American taxpayers’ money, this would send an important message to other recipients of American aid that our support is not unconditional. It would also help to rein in an arrangement that has distorted Egyptian-American relations.

Any doubts that Egypt has ceased to be a strategic partner to the United States were eliminated with the recent preliminary Egyptian-Russian agreement to grant reciprocal access to each other’s air bases. But this is just the most recent example of profoundly unfriendly behavior by a purported friend. In Libya, Egypt has consistently provided military support to Gen. Khalifa Hifter, whose Libyan National Army has clashed with forces loyal to the internationally recognized and United States-backed government. At the United Nations Security Council, Egypt has made common cause with Russia to oppose the United States on issues from Syria to Israel/Palestine. And this year, revelations emerged of Egyptian military and economic cooperation with North Korea.
Even where American and Egyptian goals remain aligned, Egypt struggles to promote our mutual objectives effectively. Washington has not grasped a new reality: Because of its internal decay, Egypt is no longer a regional heavyweight that can anchor America’s Middle East policy.

The Sisi government has contributed shockingly little to the campaign against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Cairo consistently has ignored American offers to train Egyptian forces in the counterinsurgency doctrine and tactics that could help defeat the insurgency in Sinai. The importance of American access to Egyptian airspace has declined; and American privileges at the Suez Canal are drastically exaggerated. Contrary to prevailing wisdom, the U.S. Navy does not receive head-of-the-line privileges, whereby our ships can jump ahead of other vessels.

There was a time when both countries derived important mutual benefits, including reliable Egyptian support for the United States’ interests in the Middle East. But over the past decade, the United States has poured more than $13 billion in security assistance into Egypt with little to show for it except more jobs for a defense industry exporting materiél that is ill-suited to Egypt’s defense needs and that allow the Egyptian military to sustain a patronage system that distorts the economy and fuels corruption.

For too long, the United States has allowed the Egyptian government to treat security assistance as an entitlement owed for making peace with Israel. The United States has not held Egypt accountable for how this money is spent and whether it serves broader American objectives in the region, giving Egypt a free ride on American generosity. The Obama administration took initial steps to make military assistance less generous and limit the weapons systems Egypt could buy with American funds. The Trump administration has withheld or reprogrammed more than $200 million in military assistance.

This is a start. More needs to be done.

In light of Egypt’s declining strategic importance and its problematic behavior, Washington should sharply reduce its annual military assistance by $500 million to $800 million to align our resources with our priorities. A cut in Egypt’s aid would free up badly needed funds. And a move to start reducing security aid to Egypt to a level that is more in line with the actual value the United States derives from the relationship would be broadly popular in Congress, which has grown frustrated with Cairo.

The risks are limited. Egypt is unlikely to change its behavior in response to less aid. It won’t, for example, end its peace treaty with Israel or cease its counterterrorism cooperation with the United States. It will, of course, continue to fight local jihadists.

Advocates of a closer relationship with Egypt argue that cutting aid would make Cairo less willing to accept American military training, but there is scant evidence that years of generous support have fostered a desire in Egypt for additional training opportunities in critical areas like counter-insurgency. Rather, disabusing Cairo of the notion that assistance is an entitlement might help to restore some leverage to extract concessions from Cairo. And, while instability in Egypt is a legitimate concern, we are deluding ourselves to think that American assistance is the difference between order and chaos.

Instead of acknowledging that Egypt’s importance has diminished, President Trump has doubled down on the relationship, promising to be a “loyal friend” to Egypt and lavishing Mr. Sisi with praise. The White House has gone silent on the Egyptian government’s abhorrent human rights abuses, which fuel radicalization, increasing the global threat from terrorism. In so closely tying the United States to the Sisi government and its repressive practices, the administration is all but ensuring that millions of marginalized Egyptian youth will view the United States with hostility.

America is getting a bad deal in Egypt. That’s ironic for a president who prides himself as a negotiator. Mr. Pence’s visit is an opportunity to turn a new page with Egypt, and make the United States’ commitment to the country commensurate with what Washington receives in return. If the Trump administration does this, it will take a small but important step toward restoring America’s tarnished credibility and reputation in the region.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/18/opinion/united-states-egypt-pence.html

For the ones who doubts the veracity of the newspaper claims about Egypt as an “ally” ask the Syria, Palestine..and all the Arabs states that are in the Arab league...Saddam used to call it the Arab ”Taxiphone”

 

[Sinnerman108]

Straight from Wikipedia!


I think it is not geographically from the Mid East, but politically, it very much is.

Is it a member of GCC ?
Even Jordan isn't.