What Egyptians think/want post the Arab Spring

The world, and especially the US, would do well to take heed of a Pew Research Centre findings on what the Egyptians are thinking post the start of the Arab Spring. Mondoweiss reports on something others in the media haven't covered - and should have!

"Noam Chomsky’s analysis of US foreign policy after the Arab Spring boils down to this maxim: “The U.S. and its allies will do anything they can to prevent authentic democracy in the Arab world.” A newly released poll from the Pew Research Center on Egyptian political attitudes explains why Chomsky is right.

The Pew Research Center poll shows antipathy towards the US and Israel--an expected result if you follow data on Arab and Muslim attitudes towards the West and Israel.

Here are the relevant numbers: 60% of Egyptians say that US economic and military aid to Egypt has a “detrimental impact”; almost 40% want a distancing of the Egypt-US relationship; 80% view the US unfavorably; and 61% of Egyptians want to annul the peace treaty with Israel. That result is up from last year’s, which showed that 54% of Egyptians wanted to toss the treaty out.

The Pew Center also notes that “opposition to the treaty has grown significantly over the last year among young people and the highly educated. Support for annulling the treaty has increased by 14 points among 18-29 year-olds and by 18 points among the college-educated.”

The fact that about the same number of Egyptians dislike US aid and the country’s treaty with Israel is no coincidence. The $1.3 billion in funds the US transfers to Egypt’s military every year is, first and foremost, about making sure the military keeps the treaty with Israel, a sacrosanct pillar of US policy in the region."

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