Over a year ago, I wrote about how foreign policy would continue to play a more dominant role in U.S. politics in the coming decade.
With North Korea sending missiles to its eastern border, my early suspicions may unfortunately be correct. Both Iran and Pakistan are undoubtedly watching with a close eye how the international community handles the North Korea dilemma, and nationalism and its tendency toward national dominance — including the quest for weapons of mass destruction — pose intrinsic challenges toward the way societies structure themselves.
The Middle East in particular represents the most significant of challenges.
Remember when Hosni Mubarak, the semi-friendly, pro-Western dictator was being lectured by President Obama about giving up his government's power?
While Mubarak's Egypt was certainly no epitome of a perfect society and largely needed its own reforms, fast forward a few years later: Current “president” Mohammed Morsi and his anti-American organization the Muslim Brotherhood have not only taken control of Egypt's new coalition government (which some have argued is not even democratic), they also pose a new enemy to Israel and potentially a new terrorist-friendly country in which to provide for the needs of numerous already-existing terrorist organizations.
After Mubarak stepped down, neo-conservative pundits begged individuals not to turn a blind eye to the new Egyptian government that hadn't yet emerged. Several years later, it appears that they were correct in both their cautiousness, as well as their plea to pay attention to the shifting nature of government in the Middle East.
Now two years later, America not only has a new threat in the region but a new challenge in their foreign policy goals.
Ever since Mubarak was ousted, America has been sending Egypt various anti-riot gear, as well as borrowed money that our government doesn't even possess.
So our federal government, despite the fact that we are almost $17 trillion in debt and are running a monthly budget deficit, is sending the Egyptian government — a government that is not even friendly to our own foreign interests — foreign aid money and protest-repression equipment.
Consider this my plea to the federal government to stop blindly sending out foreign aid money, especially to a government that has the potential to not only hurt its own citizens but potentially citizens of the U.S. as well.
It has to stop.
Military spending is just peachy to a fiscally-responsible extent, but providing anti-American governments money that we don't even possess as of yet is just downright ridiculous.
This not a partisan issue. This is a common sense issue.
We should use our heads and allocate our money to places that are constitutionally permissible and domestically applicable. Morsi's Egypt fits neither criteria.
Reach this columnist at spmccaul@asu.edu or follow him on twitter at @sean_mccauley
