Egyptians Hold Least Favorable Views Of Obama: Cairo-Washington Tension

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Egyptians Hold Least Favorable Views Of Obama: Cairo-Washington Tension

Egyptian News Updates

13 May 2009

A public poll conducted by the American Ipsos research institute revealed that after 100 days of Barack Obama’s accession to power, Egyptians are the most pessimistic among Arabs towards American policy and the new American president.

The institute’s poll was conducted during March with a sample of 7,000 Arabs from Saudi Arabia, Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, and Kuwait to explore Arabs’ point of view on the U.S., and the American President Barack Obama and his policies under his slogan declared throughout his presidential campaign, “Change.”

Reuters had published the poll results reporting that while 43% of the polled expressed their dissatisfaction with the U.S., 33% said they were satisfied with it. Also, 14% were neutral while 10% said they knew nothing about the subject.

Overall, Obama received 48% of Arabs’ support scoring his highest in Jordan, 58%, and lowest in Egypt, 35%. Moreover, only 22% of Egyptians expressed confidence in the American point of view towards and policies in the region.

The poll also revealed that one out of every ten of the respondents believed that Obama’s policies will have a negative impact on their countries.

Ipsos institute commented that the poll results give Obama another opportunity to exert more effort to improve the U.S.’s image in the region.

Reuters attributed the decline in Arab support for Obama, especially America, to the American invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and the torture of Muslim detainees in Guantanamo.

A Former Official in the US Administration, Reasons For Cairo-Washington Tension

Dr. John Alterman (Director of the Middle East Centre in the Centre for Strategic and International Studies) that there is tension in the Egyptian- American relations, attributing this to the fact that both parties do not feel that they are getting paid back for what they provide the other with.

During the video conference hosted by the American Embassy, Alterman who worked before as a special assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State for the Near Eastern Affairs added that US does not feel that it has received a payback for the billions it granted Egypt in the form of aid and that Egypt feels the same as well.

On the relation between Cairo and Washington in the era of the US President George Bush, Alterman called for a change in the US-Egyptian relations through a joint plan in line with Camp David Accords.

He stressed on the need to have stable and strong internal conditions in Egypt since this wouldn’t cause a threat to US or the neighboring countries, in reference to Israel.

Alterman pointed out to the US- Egyptian common interest in countering “terrorism” and that the US- Iranian dialogue does not mean making concessions, pointing out that US administration would not provide Iran with anything at the expense of Egypt, and thus there are no fears regarding Egyptian interests.

He stated that the Iranian behavior preserves Egyptian interests as he put it.

Alterman stressed the significance of Mubarak’s expected visit of Mubarak to the US in mid June to the Middle East, pointing out that this visit will one of its kind since years of cold US- Egyptian relations.

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