Sisi’s Way Tom Stevenson on Egypt’s prisons (LRB)

“It’s no secret that Hosni Mubarak’s regime was repressive. Yet although in its treatment of prisoners and many other ways besides, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s is worse, statesmen around the world praise its role in Egypt’s ‘democratic transition’. When John Kerry visited Cairo last year he reported that Sisi had given him ‘a very strong sense of his commitment to human rights’. These issues, he said, were ‘very much’ on Sisi’s mind. For more than thirty years it was US policy to support autocratic government in Egypt as a route to ‘regional security’. The US backed Mubarak’s regime until its very last days; even during the mass protests of January 2011, the US hoped Mubarak could survive if he made political concessions. Mubarak is gone, but the US Defense Department’s links with the Egyptian military – long-standing and solid – have remained. Officials are steadily restoring the flow of aid and equipment that was temporarily suspended in the wake of the coup: there is no serious ‘human rights’ issue for Washington.”

Read the full article at: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n04/tom-stevenson/sisis-way?utm_campaign=Brookings+Brief&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=16165260&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8s8sUbTrMNefXKBSZjvz2YD9BxXP9y_JIt-5hwOr50rLzJNV4COgd02wScPLz4uydtk3VAM8LaqvEh5ozgvkOd-u54_A&_hsmi=16165260

DoD Buzz’s Top 10 Stories of 2014

Great articles by DoD Buzz:

“Dominating the headlines on DoD Buzz this year were battles over funding for military equipment, particularly the sturdy but aging A-10 attack aircraft, a war of words between the incoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Pentagon press secretary, and what may come of all those blast-resistant trucks left over from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Here’s a list of our 10 most popular stories from 2014. We hope you like looking back at them as much as we enjoyed reporting and writing about them — which we’ll continue to do in the New Year.

10. Army Defends Move to Strip Guard of Apaches

The U.S. Army’s top leaders defended their proposal to strip the Army National Guard of its AH-64 Apaches attack helicopters as part of a cost-saving move.

9. Old A-10 and New F-35 Both Win in Spending Deal

U.S. lawmakers late Tuesday unveiled a $1 trillion federal budget deal that benefits both fourth– and fifth-generation fighter jets, even the Vietnam-era A-10 aircraft.

8. Navy Engineers LCS Changes

The Navy is implementing specific design and engineering improvements to its Littoral Combat Ship following the construction of the first two vessels, the Freedom and the Independence.

7. Will U.S. Fighters Hit U.S.-Made Tanks in Iraq?

U.S. warplanes early Friday morning launched airstrikes against Islamic militants in northern Iraq, a Pentagon official said.

6. B-2 Bomber Set to Receive Massive Upgrade

The Air Force’s B-2 Spirit is receiving a technological upgrade to allow the service’s bat-winged, nuclear capable bomber to fly through 2058.

5. Air Force Bets $41 Billion on Sequestration

Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James has placed a $41 billion bet that Congress will ease off on the mandatory spending cuts in the sequester process and also go along with a White House proposal to raise taxes.

4. U.S. Commander in Korea: A-10 Warthog Will be Missed

The U.S. commander in South Korea on Friday praised the vital close air support role performed by the A-10 Thunderbolt in deterring North Korean aggression but backed the Air Force decision to retire the aircraft.

3. McCain Joins Fight to Save A-10 Warthog

John McCain, the senior senator from Arizona and former Republican presidential candidate, has added his voice to the growing chorus of lawmakers seeking to block the Pentagon’s plans to retire the A-10 attack plane.

2. McCain Calls Two-Star Admiral and Pentagon Spokesman an ‘Idiot’

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, called Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s chief spokesman an “idiot” last week during an interview with a North Carolina radio talk show host.

1. U.S. Considers Demolishing Its Vehicles in Afghanistan

U.S. troops could have to destroy thousands of their own “excess” vehicles in Afghanistan if buyers can’t be found and the services don’t reverse course on bringing them home, the top U.S. commandeer said Thursday.”