[ALMANAR.LB] US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a
lucky hat,conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
departed late Friday to Egypt for cooperation talks and to Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates...
, in a bid to "ease" Gulf countries' "concerns" about the Iran nuclear deal.
During his stop in Egypt Sunday, Kerry will meet with his counterpart Sameh Shoukri for a "strategic dialogue" between the long-time allies, which have had a tumultuous relationship in recent years, following political unrest in the northern African nation.
In late March, the United States lifted its freeze on annual military aid of $1.3 billion to Cairo.
But Washington kept up public condemnation of the brutal repression by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's regime ofsupporters of his ousted predecessor, Mohammed Mursi.
The "dialogue" between the two officials is the first since 2009, and comes in the wake of an announcement this week that Washington began the delivery eight F-16 fighter jets to Egypt.
In addition to military cooperation, Kerry and Shukri will discuss Washington's human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal
liberty...
"concerns."
"We'll certainly be discussing the issue of the political environment, human rights issues while the Secretary is in Cairo. That is an important part of our regular dialogue," a US State Department official said
Assistant Secretary Tom Malinowski, will be joining Kerry, according to the official, who said he "will have an opportunity to discuss with his counterparts some of the issues that we have, some of the concerns that we have about the situation."
Kerry will travel to Doha Monday to meet with his counterparts from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states.
The main purpose of that meeting will be to "allay fears" they have about Iran, following the nuclear deal signed on July 14 in Vienna.
"This is an opportunity, really, for the Secretary to do a deep dive with the GCC foreign ministers to try to respond to any remaining questions that they might have and hopefully to satisfy them and ensure that they're supporting our effort going forward," the official said.
He added that the crises in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
and Syria will also be discussed.
The trip, which ends August 8, will not include a stop in the Zionist entity, one of Washington's closest allies and a fierce critic of the newly-hatched Iran nuclear agreement.
| Golly. A snub. |