The arms deal Sisi did and the boost to his political prospects from the enthusiastic endorsement of him from Putin has you wondering what it was all about. Unless its about wheat or sticking it up the US it can’t be about the arms. They will take years to deliver, (and with planes) involve new training of pilots and ground maintenance staff and, as most know, the planes will fall out of the sky at a regular rate. Ground equipment for the army would have been designed for north European conditions and hence be nearly useless for Egypt. Anyone can make such mistakes and Australia bought UK tanks which proved to be an un-airconditioned furnace in our region and had to be gutted and retrofitted.
A visit to Saudi I can understand but Russia. Could a gangster kleptocracy be of interest to Sisi? Maybe all the European/US venues were closed to him because of his coup status?
You wonder about Sisi’s political judgment in embracing the bear because there are few countries on earth that have a more unfavorable view of Russia than Egypt.as measured in a recent poll. The trend is consistently negative of Russia with a 30% total reduction in positive views of Russia since 2007. Positive views are close to the lowest in this poll. Maybe Egyptians remember the last time or just show good judgment lacking in their masters. The fact that people are illiterate doesn’t make them stupid.
In fact the Middle East is full of Russaphobes with the exception of that paradise Syria. Overall Russia has few, and possibly no friends and treaty partners and there might be a reason for this which has escaped Sisi.
If Sisi’s foreign policy has begun as he intends to continue then his political instincts, and his friends, need to change or maybe he is the stupid one not his people.
The opinion survey is the reliable Pew administered in September 2013. The major chart is:
http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/09/03/glo ... sia-mixed/
