The news of the terrorist bombing in Sharm El Sheikh reminds us how unstable Egypt really is. Egypt is as it has been before, a one-shot regime, where a single bullet can change the country's leadership and direction without regard to past obligations and promises.
There are many similar countries out there, but what makes Egypt different is that it has been the repository of more than 50 billion American dollars used to build up its military. Egypt owns some of the world's most advanced weaponry supplied by the U.S. It has also used U.S. cash to buy weapons from places like North Korea and China. These armaments are all pointed at Israel. An assumption of leadership by any of the factions involved in Egypt's internal strife would likely make the country less responsive to American influence and restraint. The successive Washington administrations that have championed this dangerous and deadly arms race in the Middle East all have culpability for what might ensue.
Egypt is now a powder keg in the Middle East, a region that doesn't lack in combustible material and regimes. Israel has also borne the burden for years of having to counter the buildup on its left flank. The demilitarized Sinai has to remain that way for Israel to remain passive and any move to remilitarize it might provoke an Israeli reaction.
We still don't understand why we've armed Egypt in the way we have, for what we've ultimately done is create a potential problem for our own troops in the area as well as imperil our other interests in the region. Helping Egypt shore up its internal stability might start with curtailing the flow of arms into that country and then directing the $2 billion a year towards the multiple domestic priorities created by Egypt's poverty.

–nrg

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