U.S. suspends aid talks with Egypt over anti-American protests, report says

Official speaking to Washington Post say U.S. waiting to see 'how things materialize'; several officials say suspension is temporary move, not an overhaul of U.S. policy.

By Haaretz    | Sep.18, 2012 | 1:20 PM

An Egyptian protester standing amid a fog of tear gas prepares to throw stones towards policemen during a demonstration against a film mocking Islam in Cairo on September 14, 2012 Photo by AFP

The United States has put negotiations geared at renewed U.S. financial aid to Egypt on hold following anti-American rallies, which started in Cairo and spread across the Middle East, protesting the release of an anti-Islam movie, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

Protesters have breached the walls or compounds of several U.S.¬ diplomatic missions, including the consulate in Benghazi, Libya where the ambassador and three other Americans were killed, Cairo and Tunis since last week.

After last week's incidents, the State Department ordered all U.S. ¬embassies and consulates around the world to review their security postures. As a result, a number of missions decided to destroy classified material, a U.S. official said on Monday.

On Tuesday, U.S. officials speaking to the Washington Post said that talks between Washington and Cairo geared at providing Egypt with much-needed financial aid were put on hold in wake the protest wave, and were not due to renew before the upcoming U.S. presidential elections.

“Folks are going to wait and see how things materialize both with the protests and on Capitol Hill,” one congressional aide told the Washington Post.

Several American officials, however, indicated that any delay in aid was expected to be temporary, and that no significant change in U.S. policy in regard to Egypt was expected.

Speaking on aid discussions with Egypt in wake of recent events, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that "the points that we are continuing to make are about the importance of maintaining security, vigilance, working together."

"That is moving well. And as you know, we are continuing to work with the Hill on the support that we think is important to support those very forces of moderation, change, democracy, openness in Egypt that are very important for defeating extremism of the kind that we saw," Nuland added.

Here's America's old stick and carrot routine that worked so well for decades with corrupt Egyptian leaders. We'll see if there's been any substantial change in Egypt's ability to say no to U.S. money, lot's of it, for those who play ball with Israel, America and the West's European colonial overseer of unruly Middle East Arabs.