"Stop the presses: the Egyptian government is riddled with corruption & cronyism ..."

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FP/ here

"The United States provides Egypt with an annual injection of around $200 million in development aid -- a vestige of the U.S. wheel-greasing that accompanied the 1979 peace deal between Israel and Egypt. It is the job of USAID to distribute a portion of that money to democracy promotion programs. A recent audit offers a depressing verdict on USAID's efforts: the impact of its programs was "unnoticeable" in improving Egypt's democratic environment. Of the programs for which USAID distributed funds, donors carried out only 65% of the activities promised and achieved only 52% of the planned results, based on predetermined metrics.

The audit lays the blame for USAID's failure at the feet of the Egyptian government. The government, "has shown reluctance to support many of USAID's democracy and governance programs and has impeded implementers' activities," says the report. Egyptian delays are caused by a combination of resistance to democratic reforms, bureaucratic red tape, and plain old cronyism...."

Posted by G, Z, or B at 6:05 PM