Envoys recalled amid Egypt-Turkey spat.

[another_liberal]

Source: Al Jazeera

Egypt has recalled its ambassador in Turkey for consultations, the state news agency reported, mirroring a step announced by Ankara after Turkish criticism of Cairo's crackdown. Egypt's ambassador in Ankara, Abdel Rahman Salah left Turkey on Friday after he was recalled by Egypt's Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy. Turkey also has recalled its ambassador to Egypt for consultations, a foreign ministry official said, following harsh condemnation by Ankara of a bloody crackdown by Egyptian security forces on supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi.

Egypt and Turkey on Friday cancelled planned naval exercises, the latest escalation in a diplomatic row over the bloody crackdown on ousted president Mohamed Morsi's supporters. Both countries claimed to have made the decision the scrap the joint drills scheduled for October, with Cairo saying it had pulled out to protest Turkey's "clear interference" in Egypt's domestic affairs - an accusation Ankara denied.

Turkey has emerged as one of the fiercest international critics of what it called was an "unacceptable coup" that saw President Morsi being ousted last month. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also demanded that those responsible for the August 14 massacre in Egypt be tried for "massacre," Turkish Anadolu news agency reported.

"Coup makers massacred those who wanted their votes to count in a democracy. The West never said that was a coup although they were confessing it was a coup in our private talks", Erdogan said. "Those who resisted against the military coup in Egypt, did not resort to violence, did not use weapons ... The Egyptian people will gain their rights sooner or later," he was quoted as saying.

Read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/08/2013816163421338342.html

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Our own government's reluctance to move off the diplomatic dime in regard to the Egyptian generals' murderous actions now has led to the United States getting a lesson from Turkey regarding international leadership and responsibility (let alone support for democracy).

[dipsydoodle]

2. EU set for emergency Egypt talks with aid at risk

EU diplomats will hold an emergency meeting in Brussels on Monday to discuss their response to the bloody crackdown in Egypt.

Some EU states have suggested formally freezing European aid to Egypt.

There would also be the possibility of imposing sanctions against members of the interim government or military.

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It is thought likely Monday's talks could lead to a full gathering of EU foreign ministers on the Egypt crisis.

Denmark has already announced that it is suspending two projects it is currently working on with the Egyptian government and public institutions.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23723618

[branford]

3. Don't hold your breadth about sanctions, particularly if the USA is not on board.

EU diplomats are always having emergency meetings. I think they must really like their caterer.

Talking about sanctions expresses their disapproval without actually doing anything.

I predict that they will give the military a stern warning, and then claim they will follow the situation intently and with grave misgivings.

[another_liberal]

4. This may be different.

Very few people in Europe have pleasant emotions regarding when Fascism was last in control of their homelands. They either have first hand memories or have been raised on stories about what that meant. Most Europeans know precisely what the Egyptian generals are, and they hate them for what they have done.

Add to that the simple fact that Egypt is not that far from the Southern borders of the European Union, and one has to expect this response will be a little more meaningful.

[branford]

5. Maybe true, but a destabilized and hungry Egypt would be quite bad.

The Europeans also certainly have no love for the Muslim Brotherhood or affection for Morsi.

That is why I believe that the Europeans will talk, talk, talk, and little else - Speak sternly, and carry no stick. It is their modus operandi for almost everything. Without the USA aggressively pushing, I see no reason for the Europeans to deviate from their usual patterns.

I predict one of two possible near term outcomes: (i) the violence will settle into a low grade phenomena that most of the world expects in the region, and can be politely ignored with the hopes of a new election, or (ii) the MB will engage in large scale terrorist retaliation that takes the lives of numerous innocents, such as the Coptic Christians, and American (and even some European) opinion will more firmly back the military in any "get tough" policy with Islamist terrorists. Either way, I highly doubt Morsi or the MB will be returned to power. I only hope that the military follows through on its promise to hold timely elections.

[another_liberal]

6. Any response by the Europeans . . .

In this case, any response by the Europeans would not be out of "love" for President Morsi but because of revulsion toward the generals who are daily slaughtering their own people by the hundreds. The level of indiscriminate brutality we are seeing inflicted by the coup forces is enough to make even normally staid politicians want to cut their ties to those monsters.

As to what will happen in the long run: We have Libya and Syria as examples of what can happen, and by their actions the Egyptian generals seem determined to make that kind of a nightmare their country's future as well.