Aftandilian in The Arab Weekly on Russian-Egyptian Relations
Gregory Aftandilian, Lecturer at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published a recent Op-Ed examining the United States response to developing Russian-Egyptian relations.
Aftandilian’s Op-Ed, entitled “Muted but Concerned U.S. Response Over Russian-Egyptian Ties,” was published on December 17, 2017 in The Arab Weekly.
From the text of the article:
The recent visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Egypt caused heartache among US officials even though neither the White House nor the US State Department issued a public statement about it.
Egyptian-Russian relations have been deepening since Abdel Fattah al-Sisi became president of Egypt in 2014. Sisi has visited Russia twice, a gesture reciprocated by Putin.
From Egypt’s perspective, growing ties with Moscow are important for two reasons: By playing the Russia card, Sisi puts the United States on notice that the US-Egyptian relationship cannot be taken for granted and signals to the Egyptian people that he is not beholden to Washington.
The latter is especially important when US policies are generating sharp criticism from the Egyptian public. US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was denounced by the Sisi government and the Egyptian people, Muslim and Christian alike.
Aftandilian spent over 21 years in government service, most recently on Capitol Hill where he was foreign policy adviser to Congressman Chris Van Hollen (2007-2008), professional staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and foreign policy adviser to Senator Paul Sarbanes (2000-2004), and foreign policy fellow to the late Senator Edward Kennedy (1999).