Have all of Egypt's lobbyists gone?

The news that several of the Egyptian government's main lobbyists in Washington have ended their contracts should come as a wake-up call to the Egyptian military, its foreign ministry and Minister of Asking Khawagas for Fluss Fayza Aboul Naga. These were powerhouse lobbyists:

The lobbying firms include the Livingston Group, run by former Representative Robert L. Livingston, Republican of Louisiana; the Moffett Group, run by former Representative Toby Moffett, Democrat of Connecticut; and the Podesta Group, owned by Tony Podesta, one of the most powerful lobbyists in Washington. Mr. Podesta has close ties to the Obama administration.

The firms were widely criticized for distributing talking points defending the Egyptian government’s raid. They shared a lobbying contract worth more $1.1 million a year to represent Egypt’s interests in Washington, according to documents filed with the Department of Justice.

Until recently these lobbyists were backing the Egyptian government line that these NGOs were operating illegally. I wonder what it takes for a lobbyist to drop these kinds of contracts; after all it's not like we're talking major human rights violations here (like the killing of protestors in the last few months). I guess it must have been that the lobbyists were exasperated that the Egyptians took action against their advice that alienated powerful congressmen. I've met American lobbyists for Egypt before and they're all livid that the Egyptian generals treat the Foreign Military Assistance package as "our money" – you can imagine how well that goes down with the representative or senator who is appropriating that funding.

This leaves the power of Egyptian lobbying in the US quite frail, particularly since a major lobbying and PR contract that had been controlled by Ahmed Ezz (and was mostly used to advocate for Gamal Mubarak as a business-minded reformist) has now been repurposed to makeover Ezz as some persecuted entrepreneur who does not deserve to be in prison. In short, I'm not sure who is left lobbying for the Egyptian government or the military, which perhaps explains why a military delegation has been sent to Washington to sort out the mess caused by the whole NGO fiasco.

Comments

[Shereef]

But I think the Congressmen are furious because it is "their money" as in SCAF's money. Congress has no leverage whatsoever as long as SCAF keeps the peace with Israel. I don't think SCAF fears loss of the aid money at all.

[Issandr El Amrani]

You give too much credit to our congresspeople!

[F.]

Are you saying that a lobbying contract paid for by the Egyptian government was de facto used by Ahmed Ezz for his own purposes? Interesting.

The military aid to Egypt shows how easy it still is for the West to just buy at least the foreign policies of an entire nation. That's what it is, the generals have just taken money from an outsider, they're on the pay-roll.

However, what the civilian development people don't understand is that this gives them zero influence within the country. The Egyptian state bureaucracy for whatever reason sees it as its fundamental right to get pampered with donor money.

The first thing aid workers do when they arrive at the Ministry of Water and others is to paint their offices, put in proper furniture and install their Danish or French secretary. Then they spend three years on their little island within the ministry and nothing ever changes. They think that the bureaucracy is a neutral player like back home, but in the political economy of Egypt the state bureaucracy is a key pillar of the regime. So development aid, which in Egypt by default always had to go through the state because the state doesn't want any civil society besides it, just goes to the people who don't want any development because that would undermine their own position. Sounds crazy, but that's the reality.

That's also why I disagreed when you suggested the other day that state-to-state aid could replace the military aid (if I remember correctly). There should be no aid to Egypt whatsoever, except the one that directly goes to NGOs and private sector groups with no links to the state. The fact that Egypt never really allowed that just shows that this is where it would hurt the regime and have an impact.