UK welcome for Egypt's Sisi shameful: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed Aly el-Kabbany, a writer and journalist in London, to discuss Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s visit to the United Kingdom.  

Following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: The reason being given for this red carpet welcome of Sisi is security interests. Do you think Sisi helps the UK for example in its security interests?

Kabbany: It is actually shame on Great Britain, the land of democracy to receive this military dictator for an official visit to London. We always hear the lip talk from the Western governments and the British on top of all of them that they are promoting democracy in the Middle East and they are supporting the right of people for freedom, dignity and democratic life but at the same time they replace one puppet of them by another puppet and their approval and giving legitimacy to the leader of the military coup is a proof that no one will believe them and that the double standard is the measure in the British foreign policy.

At the same time also many states like the United Arab Emirates exercised a great pressure on the British government to receive Sisi as a dignitary of a foreign country in an official visit to London, so shame on the foreign policy of Great Britain and shame on their false slogans of supporting the right of people for self-determination and for a democratic life.

Press TV: It seems there is a lot of money to be made in Egypt because Sisi just on Tuesday signed contracts with foreign companies worth at 2.2 billion dollars, he has apparently signed 54 contracts over the past two years and many people are saying that is why Britain is okay with him coming because trade is very important?

Kabbany: Of course trade is very important but morality principles and the dignity of great nations come on top of commercial gains. At the same time Egypt is a poor, retarded country which cannot feed its people and Sisi, the military dictator, is signing weapons and military deals with Britain and France for billions of dollars. And nobody knows why he needs all this military equipment, having a so-called peace treaty with Israel and having a very good relation with the Zio-American pact.

So this money which he is overspending and wasting on military deals with Western governments is better spent on the infrastructure of the Egyptian people and improving the economy of the Egyptian people and feeding the hungry among this nation.

So he is actually begging money out of the [Persian] Gulf countries and wasting it on military deals to improve his image among the Western society and to gain legitimacy by all these foreign trips which he is making while the country is facing one catastrophe after the other. He is facing a problem in Alexandria and Beheira and Mansoura from the rainfall because the drainage system is not working in these cities. The first time which happened few months ago, the governor of Alexandria was sacked. Now people are saying somebody else who should be responsible for that and that should be the failing president of the country.

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