Day: September 28, 2023

Dozens of gold bars. Wads of cash. A black Mercedes-Benz convertible. These are just some of the bribes the Department of Justice alleges that Senator Bob Menendez received while illicitly aiding the Egyptian government of President Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi. Not surprisingly, the accusations are straining the relationship between the U.S. and Egypt, as Congress considers whether to hold the country accountable for purportedly bribing one of their own through various intermediaries.

After the news of Menendez’s indictment broke, prominent members of Congress called for a recently greenlit tranche of $235 million in military aid to Cairo to be put on ice. The funding was approved by the Biden administration via a national security waiver in spite of Congressional concerns about Egyptian human rights abuses.“I would hope that our committee would consider using any ability it has to put a pause on those dollars, pending an inquiry into what Egypt was doing,” Senator Chris Murphy, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters on Tuesday.

But despite the outrage on the Hill, Middle East experts doubt that the allegations will lead to a lasting shift in the close relationship between Egypt and the U.S. that has lasted for over 40 years. Egypt is the third-largest recipient of American military aid after Israel and Ukraine, receiving about $1.3 billion annually. “Egypt is in the dog house already with Congress on human rights and dalliances with Russia. The Menendez affair surely won’t help their image here,” says Aaron David Miller, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “But the administration will likely continue to do business as usual, which is to protect most of the military assistance and the bilateral relationship.”

The loudest calls for Egypt to face consequences are coming from the human rights community. “This money is tainted,” says Seth Binder, an official at the Project on Middle East Democracy in Washington. His organization is among the groups pressing lawmakers to withhold military aid to Egypt in light of the allegations of Egyptian inference in U.S. policymaking. “This is an Egyptian government that is meddling in U.S. politics and foreign policy in an illegal way.” Binder says that Congress should look at whether to make changes to the federal budget for 2024 in light of the allegations and Egypt’s human rights violations. “They could consider topline reductions, removing the national security waiver on the portion that’s conditioned on human rights or increasing the portion that’s conditioned on human rights.”

As ranking member and then chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee since 2021, Senator Menendez has been in a position to influence aid, weapons and diplomatic assistance to Egypt for years. According to the indictment, Menendez allegedly ghost wrote a letter for an Egyptian official to convince U.S. senators to approve $300 million in assistance to Egypt. He also reportedly passed on sensitive nonpublic information about the number and nationality of U.S. embassy personnel in Egypt, which could have been used for intelligence purposes. The indictment alleges that he repeatedly intervened in favor of Egypt on human rights issues, foreign military sales and Egypt’s dispute with Ethiopia about the Nile River’s waters. 

On Sept. 27, Menendez pleaded not guilty to the charges. “If you look at my actions related to Egypt during the period described in this indictment, and throughout my whole career, my record is clear and consistent in holding Egypt accountable for its unjust detention of American citizens and others, its human rights abuses, its deepening relationship with Russia, and efforts that have eroded the independence of the nation’s judiciary,” Menendez said at a press conference on Sept. 25.

The backlash against Menendez and Egypt has come from both sides of the aisle. “The Biden administration should revisit its military assistance determination made earlier this month and withhold much more of that funding,” says Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia and “we will be having those conversations as we process the indictment and other information in the days and weeks ahead.” GOP Rep. Mike Lawler of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said in a statement that Congress should “immediately open a formal congressional investigation into Senator Menendez’s questionable conduct and his purported interactions with foreign agents from Egypt in an alleged quid pro quo scheme.” Some Republicans including Rep. George Santos, who is himself facing charges, offered Menendez rhetorical support, defending the politician’s right to continue to serve as long as he has not been found guilty.

For all the outrage, however, the administration may be reluctant to come down on Egypt too hard, experts say. “I don’t imagine a sharp break at all. I just imagine a much scratchier relationship, which is what the Egyptians were trying to head off,” says Jon B. Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center For Strategic and International Studies. “The Biden administration doesn’t want an adversarial relationship with Egypt. But it does want to send a message of displeasure and it does want to change Egypt’s behavior. I think things like meetings between the Presidents, which were never easy, are going to get much harder.”

The State Department declined to comment on the backlash against Egypt, citing the ongoing legal case against Menendez.

1. Web1 day ago · The FBI is investigating whether Egypt’s intelligence services might have been involved in the alleged bribery scheme described in the indictment of Sen. Bob …

2. WebSep 27, 2023 · FBI probing whether Egyptian intelligence played role in alleged bribery of Sen. Menendez: Sources By Jonathan Dienst • Published 5 seconds ago NBC …

4. Web1 day ago · On the latest allegations, as someone who worked at the FBI, in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the New York Police Department’s Intelligence …

5. Web6 hours ago · The charges of alleged bribery against New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez made for sensational headlines, with accusations of gold bars and wads of cash being …

6. WebSep 22, 2023 · In June 2022, FBI agents executed search warrants on Menendez’s home and found more than $480,000 in cash, “much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in …

7. WebSep 22, 2023 · WASHINGTON — Sen. Robert Menendez on Friday vowed to remain in the Senate while he fights federal charges of bribery and extortion announced earlier in the …

8. WebSep 22, 2023 · Menendez and his wife accepted gold bars and wads of cash. According to the indictment, when the FBI raided the Menendez home in 2022, they found over …

9. WebSep 23, 2023 · When federal agents searched the home of a US senator, they found “a lot of gold”, more than $480,000 (£390,000) in hidden cash, and much more, according to …

10. WebOct 26, 2022 · Sen. Bob Menendez is facing a new federal investigation after a jury failed to reach a verdict in his 2017 trial for corruption, an adviser to the New Jersey Democrat said in a statement…

11. WebOct 26, 2022 · Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) is under federal investigation, his advisor confirmed Wednesday, seven years after the senator was previously indicted for alleged bribery and corruption—which…

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The unrecognised government of Nagorno-Karabakh, which de fact ruled the historically and ethnically Armenian region since the early 1990’s, announced on Thursday that it will dissolve itself on January 1, 2023.

The announcement comes as more than half of the population has already fled, not wanting to live under Azerbaijan’s dictatorship of Ilham Aliyev.

Indigenous Armenians began fleeing after Azerbaijan carried out a lightning offensive to reclaim full control over the region and demanded that Armenian troops in Nagorno-Karabakh lay down their weapons and the government dissolve itself.

A decree to that effect was signed by the Nagorno-Karabakh’s President Samvel Shakhramanyan, AP reported.

The document cited an agreement reached last week to end the fighting under which Azerbaijan will allow the “free, voluntary and unhindered movement” of Nagorno-Karabakh residents and disarm troops in Armenia in exchange.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a region internationally recognised as a part of Azerbaijan but that came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces, backed by the Armenian military, in fighting once again started by Azerbaijan but that ended in 1994.

During a six-week war in 2020, Azerbaijan took back parts of the region along with surrounding territory that Armenian forces had controlled during the earlier conflict.

Azerbaijan says it has detained the former head of Nagorno-Karabakh’s government as he tried to cross into Armenia following Azerbaijan’s 24-hour blitz. The arrest of Ruben Vardanyan was announced by Azerbaijan’s border guard service.

Following the latest offensive and a cease-fire agreement brokered by Russian peacekeepers, Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh’s authorities have begun talks on “reintegrating” the region back into Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani authorities have pledged to respect the rights of ethnic Armenians in the region and restore supplies after a 10-month blockade.

Many local residents, however, fear reprisals and have decided to leave for Armenia, especially as Azerbaijan’s suppression of other ethnic minorities, such as the Talysh, are well noted.

By Thursday morning, more than half of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population — over 65,000 people — had fled to Armenia, according to Armenian officials.

The massive exodus began on Sunday evening, and the only road linking Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia quickly filled up with cars that created an hours-long traffic jam.

On Monday night, a fuel reservoir exploded at a gas station where people seeking to leave were lining up for gas that due to the blockade had been in short supply. At least 68 people were killed and nearly 300 injured, with over 100 more still considered missing.

It is not immediately clear if any of the indigenous Armenians that populate the region will remain there.

Shakhramayan’s decree urged Nagorno-Karabakh’s population — including those who left — “to familiarise themselves with the conditions of reintegration offered by the Republic of Azerbaijan, in order to then make an individual decision about the possibility of staying in (or returning to) Nagorno-Karabakh.”

READ MORE: The USA and Russia want the “Zangezur corridor” but there can only be one “winner” while Armenians continue to suffer.