To Shadi Hamid: Could you, please, elaborate on the following: Tunisia needs the US more than we need them? Thanks.

Here is a link to the Washington Post article that Sharan referred to:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/09/tunisia-democracy-backsliding-saied-washington-imf/

Venezuela 2007 - Chavez was defeated

The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain & Egypt clearly worked hard to make the Arab Spring fail miserably, why the U.S. and other Western democracies are reluctant in addressing this behavior and in using diplomatic pressure to curtail such anti-democratic involvements?

Thanks, Alex Sutton. I had forgotten about Chavez losing that referendum. And Evo Morales lost his bid to amend the constitution to extend presidential term limits in Bolivia in 2016.

Hi :)

https://sgp.fas.org/crs/row/IF11267.pdf

This excellent CRS briefing (link below) explains exactly what US law requires with respect to aid flows after "coups." The Sec State has discretion to determine if the military played a "decisive role" in the presidential coup. In the case of Tunisia, it probably did not, and so we would have scope to cut or reduce or redirect aid after declaring all this a presidential coup, but we would not be legally compelled to do so. https://sgp.fas.org/crs/row/IF11267.pdf

Among the excellent presentations, some of the presenters have seen the very critical parallels between Saied's actions and his anti-Islamist stance AND the murderous Sisi regime in Egypt since the coup there. The parallels are absolute.Contrary to the doubts that economic aid suspension can carry an effective message, Egypt does NOT clearly make that case. Kudos to Shadi Hamid for pointing out the U.S. only cut approximately 8 % of all aid spigots. The problem with ALL analysts is that they fail to point out the difference between Tunisia and Egypt. Many experts and groups in the U.S. have supported using aid cuts and putting economic AND political pressure on Sisi in Egypt. The DIFFERENCE is that the biggest and most powerful U.S. support for Sisi in Egypt has been the Israeli lobby and its domestic supporters in the U.S., who have seen U.S. support to Egypt as the prime factor to assure survival of the Egyptian-Israeli peace deal and a regional quiescence.

The point is that: Of course there are differences between Tunisia and Egypt. BUT, as versus Egypt, the Israeli lobby is not a prime factor supporting the Saied dictatorship. I would be pleased to read any comments from the presenters, or the audience.

Just to clarify what aid cutting to the treasury means: public salaries unpaid, enterprise failing, infrastructure stop, etc. This is not something that can be replaced by United Nations or civil society.

Thank you for that

Good Governance is more than just democracy (demo + Kratos), it is also about effective governance that would deliver human security. So, more rule of law, transparency, and capitalism need to be encouraged.

For now

The solution please

Thanks

Thank you all

Thanks a bunch for this webinar

thanks everyone! this was great

Thank you all for all the valuable, honest and constructive interventions