I takt med tilstrammingen i Egypt har Barack Obama fått kritikk fra egyptiske menneskerettsaktivister for sin appeasement overfor islamistene.

Bahieddin Hassan, a human rights activist who briefed President Barack Obama on a trip to Cairo three years ago wrote an open letter this month accusing him of “giving cover” to the regime and “allowing it to fearlessly implement undemocratic policies and commit numerous acts of repression”.

Obama ville være presidenten som var på parti med fremtiden, også i Midtøsten. Han har ikke råd til å bli oppfattet som garantist for et intolerant nytt teokrati.

For første gang har hans ambassadør Ann Patterson tatt bladet fra munnen og beskyldt president Mohammed Morsi for katastrofalt dårlig lederskap.

At a speech in Alexandria last week, though, Mrs Patterson referred toEgypt’s growing economic crisis, with the currency in freefall and a long delay in approving a $4.8 billion (£3.1 billion) loan from the International Monetary Fund.

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“Every economy goes through bad periods, but economies only recover when they are tended,” she said. “The most catastrophic path is for the government and the political leadership of the country – whether in power or in opposition – to avoid decisions, to show no leadership, to ignore the economic situation of the country.”

Egypts økonomi er katastrofal, og Morsi kan ikke vente annet enn kritikk. Likevel reagerer regimet overfølsomt og stevner journalister for retten på løpende bånd.

 in her speeches, Anne Patterson, the ambassador, implicitly accused the government of “catastrophic” lack of leadership on the failing economy and called for it to develop a “thicker skin” in dealing with press criticism.

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On Sunday, she opened up a new front at a conference on broadcasting regulation, with a thinly-disguised attack on the new constitution.

“Those, like me, who find themselves in the public eye, are well-advised to work on acquiring thicker skins instead of wasting time and resources suing their detractors,” she said.

She said that in the “dramatically changed landscape” of the last two years new television stations and newspapers had sprung up and existing publications “reinvigorated”. But she suggested there was now a backlash.

“Let’s consider what’s happened during the last few weeks,” she said.

“We have seen court cases launched against journalists simply for speaking their mind. We have seen quite alarming attempts to intimidate journalists by encircling their studies at Media City, with little response from the authorities.

“One leading and reputable journalist told me a couple of days ago that his news outlet had been sued 200 times. This is clearly harassment and a distraction from the important work of the media.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/9885685/US-criticises-Egypts-lack-of-leadership.html