Obama Scolds Egypt by Cancelling Joint Military Exercise

President Barack Obama announced Thursday that the Egyptian security forces’ brutal campaign against Muslim Brotherhood opponents has convinced him to cancel a major joint US-Egypt military drill that takes place every two years and is a source of prestige to the Egyptian army.

“We want to sustain our relationship with Egypt [but] our traditional cooperation cannot continue as usual when civilians are being killed in the streets,” he said.

Obama did not hint of a more severe reaction, such as reducing military aid to Egypt. GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a fierce critic of the Obama administration’s foreign policy, openly hinted that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is partly to blame for the violence in Egypt.

“As we predicted and feared, chaos in Cairo,” McCain tweeted. “Sec Kerry praising the military takeover didn’t help.”