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Earlier on Sunday, Clinton met Egypt's top general, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, to discuss Egypt's turbulent democratic transition as the military wrestles for influence with the new president.

The meeting came a day after she met Mursi, whose powers were clipped by the military days before he took office.

Mursi fired back by reinstating the Islamist-dominated parliament that the army leadership had disbanded after a court declared it void, deepening the stand-off before the new leader even had time to form a government.

In their hour-long meeting, Clinton and Tantawi discussed Egypt's political transition, the military's "ongoing dialogue with President Mursi," and the country's economic troubles, a U.S. official travelling with Clinton said in an email brief.

"Tantawi stressed that this is what Egyptians need most now - help getting the economy back on track," the official said.

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"I want to be clear that the United States is not in the business, in Egypt, of choosing winners and losers, even if we could, which, of course, we cannot," Clinton said at the ceremony to reopen the consulate, which was closed in 1993 because of budget constraints.

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"I have come to Alexandria to reaffirm the strong support of the United States for the Egyptian people and for their democratic future."

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Originally posted by ANTHONYT:
What alternative?

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
The same could be said for Tunisia. A vendor at my local farmer's market has family in Tunisia. I asked him how things were going there, and he said "Worse than before". Before, you knew who to pay. Now, everybody wants their cut, AND it's insecure. Corruption is worse than ever.

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