Egypt's push to preserve its close ties with Russia amid Moscow's growing international isolation will expose Cairo to U.S. and international retaliation that could further weaken the Egyptian economy. According to leaked U.S. intelligence documents obtained by The Washington Post, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi proposed a plan in February to supply Russia with up to 40,000 rockets, as well as gunpowder and artillery. The top-secret Pentagon documents -- which are dated Feb. 17 and were reported by The Washington Post on April 10 -- also showed that al-Sisi had instructed his subordinates to keep the scheme a secret ''to avoid problems with the West,'' and to tell factory workers that they were building rockets for the Egyptian army (and not Russian troops fighting in Ukraine). On April 17, The Washington Post then published another set of leaked documents that showed al-Sisi ultimately abandoned the plan in early March after...
