Egyptian Crisis

Egypt is a primarily large country with the highest population in the Middle East, housing mostly Arab and Muslims. In 2011 Egypt has been ranked 138 out of 167 countries on The Economist's Democracy index which is a measure of political freedom. At the start of 2011, Egypt has begun a war with its own government fighting against the high levels of corruption and an overwhelming load of poverty. The sudden spark of change in Egypt’s government was inspired by a recent protest in one of their neighboring countries, Tunisia, which led to the fall of their government. Egypt was ruled by Hosni Mubarak, Mohamed Morsi, and the Military (all of which have been seen as corrupt to the Egyptian people as they lacked leadership skills) before they've reached their current president, Sisi.

With Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as President, he inherits Egypt’s many problems with their country that were leftover from previous rulers. Most of these problems are economic related; involving issues with money. The economy of Egypt has a high unemployment rate as their budget decreases almost double to 14 percent as spending on petroleum subsidies cuts into state finances. Help from Gulf allies are helping Egypt’s economy just get by without collapsing, but they’re still in need of more help if they want to try to rebuild their economy. There is also a current energy crisis that is affecting domestic energy demand due to the high amount of subsidies on petroleum products. This is now permitting residential and industrial consumers to purchase gas and power facilities at a lower cost. These issues have caused Egypt to loose partners because of the draining of state funds they needed to invest in public works. With all these economic challenges Egypt is currently facing there should be something higher power countries should be doing to help, like the U.S.

The United States getting involved to help Egypt take on the challenges that they face on a daily basis wouldn't be such a bad idea. However, the United States of America can only help by so much. The U.S can provide a strong army by sending troops to help with any reinforcement needed, but as far as aiding Egypt with money may be a difficult thing. The U.S may not be in the right place to hand out large amounts of money because the economy there isn't so great either. However, offering advice and planning for spending isn't a bad thing to do seeing that they may need our help with having a plan for future goals and solutions.

The Western media rarely usually make assumptions about Egypt and Egyptian people because they don’t want people to know how bad the community really is. Most of the harsh information is written in blogs or articles by people who have been there themselves, otherwise there is rarely any information about Egypt and its people. However, when there is information in the media they usually depict angry, motivated, and persuaded people who would do anything to fight for what their countries needs or wants. Showing these depictions of the Egyptian people can either scare or persuade the Western world, but either way the media should show the truth of what is going on in the world around us and how it can affect us.

Questions

How did the transition in government power personally affect you?

Do you think help from the United States would upset or excite the people living in Egypt?