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?
