Once again, people are giving too much credit to America
Once again, people are giving too much credit to America
Originally Posted by Carlos Tevez
Once again, people are giving too much credit to America
Food inflation in Egypt was 20% a full 2-years before the economic crisis so how exactly did the global recession (which was partly caused by the U.S.) lead to this revolt? What people are forgetting is that many countries such as Egypt were dirt poor even years before "America caused this global crisis".
Then, you have to look around the region and see that people are not protesting solely due to economic grievances. Bahrain is a striking example of this and while I'm not 100% sure, I think that Libyans are fairly well off compared to other countries in the region.
Back to economics for a second...Egypt has sold off many state assets over the past 5-10 years and have introduced increasingly neoliberal economic policies which has ATTRACTED foreign investment. The increased foreign investment into the country is one of the reasons why the country's GDP has actually grown during this crisis. For many it is a no brainer to invest their money in Egypt. Relatively low corporate taxes, not as much red tape as before, 80 million consumers, roughly 10 million tourists a year, and perhaps most important of all, dirt cheap cost of living and labor costs. As many analysts have pointed out, there has virtually been no "trickle down effect" despite the country's increasing GDP and that is because the people at the top have been fattening their pockets while workers continue to make extremely low wages. Egypt's neoliberal economic policies have benefited the West including the U.S. Further, Hosni Mubarak was the U.S.'s #1 Arab and Muslim ally for 30-years not just because of his relationship with Israel but because he sent troops to fight Iraq in the Gulf War and he's long taken a hard stance against all Muslim political and social organizations due to fears of Islamic terrorism. So why exactly would the U.S. have wanted Hosni to leave and for a new democratic government in Egypt to emerge that would upset the status quo?
As for people that say "nothing has changed" and the current Egyptian leadership is composed of U.S. puppets, I agree but I want to make two points about this. First, the fact that many of those in charge are U.S. allies does not prove the point that the U.S. wanted this - or other - revolutions in the region to happen. Secondly, revolutions do not happen over night and its simply unrealistic to think a group of people that have led a country for many decades (I'm talking about Mubarak, the NDP and the military) will simply disappear overnight. Egypt is taking positive steps at the moment and the military have set the timetable for transition (constitutional amendments within 2 months, parliamentary and presidential elections within 6 months). If the elections turn out to be free and democratic then the U.S. will have little say in who composes Egypt's new government. t
Originally Posted by Carlos Tevez
Once again, people are giving too much credit to America
Food inflation in Egypt was 20% a full 2-years before the economic crisis so how exactly did the global recession (which was partly caused by the U.S.) lead to this revolt? What people are forgetting is that many countries such as Egypt were dirt poor even years before "America caused this global crisis".
Then, you have to look around the region and see that people are not protesting solely due to economic grievances. Bahrain is a striking example of this and while I'm not 100% sure, I think that Libyans are fairly well off compared to other countries in the region.
Back to economics for a second...Egypt has sold off many state assets over the past 5-10 years and have introduced increasingly neoliberal economic policies which has ATTRACTED foreign investment. The increased foreign investment into the country is one of the reasons why the country's GDP has actually grown during this crisis. For many it is a no brainer to invest their money in Egypt. Relatively low corporate taxes, not as much red tape as before, 80 million consumers, roughly 10 million tourists a year, and perhaps most important of all, dirt cheap cost of living and labor costs. As many analysts have pointed out, there has virtually been no "trickle down effect" despite the country's increasing GDP and that is because the people at the top have been fattening their pockets while workers continue to make extremely low wages. Egypt's neoliberal economic policies have benefited the West including the U.S. Further, Hosni Mubarak was the U.S.'s #1 Arab and Muslim ally for 30-years not just because of his relationship with Israel but because he sent troops to fight Iraq in the Gulf War and he's long taken a hard stance against all Muslim political and social organizations due to fears of Islamic terrorism. So why exactly would the U.S. have wanted Hosni to leave and for a new democratic government in Egypt to emerge that would upset the status quo?
As for people that say "nothing has changed" and the current Egyptian leadership is composed of U.S. puppets, I agree but I want to make two points about this. First, the fact that many of those in charge are U.S. allies does not prove the point that the U.S. wanted this - or other - revolutions in the region to happen. Secondly, revolutions do not happen over night and its simply unrealistic to think a group of people that have led a country for many decades (I'm talking about Mubarak, the NDP and the military) will simply disappear overnight. Egypt is taking positive steps at the moment and the military have set the timetable for transition (constitutional amendments within 2 months, parliamentary and presidential elections within 6 months). If the elections turn out to be free and democratic then the U.S. will have little say in who composes Egypt's new government. t
No surprise.
No surprise.
