Egypt's Islamist Springboard
Sustained, wild riots rampage through Egypt, a country massively unsettled by the results of its Arab Spring protests that toppled its former president, Hosni Mubarak from power, and took the governing administration of the country effectively out of the hands of its ruling military council. This country of 80-million people has the tenth largest military in the world, consisting of army, navy, airforce and defence command.And Egypt's military is rounded out by its large paramilitary forces, its central security forces in control of the Ministry of Interior, its Egyptian Border Guard Forces and National guard under the Ministry of Defence. In addition to which, there is the large contingent of security represented by he Egyptian police. The police forces are feared and hated by Egyptians for their brutality, and the military seen as defenders of Egypt and its people.
The widespread rioting, clashes between opposing tribal, clan, sectarian and sports forces; the death toll of the last week, and the seeming inability of the Muslim Brotherhood-led government of President Mohammed Morsi to bring order and security back to the streets have prompted an unusual declaration from the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, General Abdul Fatah Khalil Al-Sisi, that Egypt is in danger of imploding.
If matters continue on their current trajectory and remain immune to settling down, it may be seen as required that the military step in and take over the government. An effective return to the half-century of military rule of Egypt. Back when the despised Hosni Mubarak led a country that his predecessor who had signed a peace treaty with neighbouring Israel had governed until his assassination. A country that was fairly stable under autocratic rule.
Egypt's economy was on the upswing, its fabled tourism industry in full gear, foreign investment securely in place and employment rising through manufacturing, though never full enough, particularly for the young and the educated. Crime was a problem, and the police who were so hated, kept it in check. The police have since withdrawn their full services meeting crime head on, and the crime situation in the streets has since deteriorated.
In tandem with the employment situation and the general economic situation for the country as a whole, it is teetering toward bankruptcy. The official national unemployment rate is stated at 12.6% which seems tolerable. The real unemployment rate of people between 15 and 29 years of age is almost 80%. Egyptians, other than the majority Islamists, mourn the loss of their years of economic growth when they agitated for change only to find themselves living a kind of change that has shocked them.
The International Monetary Fund refuses to hand over to Egypt's decrepit economy the $4.8-billion it needs to tide it over this bleak period. The reforms the IMF insists upon are easier articulated than taken into action, requiring an increase in taxes, a decrease in public spending, either of which would spell disaster for an increasingly poverty-stricken public.
Where Egypt needs financial assistance to bolster its sclerotic economy, its benefaction from the United States has come in the guise of advanced weapons - 20 F-16 fighter jets, 200 M1A1 Abrams tanks. To use against whom at this juncture? The roving bands of Islamists and al-Qaeda terrorists confronting Egypt in the Sinai? Or to quell the ongoing riots threatening to destroy whatever remains of Egyptian stability?
Labels: Conflict, Controversy, Economy, Egypt, Human Relations, Islamism, Muslim Brotherhood
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, January 30, 2013
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