By Micah Halpern
I've Been Thinking:
Egypt is responding in very interesting ways to the threat by the United States to pull $1.3 billion in aid if the 19 NGO pro-democratic activists they have taken prisoner are not freed.
First: they said that they will be forced to reconsider their peace treaty with Israel if the aid is not delivered.
Second: the head of a major Islamic institution of Salafists, a group that garnered about 30% of the parliament vote, offered an interesting suggestion. He said that every Egyptian should donate $1.66 to help offset the loss of the aid.
The math is just funny. There are approximately 81 million people in Egypt so, if everyone gave $1.66 to the cause the total amount would be about $125 million which is hardly $1.3 billion.
The sad reality is that the average GDP annual income in Egypt is $2892. I did not forget to add the zeroes, that is their average income.
Aid to Egypt has fluctuated over the past decade going from as high as $2.075 billion to as low as $1.5 billion.
Egypt is making all the wrong decisions and they must suffer the consequences. If the United States pulls their aid they lose their leverage. But even with the generous offer of $1.3 billion, it does not appear as if the US has much leverage over Egypt, anyway.
Micah@MicahHalpern.com
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