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Butter before F-16s

Reader comment on item: Fixing Egypt's Economy: No More Military Macaroni

Submitted by Nick (United States), Jul 30, 2013 at 23:31

Growing economies are nice, but it is Egypt's military that is cracking down on the smuggling tunnels into Gaza, which bring Iranian missiles and other weapons. Morsi allowed the tunnels to stay open, turned a blind eye to weapons from Sudan going in, and even allowed Iranian warships to pass through the Suez, some carrying weapons exports.

It will also take a strong military to prevent a civil war between Egypt's Muslims and Christians, once the military makes the effort. Only if they can force their Muslims to make peace with their Coptic population, now about 9 million, will they ever begin to tackle their fundamental problems like food and water, and regain a secure future.

The Christians make up a disproportionate share of business owners. Once they feel the need to take flight, as Christians in Iraq, Syria and other Muslim countries have done recently, Egypt could implode economically and be engulfed in a civil war. And most of their Christians have no place to go. The country needs internal stability, food and water security, and peace with its neighbors, before it can regain its footing and grow again. As they have no enemies, they certainly don't need more F-16s from the U.S.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (26) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Virginity tests in colleges and Breast examinations for women that want to buy subsidized formula in Egypt [48 words]dhimmi no moreOct 2, 2016 11:37233114
Saudi Arabia plays curious role [101 words]Michael SSep 15, 2016 05:00232712
1The MB are terrorists and liars and criminals [201 words]dhimmi no moreAug 15, 2013 13:05208993
Wonder what Shater's son has [168 words]saraAug 15, 2013 21:44208993
Islamists and the truth [47 words]dhimmi no moreAug 16, 2013 07:48208993
Sissi sounds like a new Nasser... [11 words]Nazim CairoAug 3, 2013 19:35208730
2What next? [416 words]dhimmi no moreAug 4, 2013 06:57208730
Well done! [20 words]Nazim CairoAug 14, 2013 17:20208730
2The last ones to preach are the Turks [158 words]dhimmi no moreAug 15, 2013 06:29208730
1Read it one more time [52 words]dhimmi no moreAug 15, 2013 06:39208730
The MB in Egypt are terrorists and they kill children [161 words]dhimmi no moreAug 15, 2013 07:08208730
Again well done. [97 words]Nazim CairoAug 16, 2013 07:46208730
2He who lives by the sword dies by the sword and Erdogan is a loser [398 words]dhimmi no moreAug 17, 2013 20:16208730
Terrorists and their enablers [71 words]dhimmi no moreAug 17, 2013 20:59208730
2Egypt and the Armenian Genocide [95 words]dhimmi no moreAug 19, 2013 08:01208730
1'Auction of Souls' [24 words]AustralianAug 20, 2013 04:50208730
1The Armenian Genocide [110 words]dhimmi no moreAug 21, 2013 06:47208730
The Egyptian military and the taxes! [60 words]dhimmi no moreAug 2, 2013 14:28208707
An obvious Double-Bind here? [234 words]Ron ThompsonJul 31, 2013 15:52208678
GOOD HABITS ARE HARD TO BREAK [129 words]JACQUES HADIDAJul 31, 2013 14:04208675
1The Sadness of Egypt [220 words]RobinozJul 31, 2013 04:54208669
Fixing Egypt's Economy: No More Military Macaroni [64 words]BALARABE ABBAJul 31, 2013 02:27208662
Wishful thinking [30 words]T ShazlyJul 31, 2013 00:18208659
Butter before F-16s [204 words]NickJul 30, 2013 23:31208657
1US politics helped induce Egyptian Upheaval [596 words]Dr. Matania GinosarJul 30, 2013 22:29208656
Cause and effect [201 words]Randall P.Aug 2, 2013 20:36208656

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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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