Egypt has always been a country of the enormous economical contrasts. The legacy of the pre-Nasser era (poverty of the most of the population) has been lingering through the decades of the subsequent regimes. The National Gross Product rose in a steady pace. However the gap between the rich and the poor has been increasingly widening. A huge part of the Egyptian population lives on less than $2.0 a day - which right now is probably sufficient to supply the basic food on the table, but literally nothing else, let alone the accommodation, clothes and other expenses associated with living in a country with growing steadily importance, like Egypt. More than 50% of the population is younger than 30. Among them the huge percentage is jobless (not the less than 10% of he total work force).
In this context we have to look at the 'monetary value' of the government officials. It has a direct correlation with growing disappointment of the masses which led to the uprising. Let's have a look at some of the details:
Mubarak's family's wealth is estimated to be close to $70 BILLION. Taking under consideration the length of his reigns (30 years), it makes the increase of around $2.3 Billion / year.
We all know that the United States helps Egypt in the amount around $1.7 Billion / year. The simple calculation shows that he 'skimmed' the system (well, the word 'skimmed' doesn't really apply to the act of appropriation of the public funds in such a degree) annually of $600 Million more than the whole US help. I understand that some of this growing fortune is the result of the 'smart' investing - but this argument is lost and inadequate for me the same way as 'quite legal' earnings of the businesses owned by Comorra (Neapolitan crime organization). What count is the fact of appropriation in the illegal way enough money to launch all these 'legal' businesses.
Former Interior Minister Habib Al Adly is worth $1.4 Billion, former Trade Minister Mohamed Rachid is worth $1.8 Billion, former Housing Minister Ahmed al-Maghraby is worth $1.4 Billion, and the list goes on. The whole government has been immersed so deeply in the corrupt economical polices of the favoritism, that the only way to deal with that now is to dismiss the whole government and start all over again.
However this ally of the United States didn't have to look too far for an example of such governmental business involvement and sprung from it favoritism. During the whole Presidency of Bush Jr. big part of his government had the serious relationship with the big business, and what is more important in this case, with the Arab based business and groups of interest.
Dick Cheney was a chief executive officer of Halliburton from 1995 through August 2000 (before becoming the VP). Democrats pointed out that Cheney received deferred compensation from Halliburton under an arrangement he made in 1998, and also retains stock options (while being the Bushes VP). After the Gulf War was over (it's still simmering), all the major oil related contracts went to the Halliburton - as the most qualified candidate - or is it just a policy of favoritism. The former US President, George Herbert Walker Bush was on board of Directors of the Carlyle Group (or "The Ex-Presidents' Club") with the strong ties to the Saudi businessmen. Carlyle also has become the thread which indirectly links American military policy in Afghanistan to the personal financial fortunes of its celebrity employees, not least the current president's father. The firm also gave George W. Bush help in the early 1990's when it placed him on one of its subsidiary's board of directors. "Questions are now bound to be raised if the recent Bush Administration change in policy towards Iraq has the fingerprints of the Carlyle Group, which is trying to gain investments from other Arab countries who would presumably benefit from the new policy," stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. It was a few years ago, but how was the US policy in the region influenced by that?
I will leave you to make a line connecting these dots yourselves.
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Besides the accusations of the mishandling of the public funds, and other forms of corruption, all the government officials have been accused of being the active parts of the "repression machine" well functioning throughout the decades. As I mentioned in the former posts, the 'thug' attacks on the protesters as well as all the violence against the media members were by all blamed on the government. Recently TV anchor Hala Fahmy to Al Jazeera stated: "Information Minister Anas al-Feki is behind the Baltagiya (thug) attacks on Meydan Tahrir (Tahrir Square) protesters". It goes along the accusations made by the American Intelligence community which is sure that the orders came from the government - it's only unknown how high (how close the President) were the orders originated.
The Egyptian Government insists on keeping Mubarak as a fully functioning President to instigate all the necessary constitutional changes which were asked for by the protesters (which also transpire from the VP's talks with the opposition). This position is surprisingly shared by the US envoy (Ambassador Wisner) who backs Mubarak up "acting as a private citizen - and not expressing the position of the US Government" (as stated by spokesman of the US Government). How far Ambassador Wisner complicated the situation in Egypt, is hard to estimate. It's safe to say that it empowers the compromised government tremendously, and doesn't go well with the surrounded by the army protesters on the Tahrir Square who made up their mind days ago.
According to the popular views Mubarak still must go away.
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