http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/morsi-role-as-tipping-point-for-egypt-army-1.1450612 There is a lot more to these Egyptian revolutions than meets the eye. Apparently Morsi who was having severe domestic unrest was considering an attack on Syria thus consolidating his power at home by going to war. War though out history has been used as a distraction from domestic woes and to suppress dissent.

http://tarpley.net/ Webster Tarpley notes that the IMF imposed severe austerity measures on Egypt and thus the people rebelled, however the Egyptian Military saw war with Syria as being a disaster. Tarpley makes an excellent analysis of these events.

With Vladamir Putin arming Syria with advanced weapons and sending a permanent fleet of ships there, the Egyptian Military have probably stopped a massive war in the Middle East for the present.

Steady Arjay,

I sometimes think you “feel” things rather than actually “read and comprehend”.

There was no suggestion that Morsi was planning or proposing that Egypt go to war with Syria.

He failed to denounce the Muslim clerics in calling for a Jihad against Syrian Shia opposition forces but his call for “foreign intervention” was not a call for the Egyptian army to engage. It is more about the clerics “encouraging Egyptians to fight abroad, risking creating a new generation of jihadists”.

Go back and read your own link and stop getting emotional about what “think” was said rather than what was reported.

The problem with Egypt is that no one can fix their problem.
It is believed that the two revolutions of recent years are in fact the
first Peak Oil Revolutions.

From ancient times the Nile was able to support the population.
In fact Egypt was the breadbasket of the Mediterranean.
Oil production from the early 20th century produced an export income
which was used to subsidise imported food & fuel costs.

The population expanded from 40 million to the present 83 million.
However peak Egyptian oil occurred in 1993 and has declined to the
extent that Egypt is now an importer of fuels.
Unfortunately the Nile cannot support a population of that size and
to make matter worse the upper Nile countries are planning dams.

The first demonstrations started because of rising food and oil prices.
They then morphed into a political revolution.

If you want to see what a peak oil realisation looks like see the
first photograph in this link;

http://tinyurl.com/kum6ydk

Egypt faces Ludwigs nightmare;
Kill off half its population by starvation.
Go to war with its southern neighbours.
Force out into the rest of the world 40 million people.

Hi Bazz,

Not sure about the peak oil issue, Egypt is now fracking which is redressing the balance, check further down your own link.

Egypt’s economic woes are still primarily food production. Since the Aswan Dam was built there is no longer the annual flood, no flushing, no nutrients, soil degredation and shrinking arable land.

Once they had to start importing food they were in trouble.

I was there in 2011 and was shocked to see that the grand irrigation canal from Thebes to Cairo is empty. The west bank of the Nile has a towering wave of the Sahara pouring down on the Nile and I saw no arable land on the west side at all. I was told the even the fishing off the coast has gone, thought by the locals to be the lack of nutrient outflows.

Now they have killed off the last of tourism they are in deep doo doo

spindoc,

Good points.

The annual flooding has been integral to Egypt's existence since time immemorial, not only to Egyptian's material well-being, but also to their psyche.....cyclical renewal being the psychological paradigm.

Poirot,

An excellent point.

The culture of the Egyptian people remains strong in the South but interestingly, not so much North of Cairo. Alexandria is blessed with the Nile delta for agriculture; it is more westernized, has two new EU funded power stations, solid tourism and is less Islamic, even though they have a stunning Mosque as well as an equally stunning Cathedral.

The strong “psyche” in the south actually translates into division. From Cairo South they don’t even acknowledge Alexandria exists. For them the real Egypt and Egyptian culture is south of Cairo and that is where the most economic damage has been inflicted.

Glad we did the trip in 2011, wouldn’t want to visit now