I Just Discovered Egypt's Most Integral Resource

[dannno]

I feel like an idiot, but here it is:


You got the Red Sea with Egypt on the left, and Saudi Arabia on the right. The canal in the center goes right through Egypt, near Cairo.

All of the oil from the Middle East would have to go around the cape in South Africa if it wasn't for the Suez Canal -

http://www.navis.gr/canals/images/su_space.jpg


Imagine what the Kings and Queens in Europe would have gone through to have and control the Suez Canal during the exploration and trade period..

[dannno]

bump

[kah13176]

Thought of this already:

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?277259-Why-the-shit-may-hit-the-fan-in-the-next-few-weeks

[jmdrake]

Uh....yeah. Remember when Israel, Britain and France wrested control of the Suez canal from Egypt?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Crisis

[dannno]

Thought of this already:

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?277259-Why-the-shit-may-hit-the-fan-in-the-next-few-weeks


Thanks, some good info in this thread.

Including that the two biggest class oil tankers cannot fit, so they go around the horn (thanks Zippy)

Probably wouldn't turn into a crisis.. but there is no incentive to shut it down.. there is incentive, likely, to raise prices.. but they have every right to do so.

[pcosmar]

Egypt's Most Integral Resource

One thing that is puzzling me, Why is there a shortage of food? or better yet, why are they importing food?

Egypt has some of the richest farm land in the world. The population is concentrated in a few cities.
Was this done on purpose? Why is farming discouraged or stifled?

Things that make me go ,,,hmmm

[dannno]

Egypt's Most Integral Resource

One thing that is puzzling me, Why is there a shortage of food? or better yet, why are they importing food?

Egypt has some of the richest farm land in the world. The population is concentrated in a few cities.
Was this done on purpose? Why is farming discouraged or stifled?

Things that make me go ,,,hmmm

Because other countries subsidize their agriculture more than Egypt, so it is not cost effective for Egyptians to grow their own food.. so they have to find something else to do to trade, and since they don't produce a lot of other stuff they end up poor.

[Cutlerzzz]

I feel like an idiot, but here it is:


You got the Red Sea with Egypt on the left, and Saudi Arabia on the right. The canal in the center goes right through Egypt, near Cairo.

All of the oil from the Middle East would have to go around the cape in South Africa if it wasn't for the Suez Canal -
]


Imagine what the Kings and Queens in Europe would have gone through to have and control the Suez Canal during the exploration and trade period..

I thought that European Empires built it?

[StilesBC]

I think there would be huge incentive for the Egyptian people to close it down. A "starve the beast" kind of tactic.

I could easily see the port operators going on strike and blockading the canal. Mubarak's gov't would lose millions per day.

[dizi24]

Egypt's Most Integral Resource

One thing that is puzzling me, Why is there a shortage of food? or better yet, why are they importing food?

Egypt has some of the richest farm land in the world.


What??? Have you ever visited Egypt? It has one of the lowest percentages of arable lands in the entire world

[Rothbardian Girl]

What??? Have you ever visited Egypt? It has one of the lowest percentages of arable lands in the entire world

Is that so? I only know this from my Latin class, but it was the breadbasket of ancient Rome. Of course that was a looooong time ago, but I always thought Egypt was in a relatively better situation than other countries in Africa.

e: lol, just checked a few statistics - you're right. My bad.

[pcosmar]

What??? Have you ever visited Egypt? It has one of the lowest percentages of arable lands in the entire world

It is not Percentages of land. It is the richness of the land. my question was "what happened to the farming?"
This might explain some.
http://farmlandgrab.org/11213

I suspect between relocating population for control and poor management of the available land or leasing it to outside interests has left them begging.