First Independent Mena Newspaper
In many ways, it appears as if Algeria is weathering the Arab Spring fairly well. Despite its sheer size, it has dodged the cycle of demonstrations and upheaval, even though the Arab Spring started right in the next door Tunisia. Its long-term president Abdelaziz Bouteflika has maintained a façade of democracy, though his tenure has […]
While more and more voices, including those of Congressmen and editorialists, are criticizing the Obama Administration’s stand on the crisis in Egypt and denouncing as incoherent its foreign policy, President Barack Obama announced that the United States is cancelling its biennial joint military exercise with Egypt, initially scheduled for September. “While we want to sustain […]
After weeks of procrastination, hesitation and standoff between the Egyptian interim government and supporters of the Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, ousted by Gen. El Sissi, the security forces moved in to break up sit-ins and protest camps set up in Cairo by Muslim Brotherhood supporters demanding Morsi return to power. But the hardline move by […]
Authorities overseeing the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) are considering the conversion of their debts of more than $5 billion into bonds. The idea came as proposals and discussions with the Egyptian Central Bank to scrutinize it have resulted in a positive outcome. These debts are owed to foreign oil companies operating in the country. […]
Egypt’s Minister of Finance, Dr. Ahmed Galal, has declared that the government will increase its spending or at least maintain it without increasing taxes or imposing new ones. He claimed the government has “multiple resources” to support its budget. Morsi’s government tried to reduce public spending as requirements for a loan from the International Monetary […]
Many North African and Middle Eastern countries are in a state of great uncertainty. The struggles and revolutions of the Arab Spring struck down many oppressive governments, but violence has spread beyond North Africa and given way to insecurity in many states that were beyond the epicentre of the events – and these conflicts are […]
Simon Kuznets’ inverted U-shaped curve representing the hypothesis that with economic growth country’s inequality level initially increases and then decreases after reaching certain average income level has not yet found much support among the MENA economies. The MENA region has traditionally belonged to the most equal parts of the developing world as supported by the […]
Africa had its fair share of military power-grabs – actually, it had a good deal more than that. Throughout the Cold War, military coups were the rule, not the exception. And Egypt, the bridge between the African and Arab worlds, was no stranger to coups. After all, it was a coup by the Free Officers […]
Shortly after EU’s Catherine Ashton announced that she had an open and frank discussion with Mursi, the White House is planning to send John McCain and Lindsey Graham to meet Egyptian officials as early as next week. Both of them are republican senators for Arizona and South Carolina respectively. They have also met members of […]
Egypt could be taken an unprecedented turn on Friday if the calls of General Al-Sisi for a nationwide demonstration aimed at giving “(Al-Sisi) a mandate and an order to confront possible violence and terrorism” is heeded. He claimed that it will lead to the reduction of bloodshed and promote national reconciliation. The Muslim Brotherhood slammed […]