Comm 160
Final Essay
Egypt: They Don’t Need Us
The fight whether or not the United States should give Democracy Assistance to Egypt has been going on for years. It’s always the same fight: do they really need or even want it? Egypt is on their way to becoming stable on their own. The fact of the matter is, if the United States tried to help, we would fail.
Although Egypt’s economy is having challenges, it is not as horrible as we perceive it to be. Egypt has a robust and diversified economic market. Before the revolution, Egypt enjoyed solid rates of economic growth, in the range of 6–7 percent between 2003 and 2009. Real GDP grew by 4.7 per cent in 2009 and by 5.3 percent in 2010 according to World Bank data, notwithstanding the global financial and economic crisis; a remarkable showing. This shows that Egypt is getting better, and they do not need the United States to help.
Egypt is already getting International Aid, which makes up for the Unites States slack. Despite some criticism aimed at the United States for not allocating more resources toward Egypt, U.S. officials have worked at the international level to garner support for Egypt. The International Monetary Fund has indicated it would provide a $3 billion, The World Bank has pledged up to $1 billion in each of the next two years. Bank has pledged up to $1 billion in each of the next two years. Saudi Arabia has already deposited $1 billion in the Central Bank of Egypt and has pledged an additional $3 billion, while Qatar has promised to inject between $5 billion and $10 billion. The G8 countries also have promised loans through development banks and have said after their latest meeting that they are willing to provide $5 billion for Egypt and through 2013. With all of this money that Egypt is getting, the United States should just stay out of it completely.
There have been reports saying that Egyptain Political Groups refuse United States Aid. Egyptians oppose the U.S. sending aid to political groups in their country, this is particularly the case among those who look to the U.S. as a political example. About two-thirds of Egyptians disagree that the U.S. is serious about encouraging democratic systems of government in MENA, when three-quarters of Egyptians expressed such skepticism; it still implies that a majority of Egyptians distrust U.S. motives. Most Egyptains don’t trust the United States motives, they feel like we will go over there and make them into exactly what kind of democracy we are. And that isn’t what they want. We don’t need to be sticking our neck out for people who will not appreciate it.
Helping Egypt with their problems will fail in the long run. . The "Arab Spring" created dramatic contrasts between America's professed ideals and its actual behavior. As the Egyptian crisis heated up, the Obama administration embraced President Mubarak. Then Washington suggested an orderly transition to democracy. How is the United States really helping, if they are doing exactly the opposite of what the Egyptian people want? They wanted Mubarak out of office, and the United States was embracing him. The administration didn’t help Egypt after everything that happened to Mubarak. Rather than attempting to micromanage the internal policies of other nations, Washington should stay out of other nations' conflicts. We thought we were helping, but Egyptains noticed that we aren’t doing what they want, and they refuse the United States.
Egypt claims that U.S. assistance programs must be jointly negotiated and cannot be unilaterally dictated by the United States. Consolidated Appropriations Act contains general legislative language on the use of U.S. funds to NGOs, stating With respect to the provision of assistance for democracy, human rights and governance activities in this Act, the organizations implementing such assistance and the specific assistance shall not be subject to the prior approval by the government of any foreign