De-NILE isn't just a River in Egypt!

Pandemonium in Egypt! As you might have seen recently in the news Egypt's people have been violently protesting for 6 days and counting! There's millions pouring into the streets of Cairo demanding that their current president Hosni Mubarak step down from his position and transition to new institution of a free and fair election. Why are the Egyptian people doing this?

Well here are the facts:
-President Mubarak is the 4th and current President of Egypt since 1981(the longest serving president in Egypt). That's 29 YEARS! However Egypt doesn't seem to have much to show for it...
-Currently living standards in Egypt are low by international standards, and have declined consistently since 1990!
-According to United Nations figures, some 20 to 30 percent of the population live below the poverty line.
-The extremes are reflected in the country's distribution of income: in 1996, the wealthiest 20 percent of Egyptians controlled 39 percent of the country's wealth, while the poorest 20 percent controlled only 9.8 percent of wealth. READ MORE
Why is this important?
The people of Egypt have been suffering for quite some time. The uneven balance of wealth has also been shown geographically as well. Historically, the north of Egypt has been more prosperous and received more government attention than the predominantly rural south. The economic reforms launched by the Egyptian government in the early 1990s have been double-edged, severely affecting the lower classes and threatening to further erode popular support for the government. Both the rural and urban poor have suffered from the long decline in the quality of social services provided to Egyptians. A lack of adequate resources for schools and hospitals has meant that these services have declined in quality over the years.
US aid from President Obama
The people of Egypt have looked to President Obama for help however our hands at the moment are tied. First of all President Mubarak has aided us tremendously regarded our terrorism threats. Without his cooperation and help the U.S. would not have been able to overcome certain obstacles that we have recently faced. However Obama has already come out and said that he has spoken with the Egyptian president and that he has already expressed his concern for the people and that President Mubarak needs to make good on his promises of helping those in need in Egypt. READ MORE
Fears of the future
Currently we are also facing a greater fear. If we look back in the Iranian revolution where a pro-American dictator was replaced by an even worse regime that was even more anti-american and threatening to the region. We're afraid that a post mubarak Egypt will give rise to some kind of Islamic fundamentalist force that will undermine the democracy of Egypt. This is another reason why President Obama can not ask someone who has been a friend to America to step down as President of Egypt. READ MORE

Scary topic we see in the news but we must do our best to understand and have a voice. I'm not saying to go join the revolution or start a pro or anti blog. I just want you to have a personal voice on the issue. Talk to others when you're out getting coffee or shopping with your girlfriends. I've just given you information and now come up with your own assumptions or arguments. My goal here is just to have people be aware.

p.s.
I would LOVE to hear back from anyone out there. If you have questions I would love to answer them. If you have any tips on blogging I would love to hear back on ways I can make my posts more interesting. Let me know <3 Hope you're have a relaxing Sunday!

Love,

Lil