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| Africa North |
| Eat Less, Egypt's Government Tells Its People |
| 2013-02-06 |
| by Spengler h/t Instapundit "Even Islamists have to eat," I wrote under the headline "Food and Failed Arab States" in February 2011. Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood government takes a different view, the Washington Post reported yesterday. The trouble, the government says, is that Egyptians are eating too much. In a separate report, the government proposed to cut back its bread subsidy to three hand-sized loaves of pita bread per person per day, about 400 calories' worth. A state that can't feed its people is a failed state, and that's why the Egyptian state is at the brink of collapse, as Egypt's defense minister warned last week. According to the Post report, the government is telling Egyptians (almost half of whom live on less than $2 a day) to eat less. You can't make this sort of thing up. Egypt lost another $1.4 billion in foreign exchange reserves in January, and probably is flat broke after figuring in arrears to oil and food suppliers, and it imports half its food, so something had to give. In response, Egypt's Islamist government is emulating North Korea's approach to food shortages: Egypt's government is recommending that Egyptians avoid overeating in order to cope with rising food prices and chronic household shortages, according to local media reports. |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #13 Ah...Obesity Epidemic? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2013-02-06 21:09 |
| #12 It's Spengler. Well worth going to the link and reading in full. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-02-06 20:49 |
| #11 AlanC, you might be waiting a while... |
| Posted by: Steve White 2013-02-06 20:02 |
| #10 I've seen Barbara shoot. I wouldn't want to be in her sights. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2013-02-06 19:31 |
| #9 Barb, can I borrow that when you're done? |
| Posted by: AlanC 2013-02-06 18:44 |
| #8 "When I hear the words 'Social Justice', I reach for my butter knife." I reach for my .357, Steve. :-( |
| Posted by: Barbara 2013-02-06 18:39 |
| #7 “Bread, Freedom and Social Justice.” When I hear the words 'Social Justice', I reach for my butter knife. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2013-02-06 18:35 |
| #6 Dear Egypt: Once upon a time, the Nile fed not only Egypt, but Rome and Constantinople. Get off your asses and start farming. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2013-02-06 18:18 |
| #5 Let them eat bacon. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2013-02-06 17:57 |
| #4 Difference between NK & Egypt is that Egypt has no bark; no trees to speak of. Maybe FLOTUS knows a good recipe for sand. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2013-02-06 17:47 |
| #3 I'm sure the First Lady will be more than happy to stop by and design a diet. Lots of vegetables and all that. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-02-06 17:00 |
| #2 And cue the rioting and looting of Egypts Treasures. Seriously, I'm starting to think in 2 years there won't BE a new Library or musuem of Antiquity in Egypt. |
| Posted by: Charles 2013-02-06 16:49 |
| #1 Stop thinking so hard, your using up all our brains. Eat less, think less, wait for the flooding of deh Nile. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2013-02-06 16:40 |