Posted on 03/04/2013 7:16:06 PM PST by nickcarraway
Egyptians are in financial distress but they are not selling their pyramids to the Qataris yet
Rumour has it that the Qataris are out to buy the pyramids from the Egyptians, columnist Abdul Rahman Al Rashed wrote in yesterday's edition of the Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Al Awsat.
There has been another amusing rumour that the Qataris have made a bid to buy the Suez Canal. It is said that the bid was made to the deputy supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, Khairat Al Shater.
"Think of it in the context of a globalised world, it won't be that bizarre if it happens," Al Rashed observed. "Remember Harrod's, the most important department store in Europe, and one of London's historic icons? It was bought by the Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al Fayed, who owned it for a quarter of a century before selling it, three years ago, to Qatar at £1.5 billion."
What is so wrong, then, with the Egyptians selling off the Suez Canal or the pyramids to the Qataris, who have enough hard currency to resolve Egypt's critical budget deficit? Decades ago, the Egyptians sold the Brits their shares in the Suez Canal? The canal was then controlled by the French under a 99-year lease.
But that would never happen today, the columnist said. "It's far easier to imagine New York selling its Statue of Liberty or the French putting the Elysée Palace up for rent. But it is impossible that Egyptians would ever sell the Great Sphinx or any other historical monument."
These quirky anecdotes about Egypt have been dismissed as groundless rumours, but they still piqued Egyptians. The fact is that these rumours underline the gravity of the financial hardship that the Muslim Brotherhood-led government has been through since it came to power, the writer said.
"What is undeniable is that the Brotherhood government is in such financial distress that it is looking into every nook and cranny for an extra buck. It is even considering reconciliation with businessmen who are in court or in jail over corruption charges," Al Rashed wrote.
Given their history with colonisation, Egyptians are allergic to foreign ownership of their possessions.
Even under the unseated president Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian opposition took the government to task over the sale of the Omar Effendi department stores to a Saudi food company, the columnist said.
"It is hard to see how the Qataris would be able to hypothetically run the Suez Canal. It sure isn't Harrod's." The Muslim Brothers who are coming from a background of community service and grassroots action do not know much about macroeconomics.
"Now they realise that feeding 80 million people a day is not an easy task," the writer said in conclusion. And their continued efforts to monopolise power are not going to help.
The muslim brotherhood has said the want to destroy the pyramids, why would they sell them?
Eventually - the islamics will destroy the pyramids as being non-islamic idols. Might was well get a few dollars for them now...
There were rumors that they would, but I think they officially denied it.
They woulda gone nice with my Brooklyn Bridge.
The Great Pyramid would look magnificent placed just outside of Laughlin.
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GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
Thanks a fool in paradise for the ping, and thanks nickcarraway for the topic. |
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“Buy the pyramids now and have them delivered by Friday”, Amazon.Egyptcom.
The Pyramids are out, but slaves are still OK.
Any tourist that values their life won't visit their crumbling old monument anyway. (Take THAT for the Statue of Liberty comment).
And that is all the sphinx is worth . In another hundred years, the sand will take it down...
What would the slaves do without making pyramids?
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