As the shift continues from the manufacturing economy of the industrial age to the digital economy of the information age, socio-political organizations throughout the developed countries, would have to transform themselves or else, by having to forcefully adapt later on. In the MENA countries or to put it simply in the republics segment of it as exemplified by Egypt, things are not exactly and for some time now, neither here nor there. Egypt’s ‘fancy new Space Agency’ could appear as incongruous were it not for El-Sissi, the current president seemingly being content with continuous reliance on the amiability of the world’s wealthy and above all the Gulf’s, mostly Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait aid hand-outs.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian government as reported by EGYPTIAN STREETS after having approved last summer a law establishing a space agency, declared in a statement, that space technology would allow Egypt to launch satellites from Egyptian territory and would contribute to the development of space technology and education across the country. The Egyptian Space Agency will also be responsible for devising a national space program with both short- and long-term visions.
Online Europe Newsweek of February 28, 2017 in an article by RUTH MICHAELSON starts as below.
On a dusty construction site in the desert on the outskirts of Cairo, a blue glass building glints in the sunlight. The shiny new complex is home to the new Egyptian Space Agency, a reboot of an abandoned 1960s program that the country’s cash-poor government says will produce satellites to drive innovation and discover resources, which it hopes are hiding under Egypt’s vast deserts.
After sweeping to power in a popular military coup almost four years ago, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is now struggling to prove he can save a sputtering economy that has led to long lines at gas stations and inflated food prices and prompted one desperate citizen to set himself on fire. The space program is el-Sissi’s latest attempt to reinvigorate the Egyptian economy with a series of mega-projects—from a new administrative capital city outside Cairo to a second Suez Canal. But while investing in infrastructure can create jobs and jump-start economic growth, many in Egypt question whether the country can afford el-Sissi’s projects when so many Egyptians are living in poverty.
The point of the article is obviously about the current contradictory situation of Egypt of today. As often as not, revolutions are often started by the outspoken, and then recuperated by those who come quietly from behind. El-Sissi at the helm seem to have as put by Larbi Sadiki, a professor at Qatar University writing in Global Risks Insights :
[ . . . ] On the economic front, no immediate panacea appears to be on the horizon for an Egypt plagued by a series of crises at home and bogged in the Middle East’s geopolitical rivalries. [ . . . ]
An already enfeebled tourism sector experienced a big blow in a precarious security situation, particularly in the Sinai Peninsula.
Revenue from the Suez Canal has proceeded to decline from 5.3 billion dollars in 2013 to under 5.2 billion dollars in 2015. Dwindling foreign reserves have only just stood still at $16.56 billion, perhaps simply a temporary development, at a time when the expanding gap in Egypt’s balance of payments deficit has directly resulted from a string of intractable problems. [ . . . ]
Cuts to longstanding government subsidies, which have been deferred due to the drop in global oil prices, may soon once again be enacted with a great fanfare of patriotic fervour to stem Egypt’s deficit. Tens of billions of dollars in loans, agreements and deposits from wealthier neighbours such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) also appear to be unable to buy el-Sisi’s government time to resolve the sharpening contradictions generated by its policies.
