By: Preeya Ninan

Young, K. E. (2017, August 23). Analysis | How Egypt wound up in the center of a Gulf Cooperation Council dispute on Qatar. Retrieved October 18, 2017, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/08/23/how-egypt-wound-up-in-the-center-of-a-gulf-corporation-council-dispute-on-qatar/

Karen Young’s article in the Washington Post, “How Egypt wound up in the center of a Gulf Cooperation Council dispute on Qatar,” highlights the complicated and global nature of the Egypt-Qatar conflict regarding the ironic and unfortunate juxtaposition of their political tensions and their economic ties. Young explains how political disputes between Egypt and Qatar have complicated economic relations between the two nations. Egypt remains reliant on Qatar for natural gas and is unable to provide for itself due to obstacles regarding both supply of the resource and financial troubles; a growing population dramatically increases Egypt’s demand for and reliance on electric power as well as other natural resources, resources that Egypt is unable to provide for itself. Gas production has decreased during the past decade, and political tensions in the country make it difficult to commit time and energy into focusing on how Egypt can provide for itself. These factors all combine to create a high dependence on Qatar, a country that is able to provide for Egypt’s growing needs. However, due to political tension, Egypt’s political ties fall contrary to its forced economic ties, causing complications.

This issue is not one that simply involves Egypt and Qatar and the GCC. Not only does this situation complicate things and provide concerns for Egypt, but since many Qatari trades are mediated by Egypt’s trading ports and economic zones, increased tension between Egypt and Qatar would not only negatively affect the political and economic state of Egypt, but it would also have detrimental impacts on many other countries all over the world, turning an international issue into a global issue. Further, the experimental nature of this issue, it being the first of its kind, provides many opportunities for other countries around the world who may be in danger of encountering a similar issue in the future to learn from Egypt’s decisions and the outcome of that decision to better instruct themselves if the same event should occur for themselves.