in the comments to this post Greg L. recommended the planet money podcast egypt's military, inc.. i finally got around to listening to it yesterday and i highly recommend it.
if nothing else, it looks at the situation in egypt (and the egyptian military's motives) from an angle that no one else seems to be taking. while i think the podcast should have at least mentioned the enormous u.s. aid package that provides most of their funding when it discussed that institution's economic interests and motives, i hadn't been aware of the fact that the military owns such a substantial portion of the businesses in the egyptian economy. that, like u.s. funding, will also be the lens through which military leaders view each decision as they weather the protest's storm. check it out.
if nothing else, it looks at the situation in egypt (and the egyptian military's motives) from an angle that no one else seems to be taking. while i think the podcast should have at least mentioned the enormous u.s. aid package that provides most of their funding when it discussed that institution's economic interests and motives, i hadn't been aware of the fact that the military owns such a substantial portion of the businesses in the egyptian economy. that, like u.s. funding, will also be the lens through which military leaders view each decision as they weather the protest's storm. check it out.
