[Washington Post] Jackson Diehl - As prices for bread and rice soar in the latest swing in global commodities, dictators are tottering. For more than half a century, Egypt has been run by a military-backed dictatorship that has supplied its millions of poor with subsidized bread. Consequently, Egypt consumes more bread per capita than France. As global prices have soared 48% in the past year, cheap bread has been disappearing from Egyptian shops. The predictable result came on April 6. Angry crowds took to the streets for two days. Schools and shops were burned, a huge billboard of President Hosni Mubarak was torn down and at least two people were killed when police opened fire.
2008-04-23 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive