suez canal

Economics is more important than politics

It was 140 years ago that the Suez Canal linking the Red Sea at Port Suez and the Mediterranean at Port Said became operational which changed the history of the world. In 1869 the dream of Ferdinand de Lesseps who had created this unique engineering marvel became a reality. It is a 100-mile-long ship canal which also links the Indian Ocean with Atlantic through Gibraltar. At its opening, the canal had a draught of 26 ft. Today, it is more than 60 ft. Now as then it was a commercial necessity. It earns Egypt annual revenue of $ 2 billion. After 1950s the Canal became a highly volatile political issue. In July 1952 Gamal Abdul Nasser overthrew the monarchy and established a republic in Egypt. By this time the canal had already become important as the highway of oil from the Persian Gulf. As a part of Cold War politics, US and UK withdrew their offer to fund the construction of the Aswan Dam in Egypt. Nasser promptly nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956. This saw a tripartite aggression on Egypt by Britain, France and Israel which was finally stalled under US pressure. According to scholars of International Relations, the Suez Crisis had changed the course of world history. Britain and France lost their pre-eminence in the world. It also saw the emergence of US and USSR as new super powers. This crisis has also some firsts to its credit. The General Assembly of UN resolved to establish UN Emergency Force [UNEF] to keep borders at peace. The UNEF was a creation of Lester Pearson of Canada who was awarded the Noble Peace Prize in 1957. The Canal again became a hot issue when it was closed for 8 years during the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967-73. Back then the ships used to circumnavigate Cape of Good Hope. After that it has become a calm and peaceful region for international trade proving once again that today economics is more important than politics.

By A.K.