The knight in the big world of American TV series

Chapter 2366

Chapter 2366

Apocalypse once built a city in the desert.

Perhaps this is the first city built by humankind since the age of gods!

Even by modern standards, that city is magnificent and grand!

The city was so magnificent that even now, Apocalypse still misses it. He designed it himself; all the buildings were made of stone, covered in gold and brightly colored paint!

Modern people may not be able to imagine how much manpower and resources such a city would require.

Keep in mind that at that time, bronze tools were not yet widely used. Only a few people could use bronze tools, and many people could only use ancient stone tools for their work!

Even so, Apocalypse managed to build a huge city in the desert, which was also his birthplace!

Even more outrageous, the city was still under construction even at the moment before Apocalypse was sealed away.

It's easy to imagine how despicable this guy is.

However, when Apocalypse returned to Egypt, he was still shocked. He thought he had been tricked and couldn't believe that this was the country he had once ruled.

Many people, upon hearing "ancient Egypt," might conjure images of pyramids, deserts, and camels traversing dunes. However, the truth is that ancient Egypt wasn't always a desert. First, we must understand that climate and the natural environment change over time. Furthermore, human activities also impact the natural environment. Therefore, were ancient Egypt a desert before? Is modern Egypt a desert? These questions deserve in-depth exploration. Simply put, neither ancient nor modern Egypt can be easily defined as a "desert." The area near the Nile River, both in ancient and modern times, possessed relatively abundant vegetation. However, the environment of modern Egypt underwent significant changes, especially with the construction of the Aswan High Dam across the Nile between 1960 and 1970.

The construction of the dam caused flooding in parts of southern Egypt, creating the silted-up Lake Nasser. Many modern Nubians were forced to relocate, and numerous archaeological sites were submerged. Furthermore, the dam ended the Nile's natural flooding, resulting in a desert landscape in southern Egypt very similar to what it is today.

Before the dam was built, the Nile's floods were generally not severe. Studies show that during the Bronze Age (c. 3300–1200 BCE), Nile floods were often larger than during the Iron Age (c. 1200–400 BCE), and this lower flood level persisted until around the time the dam was built. One effect of the generally higher Nile water levels during the Bronze Age was that around 2500 BCE, when the pyramids of Giza were built, the Khufu tributary, a tributary of the Nile that had disappeared, was located right next to the pyramids. This tributary allowed materials to be transported to the site by boat, greatly benefiting the construction of the pyramids. Interestingly, there has been a theory that because the Nile River basin was so vast and expansive, the ancient Egyptians living along the Nile or on the islands in the delta must have believed they lived on an island in the "Nile Sea." Isn't that intriguing? In short, ancient Egypt was not always a desert. Over time and with the impact of human activities, Egypt's natural environment changed significantly.

Apocalypse always felt like he'd been fooled! He felt that Egypt back then was much better than it is now!

Yes, Egypt can give you the illusion that you've traveled back in time by plane. You might just finish swiping your passport at the airport, only to be dragged into a haggling battle with a taxi driver the next second; you might be enjoying a buffet at a five-star hotel, only to step outside onto unpaved, muddy roads and children begging along the streets.

Egypt is not a poor country; it is a country misunderstood by history.

When Egypt is mentioned, almost everyone's first reaction is "pyramids", "pharaohs", and "Nile civilization".

Indeed, it possesses unparalleled ancient glory: one of the four ancient civilizations, the pyramids, the Sphinx, and Tutankhamun's mask are all World Heritage sites.

However, there is a huge "cognitive gap" between the reality of modern Egypt and its glorious history.

This country currently has a population of over 1.1 million, a GDP of less than $4000 billion, and a per capita GDP of less than $3500, ranking low globally. When you walk the streets of Egypt, the first thing that catches your eye is not civilization, but rather—traffic jams, dust, exposed brick houses, balconies with power lines hanging from them, and piles of burning garbage.

Luxury cars lined the entrance to the shopping mall, and security guards held submachine guns; across the street, a group of children squatted on the ground selling fruit, while their mother stood by, cursing and swearing, the sun so bright it was hard to breathe.

Currently, Egypt's economy remains heavily reliant on tourism and the Suez Canal, while agriculture and industry lag behind, resulting in a persistent and significant trade deficit. Analysts believe the primary cause of Egypt's current economic predicament is its long-standing irrational economic structure, compounded by the negative external impacts of surrounding geopolitical conflicts. Atif Sadawi, an expert at the Pyramid Center for Political and Strategic Studies, stated that the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the new round of Israeli-Palestinian conflict have all had severe negative external impacts on Egypt's economic and social development in recent years. "Egypt's current economic crisis is not a product of the past four or five years, but rather the culmination of a series of erroneous policies over the past thirty years. Therefore, despite the significant social impact of economic reforms, initiating them is absolutely necessary." Since President Sisi took office, his government has focused on improving infrastructure domestically and building a new administrative capital to enhance Egypt's international image. Simultaneously, it has adopted a firm yet prudent approach to ensuring political stability, combating illegal armed groups, and maintaining national security. In foreign policy, the Sisi government pursues a balanced diplomatic strategy, committed to maintaining friendly relations with major powers, proactively improving relations with regional countries, and actively mediating regional hotspots.

The aforementioned governance performance was commendable, and to a large extent guided the public to view the problems facing economic and social development with a relatively rational attitude. The "seeking stability" mentality dominated public opinion in Egyptian society.

Walking through the alleys of Cairo's Old City, you can always see teenagers around seventeen or eighteen years old pushing carts full of vegetables. They shouldn't be shouldering the burden of making a living so early, but because they can't find a way out, they have to find work prematurely—this is one of the most common scenes on the streets of Egypt after its population surpassed 100 million. In 2023, Egypt officially entered the "100 million population club," with more than half of its citizens still under the age of 30. While seemingly brimming with "labor potential," Egypt is actually suffocating under the weight of its population: young people squatting on the roadside vying for day labor, slums expanding into the desert, and the country spending huge sums of money importing food every year… Why has what others call a "demographic dividend" become an inescapable "burden" for Egypt? At the labor market near Tahrir Square in Cairo, young people crowd in before dawn every day, looking for work. 24-year-old Mohammed, clutching his crumpled university diploma, asks everyone he meets, "Do you have any odd jobs?" He majored in humanities, and in the six months since graduation, he's either found jobs paying less than $200 a month (not even enough to cover rent) or positions that explicitly state "only hiring those with 5 years of experience." “There are more than a dozen people like me in our village. Some stay at home and live off their parents, while others work on construction sites carrying bricks. Everyone wants to find a stable job, but it’s so difficult.”

Egypt's young population is indeed staggering: over 60% of its 1 million people are under 25, theoretically the group most likely to drive economic growth. However, official data shows that in 2024, Egypt's unemployment rate exceeded 12%, with the rate for young people aged 15-29 soaring to over 30%—meaning one in three young workers was unemployed. Even more worrying is that even those who do find work often find themselves earning meager wages: working as porters in tourist areas, selling roasted corn on the street, or unloading goods at the Suez Canal—jobs that require no skills and do not contribute significantly to economic growth.

Egypt's young people aren't unwilling to do "valuable" work; they lack the skills. The local education system remains stuck in the old ways, emphasizing theory over practical skills: in secondary school classrooms, teachers repeatedly teach history from decades ago, rarely mentioning practical skills; vocational schools are few and far between, and even those that exist teach outdated textile techniques, completely out of touch with the demands of modern tourism and electronics manufacturing industries. For example, the Red Sea scenic area receives tens of millions of tourists annually and desperately needs high-end guides fluent in Chinese and English, but most young applicants only know a few simple Arabic phrases and can't even explain the history of the attractions, leaving them to watch helplessly as foreign employees take their jobs. Even more critically, Egypt's resources simply can't support so many people. A glance at a map reveals that 96% of Egypt's land is desert; habitable, arable land accounts for only 3.5% of the country's area, all crammed along the Nile River. Feeding 1 million people with such limited arable land is incredibly difficult—Egypt imports nearly 40% of its food annually, with wheat alone accounting for a significant portion of the country's foreign exchange expenditure. Housing is an even bigger problem: Cairo’s slums cover more than half of the city’s area, and in some places a dozen people are crammed into a small, dilapidated house without water or electricity. The government wants to build affordable housing, but funds are limited and the construction cannot keep up with the rate of population growth.

The core problem is that Egypt's economy lacks the "strength" to absorb a large workforce. In recent years, Egypt's economy has relied on three main pillars: tourism, Suez Canal revenue, and remittances from overseas Egyptians. Tourism has been severely impacted by the pandemic and regional instability. It barely recovered in 2022, only to see a nearly 20% drop in tourist numbers in 2023 due to volatile surrounding conditions. While the Suez Canal generates billions of dollars annually, its labor demand is limited and cannot support large-scale employment. Remittances from overseas Egyptians do help supplement family income, but most of the money is spent on food and rent, failing to translate into industrial investment. As for manufacturing and high-tech industries, Egypt is virtually uncompetitive—lacking both a complete industrial chain and sufficient technological support, making it extremely difficult to build factories and attract young people.

In reality, the "demographic dividend" is never simply about having a large population; it requires that "people are able to work, there are jobs available, and the jobs they do are profitable." Egypt's predicament stems precisely from the lack of the latter two: young people lack skills to perform high-value work; the country lacks industry to provide sufficient jobs; and resources are limited, requiring imports even for basic necessities. Consequently, no matter how many young people there are, they only become a burden on the economy.

In this land, agriculture is one of the country's economic pillars; however, with the increasing population, the pressure on the land is also growing. Many farmers are forced to cultivate more land for their livelihoods, leading to increasingly serious desertification. At the same time, urban expansion is constantly devouring precious arable land resources. This vicious cycle presents Egypt's land resources with unprecedented challenges. Faced with the imbalance between population and land resources, the Egyptian government and various sectors of society have begun to recognize the importance of birth control. They generally believe that only by controlling population size can sustainable development of land resources be possible. The government has taken a series of measures to promote the implementation of birth control policies. First, it has strengthened publicity and education efforts, disseminating knowledge and the importance of birth control to the public through media, schools, and other channels. Second, it has formulated a series of policies and measures to encourage families to reduce the number of children, such as providing reproductive health services and expanding social security coverage. Furthermore, the government has strengthened the management and supervision of family planning work to ensure the effective implementation of policies.

The Arab Spring of 2011 ignited a firestorm across the Middle East, instantly making Egypt the focus of global attention. On the surface, the people finally took to the squares, veteran military leaders like Mubarak were ousted, and Egypt seemed poised for a political upheaval. The streets were quiet for just two days, and the flames of unrest subsided. But the atmosphere was like a pot of water about to boil suddenly covered; the heat was trapped inside, and no one knew when it would explode. Subsequently, the Muslim Brotherhood won the election, and many believed Egypt was embarking on a "democratic path." However, seeing its interests threatened, the military swiftly ousted the president, and elaborate "coups" became the new norm. Mubarak was ousted, Morsi came to power, and was quickly removed from office as well. It felt like the people had just begun to see the light at the end of the tunnel only to be pushed back down. Some proclaimed "democracy will prevail," but the reality was—regardless of who changed hands, the military's hand never left the nation's lifeline. Some noticed that flatbreads still cost two cents, inflation in banks continued to soar, and unemployment hadn't decreased but rather increased. Opponents argue that Egypt has changed its appearance but its underlying system remains the same, and more conflicts will inevitably erupt sooner or later. While things appear calm on the surface, everyone knows that if the price of bread rises, people will take to the streets to protest again.

As Egypt's economy plummeted, the International Monetary Fund, its Gulf allies, and Western allies rushed to its aid. President Sisi even borrowed $3000 billion to build a new city, aiming to emulate Dubai by moving Cairo out of the desert. No one expected that just as the foundations for the pyramids were laid, the national treasury was emptied, inflation soared, and the currency plummeted, to the point where they couldn't even afford the maintenance fees for the Suez Canal. Suddenly, everyone realized that "the Suez Canal is Egypt's lifeline." If it were ever blocked, global freight would be severely disrupted, and Europe and America immediately began making calls worldwide. Previously, it was thought that Egypt relied solely on a river; now it's clear that this river not only affects the Egyptians' livelihoods but also the fate of freight transport throughout the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The Middle East in turmoil causes headaches for Europe; Egypt in turmoil makes the world's heart race. Even more ironically, while Egypt's finances were in dire straits, the military had become a "state within a state," continuing its business activities and arms purchases, even becoming the world's third-largest arms importer—the common people couldn't afford bread, yet the army was stockpiling colored missiles. This contrast left the young people of the "Arab Spring" who had hoped for reform feeling completely manipulated, filled with anger, helplessness, and absurdity, escalating the conflict to a fever pitch.

Before the Apocalypse, this land was really a huge pile of gunpowder, and a single spark could cause it to explode!

Originally, everyone thought that after the coup d'état came to power, the conflict would intensify, and this place would become another source of chaos in the Middle East!

As a result, in the two years since Tianqi took office, not only has there been no large-scale chaos, but things have gotten better and better!