High Food Prices and Unemployment Fuel Uprisings in the Middle East

This week we’ve been covering the rise in oil prices during the unrest in Egypt. Yesterday anxiety in the region sent the price of a barrel of oil above $100. Additionally, the combination of high global food prices and high unemployment is making the prospect of these countries returning to some sense of normalcy seem untenable in the near future.

Tarik Yousef, founding dean of the Dubai School of Government and Senior Brookings Fellow, says the frustration of young people in the region is deep and has been growing for nearly a decade, and without real outlets for airing their grievances. Max Rodenbeck, Middle East correspondent for The Economist and author of “Cairo: The City Victorious” is in Tahrir Square.