Former MP and Al Masry Al Youm columnist Amr El Shobaky says conspiracy theories are the reason the country’s problems are not addressed (and while we’re at it, let’s get rid of “cui bono” reasoning altogether — this was scathing enough in 2010 and still resonates today).Conspiracy theories are an integral part of political, domestic, and foreign policy, he says. The result is complacency and placing blame on external factors with cases including the Metrojet crisis and ergot contamination instead of identifying gaps and flaws and addressing them.

The Al Masry Al Youm columnist writing under the pseudonym Newton agrees, claiming Egypt’s system is neither parliamentarian or presidential, with people in power relying on conspiracy theories in some of their judgments. He mentions the ergot policy specifically, and closes by asking if local authorities are aware that domestic wheat, despite its significantly higher cost, is “full of ergot.”