Well I've been watching the news lately and its impossible to find a news program that does not mention the Protest in Cairo, Egypt for Mubarak to step down from his 30 years of ruling. I was watching the news a few days ago and you will never guess what I learned about the Tear Gas Canisters that Egypt's police used against the protesters, they had "Made in U.S.A" on them, that shocked me, mainly because who would put that on any kind of military equipment? Seems illogical to me.

I guess the point of this thread it to get all of your views on this, as well as the rest of the protests that have started in Tunisia, Yemen, and now even Sudan, which all started when a young man in Tunisia burned himself to death, seems to have made quite an impact on the world as a whole

I mentioned this in the admin mod chat thread the other day.


My bigger concern was in how this "rebellion" has called to the US and Britain to help remove the guy?
I mean really?

You help over throw a few governments and suddenly you are stereo typed.

My concern, the same with many people that I know, is will this be like algeria where a radical muslim comes to power through democracy, but I also agree with you, Six, this could turn into trouble for the US and Britain

There's a difficult tension here. Mubarak has led a very repressive regime for the last 30 years (though not, I understand, in the same league as Saddam or the Iranian leaders (both the Shah and the revolution that replaced him)) but has been a broker for stability having formed the peace agreement with Israel and clamped down on Islamist groups. I liken the situation to Pakistan which, for several years recently, was run by General Musharraf who took over in a military coup. Musharraf was definitely not democratic but he was also firm on tackling th Islamist terror groups and parties, and was free from much of the corruption that plagues Paskistani civilian political life. Since Musharraf stepped down the same old corrup politics is back and that country is sliding closer and closer to the abyss with the dangerous Islamist agenda gaining popularity (witness the recent assasination of the government minister by his own bodyguard).

My concern for Egypt is that once Mubarak goes (and don't get me wrong here, I am no fan of Mubarak and his regime) democractic processes will leave the country open to exploitation by the radical Islamist groups. At first we may see a government with a benign outlook but soon the Muslim Brotherhood will insinuate itself into power and a more radical and confrontational government will emerge in a region that needs stability.

Tunisia, on the other hand, looks to be heading in a more stable direction. Yemen is problematic because it struggles to contain its terrorist groups and is a safe haven for Al Qaeda (I think). Sudan is poised for change as the south has just voted to secede from the north. While this, on the face of it, looks good, who knows what tensions that might kick off when the separation takes place and the south needs oil supplies from the north.

You make some great points, eat, I actually wrote an essay this year for one of my history classes on the Sudan Referendum and I've been interested ever since to see what would happen there, hate that it all the hype has quieted down and I wasn't able to hear about the result

I think a key thing to remember about ALL revolutions is that at first the moderates take power and then the liberals take power, we have evidence of this during the French Revolution and the Bolshevik Revolution

I think I forgot to mention a couple of things in my opening post, the situation in Egypt is very tense for the United States because we have two sides: one that is secular, as close to a friend as Israel can get with its neighbors, for the time being that is, but the other side is saying that they want freedom and reform and freedom is one of our basic principles and so we should have no problem choosing with the protesters but it doesn't work that way, and then you throw in the $1.3-2 billion of financial aid that we send Egypt and I start to wonder, "where will all that go once the democratic government steps in? Will we even continue that financial aid?" I trust that many governments in Egypt will not do anything wrong with but what IF either an anti-US or even worse anti-Israel government or just a radical government comes to power?

Another key thing, I think, is that if a government that is similar to the Taliban gets elected is will the protesters get what they want? I doubt a government that is similar to the Taliban will give them the freedoms that they want

I don't know that the Muslim Brotherhood are quite as idiotic as the Taleban, but I also cannot see the USA sending $1bn dollars of military aid to an Islamist regime either. Syria is also experiencing tremors at the moment as is King Abdullah in Jordan who has spent a lot of effort over the years suppressing hardline millitant Islamist groups there. Throw Iran's meddling into the mix with Ahmadinejad's rabid anti-Semitic fervour and I wouldn't be surprised if Israel is stockpiling ammo at the moment.

To be honest with you, earth, I think military has cashes full of weapons and ammunition all of the time, considering their history of either being at war or preparing for war either most or all of their existence I can't say I blame them, they just need to maintain an observer position, temporarily at least, to avoid the international attacks they received during the 6 Day War of 1967 (think I got that right), it also helps that they have the support of the US this time, unlike what they had back then, as well, I wouldn't be surprised if the UN decides to send a peace keeping force to the area, if the area does get into a more tense atmosphere than it already is

I think most of the Muslim world is starting to feel the effects of the events in Tunisia, they are just some of the most extreme examples of how a few can have all the wealth and most of the country has nothing, due to all of the oil that they've sold us over the years, despite it being only 10-30% of the United States' imports of oil

I can't believe I keep bringing in new points but there are a lot of people who are worried about what effect this will have on the Suez Canal, I hope it won't effect trade that much because that is basically the only thing that keeps the Muslim countries going, due to global warming Saudi Arabia is going to have to import all of its food by like 2016 and then there is Kuwait among many of the other oil rich nations in that region, then throw in trade between Europe and the rest of Asia, that might be where trade is hurt