Middle-East & North African Discussion

Shaelyssa wrote:

The bastard's delusional. The people want him to go, not just him, but his regime. They do not want Suleiman nor do they want military 'caretakers' (read: A military junta). The people want to have a transitional government until elections are held. I think Mubarak isn't going to survive this if it keeps on going like this. He's already fled to the Sinai, Sharm El Sheikh to be precise.

The question is then: How will it continue? I have the ominous feeling that the military is already pulling a lot, if not all of the strings behind the scenes.

I'm starting to get fed up with the reporting of this uprising. Seriously Egypt, storm some palace (whatever the Egyptian equivalent of the Bastille is -- a pyramid?) or something 'cuz this shit is starting to get repetitive.

Krunch wrote:I'm starting to get fed up with the reporting of this uprising. Seriously Egypt, storm some palace (whatever the Egyptian equivalent of the Bastille is -- a pyramid?) or something 'cuz this shit is starting to get repetitive.

Ok

Quite.

And there he goes. Already in Sharm El Sheik, and possibly heading to Europe with his millions (or billions) of "hard earned" dollars.

Guardian "analysis"

grufftoof wrote:And there he goes. Already in Sharm El Sheik, and possibly heading to Europe with his millions (or billions) of "hard earned" dollars.

Guardian "analysis"

I must say I did not expect him to step down today. I really did not, all I saw last night was a dictator putting his heels into the sand and preparing for a crackdown.

The following troubles me though:

""In these grave circumstances that the country is passing through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave his position as president of the republic," a grim-looking Suleiman said. "He has mandated the Armed Forces Supreme Council to run the state. God is our protector and succor.""

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ml_egypt;_ylt=AiqdizLzsERHAffErmqcC0us0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFiZjh1aDV2BHBvcwMxBHNlYwN5bl9icmVha2luZ19uZXdzBHNsawNicmVha2luZ25ld3M-

You can watch it live on: http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

Gj egyptian people!

Indeed. The military junta takes power, with the head of a committee in his old best friend. Will they relinquish power to free elections easily? How long would that take?

And the rhetoric, the language used... divine right and God's will... yeah.

I didn't expect him to go after so staunch a stand, and kicking and screaming. Maybe the deathknell was the "words of support" from that well loved leader of Libya? I joke. But al-Qaddafi really did choose the wrong time to support someone, when they're out within hours of his "kind words"

It is interesting, that a movement that started mainly in the middle classes (this wasn't, at first anyway, pushed forward in the last two weeks by the poor raising up to "fight for bread" as someone put it on the news) has seen this begin. And, though there has been bloodshed... the military themselves were restrained. The secret police and Mubarak's own forces were, obviously, less than restrained it has to be said. But it didn't turn into the civil war it might have, especially considering some of the early words, and later posteuring.

Hamdillah !! I'm really happy at what's happened. Inshallah the country will change for the better and other arab countries follow suit too

(Both al arabiya and al jazeera just stopped airing here I think Bad reception blegh!!!)

Shaelyssa wrote:Hamdillah !! I'm really happy at what's happened. Inshallah the country will change for the better and other arab countries follow suit too

(Both al arabiya and al jazeera just stopped airing here I think Bad reception blegh!!!)

FREEEDOMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well apparently Mubarak isn't feeling so well. There are protests across Egypt to improve pay and whatnot and the junta seems to be.. Heading for democracy, at least in public declarations and conversations with protesters.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2048971,00.html

I think this is encouraging news, thoughts? Obviously I don't think Mubarak's deteriorating health is encouraging.

Jack Bauers poisoned him!.. o.O

Did the german democrats invite Mubarak to stay in Germany free of expenses? Pretty sure I heard that somewhere.

Libya, Bahrain, Yemen. The house of cards starts to look a little unsteady.

What happens next? How far do things go?

And how much of this is "new" news... makes me think a bit about the nature of rolling (24hr) news formats, the web, etc...

There' a feeling of not much "reporting" but lots of "reporters". If that makes sense.

I'm so happy about Libya and Bahrain!! I've been to Bahrain, and it is just depressing ... a lot of the shia's are being "oppressed". There are grad students, engineers, whatever working as shopkeepers and labor workers ... It's also bad because on the very first day of the protests, two people died I think :/ ...

Now I hope Saudia will also follow the other three because there is so much poverty and corruption there too. It's amazing how all this is happening !! history in the making.

(I also heard that Hosni's now in a coma? )

I heard it was Ben Ali, not ol' Hosni. As for Saudi Arabia.. Let's try Syria first. OR BETTER YET: IRAN.

Ben Ali in coma

One news source claims so at least. Though there is a lot of "stuff" out there about Hosni having a stroke/cancer/being in a coma. It's likely untrue.

But as someone said, maybe it's withdrawal symptoms. And his body cannot survive without access to human rights violations...

Im curious to see what happens after all this is over, after as said the 'house of cards' fall. What path will the countries and their governments take? Will it be a path of democrasy or as stated on CNN, BBC and DW a path of fundamental/radical muslim regimes.

Geldar wrote:Im curious to see what happens after all this is over, after as said the 'house of cards' fall. What path will the countries and their governments take? Will it be a path of democrasy or as stated on CNN, BBC and DW a path of fundamental/radical muslim regimes.

Egypt seems to be going the way of democracy, but if other countries go Islamic like Iran then Israel has a fight on its hands.. They'll probably win the fight but still.

I hope it spreads all the way to Belarus.

General consensus is that democracy wouldn't do Israel good either, seeing how the dictators -- how unpleasant as they were -- kind of tolerated Israel in spite of the strong anti-Israeli movements in those countries. So shit could still very much hit the fan in the long run.

But then again, nukes > all.

Antistia wrote:

Geldar wrote:Im curious to see what happens after all this is over, after as said the 'house of cards' fall. What path will the countries and their governments take? Will it be a path of democrasy or as stated on CNN, BBC and DW a path of fundamental/radical muslim regimes.

Egypt seems to be going the way of democracy, but if other countries go Islamic like Iran then Israel has a fight on its hands.. They'll probably win the fight but still.

Not sure anymore, to be honost. Hezbollah threatend to take over the Galil next war, and I am pretty sure it is plausible. Iran is allready sending war ships from the Suez Canal, and Syria and Lebanon in general are preparing for a take over. We -might- be able to handle that. Add to that another two or three countries, heck maybe even Jordan, and it might be too much for us.. It's enough the war lasts for over one month, and they merely pee on us, and we will drown.

Rasonal Dranger wrote:

Antistia wrote:

Geldar wrote:Im curious to see what happens after all this is over, after as said the 'house of cards' fall. What path will the countries and their governments take? Will it be a path of democrasy or as stated on CNN, BBC and DW a path of fundamental/radical muslim regimes.

Egypt seems to be going the way of democracy, but if other countries go Islamic like Iran then Israel has a fight on its hands.. They'll probably win the fight but still.

Not sure anymore, to be honost. Hezbollah threatend to take over the Galil next war, and I am pretty sure it is plausible. Iran is allready sending war ships from the Suez Canal, and Syria and Lebanon in general are preparing for a take over. We -might- be able to handle that. Add to that another two or three countries, heck maybe even Jordan, and it might be too much for us.. It's enough the war lasts for over one month, and they merely pee on us, and we will drown.

If formal war does break out, I'd expect that at the very least a US carrier group or two would be there shortly to to bombard the shit out of the forces pounding Israel. Also keep in mind that Israel (supposedly) does have tactical nukes available.

Nah, it definately has.

And let's not forget the US has a military budget that is larger than the sum of all the other countries' in the world. So yeah, they will certainly step in I imagine. It'll give them a good excuse to squeeze more pennies out of the Middle East, I reckon.