[Thanos]

Mr_Canada Mr_Canada:

Solidarity!

Common human decency actually.

"Survey says: another one (hopefully) for the good guys." - Scott Hall

[BartSimpson]

Next up: The UK, US, and Canadian embassies are reportedly surrounded by tanks from the Egyptian Army. The question of which way their turrets are pointing is up in the air right now. Israel evacuated their embassy via helicopter within the past hour.

[Public_Domain]

[martin14]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Next up: The UK, US, and Canadian embassies are reportedly surrounded by tanks from the Egyptian Army. The question of which way their turrets are pointing is up in the air right now. Israel evacuated their embassy via helicopter within the past hour.

There is a ring of protesters surrounding the Museum of Antiquities....


protecting it


It's not Baghdad...... not yet at least.



And yes, the best thing the Israelis can do right is absolutely, positively.

shut the fuck up.

[BartSimpson]

Mr_Canada Mr_Canada:

People should be standing with the Tunisian and Egyptian people for this. It's fascinating...

You're just seeing the cautious optimism of your elders so don't get too impatient with us. Some of us celebrated when the Shah of Iran fell and some of us celebrated when Saddam Hussein took over Iraq promising to root out corruption. The realities of the Middle East have tempered the glossy-eyed optimism of our youth and while we certainly hold out high hopes for those people today, we're also concerned that what's coming next will be worse.

[EyeBrock]

One bunch of thugs will be replaced by another bunch of thugs.

[martin14]

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

One bunch of thugs will be replaced by another bunch of thugs.

Fair enough, just better not to have the thugs carrying the Koran.


The Muslim Brotherhood has issued a statement, they want Mubarak gone, of course.

[Thanos]

(To what Bart said)

Word. I'm trying to be as positive as possible but most political revolutions end up as total disasters and result in endless human misery. Our politicians have to shut up for now until some of the smoke clears and we have a better idea of who's going to end up in charge.

It's easy to cheer when they're burning portraits of the dictators or waving purple-ink stained figures in the air. It's something else when they turn on each other, install a different tyrant, and then start butchering their opponents in huge numbers. Egypt might have a better chance than most because they have a very solid and educated secular core but if events begin to be dominated by the Brotherhood theocrats then the whole thing'll go tits up, just like it does everywhere else when the dangerous radicals gain control.

[martin14]

[BartSimpson]

Thanos Thanos:

(To what Bart said)

Word. I'm trying to be as positive as possible but most political revolutions end up as total disasters and result in endless human misery. Our politicians have to shut up for now until some of the smoke clears and we have a better idea of who's going to end up in charge.

It's easy to cheer when they're burning portraits of the dictators or waving purple-ink stained figures in the air. It's something else when they turn on each other, install a different tyrant, and then start butchering their opponents in huge numbers. Egypt might have a better chance than most because they have a very solid and educated secular core but if events begin to be dominated by the Brotherhood theocrats then the whole thing'll go tits up, just like it does everywhere else when the dangerous radicals gain control.

Egypt is particularly of interest to me because if the fundies take control they'll systematically wipe out some of the most important facets of human history. I'm not just worried about the people over there, I'm worried about their custodial care of artifacts and sites that truly belong to the world.

[stokes]

CTV is reporting that ElBaradei is under house arrest, having beem seized outside a mosque shortly after prayers ended trying to lead a group of protestors.

I agree the best thing Isreal can do at this point is to stay out of it. But I am sure they are worried at the possibility of losing an ally in the arab world.

[xerxes]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Thanos Thanos:

(To what Bart said)

Word. I'm trying to be as positive as possible but most political revolutions end up as total disasters and result in endless human misery. Our politicians have to shut up for now until some of the smoke clears and we have a better idea of who's going to end up in charge.

It's easy to cheer when they're burning portraits of the dictators or waving purple-ink stained figures in the air. It's something else when they turn on each other, install a different tyrant, and then start butchering their opponents in huge numbers. Egypt might have a better chance than most because they have a very solid and educated secular core but if events begin to be dominated by the Brotherhood theocrats then the whole thing'll go tits up, just like it does everywhere else when the dangerous radicals gain control.

Egypt is particularly of interest to me because if the fundies take control they'll systematically wipe out some of the most important facets of human history. I'm not just worried about the people over there, I'm worried about their custodial care of artifacts and sites that truly belong to the world.

Yet, so far the Muslim Brotherhood has very little, if anything, to do with this uprising. There are no political banners, no de riguer chants of 'Death to America' or Allahu Akhbar! for that matter. This looks very much like a revolt against despotism. Or like some people put it way back when:

$1:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,[72] that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

[martin14]

xerxes xerxes:

Yet, so far the Muslim Brotherhood has very little, if anything, to do with this uprising. There are no political banners, no de riguer chants of 'Death to America' or Allahu Akhbar! for that matter. This looks very much like a revolt against despotism. Or like some people put it way back when:

The Brothers are sitting in the wings, just as the Ayatollahs did.


The 'made in USA' label on the tear gas canisters is being reported.

AJ reports 53 dead and over 1000 wounded so far.


Saturday morning in Egypt, more protests.

[Guy_Fawkes]

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera:

Thousands in Cairo defy curfew
Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from Cairo, said that soldiers deployed to central Cairo are not intervening in the protests.

"Some of the soldiers here have said that the only way for peace to come to the streets of Cairo is for Mubarak to step down," he said.

Similar crowds were gathering in the cities of Alexandria and Suez, Al Jazeera's correspondents reported.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middl ... 42894.html


Only a matter of time now, I wonder who will come out on top? There doesnt seem to be any sort of organized leadership.

[EyeBrock]

Once the army and the cops go off-side in these third-world regimes, it's all over.