Egypt

[MakiSupaStar]

I've been watching and it's getting crazy. I'm gotta say, I'm cheering them on.

[Relic]

same here

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Gotta agree, crazy stuff!

But have to be honest in that I'm not too up to scratch on the political situation there.

[Atoz]

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

I've been watching and it's getting crazy. I'm gotta say, I'm cheering them on.

We briefly discussed this elsewhere today, so you already know how I feel.

[MJ5150]

I have to admire the zeal of guys with rocks and bottles fighting guys with tanks and machine guns.

-Mike

[Bassman316]

Originally Posted by MJ5150

I have to admire the zeal of guys with rocks and bottles fighting guys with tanks and machine guns.

-Mike

+1

[Mark Wilson]

Just read up on it.
Wow.

[Skitch it!]

More power to them, they aren't going to play that game anymore, respect.

[cheezewiz]

It worries me that by destabilizing the Egyptian Government, the door may be opened for a fundamentalist Islamic takeover. That is the last thing the area, and especially Israel, needs.

[bassteban]

W/O getting all P-word, can anyone suggest an *unbiased* source(as if that really exists)for news/general overview of all this?

Edit: OK, ignore me(or PM)- I do NOT wanna kill the thread prematurely.

[L-A]

I've watched a bit of the live Al Jazeera stream over the day. There's a crazy amount of anger and courage going on.

[Relic]

Originally Posted by cheezewiz

It worries me that by destabilizing the Egyptian Government, the door may be opened for a fundamentalist Islamic takeover. That is the last thing the area, and especially Israel, needs.

To be honest, that's kinda got me a little worried as well.
There were a few promising things though - in one report I read, it had stated how both Christians and Muslims are standing together in this one, many of the churches and mosques have pledged to stand together etc. Very nice, I like that.
Something like that absolutely drives the stone-age fundamentalists nuts.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

I don't know if anyone else on here saw it, but it was pretty surreal, in the middle of the protest, they all stopped for prayer (sorry, religious ignorance here at not knowing what it is specifically called) before returning to the protest!

I just thought it was amazing that people could almost turn off that rage, albeit briefly, and then go back to expressing such anger

[billjr]

I usually say more power to the people, but I'm not sure what those protesters really want. Do they want a more liberal, tolerant, secular govt, or do they want a more fundamental, sharia based islamic theocracy like Iran?

[Relic]

Originally Posted by billjr

I usually say more power to the people, but I'm not sure what those protesters really want. Do they want a more liberal, tolerant, secular govt, or do they want a more fundamental, sharia based islamic theocracy like Iran?

I'm thinking the former rather than the latter.
they're basically fed up with the gov't and election fraud

[burk48237]

I suspect the beginning motives of the protestors were fairly pure, the country certainly has major economic and social issues. And the fact that ELBarahdi, a fairly moderate force showed up is a good thing. My fear is that the Muslim Brotherhood will take advantage of the situation to set up another Islamic utopia. If this happens I suspect many of those on the street (especially the Christians) will be look back fondly on the Mubarek regime. Time will tell.

[Relic]

Originally Posted by burk48237

I suspect the beginning motives of the protestors were fairly pure, the country certainly has major economic and social issues. And the fact that ELBarahdi, a fairly moderate force showed up is a good thing. My fear is that the Muslim Brotherhood will take advantage of the situation to set up another Islamic utopia. If this happens I suspect many of those on the street (especially the Christians) will be look back fondly on the Mubarek regime. Time will tell.

I'm not sure if the Egyptians as a whole would tolerate a fundamentalist gov't though.
Compared to some of the other mid-east governments, Mubarak's certainly was not the worst. There were a lot of human rights issues and more than a little authoritarian rule but compared to a fundamentalist or taliban-type gov't? His was a picnic and I think most Egyptians know that.

[EBodious]

let's hope for the best. i have heard plenty of bad things about the egyptian gov't over the years. unfortunately, political unrest is ripe for extremist take overs. its too bad, but lesser of two evils is all too common of a scenario.

[Relic]

interesting article:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-uprising.html

[SoonerMatt]

Mubarak sacks cabinet and defends security role
President Hosni Mubarak has defended the role of Egypt's security forces in suppressing anti-government protests which have rocked the country.

Mr Mubarak also dismissed his government and said a new cabinet would be announced on Saturday.

It was his first statement since the protests - in which at least 26 have died with hundreds injured - began.

Tens of thousands took part in protests in Cairo, Suez, Alexandria and other cities.

Protesters set fire to the headquarters of the governing NDP party and besieged state TV and the foreign ministry.

At least 13 people were killed in Suez on Friday, while in Cairo, five people died, according to medical sources.

Article.