Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Egypt
- Thread starter MakiSupaStar
- Start date
- Status
- May 30, 2000
- 4,707
- 256
- Disclosures
- Creator of: iGigBook Sheet Music Manager
The government is already destabilized, I expect Mubarak to be on a plane before Monday.
I'll wager a carrot that he stays, unless the armed forces can find someone [they control] that'll calm things down. Supposedly the military runs the show in Egypt.
Too bad a similar situation in Iran didn't change much.
I don't think Egypt is all that big of an oil producer, is it? Not like the states around the Persian Gulf. This is more likely if the instability spreads.
I'm worried about the Islamist-takeover scenario too, but at least one commentator I heard is saying that this is not headed by the Islamists, they're kind of late arrivals to the party, trying to get in on the action. There could still be some risk if no one else can put a viable new government together (assuming Mubarak does fall), but so far they're not in the driver's seat.
My pastor's son was caught in Tunisia as it was breaking down, and that was a very nervous few days until he made it to Morocco. It's easy to cheer from the sidelines for people striking out for freedom but my enthusiasm gets a little sober when people I know can get caught in the crossfire. I'm not saying that the people of the Middle East should meekly submit to dictatorships, but you do need to count the cost.
That is my major concern as well. Besides the fact that some experts think Israel may have something nuclear in their arsenal, which has been suspected for a few decades, but never proven. In any case, they'll go down like the biblical Samson taking their enemies with them in the event of any war that is fought with the intention of destroying their nation. Things could get far uglier in the middle east, than they are now.
Many are worried about a Suez Canal disruption as well as the uprising spreading to Saudi Arabia.
http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/?foo=bar
Here's Al Jazeera's live stream for anyone who wants to tune in. Crazy stuff is going on.
Here's Al Jazeera's live stream for anyone who wants to tune in. Crazy stuff is going on.
What, looting in the streets, with rock throwing teenagers, looting, burning of basic infrastructure, and the army using live fire and tanks to put them down?
You guys do still have elections over there, don't you?
Yes, exactly. We need to give power back to the people over here!What, looting in the streets, with rock throwing teenagers, looting, burning of basic infrastructure, and the army using live fire and tanks to put them down?
You guys do still have elections over there, don't you?
Elections. Pffft.
i guess its proper to use words like "think" and "suspect." but, that nuclear arsenal is one of the worst kept secrets in the world.
IMHO: it seems like the choices are islamic-imposed extremist state, quasi-democratic state imposed with u.s. gov help, or true democracy of the people, which quite frankly is difficult and messy to get going. my heart goes out to the people; its not an easy choice to make and honestly most people won't get much say.
Aside from the destabilization threatening Israel; the subsequent possibility of loss of human life and because of my own ignorance and curiosity,...can someone explain to me why we are so concerned about Israel?
Perhaps because it wouldn't be "possibility of loss of human life?" If the Islamic fundies have their way, the 'driving all the jews into the sea' would be realized in massive genocide... Which is one reason why, push come to shove, Isreal would release its nukes before going under. Which in turn would, by the time things were all said and done, probably end up in the entire region going up in flames. Which would in turn lead to Islamic fundies elsewhere in the world rioting, and Judaic and probably Christian types responding in kind if their own churches and temples are trashed/destroyed, loss of a huge amount of oil resources, environmental nightmares for anyone downwind for the next several hundred years... There's a good reason why many science fiction writers, if they posit a World War III, have it be ignited by massive wars in the Middle East.
And of course there's also all the massive guilt over whether or not the Holocaust during WWII could have been ended earlier if the allies had acted sooner, the US entered the war earlier, and so on.
And of course there's also all the massive guilt over whether or not the Holocaust during WWII could have been ended earlier if the allies had acted sooner, the US entered the war earlier, and so on.
The entire U.S.A. gets more oil from Canada than any other country. Mexico is #2, Saudi Arabia is #3.
do you mean concerned in regards to the current situation in egypt or in general as an ally of the u.s.a.?
in re egypt, they share a border that has been basically "peaceful" since jimmy carter's accord. it would be quite a step backward to lose that.
i sometimes wonder myself about the general sense. israel is a tough ally to hold onto, IMHO. the gov there does things that i don't think make good policy, but our gov has to walk the fine line of defending their actions while trying to make peace with the arabic nations around them. i feel for the palestinians who seem to get dissed by every group in the middle east.
please forgive the hijack.
- Status
