a thread about the civil unrest in egypt (& elsewhere in 'the region' if necessary)

Now this for sure is a law of unintended consequences outcome: the loosening of an autocratic regime leading to the brutal repositioning of relatively moderate neighbor regimes. Though I wonder, if once a nation resorts to force if that more or less cements is temporarily forestalls the inevitable. Also, what's up with Saudi Arabia during all this?

I hope the US is covertly leaning on Bahrain/Yemen to stop shooting people but man who the fuck knows

I hope the US is covertly leaning on Bahrain/Yemen to stop shooting people but man who the fuck knows

My guess: Bahrain, yes, Yemen, not so much.

guessing Fisk way too tough on Israel for nrq's taste.

we need to talk about libya

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2011/02/17/live-blog-libya

12:11 am: Libya's ambassador to China, Hussein Sadiq al Musrati, has just resigned on air with Al Jazeera Arabic. He called on the army to intervene, and has called all diplomatic staff to resign.

He made claims about a gunfight between Gaddafi's sons and also claimed that Gaddafi may have left Libya. Al Jazeera has no confirmation of these claims.

saif gadaffi's speech is v interesting

uh saif al-islam gaddafi

'He offered a vague package of reforms, potentially including a new flag, a new national anthem and a new confederate structure.'

Witnesses in Tripoli interviewed by telephone on Sunday night said protesters were converging on the capital’s central Green Square and clashing with heavily armed riot police. Young men armed themselves with chains around their knuckles, steel pipes and machetes. The police had retreated from some neighborhoods, and protesters were seen armed with police batons, helmets and rifles commandeered from riot squads. The protesters set Dumpsters on fire, blocking roads in some neighborhoods. In the early evening the sound and smells of gunfire hung over the central city, and by midnight looting had begun.

“The state has disappeared from the streets,” said Mansour Abu Shenaf, a writer living in Tripoli. “and the people, the youth, have practically taken over.”

In Benghazi, the second-largest city and the starting point of the revolt, three witnesses said that special military forces called in as reinforcements had instead helped the protesters take over the local army barracks. “The gunshots you hear are the gunshots of celebration,” said Abdel Latif al-Hadi, a 54-year-old Benghazi resident whose five sons were out protesting.

I don't really understand what is going on and haven't followed this too closely, but it sounds like these protests went from being somewhat isolated a week ago to very much threatening the regime now.

yeah thats fucking nuts

Man Names His Newborn Girl Facebook

A young man in his twenties wanted to express his gratitude about the victories the youth of 25th of January have achieved and chose to express it in the form of naming his firstborn girl “Facebook” Jamal Ibrahim (his name.) The girl’s family, friends, and neighbors in the Ibrahimya region gathered around the new born to express their continuing support for the revolution that started on Facebook. “Facebook” received many gifts from the youth who were overjoyed by her arrival and the new name.

dear egyptians, your revolution and moves towards democracy and freedom are really exciting and inspiring to me but naming your kids after facebook is still ridiculous. after the french revolution there wasn't a spike in kids named 'newspaper'

lol

Twitter would have made a better name.

facebook is more of a guy's name imo

iirc facebookalina is the feminine form

it's comforting, in a way, to see how universal lousy parenting is.

holy shit @ Libya!!!

To Air Traffic controllers. Be on the lookout for Airbus A340-213 with tail# 5A-ONE (#Gaddafi's plane). #Libya #Tripoli

This is it folks: Calls all across #Libya for a march on #Gaddafi's residence in #Tripoli after 'Asr prayers (around 4:30 PM local time)

If Qaddafi goes, this really will start to look like a 1989 level change.

Apparently ZIMBABWE is also beginning to kick off?

It's also Mugabe's birthday, which may have something to do with it.

But yeah it the Zimbabwe thing is true then it's unlikely to end well :/

It seems like every eighty-something dictator 4 lyfe is having to watch his step at the moment.

This is all potentially great, but you wonder how many people will have to get killed in the process

this really will start to look like a 1989 level change.

so, one type of thuggery for another, mostly

FFS Morbs.

brb, gonna tell the libyans to give up, nothing ever changes.

have some coffee, doctor

Morbs, you have every right to be cynical about your own government, but maybe you should just admit that knowledge-wise, this might be a bit over your head? Much as I like a good zing, statements like yours come off as negative paternalism.

Inexplicably, a big subset of my friends from African and middle eastern families are the children of activists or diplomats and they are ECSTATIC about what is happening.

so, one type of thuggery for another, mostly

― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, February 21, 2011 11:31 AM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark

lol. i mean i 'get it' but im curious if you think any kind of improvement is ever possible anywhere.

just got an email from a good friend who is working in Libya, she's in an oasis town and there have been protests there but no police crackdown. her internet & phone have been down for the last week so i'm pretty relieved :/

Just got an update from an ex-LSE prof friend of mine who advised the PhDs in '09 and...I bet you can see where this is going. Friend is very o_0 as a) has noticed Saif al-Islam on an old advisee list and b) that's the name he went by at LSE so link to his dad totally went under the radar.

a dictator's kid at the lse, who'd have thought it

I am sure the development office was well aware of the link, even if the profs may not have been.

IME development offices have CIA-like levels of information

torture 101 is optional but recommended

im curious if you think any kind of improvement is ever possible anywhere

Yes. Most of the time, however, rumors of it are greatly exaggerated.

(ie, Russia being freed to be run by gangsters)

what country has improved most since 2001 morbs?

I haven't lived in em, how do I know? Since '89-91, maybe Germany and South Africa.

suzy, if we have an expertise test for posting, movie threads will disappear I hope.

uh oh, my friends been told to pack 2 days of food & water & make for the border (which they are quite near luckily)
shit must be scary

I haven't lived in em, how do I know? Since '89-91, maybe Germany and South Africa.

you should read some articles about standard of living changes in the third world over the last three decades. it'll blow ur mind.

start with this: http://hdr.undp.org/en/data/trends/

i don't know if it'll make you more optimistic about the world, but it'll maybe keep you from saying stuff like germany + south africa are the most improved places over the last few decades (which is basically the wrongest answer you can give to that question)

yeah I have read some, snd fuck fuck fuck you

and u know, my reading those articles didnt change anything for good or ill.

u do know that despite being 'things white ppl like' germany + sa are terrible answers to that question? sa is doing worse than libya in terms of human development despite the end of apartheid + germany has had high development since the 50s and doesn't answer the question adequately at all.

i certainly don't mind your cynicism, but recently (w/ this and your all middle east participants look the same comments) you've been coming off less as cynical and more as ignorant