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

real talk

any USers see frontline last night? interesting shit. have to say i'm a little skeeved out by how involved and how crucial the (young end) of the muslim brotherhood was to the whole thing.

I don;t watch cable news all that often but wy the fuck is MSNC's Morning Joe playing Gimmie Shelter under Pay Buchannan ranting about the possibility of Gaddafi taking hostages in Libya?

"wy the fuck is MSNC's Morning Joe doing [x]" is one of those questions i've learned not to ask

coz it sounds mean

Reading Pilger makes me sad. First commenter OTM.

http://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2011/02/pilger-fascism-bahrain-egypt

Clearly it is a 'thing' because they had some U2 bollocks playing under Hillary Clinton. I'll never stray from Radio4 again.

never understood how anyone can take pilger seriously

Was fairly easy to do so in the '70s but now, not so much.

Way back he used to be a great investigative reporter and campaigner. Now he's just embarrassing. I thought his The War You Don't See doc got a remarkably easy ride from critics.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/02/ambassadors-caught-on-tape-china-edition/71637/

this might be a big deal? some small "jasmine" style protests got off the ground in china, US ambassador was there, just chillin. the video is hilarious

Very curious how the just-announced $35 billion buy-off from King Abdullah goes over in Saudi Arabia. As they pointed out on NPR, granted full scholarships to all students studying abroad means very little when there's a close to 50% unemployment rate among Saudi college graduates. Likewise, addressing the housing crisis is mostly symbolic, when this pay-out will only reduce the wait for a mortgage from 17 years to 16 years (real numbers!). Just as a show of force pisses off the populace, I wonder whether waving all that money around will sate the people or just remind them how little they have. Especially with King Abdullah having spent most of the past few pivotal weeks out of the picture/country getting serious medical treatment. What smells more, blood or money?

lol hes wearing a leather jacket w/american flag shoulder patch as if to say 'i am the ambassador' xp

good on him for heading out to just check the vibe - i dig the style

the top gun look is tight

haha huntsman is such a goof, you guys know hes a HUGE dream theater fan right

Huntsman is also a self-proclaimed fan of the progressive rock genre and on July 30, 2007, attended a concert by progressive metal band Dream Theater. Later that day, Huntsman signed a proclamation creating "Dream Theater Day" on that date for the state of Utah. According to Dream Theater's website, Huntsman is a keyboard player. Huntsman also joined REO Speedwagon on the piano for two songs during their concert at the Utah State Fair on September 16, 2005.

god eff this nonsense about bp employees stuck at tripoli airport. who gives a shit?

I sort of care that our government is too incompetent to run a rescue operation from a war zone actually.

haha huntsman is such a goof, you guys know hes a HUGE dream theater fan right

Jesus H and up until now I didn't mind the guy.

i think the problems are due to single flight cancellation due to mechanical problems at gatwick

also imo a very well insured and resourced oil company operating in a country like libya, in which the airport is still open and safe, and which has a contractual obligation to its employees to get them out, should take care of its own business.

Everybody else's government seems able (and willing) to do it

Some of them, unlike us, weren't even buddies of Gadaffi

xpost It's not like BP are paying all their UK taxes. I know, let's persecute some single mothers instead!

BBC comments thread on this subject predictably blaming the nanny state for the fact that people expect the British taxpayer to pay for them to be airlifted out of a country where people are being shot on the street. "LOL they chose to sell out and work in a country run by a dictator" isn't really a very constructive line of argument either.

Radio 4's World at One was pretty harrowing today. Interviews with a Tripoli resident who started crying halfway through and an expat describing the hideous scenes at Tripoli airport, especially for Tunisian, Egyptians, and Palestinian workers. People sleeping outside in the rain, the international departures area transformed into a giant open toilet, etc.

Matt OTM. No excuse for lack of compassion here.

i think most non-libyans are getting out with the help of their employer, or taking the flights to malta that are still leaving regularly.

i guess my main point is i don't really think this should be the top story at the moment.

also seems relevant that the foreign office chartered plane that was supposed to pick them up got stuck at gatwick

Kind of assuming that not every British national in Libya is a BP employee but wau they are dicks if they're not doing anything about it.

true. my friend's husband got out via malta overnight. he has libyan parents.

Think I prefer "hey British readership will your relatives be able to get out of Libya?" to "what do Libyan protestors think about The_West?" as a story anyway.

Now Gadaffi is trying to say the whole thing is Bin Laden's idea.

Like any man-in-bubble situation, we see that mental illness eventually results if your every whim is satisfied by minions and Ukranian nurses.

stole the joke from someone else but blaming Europe, drugs and Bin Laden sounds like Q hired a Tea Party PR guy

Apparently pre-chaos, the only way to get out of Libya at all was to get two separate permits, in Tripoli, one from the military and one from the government, beholden no doubt to any number of hoops, bribes, exemptions and catches. I can only imagine the average Libyan with any inkling of an inclination is jumping at the opportunity to finally get off this sinking ship.

Washington Post says Obama has been too passsive re Libya (but they don't say what he should do):

Dana Millbank:
The passivity wasn't the fault of the new spokesman. He merely had the uncomfortable task of articulating a coherent policy in the absence of one. The problem was most glaring on the Libyan uprising, which the president has handled with the detachment of a powerless observer.

Finally, after days without speaking publicly about Libya, Obama addressed the cameras Wednesday evening.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/23/AR2011022304672.html

Washington Post official editorial(likely written by neo-con Ed. Page editor Fred Hyatt) :
Administration officials explained this weak stance by saying they were worried about U.S. citizens, hundreds of whom were being extracted by ferry Wednesday afternoon. There were fears that the desperate Mr. Gaddafi might attack the Americans or seek to take them hostage. But the presence of thousands of European citizens in Libya did not prevent their government's leaders from forcefully speaking out and agreeing on sanctions.

Shouldn't the president of the United States be first to oppose the depravities of a tyrant such as Mr. Gaddafi? Apparently this one doesn't think so.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/23/AR2011022305993.html?nav=hcmoduletmv

i kind of have no opinion on how obama is "handling" this; if anything i believe his stance of not really handling publicly it is the right one.

but fuck if isn't clear that his domestic critics just have to come up with something negative to say since they don't have anything else to go on. iran, not enough, egypt, too much, libya, do something, blah blah fucking blah

have any bushies claimed that the iraq war started all this yet (the wave of democracy spreading through the middle east)?

many

Today, in a surprise move. President Obama entered the White House press room to deliver this short statement, "Speaking as the President of these United States, I oppose each and every depravity of the tyrant Gaddafi."

When reached afterward for comment, Fred Hyatt said, "That was weak. I know for a fact Obama was not the first to oppose those depravities. Countless others have been there ahead of him. He's lagging behind the curve on this crisis in every conceivable way."

um

how does that rebuttal actually address anything in the statement Obama made

it's not like he said "I am the first person to oppose these depravities" or anything remotely like it

lol xp

also lol poe's law

have any bushies claimed that the iraq war started all this yet (the wave of democracy spreading through the middle east)?

kinda expect Rummy to spout this line on his Daily Show appearance

wasn't the US more unofficially 'neutral' on Kh/Qa-daffy in recent years bcz he let us use his airspace for our latest crusades or something?

In further breaking news, mice have been discovered on the moon. "This came as a shock," said NASA spokesperson Natalie Wood, "Especially now, when we know there is no cheese up there."

he gave us AQ Khan iirc

xp

man, who knew Natalie Wood was working for NASA now?

Huntsman is also a self-proclaimed fan of the progressive rock genre and on July 30, 2007, attended a concert by progressive metal band Dream Theater. Later that day, Huntsman signed a proclamation creating "Dream Theater Day" on that date for the state of Utah. According to Dream Theater's website, Huntsman is a keyboard player. Huntsman also joined REO Speedwagon on the piano for two songs during their concert at the Utah State Fair on September 16, 2005.

― max, Thursday, February 24, 2011 10:24 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is amazing news, when can i vote for this man to be president of usa

But the presence of thousands of European citizens in Libya did not prevent their government's leaders from forcefully speaking out and agreeing on sanctions

I doubt this scared Colonel K.