Ok full list of countries (so far) under civilian ahem uprisings

[nadinbrzezinski]

Good op piece, so far.

Tunisia, Lebanon, Algeria, Jordan and Yemen... nothing about Syria... but we need to ask if and when will this spread further. My gut tells me... soon this "fun" will spread to other places... and yes... the US State Department must be ordering pepto by the truck full... and the DOD must be going... worst case, do we have enough assets to evacuate OUR citizens. Keep your eyes open for NATO naval mobilizations.

Siddiqui: Middle East uprisings caught all by surprise

How far will the ripples of Tunisia spread across the Arab Middle East? Following the toppling of the dictator, there have been anti-government demonstrations in Algeria, Jordan, Yemen and now Egypt.

Add to this mix Lebanon (where a Hezbollah-nominated prime minister has replaced the pro-Western Saad Hariri) and also the Palestinian Authority (the preferred American and Israeli interlocutor, which has been shown in recent leaked papers to have been in collusion with Israel), and you can see another pattern:

Two pro-American governments toppled (Tunisia and Lebanon), and four pro-American regimes under siege (Egypt, Jordan, Yemen and Algeria).

In Egypt, tens of thousands of Egyptians have taken to the streets against the autocratic and corrupt regime of Hosni Mubarak. They’ve been beaten, tear-gassed and had water cannons turned on them. Almost 1,000 have been marched off to jail, and six people have died.

Now let me add two maps, first North Africa



Now the middle east



Having paid attention in geography class and having had to learn this by rote helps.

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/article/928819--siddiqui-middle-east-uprisings-caught-all-by-surprise

[RKP5637]

1. You are so very helpful in helping one wade through this! Thanks! n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Maps are always so damn helpful

I knew I could "ignore" tunis, but Algeria... no...

I am betting USN in the Med is in full alert right now.

Oh and this is the three in the morning call. I just turned on CNN...

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. The map tells me

we have kicked over an ant hill.

[HEyHEY]

4. We did this?

[Hardrada]

6. I'm glad.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. It is not necessarily we

Europe has a tad to do with this too... but it is an ant hill.

[melody]

27. Europe started the problem

And they've been our associate in this endeavor.

Sadly, if the middle east goes fundamentalist, I suspect we'll be thinking fondly of these days of Euro-rule (if we're able to think at all).
As bad as it is, we're not a fundamentalist religious tsunami like this may be.

[lapislzi]

30. You can thank that mouldering husk of an empire, Britain

And its Balfour Declarations and its partitions and its Pahlavis...we absorbed their divide-and-rule lessons well.

No offense to my British friends intended. You had no control over the impulses of your greedy ancestors.

[maryf]

3. thanks, k&rnt

[NuclearDem]

8. ...But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers...

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Well what is funny is that we have about 12 hours,

if things are this bad... for us to switch sides... or all that soft power will be all but forgotten.

Why they must be doing the pepto by the truck ful.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. two important tweets

sarahraslan Sarah Raslan
by rqskye
Egyptian Christians said they will guard the Muslims from security while they pray tomorrow. United against the government. #Jan25 #Egypt
20 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

wikileaks WikiLeaks
by JP_Bulletproof
We will soon release numerous cables on Egypt.
3 minutes ago

The second looks like somebody is getting ready to throw a hand grenade... in a way.

[sabrina 1]

23. You are so right. All day I've been waiting to hear from

the WH.

Al Jazeera did an interview with a State Dept. Representative. The AJ reporter, who was excellent, tried his best to get a statement about whether or not the U.S. supported the people or the dictator. The squirming was amusing. He kept repeating 'Egypt is our friend'. The Reporter kept asking if he meant the government or the people. The reporter pointed out that the people were NOT just 'frustrated'. He mentioned the words 'dictator' 'torture' 'oppression' 'corruption'.

But the St.Dept Rep would not take a position. And I couldn't help wondering what the U.S. will do if Mubarak is ousted and if this spreads even further and all our dictator friends are toppled. We are not popular with the people from the comments I've been reading.

They are way more informed than Americans on our foreign policies.

Otoh, if this revolution fails, those poor people will suffer greatly.

[applegrove]

11. Isn't it just terrifying?

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Why? Don't we love democracy?

This is what this looks like...

I have made allusions to a critical year before, 1848... people better get familiar with that year. The worst case most likely will not happen, and the best case, sadly will not happen either.

[applegrove]

14. I'm terrified people will get hurt and die. I'd be happy with a peaceful

transition to democracy in all cases but I somehow don't see that happening.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. that ain't happening... people entrenched just don't go

fuck it you win. get on a plane and leave.

This is what scares me. Sooner or later the moment for this will come here. I don't know if we still have it.

[melody]

24. It's the end again, is it?

We didn't burn our dollars in November 2008 either.

We'll get through all this. There have been so many uprisings and conflicts in the middle east in my lifetime. There will be more.

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. Did I say that you were going to burn dollars? No

but here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutions_of_1848

This is more widespread than just one or two.

[melody]

26. Actually, yes

You were one of the main instigators of the "the living will envy the dead" threads during the whole economic crisis. I remember it well. I had a clinically depressed relative I had to talk down from thinking the end was near after she read your posts.

The people hopping up and down in support of the uprising don't remember 1978. I do. This uprising could well go either way. If it does go extremist, well, I think you may be wistfully remembering the evil USA. That said, the rebellion is clearly being orchestrated from outside the political theater. We'll all have to see how it plays out.

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. Nah I said we were going down the path to a great depression

if that is to you envy of the dead, so be it.

[melody]

29. Restate the past if you wish

The record remains. You seem to hope for the worst possible outcome at all times.

[nadinbrzezinski]

31. No I don't I connect dots

And ECONOMIC trends pointed to that outcome if the kind of intervention done was not taken. On that other idiots like Paul Krugman spoke in same terms. Welcome to the iggy list...I hate ostriches.

[Lorien]

32. No. It's about time. nt

[thewiseguy]

13. A security installation in Egypt was just hit by a RPG

Just got it from Al Arabiya...

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. and cnn is baseball

bbc may have it too. let me check, so we can get a nice link in english.

[DeSwiss]

16. K&R n/t

[gratuitous]

18. If new governments take any of these countries over

Will they be as friendly toward the U.S. as their predecessors? If not, what will we do about it if anything? With our military pretty tied down, what can we do about it if our favored means of foreign relations is unavailable? If diplomacy is tried, will it have an opportunity to work, or will our faultless media yammerers and their pals in the Republican party demand armed intervention? Can the administration resist?

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. that is why I said

large amounts of Pepto are being consumed at Foggy Bottom (and Tel Aviv) Tunisia... whatever, but algeria and egypt are important... and Yemen... we have bases and it is not looking pretty. (On and there is Jordan too)

The make up of the ME is changing, FAST. (And North Africa)

[gratuitous]

20. I'm sure our faultless spook network is all over it

I mean, we're spending all that money to be a step ahead of events, right?

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. They, like everybody else, was taken by surprise

ironically... that domino theory that they loved to spout, seems to be at work here... who knew? They were right! Just not about what event or events...

[Lorien]

33. I only care that they are friendly toward the idea of being truly Democratic Nations

Democracy needs to get a stronger foothold globally.

[gratuitous]

34. Wouldn't that be a nice, progressive thing?

Unfortunately, democracy can be kind of messy and unpredictable. Business likes things nice and stable and never-changing. That's why business floods in when a strongman takes over a country. You can be sure that the leadership, no matter how odious it is, will be in place, it will keep the populace cowed, and the looting of labor and resources can be accomplished with minimal fuss. Yeah, there's payoffs to be made, but it's peanuts compared to the plunder. And U.S. business has shown quite consistently that they'll work with anyone as long as there's money to be made.

[Name removed]

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