The Arab Spring

Headhsot.

I must say, I find it interesting how it took just one protest in Egypt to cause the whole Middle East to crack and collapse.

Oh. Well, I'd agree with that, strangely enough. Maybe I'm just desensitised to this sort of thing but whilst it's an example of a horrific way to treat your citizens, I'm not going to call it traumatising.

(Also, I'm rather surprised by how thick the skull is, I'd always thought of it as being thinner)

: I'd agree. It seems like one of those things that just needed a flashpoint to inspire others, the straw that camel's back etc etc.

(Although it was actually Tunisia that started it off, If I remember correctly)

edited 22nd Feb '11 7:53:17 AM by EthZee

Gadaffi is giving the kind of defiant speech I'd expected, but I really hope will spur the protesters on to victory. He sees himself as the leader of the revolution, not the president, and says that the protesters represent the Devil and not Libya.

Someone is lacking in political senses.

I must say, I find it interesting how it took just one protest in Egypt to cause the whole Middle East to crack and collapse.

Well actually, it was about a month of protest in Tunisia, which caused the resignation of the country's president, followed by similar protests in other Arab countries. Ben Ali resigned in mid-January and Mubarak followed suit about a month later, and now, a bit over a week later, it seems that Gaddafi has less than a month left.

Point is, this has been going on for months, not days, and it's not "just one protest" but a series of protests that happen simultaneously in different countries and most big cities in each country that is facing revolution. Not suggesting that people don't know that, just wanna make sure that the magnitude of this is understood by everyone reading the thread.

He claims he would have resigned by now if he were president, but he lacks the position to resign from. He will die a martyr, and fight street by street to reclaim Libya if he has to. The protestors are cockroaches, young people who have been fed hallucenogenic drugs that are poisoning their minds against Libya.

The 'condensation nucleus' of it, if you will, was the suicide by immolation of a street vendor who had his vegetables confiscated by the police. There's been a lot of tension over there for a long time now, but that man's death was the spark (if you'll pardon the grisly pun) that ignited the whole Middle East.

Given the level of dissatisfaction and disillusionment with governments worldwide at the moment, I'd be unwilling to place a bet on which country will be the last in the chain.

If it has jumped the Med. by the end of next month, I'd say this wave of revolt could engulf all of Europe before it's all over.

His scale, not his vegetables.

Gaddafi is ranting and rambling. He made positive comparisons with the Tiananmen Square massacre, saying the lives of a few protesters are a small price to pay for national security.

^ Funny how protests are currently happening in China as well.

Ah, yes, his scale. My mistake.

It might be easier to list countries not having protests?

edited 22nd Feb '11 8:42:09 AM by InverurieJones

Yeah, that is a problem. Technically, Gaddafi holds no actual governmental position to resign from. At least Mubarak was officially the President until he resigned.

You mentioned the possibility of it reaching Europe. Italy first, or the Balkans?

Italy or Greece, I'd wager.

There have been sporadic outbursts of directly Tunisia-inspired unrest in Portugal already, come to think of it.

edited 22nd Feb '11 9:50:16 AM by InverurieJones

Hmmmm... What would they be protesting to get?

If Ghaddafi doesn't leave soon, he'll end the same way as Mussolini.

At this point I am more concerned about what is coming after Ghaddafi goes. I have seen little indication that the resistance is prodemocracy. Has anyone else? Do we know anything regarding what the revolutionaries want, other than the current regime to go?

Pundits warning that Islamists are about to take over the Middle East were populist scare tactics, but that might not be so unrealistic in the case of Libya.

^ Protests in Europe just now are mostly against fiscal austerity measures passed by governments bankrupted by the foolish urge to bail out criminally reckless banks.

edited 22nd Feb '11 10:13:07 AM by InverurieJones

I seriously doubt we're going to see falling governments in Europe.

We already have.

How long has Belgium not had a government now?

Did you not see Rome and Athens burn?

This is nowhere near the same thing.

That whole idea seems rather silly. The good portion of Europe really doesn't have much to revolt over.

Complain, sure, but every nation has shit they can complain about.

Exactly. In Europe the unions and various other groups are protesting against cuts, but they're going to do that and the cuts are going to happen. Same shit that happens all the time over one thing or another. In the Middle East this is a fundamental regime change across multiple nations that has major implications for future regimes of this type in the region.

One has nothing whatsoever to do with the other.

I read some excerpts from Gadafi/W Tfi's (we call him Gheddafi here) speech and they are absolutely humiliating for Italy. He said that when he came here he was "honored and respected" as the great man he is, because according to him Lybia is respected by everyone. Thanks Berlusconi for that lavish parades and parties you threw for him (he thanked us by not showing up at an official appointment), I guess, but after all our prime minister is the only mwestern leader to have visited and openly praised Belarus dictator Lukashenko. It took some days from people of our government to start saying something, and Berlusconi is completely silent on the matter, except from when the protests broke out seriosuly and said that he didn't want to disturb Ghadafi.

It's not only a matter of economic interests. Even if he manages to stay in power, there's a lose/lose situation for Italy here, something that only assholes (things read on general discussions boards of gaming forums, mind you) suggesting our army should go to Lybia to assist Ghadafi don't realize.

Huh. It seemed as though the person whom the article was written by may have been a little mad. But I don't seem to be surprised that the royal family, especially the kids, is so apathetic. So, more irrelevant news:

• Iranian warships pass through Suez for the first time since the '79 revolution. Israel, surprise surprise, is angry.
• Unioners protest new anti-union laws. I have to wonder: how much protesting would be going on if not for the unrest in the Middle East?
• Demonstrations resume in Yemen. It's been twelve days, apparently. This has a chance of succeeding, albeit a slight one, but the problem is that Yemen has a much higher chance of setting up an Islamic fundamentalist-based government than, say, Egypt or Tunisia.

edited 22nd Feb '11 12:11:41 PM by OurGLORIOUSLeader