The combined activities in Tunisia and Lebanon are both things that should concern anyone who drives a car and eats food.
Those of you who don't do either should just ignore this:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/201112535328227823.html
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=233871
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/rioting-breaks-out-egypt
This could escalate rapidly. You really don't want it to.
(It's never too late to buy preps...until it is.)
Edited to add:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/20111251711053608.html
Twitter going down in Egypt is concerning because it appears transparency is not on the agenda.... this i suspect is going to escalate regardless of the social media being blocked.
ReplyDeleteYes...that's a culture where word of mouth still exists, I suspect...and a big huge powder keg.
ReplyDeleteWe really did ourselves and the rest of the world a great disservice by not taking the high road from the start in our relations with these countries in order to take advantage of their resources, and we will probably pay the price for it in the not too distant future.
As it becomes more and more apparent to the rest of the world that our ability to fund our hegemony is rapidly drying up, more and more of the citizens of these countries will take advantage of our inability to stand behind widely disliked governments, and the resources that the West needs to basically function will be seriously compromised.
If this catches on and spreads to Saudi Arabia, it will make the current price at the pump look trivial.
All of the above does not speak to the moral and ethical considerations of the issue of the ME...but at the very least, I would have thought the notion of "enlightened self-interest" would have reared it's head every so often...but I guess even THAT is beyond our elected officials.
There is an easy way to do international relations and a hard way...we seem to inevitably choose the hard way, even though it appears to be expedient on the face of it.
Greed and overarching wilful hubris is at the core i believe.... unfortunately for the people that will suffer the most.
ReplyDeleteOne thing i have learned is never try to understand a culture or a people based on their government.
Case in point. USA.
After living here for five years now ... what i thought i knew was based on the people i had met without scrutinizing the government actions.
Some days i wish i had.
@Wendy-Yes...you may have jumped into the pot just as it is starting to boil. Sorry. :(
ReplyDeleteAs for governments and leaders...(sigh)...
I have NEVER understood the human propensity to support and enable insane and abusive leaders, from assholes who lead entire countries to the asshole boss at work. It is one of the design flaws of human nature that people feel compelled to adhere to a pecking order and just mindlessly accept notions like "the divine right of kings".
Some idiot is born with a name like Rockefeller or has a throne waiting for them and people line up behind them like the sheep that they are. I have always found that tendency disgusting at best...but I no longer actively crusade against it, as I would be crusading against human nature.
In this world there are sheep, sheep herders, wolves...and only the occasional owl like ourselves: we observe the actions of the sheep, sheep herders, and wolves and occasionally hoot from the height of our tree limbs...but the only ones who listen are the other owls.
Once in a while the sheep herder may pull out his rifle and take out an owl or two, afraid that the owl may somehow alert the sheep...but for the most part the sheep herder has nothing to worry about: the sheep will comply for the most part...unless you push them just a little to far or stop feeding them. That is where Uncle Hosni made his mistake.
Most probably Uncle Hosni will be ousted, and then some theocratic authority figure will end up in charge. Whoever it will be, I can make ONE safe prediction:
they will be an asshole.