Middle East going West?

[Smellyoldgit]

It’s difficult to not notice the goings-on in the less than stable lands of sand.

Tunisia set the scene in ousting its aging president. Yemen is seeing street protests against a much disliked government and of course, thousands of Egyptians now suggesting Mubarak is way past his shoot-by date. If Saudi Arabia chooses to revolt, the locals will employ an army of Philipinos & Indians to do any dirty work.

In the background throughout, is a range of the more radical jizzlamists pushing to spread their influence. The Muslim Brotherhood Movement in Egypt and Jordan, a resurgent branch of al-Qa'ida in parts of Yemen and Ennahdha in Tunisia.

So despite the Coalition of the Willing’s efforts to bring democracy to other parts of desert hell, the current turmoils may well see a rise in the activities and power of sharia based political islam and our efforts could all have been in vain.

Or am I worrying over nothing?

[psychodiva]

we're all doomed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[psychodiva]

Egyptian governemtn has cut the country off from the internet / phones etc-

http://www.renesys.com/blog/2011/01/...internet.shtml

as it says

What happens when you disconnect a modern economy and 80,000,000 people from the Internet? What will happen tomorrow, on the streets and in the credit markets?

bloodshed I should think

[psychodiva]

Egypt's day of reckoning

[Victus]

Smellyoldgit wrote

So despite the Coalition of the Willing’s efforts to bring democracy to other parts of desert hell, the current turmoils may well see a rise in the activities and power of sharia based political islam and our efforts could all have been in vain.

Or am I worrying over nothing?

I think the outcomes may vary by location. Tunisia is generally secular (by comparison to the rest of the area), and unless it all goes horribly wrong there's a plausible chance for a secular, democratic government to take hold. That would be awesome.

I'm somewhat less optimistic of that outcome in the other rioting areas, as they tend to be more religious. I have yet to see any obvious evidence that they are tilting towards some form of liberty-protecting democracy or a more theocratic form of democracy. Either seem plausible, since the riots appear to be happening from the bottom-up. The breaking point seems to have been that, despite the authoritarian government, the Tunisian revolt was not suppressed; people got it in their heads that their respective governments are not omnipotent.

As one might expect, the prospect of a whole swath of the planet being free from oppression has various libertarian writers all excited.

[Smellyoldgit]

Victus wrote

As one might expect, the prospect of a whole swath of the planet being free from oppression has various libertarian writers all excited.

I suspect the good ol' USofA will be the ones to get excited if any of the major oil producers start showing signs of discontent.

[dogpet]

Victus wrote

As one might expect, the prospect of a whole swath of the planet being free from oppression has various libertarian writers all excited.

Does libertarian translate as incredibly stupid? Middle eastern despots are the epitome of libertarian.

[psychodiva]

currently trending on Twitter- live blogging and updates despite the Egyptian govmnt's attempted censorship

[Saturday]

psychodiva wrote

currently trending on Twitter- live blogging and updates despite the Egyptian govmnt's attempted censorship

[Smellyoldgit]

.... and the highly reliable Tehran Times reports some soggy protests in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi authorities detained hundreds of demonstrators on Friday in Jeddah who gathered to protest against poor infrastructure after deadly floods swept through Saudi Arabia's second biggest city, police and witnesses said.

Gosh, all because of a few drops of rain

[psychodiva]

Pictures here

[Noodle]

Nice pics. If they succeed in installing a new government, do you think Egypt will become an enemy to the U.S. like Iran did?

[tread softly]

And on a popular Muslim forum near you:

"there has been some hint that this unrest was caused by the kuffar to put someone in more acceptable to both the USA interests and placate the concerns of the egyptian people. hopefully, their plotting will backfire and Allah will use this as an opportunity to strengthen the ummah"

The delusion and paranoia continues; good or bad, everything is the fault of the Jews and the CIA and Blackwater and the Masons. Muslims in the UK seem to be understandably happy that Egyptians are throwing off the oppression of a tyrant (as am I). The Salafis and other rabid-Sharia-mongers are suddenly stuttering in their exhaltations as they realise that their "brothers" may want elections and Western freedoms, rather than the hardcore Sharia they would prefer.

"May Allah grant the saif to the belivers and cut throat the oppressors.Ameen"

What a lovely god, that cutting throats and His name are mentioned so often together.

The bad thing for us in the short term is that petrol/diesel prices may go up even more, especially if it kicks off in Saudi Arabia, which will totally frack up 2011 even more (and it already looks shittier than anything that has come before).

[tread softly]

Anecdotal evidence suggests the rioting got worse after the internet was cut off because the desperate male youth suddenly had no access to their diet of porn.

Like any bloke who's had his source of porn cut off, they went out and threw stuff, broke stuff, and burnt stuff. Completely understandable I say. Not very Islamic though.

[Smellyoldgit]

tread softly wrote

Anecdotal evidence suggests the rioting got worse after the internet was cut off because the desperate male youth suddenly had no access to their diet of porn.

Like any bloke who's had his source of porn cut off, they went out and threw stuff, broke stuff, and burnt stuff. Completely understandable I say. Not very Islamic though.

As this fatwa confirms, the 'scholars' of the Religion of Peace jump through theo-illogical hoops to override the q'uran and conclude that masturbation is perfectly acceptable in some circumstances. This confirms what most of us knew all along, that muslims can sometimes be wankers.

It should be noted that as the Egyptian porn supply is slowly being restored, the incidences of stuff being thrown, burnt and broken is receding. Of course, this is purely anecdotal.