Egypt?

[robin]

Any thoughts on this? Personally, I think that once again we are doing irreparable harm to out reputation by not supporting Egyptian President Mubarak. He is certainly not the best example of a leader, but lets face it, he is an ally who has stood with the united states and Israel for the last two decades against radical who are determined to destroy Israel. Sadly when Mubarak reached out to our president for backing, he received a cold shoulder.

I predict that this will turn out to be much like the Iranian revolution of 1979. Carter did just as Obama is doing, when he turned his back to an ally (Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi), and allowed that Ayatollah Khomeini to seize power.

I also have serious doubts that this is indeed a pro-democracy revolution.

I have to run into a meeting, but I would be interested on the thoughts of others, because this is likely to re-shape the middle east, and perhaps create another war in which the US will have no choice but to get involved.

[freebirdro]

Is hard, sometimes I think that all this years were just a bend aid masking the real problem and now we have to deal with the real thing.
Mubarak could of made life better for them, so I don't know if he was that good of a band aid, maybe he made it worst by pushing them toward Islamism.

What I am worry about is the border, there will be so many weapons smuggled in Palestine trough Egypt.

But somehow I have been waiting for a showdown for a while now, is inevitable, the question is when and how will end up. I am optimistic

[Josh]

any new thoughts now that more chunks of the arab world are breaking loose?

[robin]

I find it difficult to form an opinion at this point. However, My inclinations are that this will turn out badly in the end. There seems to be plenty of radical Muslims who are waiting to seize power as the governments start to fall. Lets face it, it's going to be very difficult to establish any working democracy out of the chaos that we see today. Sadly I don't see any leadership in the world today that will help usher these society's into a working democracy.

We're already seeing troubling signs out of Egypt where the new leadership is allowing two Iranian war ships to pass through the Suez Canal. Soon those ships will be sitting just off the coast line of Israel, and who knows what will happen at that point.

We should all be praying for leadership, peace and the safety of innocent people throughout the region.

[Josh]

My intuition echoes Robin's.

The news about Quaddafi today was pretty interesting. There is some degree of satisfaction watching a cruel dictator's long-laid schemes coming to naught. But as for lasting justice in these countries, God help them!

[rbbailey]

I'm predicting for all of these countries, the following:

Possible good: Each one hashes out it's internal problems and becomes some sort of Arabic/N. African type of democracy that just sort of sits there and generally benefits from American tourism -- much like Egypt has been all this time.....

Possible not-so-good: Each one devolves into internal strife for several years, including actual civil war in some cases, followed by a government of some type being set up with a ruling class that is partially indifferent and partially sympathetic to the likes of the Muslim Bros., etc... etc...

Possible nightmare: After 1.5-2 years of infighting and unrest, each of these countries is taken by the most powerful group/dictator in the vacuum. Each of them is decidedly anti-American, and anti-Israeli. They look up, realize that they (once again) have Israel surrounded on all sides. Russia follows through and gives the bomb to Iran, who use it, as they have said they would, and all hell breaks loose.

Hey, it happened before. Why wouldn't it happen again? It is uncanny how close to 1979 this whole Egypt thing is -- down to the exact day, in fact that Iran overthrew it's ruler and the Revolution started (took another 1.5 years, by the way) and now look at what we have.

By the way, the differences between the Sunni and Shia all but disappear when it comes to working together to get rid of the two satans. And Russia's involvement with Islamic Persia has a long history -- one that is reflected very nicely in our current events, just without the word "Soviet" in the name.

[Josh]

By the way, the differences between the Sunni and Shia all but disappear when it comes to working together to get rid of the two satans

Then why is there more sectarian violence in Iraq than violence by the people against the US?

[rbbailey]

That's a point that I didn't clarify. In an international way, they are willing to work together, but not within their own borders.

Look at Iran -- perfectly willing to use violence to put down a challenge to his authority within his own borders, but just as willing to work with the Sunni populations of another country as long as it does not interfere with his power structure.

In Iraq, they seem to be all but ignoring the American presence for the purpose of filling that lower level power vacuum that exists. Once that is hashed out they will start asking us to leave, as they should, as we should. But it won't happen quick enough, and they will start attacking us again. Even the new Iraqi government will begin to turn on the U.S. occupation.

The point being that historically, they have banded together in order to (literally) launch coordinated surprise attacks from all sides on Israel, backed by Russia. Exactly the scenario that is being set up right now.

[carebear]

anybody want to give some credit to the bush administration for giving a taste of freedom to the people of middle east?, they are very dear to God, it makes me very happy to see their joy....thanks bush for having the courage to spread freedom.

--vio

[robin]

Bush's policies certainly have played a part in what we're seeing today. Unfortunately without any strong leadership or even a clear vision coming from Obama, most of Bush's efforts will be wasted. In fact it may all back fire in our face. If you just listen to Obama and knew nothing of world politics, one would think that the Iranian leadership is an Allie, and Egypt's leadership was a sworn enemy.

[carebear]

Isn't funny that kings in the bible are judged but kings today are not important or significant, or are they?

I am saying that maybe democracy will prevail, but at a civil war cost, maybe some sort of fighting between the secular, Christian world against Islam.

Any kind of major conflict will make Islam more moderate, hopefully Sharia law will be obsolete ,yee... middle east people are smart enough to read... on the INTERNET ,funny that when the internet started, it was meant to do just this. network for a revolution. They will find the answer, at least some of them will.

[Josh]

Watching a documentary the other night on the revolution in Egypt, I came away with some hope that many of the leaders of this change are definitely not anti-American or pro-Sharia law. That was encouraging.

[Josh]

Feb 24, 2011 9:08:11 GMT -8 @carebear said:

isnt funny that kings in the bible are judged but kings today are not important or significant.

Explain that a bit further.

[carebear]

well, it seems that kings or presidents are puppets of bigger powers and interests and not people's wish.

[rbbailey]

Feb 24, 2011 9:12:18 GMT -8 Josh said:

Watching a documentary the other night on the revolution in Egypt, I came away with some hope that many of the leaders of this change are definitely not anti-American or pro-Sharia law. That was encouraging.

I'm hopeful as well.... as long as no one brings up any ideas about a scapegoat....