Can Egypt hold it together? President's son, family flee to Britain

[deep]

Egyptians follow Tunisians

AFP: Egypt opposition calls for second day of protests


U.S. urges restraint in Egypt, says government stable | Reuters



Can Egypt hold it together????

[mama cass]

i hope so! i'm meant to be heading over there in a few weeks

[Earnie Shavers]

And will it keep rolling?

[anitram]

Has his son really fled? I thought that this was a rumor?

Also, the American hypocrisy here with respect to Egypt (as say, opposed to Tunisia) would be stunning were it not par for the course for US foreign policy.

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by mama cass

i hope so! i'm meant to be heading over there in a few weeks

this was my first thought as well. i'm tentatively planning a trip in 2012.

these things seem inspiring, but then you wonder if we'll get democratically elected clerics with 7th century worldviews.

for the US to publicly back the protesters would be bad for everyone involved.

[Earnie Shavers]

I'm looking at a Mid-East trip in early 2012 too (not Egypt, but some mix of Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iran) - continual "Argh! Hold it together kids!" with daily stories predicting the imminent collapse of and/or descent into violent chaos and/or bombing of and/or apocalypse kicking off in relation to any of those countries. It's about me, right?

re US response to anything like this - damned if they do, damned if they don't. Or more to the point, its only going to look poor either way, and nothing to really gain either way, only lose really.

[Pearl]

I think this thread title should read "Can North Africa/Mid-East Hold It Together?" The riots and complaints are spreading from Algeria to Jordan.

[Earnie Shavers]

Yes, although they shouldn't be closely linked together. Different reasons behind each, some linked (eg Egypt following/inspired by Tunisia), some not (the Lebanon protests would most likely have happened regardless, not linked at all except perhaps in giving some confidence - just a fluke of timing,) and then with each the situations from country to country are very, very different. Different beefs, different aims, different strengths, very different societies, social make up and structures in each country (with some united, some fractured), different relationships between the people and leadership, and/or leadership and control (e.g. military) etc etc. It certainly has nothing in common with (or wouldn't have anything in common with, if it actually were to kick off properly all over the place - no sign of that yet), to use a comparison I've seen around, the rolling removal of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989.

[financeguy]

It'll be fun when revolutions come to Europe.

I doubt if we have the balls, but one can live in hope.

[the iron horse]

And please remember the Christians.

[Pearl]

Are you kidding me? You only care for Christians and no one else?

You're just looking to stir things up, because no one can be this close-minded.

[deep]

I only care about coffee

Obama Poised to Intensify U.S. Criticism of Egypt’s Mubarak

[Moonlit_Angel]

Obama faces a dilemma in trying to balance support for ‘‘democratic aspirations,” given a risk that extremists will dominate, and continued backing of an ally who he took two years to win over and who shows little inclination to relinquish control.

Exhibit A why our propping up and supporting foreign governments is generally a really bad idea. Doesn't it tend to seem like when we do this, most of the time it never winds up ending well?

I hope the people of Egypt can finally start getting these issues resolved in some way that works for everybody. Again, as always, don't advocate violent protesting, some of the methods used and the threats that are causing the family to possibly flee I certainly don't approve of. But I'm glad they aren't just sitting back and letting these problems go unnoticed, too.

Angela

[deep]

ElBaradei returns to Egypt calling for democracy

twitter power
can't be stopped

[BVS]

Originally Posted by the iron horse

And please remember the Christians.

Please explain.

[Irvine511]

i care about Egyptian Christians. why wouldn't i?

[Bonoa]

Originally Posted by anitram

Has his son really fled? I thought that this was a rumor?

Also, the American hypocrisy here with respect to Egypt (as say, opposed to Tunisia) would be stunning were it not par for the course for US foreign policy.

Mubaraks predecessor Sadat ruled as a dictator but because of his friendship with Israel and the west he was tolerated. After the murder of Sadat in 1981 vice president Mubarak came to power. He brought little democracy in the country, opposition was tolerated by the government, but every election the opposing parties are threatened, so it seemed that these parties were only there to show the west "what a democracy we are". The same thing happens with the press, journalists must not be too critical.

The government does nothing about poverty and unemployment, this is done by the mosques and then they ask themselves why on earth the fundamentalist organisations became popular.

The first thing I was told when I was in Egypt a couple of years ago was not to say anything critical about Mubarak or the government. The rumor goes that Mubarak killed Sadat in '81, but it's dangerous to speak it out loud in the streets, because you'll get arrested immediately. When we (a whole bunch of Egyptian and Dutch students) went out in Cairo we were actually followed a couple of times by the Egyptian secret service, so whenever we spoke about politics, we used words in Dutch or Ancient Egyptian.

After 30 years it is time for a new government! Enough is enough!

[Bonoa]

Originally Posted by Irvine511

i care about Egyptian Christians. why wouldn't i?

I care about the whole Egyptian population, Muslims and Christians...

[Irvine511]

Bonoa -- you clearly know much more about Egypt than most of the regular posters in here. my question/concern -- if the government is overthrown, who will take their place? will democratic elections be held? is there concern that Islamists might be democratically elected? is that the change young Egyptians are looking for? something else?

sorry if i come off as grossly uninformed, that's probably because i am on this topic.

[financeguy]

YouTube - George Galloway slams Hosni Mubarak