View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343
|
Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 11:03 pm Post subject: Arab Spring |
|
|
Remember all the hogwash we heard and read from the media ? Could no one see that the "Arab Spring" part of the process of increasing Islamicisation of politics in the Region ? |
|
Back to top |
|
|
johnslat
Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 13859 Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
|
Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 11:23 pm Post subject: |
|
|
It's kind of like the opposite of Daylight Savings Time: Fall Forward - Spring Back.
Regards,
John
Last edited by johnslat on Sun Dec 23, 2012 11:29 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Qaaolchoura
Joined: 10 Oct 2008 Posts: 539 Location: 21 miles from the Syrian border
|
Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 11:27 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Oh no, plenty of people saw it. We just saw it as a risk we had to take. Let the rebels overrun our "allies" (at least the ones without oil; Bahrain and Saudi are a different story, though I wish they weren't), pray for them to overrun our enemies, and hope that democracies are more pliable to foreign pressure, leading to a stable alliance that doesn't depend on one man.
Great example is in Eastern Europe, which reformed under pressure from its newly-empowered people (with help from the West), except for Belarus and Russia. (Belarus had a strong man, Russia has too much hydrocarbon and mineral wealth to be pressured).
Of course a counter-example is Iran, which stopped holding fair elections (Iranian elections were never free because of Council of "Experts" entrance restrictions, but used to be fair) once we began notching up sanctions over the nuclear program. But Iran, like Russia, has natural resources that there will always be someone to buy.
~Q |
|
Back to top |
|
|
johnslat
Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 13859 Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
|
Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2012 11:32 pm Post subject: |
|
|
It's a "phase" they're going through.
Of course, it may be a very long "phase" in many cases. You and I scot are not likely to see them emerge from it.
But it's a necessary part of the process - what my Mom used to call "growing pains."
Regards,
John |
|
Back to top |
|
|
fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003 Posts: 3198 Location: Beijing
|
Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2012 6:31 am Post subject: |
|
|
johnslat wrote: |
It's kind of like the opposite of Daylight Savings Time: Fall Forward - Spring Back.
Regards,
John |
...orrrr...I have to go westward to get to The East.
...or something like that, as long as I don't take a wrong turn at Albuquerque.
Warm regards,
fat_chris |
|
Back to top |
|
|
scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343
|
Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2012 9:20 pm Post subject: |
|
|
The continuing story is a reminder that we should be careful about taking seriously the coverage we get on the "Meeja". People who present themselves as "experts" turn out to b e journalists with degrees in sociology and zero-level Arabic. Even those who pretend to know (BBC's Frank Gardner or Lise Ducette) are AMATEURS.
Best coverage I have seen is on AL JAZEERA |
|
Back to top |
|
|
fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003 Posts: 3198 Location: Beijing
|
Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2012 4:51 am Post subject: |
|
|
scot47 wrote: |
Best coverage I have seen is on AL JAZEERA |
Seconded! Hear, hear!
Warm regards,
fat_chris |
|
Back to top |
|
|
|