Weekend Sober Thread: Shit's Gettin' Real in Egypt

Fuck it, as long as we can get rid of some Cuse fans I'm game.

 

Sebha is one of the few towns still under loyalist control. I can understand dictators rooting for their fellows to remain in power, but what fucking idiot sends actual aid? Christ. You're going to need those weapons back when you own people hear about this.

 

North Korea are a bunch of loons. Just a few weeks ago they were requesting foreign aid from the US. NK like to flex their muscle, but they can't even feed their troops. Not to mention China would step in as they don't want that shit overflowing into their land.

If anything, we should be worried about Saudi Arabia overturning. $20 gas would turn up overnight, the US would be fucked. Good thing the prince just pumped a couple hundred million into social services to quell the protestors. Who knows if that'll calm them for good.

 

I think it's very unlikely.

1) Saudi Arabia has a much lower population density. Logistically, it's hard to riot when everyone is spread so thin. More importantly, people tend not to get so worked up when population density is not as high (hence why countries like Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya have been so crazy).

2) Not as much nationalist sentiment in Saudi Arabia. There is a huge proportion of migrant workers from everywhere in the Middle East who is in Saudi Arabia to work. The conditions in Saudi Arabia are much better than back home (e.g. Syria, Jordan, etc), so most of them are grateful to be there with a job. An immigrant generally doesn't have as much stake issues of national pride, and they're happy as long as they can send some money to their families back home.

3) The Saudi royal family is a lot more sensible than the governments we've seen so far. They are a lot quicker to get the situation under control and are willing to make concessions if it works to their benefit.

4) Relative to the rest of the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has one of the highest GDPs and GDPs per capita. Here's a map for comparison. Despite the protests, people in Saudi Arabia are pretty happy overall—well, happy enough that overthrowing the government does not seem like a good alternative.

5) If things really got bad, the U.S. and EU would intervene and make sure Saudi royal family offered adequate concessions to placate people. No one is seriously calling for the disbandment of the royal family, meaning the protests can be resolved (or suppressed) relatively peacefully, whether with U.S. intervention or without.

 

The BBC had an interview with Gaddafi.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12603259

He says that all his people love him, and also this.

His delusions might be funny if it wasn't so sad.

 

There's a report on the CBC right now about the ghaddafi regime's la ish concerts with wester. Pop stars. Lionel Ritchie, apparently, was paid 5 million dollars for a 5 song set. Some others include nelly furtado, usher, beyonce, and I think they mentioned janet Jackson or Mariah Carey. Furtado was paid a million bucks.

And this, along with glee royalties, is how washed up pop stars make a living. And I suppose it puts a new meaning of the term 'fuck you money'. As in, "hey, citizens, did you want a hospital or sanitation? Well, fuck you!"

Ghaddafi has also had his Canadian assets frozen after attempting to withdraw funds from a Canadian bank. I bet that'll bring him back to reality.

 

Hands up if you think Gaddafi and Charlie Sheen hire the same speechwriter.

 

Did he pay her with weaponry?

 

Probably of more interest to me as a recent alum than generally, butLondon School of Economics head Howard Davies retires over links to Libya, Gaddafi's son.

 

There also investigating Saif Gaddafi over accusations that he plagiarised his PhD thesis.

 

The son of a oil-rich dictator took some shortcuts to get his PhD, shortcuts that violate standard academic ethics?

I, for one, am shocked and appalled.

 

My friend and I were arguing over whether W's initiative in Iraq lit the spark that's created the Middle East revolution.


He believes it did. I don't see the logic in it.



There's a major difference between revolution and occupation.

 

I am sure someone can correct me; however based off population and geographic size I don't think population density is a problem in Libya. Quite the opposite.

 

Actually you're right about that point. I was generalizing for areas such as Egypt and a couple of the other smaller countries like Syria, Jordan, etc.

A friend of mine who has been involved in Iraq's reconstruction for the last 10 years believes part of Egypt's revolution was inspired by the democratic elections in Iraq. His summary being that the Egyptians saw Iraq and thought, "if they can do it, so can we." No idea if that's true but it's an interesting perspective, and I definitely trust his insight over mine.

 

Gaddafi wants a payout and a smooth exit