Libya headed for civil war? Update: Gadhafi dead

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

The demonstration effect in Tunisia set off a powder keg. Much like how the American Revolution led to the French Revolution

Egyptian police were youtubed beating and sodomising a boy last year, the egypt has been simmering ever since.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

Coming up with facebook and twitter.

The internet tells me that the internet isn't all that big in Libya. I heard on the news that only 5% of Libyans have regular access.

Not to say that the facebooks and the twitters have zero impact, but the role of "social media" is seriously overblown.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

The question is does Saudi follow?

Probably after Iran..and that will be a sh** storm.

[Golden Jet]

If a revolution happens in Iran, it will be a bloodbath. I get the feeling the government wouldn't care how many people would die. Their leader is wacked.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Golden Jet

If a revolution happens in Iran, it will be a bloodbath. I get the feeling the government wouldn't care how many people would die. Their leader is wacked.

That's what I thought would have happen in Egypt.

[burn_this_city]

There was too much foreign media in Egypt for a bloodbath. They would have wiped out their tourism industry with a heavy handed crackdown. Plus the army is highly respected in the country.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

That's what I thought would have happen in Egypt.

I also think when the U.S. says things like "Maybe you should step down" that might resonate with Mubarek. Mahmoud will just use it as a rallying cry.

[icarus]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

Just don't build them a bomb made out of pinball machine parts!

Don't worry, I got it.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by CrusaderPi

Ouch. You never want to be on that end of a comparison with Iran. Probably reason enough for them to revolt.

Ignorance much? Iran is lightyears ahead of much of Northern Africa and its really quite developed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...elopment_Index

[icarus]

Automatic updates here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

Latest: Gaddafi says the protesters are on drugs and deserve to be executed.

1715: Eyewitnesses in Tripoli tell BBC Arabic there is shooting on the streets of the capital.

[Gozer]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

But facebook and twitter has been around a few years.
We saw it in the Iran uprising in 2008.

So if a kid had burned himself 5 years ago.........!!

I think the face and the name of the leader of the free world did a lot to undermine scare-tactics of repression.

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by CrusaderPi

If I was a third world dictator the first thing I'd do is cut power, except to my palace of course. Try tweeting up revolution with no electricity.

PS: If anyone has any contacts, I'm available for consulting work.

Pretty much what they did in Libya... didn't work since the word was already on the street at that point

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by icarus

Automatic updates here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

Latest: Gaddafi says the protesters are on drugs and deserve to be executed.

He also say protesters are rats. Good sign for a regime when it resorts to name calling opponents. The guy is sounding more and more like comical ali in Iraq a few years back

[Fozzie_DeBear]

I think that the Facebook and Twitter influence is significant...however its Al Jazeera that really has changed the landscape of Middle East media.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Fozzie_DeBear

I think that the Facebook and Twitter influence is significant...however its Al Jazeera that really has changed the landscape of Middle East media.

Facebook and twitter aren't nothing in the scheme. Like Malcolm Gladwell pointed out a week or two ago in the NY Times though the East Germans over-threw their government at a time when the majority of the population didn't even have a telephone. The technology is maybe making the word spread faster, but at the end of the day its not a root cause.

I think that is a great point about Al-Jazeera btw.

[burn_this_city]

[youtube]wEl####cz-4[/youtube

Trying to post a youtube video that has sh1t in the alphanumeric name and the swear filter is blocking it.

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

Egyptian police were youtubed beating and sodomising a boy last year, the egypt has been simmering ever since.

Actually it's been simmering since Mubarak's so called 're-election' in 2005. But thanks for playing.

[Pooty]

Just to look at all these past events in a little bit of a different light, doesn't all this go to support Bush's whole war on terrorism idea? He talked about how instilling a democracy in Iraq (unstable sure but at least it's in place) would lead to a spread of democracy throughout the middle east. It's a sad fact that millions of lives had to be lost to do so, but is this the cost of freedom?

Also, not a Bush supporter at all, just something that was brought up during a few conversations about this whole chain of events.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Pooty

Just to look at all these past events in a little bit of a different light, doesn't all this go to support Bush's whole war on terrorism idea? He talked about how instilling a democracy in Iraq (unstable sure but at least it's in place) would lead to a spread of democracy throughout the middle east. It's a sad fact that millions of lives had to be lost to do so, but is this the cost of freedom?

Also, not a Bush supporter at all, just something that was brought up during a few conversations about this whole chain of events.

Thing is we don't actually want democracy in Eygpt and Libya, the plan was for democracy in Iran and Iraq, and only our kind of democracy at that (non Islamic)

[CrusaderPi]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Ignorance much? Iran is lightyears ahead of much of Northern Africa and its really quite developed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...elopment_Index

Thanks you. No really. You really really enlightened me. Really. Thanks.