The Middle East Revolution [2010-2011] Thread: I love baton - General

[QUOTE=voodooattack;28214502]His actions are a pure act of self-preservation. He knows damn well that giving up is most assuredly a death sentence in his case. Even if he'd given up from day one, should he be tried for his past crimes, there are more than enough reasons to give him multiple death-sentences. Also, there's a military officially now, the whole of his eastern forces just defected and joined the people. Here's their statement (although in Arabic): [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PA_ULmO0nc[/media] He's fucked. [editline]22nd February 2011[/editline] I'm also against the idea of armed foreign intervention, from a non-Arab country at least; as are most Libyans. [editline]22nd February 2011[/editline] Holy shit, his chief general of staff just joined the revolution: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFyFOHHx3Ec[/media] [editline]22nd February 2011[/editline] His minister of interior too.[/QUOTE] do you mean eastern as part of his army? or something else?

OP, this thread helped my brother as a source of information for his college essay. he's doing journalism. so thank you.

[QUOTE=That_Crazy_Gman;28216973]do you mean eastern as part of his army? or something else?[/QUOTE] Troops stationed to the east of the country. [editline]23rd February 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=MenteR;28217087]OP, this thread helped my brother as a source of information for his college essay. he's doing journalism. so thank you.[/QUOTE] You're more than welcome, I hope it helped.

Any other news coming out?

That picture is horrible... Oh my God... I have NEVER seen something that graphic before... I'm holding back tears... (not even going to attempt to make a smooth transition) In other news. My US History teacher went to Morocco with her husband today (who is in the Air Force) this 3 day weekend we had. They got there and there were riots. They were eating lunch at an open air cafe and a hoard of people started running down the streets and people started throwing bricks at each other. They were all rushed inside and upstairs. The Air Force husband called his commander and told him what was happening (you're supposed to do this in the military) He then chewed him out saying "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING? THE WEBSITE SAID ALL OF NORTH AFRICA IS A NO GO ZONE!" He DID check the website that tells him if its okay to travel, but that was last week and didn't think anything could escalate this quick. So they couldn't get food because it was some Muslim holiday and all the restaurants were closed. They were forced to go out at night at 7pm and look for a place open to eat. Meanwhile the riots were still going on and she said people were giving them dirty looks in the street. They decided it wasn't worth it and ran back inside. She said while they were stuck in the cafe, she heard an Indian man and a Chinese girl speaking English and the Indian man said "Oh my God, I was just studying this in college and now I'm really experiencing it!" and the girl said while watching a video she recorded of all the people running down the street. "Did you see me get hit? that was so exciting!" This man just came back from a deployment in Iraq. He told his wife that that vacation was the most terrifying thing he has seen in his whole life. I couldn't explain it very well but my teacher seemed shaken up about it. The fact that he is apart of the USAF might have scared him more since he is a prime target for terrorists. I also schooled my teacher in what was happening in Egypt. She said it started in Egypt and now Libya, Morocco and tons of other countries are rioting and/or protesting. I told her it was Tunisia that started it but Egypt was the one that sparked the fire that spread like a surge through the Arab world. AND I was the only student in the room that knew about it. She asked SIMPLE questions that anybody who looked at the news a few weeks ago could have answered. "Why are they protesting?" and I instantly said "To get their liberty" I felt so proud of myself. :) Typing this up made up for seeing that image. D:

Lol, that's pretty nice. And yes those are the images I was going to post but didn't want to (except just as photographs). It's very good that the army is now on the protester's side. There was a video posted on facebook of them arresting some mercenaries, so this is good. Still, so many deaths, and for what... That jackass.

I just wish to ask. Did any of the revolts, riots, dissent, etc, anything at all have it's first sparks in November 2010?

Here's something nice to make up for the last page. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjIPkLCT99A[/media] That's the same church [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Alexandria_bombing]bombed in Alexandria[/url] at the beginning of this year by "Muslim extremist groups" according to our late minister of interior, Habib Al-Adly, who is now being prosecuted for [url=http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/02/07/136723.html]being the master-mind behind the attack[/url], amongst other charges. Terrorism.. Ha! [editline]24th February 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Sobotnik;28236691]I just wish to ask. Did any of the revolts, riots, dissent, etc, anything at all have it's first sparks in November 2010?[/QUOTE] I have no idea, but I hardly see a connection. There's a [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_2010]huge list of events that I'm not going to go through[/url] though. Why ask though? Do you suspect something? [editline]24th February 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Mr. Sun;28234620] She said while they were stuck in the cafe, she heard an Indian man and a Chinese girl speaking English and the Indian man said "Oh my God, I was just studying this in college and now I'm really experiencing it!" and the girl said while watching a video she recorded of all the people running down the street. "Did you see me get hit? that was so exciting!" [/QUOTE] I guess that's a new kind of tourism: History-in-the-making tourism. :hist101:

Hey voodoo, what do you think of the argument that a lot of this shit comes from the fucked up pricing of food and such over there? The most recent Forbes was talking about the effect a shitty dollar has had on commodities prices in the past, cited Iran in the 70s. Obviously they're blowing smoke up people's asses because they have a hate-on for Bernanke and want to say "look at what a fuckass this guy is", but I'm wondering how big of a factor you'd say it actually was, considering it was one to [i]some[/i] extent. Here's the article: [url]http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2011/0228/opinions-steve-forbes-fact-comment-bens-bender.html[/url]

[QUOTE=Xenocidebot;28249313]Hey voodoo, what do you think of the argument that a lot of this shit comes from the fucked up pricing of food and such over there? The most recent Forbes was talking about the effect a shitty dollar has had on commodities prices in the past, cited Iran in the 70s. Obviously they're blowing smoke up people's asses because they have a hate-on for Bernanke and want to say "look at what a fuckass this guy is", but I'm wondering how big of a factor you'd say it actually was, considering it was one to [i]some[/i] extent. Here's the article: [url]http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2011/0228/opinions-steve-forbes-fact-comment-bens-bender.html[/url][/QUOTE] I'd say it's a factor, but not the root of this. As for Tunisia, the stage was already set, unemployment, low income, and food prices had the country in major protests for months. It didn't really escalate or reach revolution stage, up and until one incident that changed everything. Apparently, Ben Ali wasn't paying attention to the oppression meter and [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Bouazizi]Bouazizi[/url]'s self-immolation was what set it off. So in essence, what 'sparked' this was oppression. Akin to dropping a flare in a gas tank, that single incident ignited the rage of the crowds (who were already protesting) and set it ablaze, leading to a series of events that can be traced up to this moment in time. In Egypt, the youth who started this (me included) are mid-class and up, people with access to the internet aren't exactly starving. Increasing food prices may have been a catalyst for some of the silent majority to join in, but food prices didn't "spark" this. Prolonged abuse, corruption and oppression coupled with an external factor did. What happened at Tunisia gave us an insight: We're in worse conditions, so why not? Thus, I disagree with the article. Like I said before: If the global increase of food prices was to blame, this would have started in deep Africa where conditions are much worse.

Well I think the relevant African nations are a bit of a bad analogy because they don't have an organizational force like you guys do. Facebook and general internet penetration is not the same. Silent folks stay silent. But yeah I'm not saying the article's point is wholly valid (like I said they're spinning this to make one guy here look bad), just wondering how much stake you put in the factors which are more transparently other parts of the world's fault (commodities prices, economic marginalization) versus the local demons.

[QUOTE=Xenocidebot;28251429]Well I think the relevant African nations are a bit of a bad analogy because they don't have an organizational force like you guys do. Facebook and general internet penetration is not the same. Silent folks stay silent.[/QUOTE] It's not a bad analogy, that's my point exactly.. someone who can afford an internet connection is surely not short on food, and vice-versa. As for organisation, we've had the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Egyptian_Bread_Riots]real deal[/url] happen here in Egypt in 1977, and it happened spontaneously, back then even phones were a luxury. [QUOTE=Xenocidebot;28251429]But yeah I'm not saying the article's point is wholly valid (like I said they're spinning this to make one guy here look bad), just wondering how much stake you put in the factors which are more transparently other parts of the world's fault (commodities prices, economic marginalization) versus the local demons.[/QUOTE] To be honest, the factor is near marginal since our government subsidises food and gas. (the funny part is: this applies to everyone, the rich also receive such benefits just like the poor!) Regardless, we can't blame the world for our government's incompetence. Egypt is the world's first when it comes to wheat imports worldwide. Yet our country has enough fertile land to export food. It's our regime's fault that we're not self-sufficient as we should be, not anybody else's.

[QUOTE=voodooattack;28253357]Egypt is the world's first when it comes to wheat imports worldwide. Yet our country has enough fertile land to export food. [B]It's our regime's fault that we're not self-sufficient as we should be, not anybody else's.[/B][/QUOTE] egypt is hardly unique in this regard for example, the uk government pays farmers to work under capacity in order to keep prices up the world's food supply is one of the most horribly mis-managed systems ever

[QUOTE=voodooattack;28247492]Here's something nice to make up for the last page. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjIPkLCT99A[/media] [/QUOTE] I cried of joy when i saw this. Life is too short for hate, love is a better way.

I read up on this. So this all began because some guy set himself on fire in Tunisia?

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;28263002]I read up on this. So this all began because some guy set himself on fire in Tunisia?[/QUOTE] World War One started because some guy went to the Sandwich shop.

[QUOTE=voodooattack;28247492]Here's something nice to make up for the last page. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjIPkLCT99A[/media] [/QUOTE] Wow. Thats amazing. I just showed this to my mom (who keeps trying to convince me that Muslims might take over lol). She just said "I wish it was always like this" except IT IS ALREADY just in a place where you'd think it'd be the opposite. Come to think of it, Americans here are much less tolerant of Muslims than over in Egypt and co. They wanted to build a mosque here in New York, and everyone bitched about it because it was a few blocks away from a church or something. In egypt it's across the street. lol.

North America as a whole is quite intolerant to Muslims because of extremists. It's quite sad because the majority of Muslims are great people.

[QUOTE=Coffee;28263071]World War One started because some guy went to the Sandwich shop.[/QUOTE] Isn't this a myth, or a massive coincidence?

[QUOTE=Stupideye;28265055]North America as a whole is quite intolerant to Muslims because of extremists. It's quite sad because the majority of Muslims are great people.[/QUOTE] I wouldn't say that. We're just given a bad light and people think we hate them because of Glenn Beck and Fox News et al.

[QUOTE=Led Zeppelin;28265179]I wouldn't say that. We're just given a bad light and people think we hate them because of Glenn Beck and Fox News et al.[/QUOTE] I did a questionaire for a political studies class in school, most of the questions asking what people thought of Muslims. 85% of the people who answered gave the generic "muslims are terrorists and are bad" answer. Keep in mind the people I quizzed were random and aged 15-18. It's disturbing to see how bigoted kids are, and they learn this probably though their parents and the media.

[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;28210504]NOT FUCKING SAFE FOR WORk [media]http://upload.somethingdickful.com/files/890_a43ba/welp.jpg[/media][/QUOTE] Thats terrible, I hope any facepunchers from around there are safe and are looking after themselves

[QUOTE=Litos456;28264835]Wow. Thats amazing. I just showed this to my mom (who keeps trying to convince me that Muslims might take over lol). She just said "I wish it was always like this" except IT IS ALREADY just in a place where you'd think it'd be the opposite. Come to think of it, Americans here are much less tolerant of Muslims than over in Egypt and co. They wanted to build a mosque here in New York, and everyone bitched about it because it was a few blocks away from a church or something. In egypt it's across the street. lol.[/QUOTE] ahaha oh wow. bro get your facts straight before you use a example of intolerance. it was controversial to build a mosque 2 blocks from the world trader center. it was seen as insensitive by a lot of people. [editline]25th February 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Stupideye;28265055]North America as a whole is quite intolerant to Muslims because of extremists. It's quite sad because the majority of Muslims are great people.[/QUOTE] I would say its more of the middle eastern countries that project the negative image. Seeing most of these countries are in turmoil and are ran by dictators IE mubarak, Gaddafi, mahmoud ahmadinejad, and the past dictator, you know him, we all love him, Saddam. + when you read about women rights violation, sharia law, see videos of public executions from Afghanistan. then tack on the radicals that ive not already mention. Yes I know the US/western countries have our bad eggs to, and I realize these people and situations don't reflect everyone who lives in the middle east. but the reason i would see why people notice the bad eggs of the islamic/middle eastern society is well. Most of these fuck heads are at the top of the food chain when it comes to power. Remember when bush was president? almost everyone hated the US, and most people used george bush as a example. Well thats how it fucking works sadly, your leaders project your society/culture and countrys image to the rest of the world. don't think I support intolerance, im just merely giving a explanation why so many westerners are intolerance. Hopefully, when all these riots,protests, and revolutions end, and the dust settles, the people will be in power and be able to project a positive image of the region to western countries.

[QUOTE=Jsm;28265141]Isn't this a myth, or a massive coincidence?[/QUOTE] There is no evidence that Gavrilo Princip was eating a sandwich at the time, but he [i]did[/i] give up on the assassination, walk off, then stumble upon Ferdinand outside a café (which is where the myth comes from).

Wow, I was reading an article on oppression earlier today, and it said it takes two years, loads of red tape and file filling, and about 24 months worth of pay to open a bakery in Egypt. I see why the riots started in the first place.

[QUOTE=ScoutKing;28268023]ahaha oh wow. bro get your facts straight before you use a example of intolerance. it was controversial to build a mosque 2 blocks from the world trader center. it was seen as insensitive by a lot of people. [/QUOTE] Oh, right! Sorry, bad example. No wonder I had a slight feeling that I was one of the people pissed about it, lol. I forgot. But anyway, still, because of extremist influence and so on, so many people here dislike muslims despite that we live with them also. And yet in Egypt, as evidenced by these videos, muslims that live with christians seem to embrace them.

[QUOTE=Coffee;28263071]World War One started because some guy went to the Sandwich shop.[/QUOTE] I thought it started when Archie Duke shot an ostrich because he was hungry. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHJDyAnL9RQ[/media]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ckf9AizRX8[/media] Looks like Tripoli is finally stepping up, Gaddafi is finally losing foothold in his own capital. [QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;28256564]egypt is hardly unique in this regard for example, the uk government pays farmers to work under capacity in order to keep prices up the world's food supply is one of the most horribly mis-managed systems ever[/QUOTE] Yes, I'm aware of that. And I blame our government for it and not the UK/US governments. Because in a free market the seller sets the price and the buyer is given the choice to either accept it or sod off. I blame them because we wouldn't be in this situation had they acted on it a couple of years ago. We would've been exporting food today, not importing it. For example, here's a lame illustration of the first stage of a project put forward by Dr. [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farouk_El-Baz]Farouk El-Baz[/url] a couple of years ago: [media]http://i56.tinypic.com/29zyedw.jpg[/media] This would've given us a parallel underground Nile by now, and by estimate over 1.7 million acres of fertile farmland. Just by installing an unpowered pipeline (1.5 meters in diameter) going along the brown path in the map above. The pipeline slopes slightly, using gravity to move the water. (such pipeline could even be used to generate electricity, as a matter of fact) And what happened to the project? it's probably covered in dust in some official's drawer somewhere.

[QUOTE=voodooattack;28281338]For example, here's a lame illustration of the first stage of a project put forward by Dr. [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farouk_El-Baz]Farouk El-Baz[/url] a couple of years ago: [media]http://i56.tinypic.com/29zyedw.jpg[/media] This would've given us a parallel underground Nile by now, and by estimate over 1.7 million acres of fertile farmland. Just by installing an unpowered pipeline (1.5 meters in diameter) going along the brown path in the map above. The pipeline slopes slightly, using gravity to move the water. (such pipeline could even be used to generate electricity, as a matter of fact) And what happened to the project? it's probably covered in dust in some official's drawer somewhere.[/QUOTE] Hopefully with the new regime this should happen. we need an :egypt: emote already

Hoping voodooattack or someone else can answer me this: What about ElBaradei? Has he been involved in anything with the transitional government so far, or was that abandoned, or what?