Comments on: The Middle East’s “Black Swan”

By: Sinbad1

Sinbad1 — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 09:46:11 +0000

Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

Winston Churchill

By: pHenry

pHenry — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 08:25:19 +0000

Each twitter brings shivers down the backs of tyrants throughout the Arab world. Damascus, Tehran, Amman and possibly Riyadh may get a little of what they see marching across Africa. The Islamist just wish they could take the credit. People get a taste of political freedom and they’ll blend it with religious freedoms. The west may not like the final recipe but the cake is already in the oven. But for me, Israel defending Mubarak simply out of selfish interest takes the cake. Maybe the U.S. should reset the bribe for peace quotient. A billion here or there and we have a much better set of friends anyway. Which black swan peddler predicts democracy will surround Israel and they’ll defend themselves?

By: doctorjay317

doctorjay317 — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 01:41:46 +0000

Obama and company; politicians, liars and the like – exposed again.

They finance dictatorship in Egypt and criticize the lack of human rights in China.

All in the name of commercial benefits. U.S. is run by big business. They want to control the situation in the Middle East for the oil profits; simple.

Iran and Saddam Hussein don’t kowtow to the U.S. So the U.S. make them look ugly. Actually, the U.S. should look in the mirror.

Did you read the article that the U.S. orchestrated 9/11 and paid Laden to become a star? With the prowess of the U.S., they cannot catch a bearded middle-aged man? Think.

By: qwerty17

qwerty17 — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 01:39:45 +0000

I have been to Cairo and felt like in Near East “1984”. In the same time I can presume that it is one of the most democratic countries in the Muslim world. Attempts to judge the current situation in Egypt like it should be the same democracy like Finland is strange and even dangerous. The change of the power in Egypt may be very painful for most of the Egyptians. I saw pictures of Naser in the hands of some demonstrators. God save Egypt!

By: pHenry

pHenry — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 22:53:24 +0000

I won’t pretend to speak for all of anywhere. But around here, freedom must be fought for and defended. We believe what we do for others to gain or maintain freedom is right regardless of what intentions the world attaches to our support of the Marcos or the Mubaraks. The other choices are yours. Don’t take petro dollars or yuan. No democracy is perfect but because obviously no one better has stepped forward here, we are.

By: jimbee

jimbee — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 21:40:51 +0000

According to the book “The Black Swan”, folks in the old world would say something like: “I’ll believe this or that when I see a black swan. The thinking then was there is no such bird as a black swan. With the discovery of Australia, “black swans” were found there in abundance. Let’s hope, for our economic sake, this rebellion thing doesn’t spread to the oil fields less we suddenly find a barrel of crude at, say, $400.00 and counting.

By: altruistic

altruistic — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 05:43:51 +0000

The U.S. says it supports Democracy in the whole World.
Obama is supposed to be an idealist. Why has he turned into pragmatist?
He thinks, if he supports the Egyptian people, all the people in the middle east will run into the streets wanting democracy. What is wrong with that? All Americans support that!!! Democracies want peace not war, what a beautiful world that would be. This is a new world, the age of the internet, globalization!

By: AnthonyMitchell

AnthonyMitchell — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 06:52:31 +0000

The premise that the events in Egypt and Yemen were unforeseen by the United States reveals a breathtaking degree of naiveté. Having spent time in both countries, I can assure you that considerable time and effort has been and continues to be spent by the State Department, USAID and other agencies in strengthening government and non-government institutions and attempting to make them more responsive to the needs of citizens in both countries.

In Egypt there was obviously room for maneuver, but in Yemen the limits of American attempts to reverse long-term negative trends are writ large. It could be argued that Egypt, with its linguistic and cultural ties and a history of military interventionism, has exercised greater positive impacts on Yemen (or at least the YAR) than the United States during certain periods of Yemen’s recent history. As the Egyptian example in Yemen shows, there are limits to military and civilian intervention.

Egypt’s long slide into crisis, while painfully obvious to Americans in that country, could ultimately only be corrected by the Egyptians themselves. Conversely, Egyptian and American efforts in Yemen did not end the General War. It was ended by the same elements who now stand ready to reignite it.

By: SaeedK

SaeedK — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 19:40:58 +0000

One needs to remember that the most undemocratic regimes in the world have been propped up by those who claim they are the most democratic. Irony or hypocrisy? Obama, Cameron and the like (including their predecessors) are directly responsible for the atrocities committed by these dictators and now they are all trying to say they are with the people of Tunisia and Egypt. Liars!

American and British politicians are not to be trusted! Right now they are collaborating how they can ensure that indirectly they remain in power. Let the people continue to protest until they achieve real change.