EGYPT IS GETTING FUCKED NINE WAYS TO SUNDAY

[rossmum]

How the FUCK is there not a thread on this already?

Watch this shit. It is fucking surreal. It's like the end of the world. (http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/) Al-Jazeera has been covering it live and there are some insane reports flying around, including the army and police firing on each other. Holy fuck.

Also, the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities is right next to the NDP headquarters, which is currently burning to the ground. If the fire jumps, over 5,000 years of history goes up in smoke.

Oh yeah, and Egypt is pretty much key to North Africa and the Middle East. If it goes, they all might. Good to know. :ugh:

[jcap]

Yeah, I've been watching the stream all morning. This shit is insane. Al-Jazeera is doing a great job covering it - they seriously put ALL US news networks to shame. I can't believe they are still broadcasting from Egypt either. I thought they would have been kicked out by now.

[rossmum]

AJ in general is a fucking great network and comparatively free of bias versus US or other Western media, it's a shame people tend to blow them off as "TERRISTS ON TV". At best this stuff is getting a passing mention here... deserves a hell of a lot more than that. Damn.

By the way, shit's going down in Tunisia, Lebanon, and Jordan as well

e/ and Yemen

[neuro]

been following this on the news.

shit's hitting the fan properly.

[ThePlague]

Pretty intense.

[Patrickssj6]

I was watching Obama's Speech on YouTube about this. He was talking about "Freedom of Speech" and such and I had the highest rated comment there that just said, "America should stay out of other countries" and it got deleted.

I like how YouTube wants to bring more transparency to the Internet but at the same time deletes these kinds of comments even though they are showing a video on Egypt and on "Freedom of Speech". This media world is complete bullshit. Good thing AJ is still in there.

[annihilation]

The stream isn't working for me.
What is going on?

[rossmum]

It's being overwhelmed by requests. It was down earlier too, basically you have to try edge your way in as someone else stops watching it.

[TVTyrant]

Im seeing a lot on Egypt, where is this information on Jordan & Yemen coming from?

Seems like basic unrest and all. Not quite the end of the world. Honestly it happens all the time.

[Warsaw]

This was actually breaking news here on Thursday. This could get nastier, real fast, especially with the US supposedly backing the wrong group of people (from what I've heard; I will admit I'm not thoroughly informed).

[TVTyrant]

Or if we involve ourselves at all. I vote we stay out of this one. Seriously we have enough on our own problems, and we thought that the president of Egypt was one of "our guys". The US ought to not touch this one, I say.

[Patrickssj6]

One should just stay out of it, save the money, fix ones own issues. In the end it will not ameliorate either way if one gets involved.

Egypt will not be the last country. All African countries are about 50 years behind (vague, but just to make a point) so more of this riots can be expected in the future. There is no need for other countries to invade, the important part is (and it is VERY IMPORTANT) that they establish a working system THEMSELVES. If the system fails and threatens (and by that I mean really threatens) other countries you can still get involved afterwards.

We have no right to tell them what system they should be forced upon. If they want a democratic system with a strong executive, it is their decision even though it might doesn't appeal to us. Matter of fact we should tolereate every system unless, like already said, threatens other countries.

[TVTyrant]

Well what I thought was interesting was that Al-Jazeera was saying this is the first people's revolution in the modern history of Africa. Thats really something not to mess with, because when you mess with a people's movement, your going to change their opinion of your country negatively.

As far as the US getting involved, I find it unlikely UNLESS they try to expand their borders, which we all know is a big no-no in modern society for whatever reason.

[assassinchief107]

Come to think of it, I'm Egyptian my self, and to be honest, I don't get it. Everywhere I go there, it seems like they all love the president, they all wave flags and shout out his name.
But now? This happens?

[Warsaw]

What is this? I'm not talking about military involvement. I'm saying that politically, the US has been siding with the incumbent, however now that is changing since Obama is now pressuring said incumbent to go away.

[Dwood]

What's he going to do? Place sanctions on him?

[TVTyrant]

No even worse. The UN i going to start writing angry letters :ohdear:

[sleepy1212]

I like how Biden said Mubarek should start thinking about maybe kinda a little addressing some or just one or two of the people's rights. That burning building says it's a little late to start patronizing the people.

[Warsaw]

What's he going to do? Place sanctions on him?

Yes, actually. Presently, 1.5 billion US tax-payer dollars are sent to Egypt annually. Think about it.

[Patrickssj6]

Yes, actually. Presently, 1.5 billion US tax-payer dollars are sent to Egypt annually. Think about it.
Your point being?

[Warsaw]

We keep the money and Mubarak goes "oshit...there's my paycheck gone" or "oshit, now I don't have money to support the one program that was gaining me any support with the people whatsoever."

The other point is that we send $1.5b to a country every year for nothing in return. Nothing that us tax-payers see, at the very least. C'mon now, think a bit before you post instead of trying to take potshots where they are neither necessary nor warranted.

[Patrickssj6]

We keep the money and Mubarak goes "oshit...there's my paycheck gone" or "oshit, now I don't have money to support the one program that was gaining me any support with the people whatsoever."

The other point is that we send $1.5b to a country every year for nothing in return. Nothing that us tax-payers see, at the very least. C'mon now, think a bit before you post instead of trying to take potshots where they are neither necessary nor warranted.

Unnecessary? I just didn't get your point.

And your point is more than debatable. You waste a lot more money somewhere else where tax-payers get less out of, if your original point is even true (which I doubt, not directly but indirectly definitely). Furthermore Mubarak is not dependent on your Paycheck.

[TVTyrant]

Furthermore Mubarak is not dependent on your Paycheck.

IDK I don't think anyone would just throw that away. Egypt isn't exactly an uber rich country.

[Patrickssj6]

Well yeah sure no one would decline $1.5B :P

Speculating here but I think they are actually quite an industrial nation...BMW, Mercedes, RWE, BASF, Symrise are all stopping production partially :P Like Ross said, they are the connection point.

[TVTyrant]

Well without them trading between the Mid-East and the US/Europe stops. The Suez canal is one of the most important shipping channels in the world, and without it the price of oil would explode. theyd have to send the stuff around the Cape of Africa, which is a very long journey and is very dangerous. Lots of storms there.

[sleepy1212]

Ahmadinejad v2.0 will put a cork in that. Hasn't anyone noticed it's the same Muslim Brotherhood that gave us all the recent terrorists we caught. Didn't these guys form Hamas or Hezbollah? This is going to end badly for the west. Especially if it spreads.

E:
shut down the entire internet: dictator
internet kill switch: a must for national security

[Warsaw]

Unnecessary? I just didn't get your point.

And your point is more than debatable. You waste a lot more money somewhere else where tax-payers get less out of, if your original point is even true (which I doubt, not directly but indirectly definitely). Furthermore Mubarak is not dependent on your Paycheck.

Money wasted is money wasted. Who cares if we spend more elsewhere? Why spend what you don't have to? Also, he personally might not be dependent on our paycheck, but somebody over there is else we wouldn't be sending it. In the previous post was a figure of speech to demonstrate the idea. That somebody could tip scales. We don't know. Like you said, it's debatable. Either way, that's 1.5 billion dollars on the line for somebody. Personally, I'd rather we dump it into government grants for college students than send it literally to 'bum fuck Egypt' where who knows what happens to it.

Also, people will decline a large sum of money if the strings attached to it put them in an unfavourable position. There are always strings attached.

[DarkHalo003]

Ahmadinejad v2.0 will put a cork in that. Hasn't anyone noticed it's the same Muslim Brotherhood that gave us all the recent terrorists we caught. Didn't these guys form Hamas or Hezbollah? This is going to end badly for the west. Especially if it spreads.

E:
shut down the entire internet: dictator
internet kill switch: a must for national security
Yeah, these guys are dangerous and it won't get better. As much as I like having liberal democracy in countries over illiberal democracy, I'm actually hoping the current gov't does something to stop it (or that it all pans out and doesn't end with a radical/provocative religious group ruling the country).

[TVTyrant]

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=185792708121768

Kinda cool.

[ThePlague]

Now this is great:

Like many people we’ve been glued to the news unfolding in Egypt and thinking of what we could do to help people on the ground. Over the weekend we came up with the idea of a speak-to-tweet service—the ability for anyone to tweet using just a voice connection.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/some-weekend-work-that-will-hopefully.html

One reason why I don't use Bing.

[jcap]

Just watch the two videos at the bottom of this page: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/02/oreilly-colmes-al-jazeera-fight_n_817404.html

Wow...Fox....wow....

[Timo]

How can people watch that shit?

[Cortexian]

What the fuck? How does that even get onto television?

[Nero]

Lmao.... that's gold.

[TeeKup]

I wish O'Reilly would hurry up and retire...or get shot. Whichever works.

[Dwood]

Meh. I'm not as bothered with the 2nd video as with the 1st. However, if Al - Jazeera was so anti-semitic (I can't judge on that issue) I didn't see it on the streams of the riots in Egypt.

[TVTyrant]

Yeah I know. Weird right?

"But there was no counter!"

Thats not a news organizations job. They want the interviewee to answer the interviewers questions, not comment on their positions. They are trying to get you the facts, not their own personal opinions. L2journalism.

[jcap]

Yeah, I'm not really sure what they meant by not having a counter. If they meant that they didn't argue with the person they were interviewing, then good for Al Jazeera. As TVTyrant said, it's not up to the interviewer to challenge opinions. However, I do agree that the interviewer should ALWAYS ask a few questions opposing the interviewee's opinions, basically playing the devil's advocate. With the Egypt coverage, I've noticed Al Jazeera English doing that pretty well. I can't speak for Al Jazeera Arabic, which is what he was referring to in those videos. The only other thing I think Al Jazeera English could do better is to have more pro-Mubarak supporters on the phone.

[Siliconmaster]

My view of Al Jazeera is that they're almost completely unbiased, with the partial exception of Israel. However, since they are an Arabic channel, I can totally understand their viewpoint, and don't judge at all. Even with that, I consider the channel to be one of the more unbiased of those out there.

[Dwood]

If I watched TV more often and I could watch that channel I would, tbh. It's just that I don't think they are going to be nearly as biased on any english versions as on the Arabic ones.

[sleepy1212]

Sounds like a bunch of FauxNews+Religionofpeace herpderp to me. Go dig up the flotilla/terrorist threads and we'll see where this pages posters stand on Israel and Islam. It's not surprising that many liberals think Al-Jazeera is so great because they share the viewpoints of anti-west and anti-Isreal. It's like asking Chris Matthews to rate Keith Olbermann.

I agree with O'Reilly except that I think Fox is just as bad (and everyone else for that matter).

[TVTyrant]

Um im pretty pro-west and pro-Israel and im a liberal... So yeah thanks.

[DarkHalo003]

Bad generalization. To be honest, many people claiming they're liberals/democrats really are bandwagoning. Those are the kinds that have no legitimacy.

vHPkGGA9fZ8

sFxUWNSnvwQ

Good videos. Shows just how dangerous the Muslim Brotherhood and organizations/ideologies like it are.

[assassinchief107]

News: Mubarak has stepped down, the protests are finished, Egyptions are celebrating.

[=sw=warlord]

Hopefully they don't put a guy worse than the one they just booted in his place.

[TVTyrant]

Yeah that seems possible. I've always thought that the only way to reform properly is (unfortunately) to string the last guy up. If you don't have that happen, what Warlord suggested is always possible since in the case of most of these countries, the person they have just deposed is also the wealthiest person in their country.

[Patrickssj6]

They are probably going to put some islamic guy in his place :P

So chances are that the media will take him down.

[TVTyrant]

Yeah they will probably will put some strongly religious mofo in there. Then Israel will have a fucking bitch fit, and the western stretch of the mid east will destabilize again. Yawn.

[PenGuin1362]

Actually I watched an interview with a bunch of different protesters and a lot of them were arguing that just because they're Muslim doesn't mean they need a Muslim government, oddly enough many of them were arguing for democracy, it will be really interesting to see where this goes, hopefully somewhere good >_>

[Nero]

Then Israel will have a fucking bitch fit.
What?
Israel doesn't just bitch fit if some Muslim takes power. The only reason Israel will have a hissy fit is if the new government expresses the same views of other countries such as Iran. "WIPE DEM BASTARDS OFF OUR PLANET! ALALALLALALA BOOM."
Heh.
:\

[TVTyrant]

I just predict a lot of unrest if it happens is all. Israel is on permanent security PMS because they have to be. The possibility of taking away everything that Carter did at Camp David would probably be quite frustrating to them, and cause them to pump up there security to the south because of the possible threat. This will make Egypt angry so they will move troops into the Sinai etc. Read up on the Six Day war, the 72 conflict, and the suez crisis. That's pretty much what happened EVERY TIME there was a real war. One side feels threatened, they pump up security, the other side does the same, their soldiers glare at each other in the desert, and finally someone loses their nerve and a war begins.

[Patrickssj6]

That's a bit much of a prediciton :P The west should just stay out of this and done.

Egypt has been hyped by the media a lot in the first place (we have friends there that say that everything is calm). Just like the Mexican Drug War...it's always nice to have a Feindbild. Don't get fooled by the media; christian or islamic it's the same.

[PenGuin1362]

Agreed. It's not our place (our implying the west, not just America)