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| Middle East Revolutions: How did it start? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 27 2011, 11:12 PM (384 Views) | |
| Gauntlet101010 | Feb 27 2011, 11:12 PM Post #1 |
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MM3: Shadowman
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Here's something I never quite caught on any news bulletins I read. Exactly how did all the revolutions in the mid east start? What caused it? It's not like people just woke up one day and decided to start a worldwide movement. Anyone here know what the catalyst was? |
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MM3: Mechanical Maniacs | |
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| Byron | Feb 28 2011, 01:03 AM Post #2 |
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Apparently a Geometric Array...
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I do know that part of the motivation for these revolutions had to do with a desire for democracy in a region plagued by corruption. However, I don't know exactly what drove people to demand this freedom now. |
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> I spend quite a bit of time here nowadays. Sorry for any inconvenience... > I also have a blog now! | |
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| Mad Mags | Feb 28 2011, 06:27 AM Post #3 |
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It started in Tunisia in January. Its as simple as it sounds. When you have the vast majority of people living on 2 dollars a day, and then you give them access to the internet (the power to organize invisibly), they'll eventually realize what they're capable of. The whole region has been under the control of various dictators (sometimes flying under the label of "president" or "prime minister" to appear as though the people have some sort of choice), and there's much poverty and unemployment. Another factor in this is the US has a very mixed reputation there. On one hand, they want our help, since the US has the power to topple any regime over there pretty quickly. On the other, they want us gone from the Mid East since we tend to play favorites and ignore everyone else. In the bigger picture, the poverty and unemployment they suffer from is the result of a population boom, but even more so from the US exporting its inflation instead of sucking it up ourselves. This is accomplished via various market manipulations with the hopes that the brunt of the impending inflation will stay abroad, for if it hits here the theory is that the entire world economy would be crippled without US consumers driving it. So you can see the mixed reaction people can have for the US over there. It doesn't help that Egyptian president Mubarek has been made a billionaire over the years thanks to sweetheart arms deals with the US. Those very same weapons have been used on Egyptian protesters. You can bet that hasn't done the US any favors. It started with a spark, then grew into a sweeping blaze in a matter of days. |
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| Gauntlet101010 | Feb 28 2011, 02:29 PM Post #4 |
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MM3: Shadowman
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But what exactly was the spark that ignited protests in Tunisia? |
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MM3: Mechanical Maniacs | |
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| Mad Mags | Feb 28 2011, 04:30 PM Post #5 |
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Supposedly, a young man was fined for selling fruit in the street without a proper permit. In response, the man lit himself on fire in protest. Yes, it was a literal spark. This act provided the inspiration for a huge, disgruntled mass of poor citizens, and they quickly realized that they did indeed have the power to change things, despite essentially being unarmed against a crushing military. In Egypt, the military eventually sided with the protesters, protecting them from the jack booted thugs loyal to Mubarek. Under this pressure, Mubarek resigned. The fire is spreading across the Mid East now, but in more totalitarian regimes like Iran, I don't think it'll be quite as successful. In Saudi Arabia, the royal family is trying to bargain with its poor masses. If Saudi Arabia falls, that puts the West in a very dire situation, since they're still our number one source of oil. We'll have to deal with nations like Russia and Venezuela more frequently if a Western-hostile regime takes hold of Saudi Arabia. But again, the main "spark" wasn't really a particular incident, but the entire situation the region is in. There's poverty and starvation everywhere, and a general feeling that their way of life is being encroached upon. You put enough people in that situation for long enough and eventually things will boil over. |
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| Benjamin | Feb 28 2011, 09:41 PM Post #6 |
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Archbishop of the Church of the Magical Platypus
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Well, there's the oil sands in Alberta and Saskatchewan but the Dems have done everything they can to piss western Canadians off so we might just sell our "dirty" oil to China and India. But that being said, I think Saudi Arabia is a powder keg waiting to go off. A significant portion of their population is in the 18-30 demographic and nearly forty percent of them are unemployed. That's a recipe for discontent if I've seen one. |
| All Glory to the Magical Platypus! | |
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| Shift | Feb 28 2011, 10:24 PM Post #7 |
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Murakumo unit
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^Are you nuts, do you want china to have even MORE power!? Oh hey, the purple front on this board is really pretty. I think i'm gonna use it from now on. :3 |
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| Mad Mags | Mar 1 2011, 06:15 AM Post #8 |
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How would that give China more power? If anything, it'd make them more dependent on the West, since they're approaching an energy crisis of their own in a few years due to the influx of new drivers on their roads. |
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| Gauntlet101010 | Mar 1 2011, 09:41 AM Post #9 |
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MM3: Shadowman
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It'd be nice if we actually got to keep the oil we have here in Canada. Why should gas prices shoot up when we have an oil supply? And you know those jerks at Big Oil are just taking advantage of the situation by over inflating the price, just like they did during the summer a few years back. |
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MM3: Mechanical Maniacs | |
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| Mad Mags | Mar 1 2011, 03:32 PM Post #10 |
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Well, the problem is that oil is such a finite supply that we may actually see the end of its use as we know it within our lifetimes. Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to make as much money off of it while you can. You can make more money by selling it abroad than you can using it locally. Otherwise, backwoods nations like Saudi Arabia would have used all of the oil for themselves and probably wouldn't be nearly as rich as they are today. Really, what needs to happen is major steps towards a new renewable mass energy resource, like hydrogen or electricity. We're still very far from bringing such technology to the masses, and to get it to that level is going to require a whole lotta money to fund the research. Hence, you can sell that oil to fund the next generation of vehicular power. You sure as hell know that the major oil producers like the Mid East and Venezuela aren't going to put much effort into derailing their own gravy train. What's more, China and India have become the biggest emerging economies, and with that they're using more fuel in the process. China's short term solution to the fossil fuel problem is to invest heavily in natural gas technology, rather than electricity. Canada is in a unique position with its vast oil reserves because of its relatively small population compared to other nations that produce this resource, yet the education and civility level is high enough to realize this fact. I suspect that there's enough oil in the oil sands of Calgary to fuel North America and still have enough left over to sell overseas. Let's face it, its probably going to be the US/Canada or Japan that is able to produce the proper replacement for the internal combustion engine we're so desperately going to need soon. Its not going to come from Russia, the Mid East, or South America (in all likelihood). I don't think Europe will be the origin of this new technology, either. And if this technology doesn't arrive soon enough, we're going to be in a race with China to secure the most stake in oil producing nations. Having a shit load of money helps. What doesn't help is when the US is swimming in debt and Canada doesn't have a big enough economy to compete with China once they get in full swing. So as far as I'm concerned, it wouldn't hurt to have China at least a little bit more dependent on you, rather than the other way around like it has been. It would be a nice change of pace, no? |
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| Mahajarah | Mar 2 2011, 04:27 PM Post #11 |
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HUZZAH!
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It's actually very interesting that you mention this with the new gen solar panels that can stretch across substances and aren't fragile, and the new Bacterium that generates Bio-diesel from water and sunlight. If we were to flip to another energy source, now's the time honestly. |
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| Mad Mags | Mar 2 2011, 04:42 PM Post #12 |
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Wait...Sounds familiar... |
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| Mahajarah | Mar 2 2011, 06:13 PM Post #13 |
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HUZZAH!
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2:32 PM Jul 11