Epic, epoch making events: a mostly peaceful disposing of a dictator by people power!
There will no doubt be difficult times on the road ahead, but for now lets enjoy their moment.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Congratulations Egypt
Epic, epoch making events: a mostly peaceful disposing of a dictator by people power!
There will no doubt be difficult times on the road ahead, but for now lets enjoy their moment.
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23 comments:
Right on!
Sure is a better way to achieve democracy than spending $700 billion to impose it by shock and awe and invasion.
Yup, this is how it should be done.
A phrase in my head tonight: "it is not a revolt it is a revolution"
Doonesbury pretty topical this week
They saved a bundle on campaign financing, too.
Hey, wait...
Wait a second, we invaded one country to depose a dictator in the name of "FREEDOM" and propped up another to have stability. I'm confused and I'm not even smashed.
At least Hosni won't end up with soiled boxers. Or were they briefs?
Two weeks ago, I had my students analyzing the Declaration of Independence. Now, they have chosen Egypt as one of their in-class essay (practice for essay exams) topics. It's a moving target that is going to be challenging, both for the students to keep up with, and for me to create essay questions that are relevant.
But it's a good sort of challenge to have.
Isn't there talk of it becoming a military state? I wouldn't imagine that's something I'd like to celebrate about.
I am personally optimistic as the army have said categorically they will not fire on the people (and there would be a mutiny if they ordered that), and there would be a repeat of the protests if the reforms are not introduced.
I think the military have "got the message" plus there is a good model in the shape of Turkey that is modern + democratic.
Let's hope so!
I was only there a few months ago. Hard to believe they're so far away in terms of quality of life when they're only 5 hours away on a plane
Well said Dan. I feel the same way about Los Angeles.
As a solitary event in 19 days, we can celebrate that something wonderfully decent has happened in this world in this still young century. After earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, oil spills, terrorist attacks, political assassinations, economic collapse and unnecessary and ruinous wars, something good and hopeful has occurred. I celebrate it. GR8 post!
Well said, Tilllerman. I feel the same way about Los Angeles, too.
And it now takes five hours to fly there from anywhere in the US, due to the military occupying our airports.
But I am personally optimistic as the military have said categorically they will not fire on people they hold hostage at our airports (and there would be a mutiny if they ordered that).
By the way, for years I used to wear a hat once a week which had a badge of the Sphinx and the world EGYPT underneath it.
No free hat for the first person who can tell me why.
By the way, for years I used to wear a hat once a week which had a badge of the Sphinx and the world EGYPT underneath it.
No free hat for the first person who can tell me why.
word not world.
Tillerman, you must have been drilling with a military unit whose heritage included repelling Napoleon's Invasion of Egypt in 1801.
Quite right O Docker. The Google makes you seem so smart.
When I was at school I was a member of the school's Combined Cadet Force. This was not because of any excess of military zeal on my part but because if you didn't do the cadet force on Thursday afternoons you had to do an extra dose of cross-country running instead and I hated running.
As we were in Lincolnshire, the cadet force was attached to the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment who did indeed wear a sphink cap badge in honor of the regiment's service in Egypt in 1801. They didn't actually play a critical part in repelling Napoleon fron Egypt though, as this account I found on the Interwebs explains.
For the Lincolnshire Regiment to reach the rest of the army, a forced march was necessary - through 120 miles of desert, from Cossier, on the Red Sea, to Kenna, on the River Nile. This arduous march took place under the watchful eyes of unfriendly Arabs who may have attacked at any moment. Under the blistering heat of the sun, the soldiers found the going tough. Some, unable to resist the inclination to sleep, and overcome with heat and thirst, lay on the burning sand to rest, never to re-awake. The journey across the barren desert was accomplished in a magnificent 8 days but, despite all their best efforts, the Lincolns arrived at Kenna too late to take part in the fight that finally expelled Napoleon's army from Egypt.
As someone who also has been too late to take part in critical historical events (e.g. too young to be a Beatle) I am proud to have worn the Sphinx.
So, to avoid cross-country running, you trained with a group whose most heralded moment was one of marching cross-country.
Oh, the irony.
That march sounds very Corporal Jones "they don't like it up them sir!"
A good but depressing article here:
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/02/2011215115925859109.html
Yes, it was somewhat ironic O Docker. But we didn't have to do 120 mile marches across the desert in our day.
Sure there was a fair amount of drill and marching and such stuff. But there was also more interesting stuff like rifle shooting. How many American high schools teach their kids to shoot these days, Second Amendment notwithstanding?
After the first couple of years you could specialize and do things like join the band or what I did which was to join the Signals Section which as I recall mainly involved wandering around town with World War 2 vintage walkie-talkies saying, "Can you hear me now?" Definitely better than cross-country!
And now the people are protesting day after day in the streets of another capital, angry at the arbitrary rule of their leader. He, in turn, has threatened to call out the military, but it's not clear that they would fire on their own people. Today, all the legislators in the upper house from the opposition party have fled the state. And the President of the United States has expressed his support for the protesters.
Bahrain? Yemen? Libya? No - Wisconsin.
Let freedom ring!
Oops, cut off this link
Yeah! What Tillerman said!
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