2011 Arab Revolution links

[mindstalk]

Wikileaks role in Tunisia revolution: honest revelation did what decades of quiet diplomacy didn't
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/01/25/whispering_at_autocrats?page=0,0
role of women in Tunisia; highly equal
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/27/133248219/in-tunisia-women-play-equal-role-in-revolution

Egypt off the net, cell phones off
http://foolab.org/node/7892
Mubarak retrospective
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/01/27/egypt.mubarak/

VP Joe Biden calls Mubarak not a dictator. Will the US sell out the Arab people yet again?
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Backchannels/2011/0127/Joe-Biden-says-Egypt-s-Mubarak-no-dictator-he-shouldn-t-step-down
police setting cars on fire
http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/01/27/egypt.shutting.down.most.internet.access/

Mubarak humor
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/01/02/three_decades_of_a_joke_that_just_wont_die

protests spread to Yemen
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/2011127100660857.html

Comments

[richardthinks.livejournal.com]

Yes, the US will continue to sell out the populations of oil-producing countries to conveniently wobbly dictators. Sorry.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

I don't think Egypt is an oil producing nation. Our Ally In The Israeli Peace Process, yeah. I always figured the aid was a bribe to play nice with Israel.

[richardthinks.livejournal.com]

it does in fact export oil, though its market share has slumped in recent years. I think there's more than a touch of domino theory here, too, which would explain the US's stance all on its own: Tangiers has sneezed and everyone from Morocco to Turkey seems to be catching the cold, and the US does not want to be seen to be spreading it or turning against people just because they're dictators or some nonsense like that because, well, Riyadh.