Egypt........

[BlackRat]

Time for the world to hold its breath.........again!

[DavidR]

This week I have turned down (for obvious reasons),  an English teaching job that would have paid me £50K. I'd like to live a little longer, thanks.

[Horsetan]

Let them sort it out themselves, it's their country in the first place!

 

 

A faraway country, of which we'd prefer to know nothing......

[alfsboy]

My friend goes to Egypt every few months on a time share,Red Sea area  and loves it .He has never felt threatened though if out side powers intervened it could change in flash.Another friend went right through the first Gulf war in Iraq earning an absolute fortune in the oil industry..Like  he said,Saddam needed the oil and so do the Americans .He reckoned it was the safest place on the planet .

[Pacific231G]

A faraway country, of which we'd prefer to know nothing......

Wasn't that Neville Chamberlain's argument for letting Hitler overrun Czechoslovakia in 1938?

[Horsetan]

Wasn't that Neville Chamberlain's argument for letting Hitler overrun Czechoslovakia in 1938?

 

Quite probably. Shows that little has really changed since then, give or take the odd World War and several exercises in "Send The Marines"......

[cary hill]

I wonder if our army could find our constitution and suspend it as quickly as the Egyptian Army ?

 

All very much a case of be careful what you wish for -  yesterday I heard some interviews with Egyptian taxi drivers and accounts clerks who seemed to be pining for the "good days of Mubarek".

[N15class]

I wonder if our army could find our constitution and suspend it as quickly as the Egyptian Army ?

 

All very much a case of be careful what you wish for -  yesterday I heard some interviews with Egyptian taxi drivers and accounts clerks who seemed to be pining for the "good days of Mubarek".

I doubt our army could find our constitution as we have an unwritten one, unlike say the USA and Brazil (where I am now) who have written ones.

[PatB]

Did anyone ever seriously think something like this wouldn't happen?  During the Arab Spring some seriously unsavoury governments were unseated but, when you looked at some of the elements involved in the unseating it was hard to wonder if there really would be any improvement.

 

That said, whilst I would prefer to see a secular government in Egypt (and everywhere else for that matter), assuming the last election was largely free and fair (and no-one seems to be claiming that it wasn't), Morsi was democratically elected and I remain very uncomfortable with the concept of the forcible removal of democratically elected governments.

[Joseph_Pestell]

I wonder if our army could find our constitution and suspend it as quickly as the Egyptian Army ?

 

All very much a case of be careful what you wish for -  yesterday I heard some interviews with Egyptian taxi drivers and accounts clerks who seemed to be pining for the "good days of Mubarek".

Taxi drivers: apparently similar politics throughout the world

[PatB]

He may have been elected properly, but he acted like he owned the place, just as his deposed predecessor did. He didn't want to take in account his margin was the smallest possible and that thus a large group do not want the measures he implemented, most of them based on religious grounds, not political necessity. 

 

Not entirely unique amongst elected governments, even in the enlightened West .

 

 

His agenda, and that of his party, was to implement Islamic Law, like Iran has done, and get rid of Western influences and ideas like the very concept of democracy. Either way, democracy in Egypt would have been stifled in its infancy, 

 

Quite possibly, which is my main objection to any religion based political party.   However, has/had he succeeded in implementing any practical steps in this direction?

 

whether by the army or the Islamists... In that case, I'd prefer the army, as they do strife for a secular state with at least some degree of separation between religion and state affairs. Mind, the Egyptian army has a serious stake in the Egyptian economy, so peace is very much in the interest of the army brass...

 

 

Well yes, if the nascent democratic system is/was seriously under threat from a regime elected under its auspices.

[pointstaken]

....and of course, we can only rely on what the media tell us. They too may well have their own agenda affecting their reporting.

 

Dennis

[Jack]

I doubt our army could find our constitution as we have an unwritten one, unlike say the USA and Brazil (where I am now) who have written ones.

 

The way the army cuts are going in the UK they'll only be able to start looking for it on a Tuesday night and every second weekend anyway.

[The Stationmaster]

This week I have turned down (for obvious reasons),  an English teaching job that would have paid me £50K. I'd like to live a little longer, thanks.

Luck happens; back in the 1970s I was in line for a BR Transmark job - involving promotion plus foreign living expenses - in Iran.  Fortunately the whole contract was left in limbo as things began to change there.

[DDolfelin]

It's all very sad.

A benevolent dictator is sometimes the best option in some regions not used to a Westernised idea of democracy.

History tells us that a local 'king of kings' was the only entity which could unite various tribes and beliefs.

When this arrangement is disturbed then chaos can follow.

The Greeks, the Persians and the Romans all learned this lesson.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

I wonder if our army could find our constitution and suspend it as quickly as the Egyptian Army ?...

 

 

...uncomfortable with the concept of the forcible removal of democratically elected governments.

We in the UK have something far better than a documented constitution, and that is a generally cynical and bloody-minded populous with well established expectations of government. Not a perfect system, but it has managed over two hundred years of reasonably stable political development; while inventing and exporting much of what made the industrial revolution possible, and also fending off larger and better armed aggressors.

 

Generally, what you find in countries regularly beset by dictatorship (benevolent or otherwise) is that the large majoprity of the populace are just so kind and courteous. Too kind and courteous to administer the regular kicking of posteriors to remind those in control that their duty is to serve the people first, and there will still be enough time and oportunity to enrich yourself.

 

I am not in the least uncomfortable with the forcible removal of democratically elected governments. Show me a government that cedes power willingly! They all have to be booted away from the trough, when their time to die comes. The trick is to have a well agreed mechanism in place which enables this to happen; that same approximation to a democratic process that appointed them.

[PatB]

I am not in the least uncomfortable with the forcible removal of democratically elected governments. Show me a government that cedes power willingly! They all have to be booted away from the trough, when their time to die comes. The trick is to have a well agreed mechanism in place which enables this to happen; that same approximation to a democratic process that appointed them.

Beating a government at the ballot box and having them leave graciously is somewhat different from surounding the seat of government with tanks and so I only class one of those as "forcible" removal.

 

There is one major thing that the first thing the now deposed president did when he came to power was to remove any future voting for the president so declared himself a form of dictator. 

 

Just hope they get somebody this time who is interested in the country and not just religion.

 

Fair enough. Didn't know that.  It does raise the question as to what bloody idiot allowed such an event to occur, presumably legally, without any checks or balances.

[cary hill]

I wonder if our army could find our constitution and suspend it as quickly as the Egyptian Army ?

 

All very much a case of be careful what you wish for -  yesterday I heard some interviews with Egyptian taxi drivers and accounts clerks who seemed to be pining for the "good days of Mubarek".

 

Should have used a "Smiley" re the constitution remark, as I am perfectly aware that GB doesn't have a written constitution, but it was early in the morning.....

[N15class]

One of the biggest problems with a lot of third world presedents and polititions, is that they are there more often than not, not for what they can do to better the country. It is more for how much they can get from the country before they are forced to leave. Hanging on when all has failed is just to keep skimming as much as they can. We have the same here in Brazil. The polititions have just voted themselves an extra 2 months wages a year, at £10,000 a month. This is when minimum wage is equivelent to £200 a month. T

[BlackRat]

Quite probably. Shows that little has really changed since then, give or take the odd World War and several exercises in "Send The Marines"......

Which is after all, what they are there for!

[Chris116]

My wife lives in Sharm el Sheikh for around 9 month a year and tells me that the population are very friendly and kind. She says she feels safer there than she does in London or Wisconsin, where she originally came from! I just hope that any changes to government are peaceful and that the riots can stop  as they are harming Egypt more than any of its governments have ever done.

[Pugsley]

One of the biggest problems with a lot of third world presedents and polititions, is that they are there more often than not, not for what they can do to better the country. It is more for how much they can get from the country before they are forced to leave. Hanging on when all has failed is just to keep skimming as much as they can. We have the same here in Brazil. The polititions have just voted themselves an extra 2 months wages a year, at £10,000 a month. This is when minimum wage is equivelent to £200 a month. T

I think that's just politicians in general, you could say the same about ours.

[Brinkly]

I wouldn't want to be President out there, what power really do you have when you can be removed so easily? Bit of a case of the tail wagging the dog.

 

Regards,

 

Nick

[Horsetan]

I wouldn't want to be President out there, ....

It's a bit of a poisoned chalice, similar to how Turkey used to be governed.

[skipepsi]

The British may be cynical but they are also apathetic beyond belief.