Thursday, January 27, 2011

Egypt and Tunisia

Is it possible that that Egypt could follow in Tunisia's footsteps? The situation there is getting more chaotic by the day - but it's hard to say how much of it is born out of genuine political rage and how much is more economic...

I wrote up something on it here, but it focuses on the econ aspects of the problem. I have a feeling, though, that this will be another Iran - a lot of coverage and unfounded optimism that ends, as usual, in repression.

What I am pretty sure of is that this will keep happening - food prices are going to go up from here, and poor countries are getting squeezed.
In the wake of Tunisia's sudden, unexpected popular revolution, autocratic regimes across the Arab world are running scared. In Cairo, the U.S.-backed presidency of Hosni Mubarak has perhaps the most to lose.
Yesterday, massive crowds gathered in Cairo's Midan Tahrir, the political and economic heart of the city that's bordered by the Mogamma (the central government building), the Egyptian Museum, the headquarters of the Arab League and the Nile Hilton hotel. 
The motivations behind the January 25 protest, which was partly organized through social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, are strikingly similar to those that pushed the Tunisian people to take to the streets. While the catalyzing event for Tunisia came in the form of an impoverished vegetable seller's suicide by self-immolation to protest the regime's injustice, the Egyptians seem to have been motivated by the Tunisians themselves.
Read more, via Daniels Trading.