Good luck, Obama.

It is such an interesting time to be studying the Middle East in a college level course. Interesting but also extremely scary. A new wave of protests broke out in Libya yesterday amid the Mid east political unrest. It almost seems that we are on the horizon of a Middle Eastern Armageddon. It would not be surprising if another country broke out in political protest tomorrow.

Where do we even begin to solve this?

I don't have faith in most Arab governments. I think they stand a better chance with U.S. involvement. However, can the U.S. Economy and country withstand more war? Mark my word: Obama will not run for President in 2012. He won't even want to.

Middle East Economics

As someone who is interested in global markets and economics I am always looking for information that affects the marketplace; whether that be in commodities such as oil prices or currency trading. With all the political unrest in the Middle East I will be interested to see how the price of oil responds to the influx of protesting that is going on. In the last three weeks the US market has shown significant gains amidst the string of Egyptian protests. However, how long will these gains last? Oil is trading at about 86 dollars (US) a barrel. Three or four years ago the price was much higher but the financial crisis and the Iraq war drove down that price significantly (see chart below). Can the commodities market handle another wave of fluctuation should the United States become involved in any of the ensuing political protests?

 

Is Egypt Responsible for Bahrain?

Protesters stormed the streets of Manama, Bahrain yesterday, proving that the political rebellion in Egypt might only be the beginning of a long string of Middle East protesting. In my last blog, I suggested that Egypt may be in the process of becoming a terror-influenced society. I am pleased to say that I was wrong; there are no terrorists yet, but the Egypt protests have influenced the start of a  Middle Eastern political protest war! Go ahead Bahrain, protest away. Egypt has shown you that when you get large groups together (like the 50,000 person protest planned for Saturday in Bahrain), you will get your political message across. Hey, any other Middle Eastern countries interested in overthrowing their governmental powers? Join in.


Here is an article about Bahrain in the Wall Street Journal.

Mubarak is out. Is this the "Egyptian Dream"?

After almost a three week, 24/7 battle with protesters, the Egyptian people have finally forced Mubarak out of office. The Egyptian armed forces are now in control. The article below mentions that by forcing Mubarak out, many Egyptians have achieved the "Egyptian Dream?" What is this dream? A Democracy? More political freedom?

I can't help but to speculate that Egypt will fall into the realm of something like the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Only time will tell...

The Wall Street Journal has the full story.

What is a Blog?

I assume that I will learn more about what exactly a blog is in the coming weeks as I continue to write. However, at this point I feel that a blog is no more than a collection of thoughts. The way that some blogs do better than others is simply because some people have better thoughts than others. In order to have a good blog you need more than a collection of thoughts. You need information that supports your ideas and creates a forum for discussion amongst peers.

Bloomberg Article about Egypt

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-02/mubarak-step-down-pledge-fails-to-calm-protests-as-unrest-spreads-to-yemen.html