Has the Middle East Gotten It Right All Along?

Have we (The US) been wrong in intervening into Middle Countries? Are these protests going to eventually solve the problems in the Middle East? I have been asking myself these questions tonight as I heard about the protests going on in Syria. My optimistic side wants to think that there is a slight chance that these protests might be the right thing to do. My pessimistic side thinks that these countries are simply feeding off of each other and will have nothing to show for it at the end of it all. Above is a picture from the protests in Syria today.

Twitter

I used to despise Twitter. I am now a huge fan. I used to think that all Twitter was used for was to tell me... "Today I went to the grocery store, I bought pasta! I am so excited for dinner!" I really didn't want to hear that. However, now, I realize that this form of communication means so much more. It allows you to get into the lives of your favorite celebrities, athletes, and news stories, making everything seem so much more connected to you. I personally really enjoy being able to see small segments about what is going on in the world. It will be very interesting to see what Twitter does to evolve and expand within the next 2 or 3 years.. maybe too connected?

Libyan Protest Video

Found this video on YouTube which depicts some of the protesting that went on in February. Some pretty raw video footage but you get a sense for how out of control some of the protests have been. In the background you can hear police firing off rounds of ammunition.

Journalists returned from Libyan Government

I read an interesting story about some journalists who were captured while covering the situation in Libya. The four journalists were unharmed and did not appear to struggle during the captivity. This made me wonder if there were any incentives for the Libyan Government to detain these writers? The protests in Egypt demonstrated how important communications are in an international crisis. Therefore, the Libyan government may have believed that controlling the media flow from Libya by capturing journalists would prove to be beneficial for them.

The full story is here

Be a Man

The Obama administration is beginning talks about intervening into Libya. George Bush's presidency will forever be rembered for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Will the Obama administration be remembered for Libya? Does Libya provide enough for it to be considered "Obama's Libya Intervention." I think that involvement will prove to be very bad for the United States's reputation, much like what happened in Iraq. People around the globe will think that the US is intervening for the sole reason of oil, not to actually spread democracy. In fact, I wonder what the Obama adminstration will base their intervention around. It can't be "Spreading Democracy," that was W's thing. Obama, be a man and say you're intervening and going in because the United States is the largest consumer of oil and Libya's oilfields are important for our economy. You haven't taken any risks yet and your squeeky clean image is beginning to annoy me.

USA Begins its Transition into the "New" Middle East Crisis

Today, President Obama made a statement that indicated that his administration had begun talking about a possible intervention into the Libyan crisis. This was in reaction to Col. Gadhafi's forces who launched an airstrike on the outskirts of the oil town of Ras Lanuf.

I made a statement earlier that the issue of oil would become a big concern for the global economy and specifically, the United States. Does anyone else find it interesting that once the rebels started attacking oil areas, the US all of a sudden begin talks about intervening? There is a definite correlation and I almost wish the US would be outright and say, "These rebels are attacking oil fields, oil is a strong interest for the US economy, we want to protect these oil fields."
Here is an article about the airstrike.

Libya has been most violent of Protests

A WSJ article today showed a picture of Libyan protesters firing off rounds from their AK47s as the protests in Libya continue to take over the country's capital. I understand that change is good, but this is getting out of hand. Governments, armies, someone just step up and stop this madness. That or change your governmental policies immediately because this has gone on long enough. I appreciated the thoughts on my last blog posts and I hope they keep coming. I am very narrow minded in how I approach these protests because I believe that many of the leaders in these countries are completely inept individuals and politicians.


Link to article

whats better, old west or middle east?

Has there been any correlation between the middle east protests and the ones occurring at Dickinson for sexual assault? There's many ways to look at it. I feel like when people are surrounded by protests they feel like they should question their own lives; this may or may not have happened with the people outside oldwest. Whether you agree with it or not, it sure is interesting to see such a large rally at a seemingly small school. Check out the hashtag on twitter #oldwest for some interesting stuff.