Can someone clear up what is happening in Egypt

agnes

agnes

agnes

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Not a very bright person when it comes to polatics, so could someone explain in Layman's terms what is going on...

Thanks
 
west want a regime change, so giving lot of attention to it.. :)

Otherwise it woudn't even make the news.. or Tony getting out of his rock..
 
suj999 said:
west want a regime change, so giving lot of attention to it.. :)

Otherwise it woudn't even make the news.. or Tony getting out of his rock..
Click to expand...
Actually, I don't think the West does. Authoritarian or not, he has done a mighty good job of coming down hard on Jihadist groups and sects in that country - all spectators agree that if democracy was more open over there, Jihadist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood will do relatively well.
 
Polatics can often be most confusing;

The aggravation is caused by Karl Pilkington insulting the pyramids, causing a torrent of anti-manchester protests. The people of Manchester have not taken too kindly to such activity and have locked themselves within the pyramids, threatening to turn them up-side down and drilling them through the earth's core to be relocated in the North Pacific Ocean.
 
suj999 said:
west want a regime change, so giving lot of attention to it.. :)

Otherwise it woudn't even make the news.. or Tony getting out of his rock..
Click to expand...

They really don't.
Much as they 'love' democracy, the chap running Egypt has been very pro-west and very helpful at combating local terrorist attempts.
They will be happy to see democracy in place, but unhappy that the new regieme may or may not be as anti-T as they hope.
 
What everyone it most worried about is the current regime falling only to be replaced by an even more oppresive Islamic regime - like what happened in Iran.

Violent revolution very rarely results in a peaceful democratic goverment. If violence is the means of deciding who ends up in charge, then it's generally the most violent people who do.
 
suj999 said:
west want a regime change, so giving lot of attention to it.. :)

Otherwise it woudn't even make the news.. or Tony getting out of his rock..
Click to expand...

No they don't. Mubarak has been a key ally in combating extremist groups and tried to help with the Israel/Palestine situation. However, he has also been in power for 30 years backed by a corrupt regime and his son was likely to succeed him. Along with high unemploynent, little job creation and soaring food prices the Egyptians have had enough. It's making the news because of Egypt's strategic importance, you know with the Suez Canal etc. What happens in Egypt will have huge ramifications in both the West and Arab world.
 
In a nutshell, the people have had thirty years of one man Polatics and now they would like some change and Democarcy.
 
Hatter The Mad said:
Actually, I don't think the West does. Authoritarian or not, he has done a mighty good job of coming down hard on Jihadist groups and sects in that country - all spectators agree that if democracy was more open over there, Jihadist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood will do relatively well.
Click to expand...

AS said, Uk/US have long supported the Egypt regime, its been good for generally anti-terrorist idea's the west have.

Uk have effectively withdrawn support and the US is finally expected to stop giving support which will also effectively end his regime.

AS for why, knock on effects of global recession, the west borrowed the most, so were quickest to get into trouble, slowing down of global trade seems to be effecting poorer countries slower and the less spending the rest of the world does on goods, the less money countries like Egypt make.

Not particularly nice governments coupled with worsening conditions means people want to get rid of their governments.

Basically if Labour were a dictatorship we'd have done the same thing to get them out and try and get the country back on track.

People put up with a dictator when everything was actually running semi-ok, when the country is going the wrong way and everythings getting worse, people aren't willing to put up with it.
 
Basically two problems: The first is that there is a huge inequality gap due to the policies implimented by the government, where though the economy is growing it is only to the benefit of the local elite and the poor are actually getting poorer due to this corruption and misallocation of resources.

The second problem is that they arn't even allowed to protest about this as the government has made it illegal to unionize workers or protest. The recent protests in the country were not 'officially' supported by the opposing political parties because of this, but as you can see from the scale of the protests enough people in the country resent this to defy the current government.

Effectively shutting down all internet and mobile network communications was the last line of defence for the Egyptian government, but it has just made them look even less legitimate to govern.

The interesting problem, though, is that there is no decent replacement for the existing government from the opposition, so we will have to see what happens whether the situation actually improves.

OriginalJonty's post details a few other issues that are also relevant.
 
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In a nutshell, the People are fed up with the ruling Elite, embodied in their President Mubarak, so they are crying for Freedom (not actually knowing what it is) and the head of Mubarak while the Islamists try to take advantage of the situation and the West dither about trying to decide whether to support Mubarak or drop him like a bad habit.

All the while, the Chinese and Russians are trying to sell arms to anyone who will pay.

Personally I blame X-Factor.
 
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