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Comment by jacquesm | Hacker News Reader

Interesting, are the Syrians afraid that the Egyptians will find ways to communicate or are they afraid that the flames of revolution will spread and spoil their plans for dynasty?

If Mubarak is successfully ousted a lot of people might wake up to the possibility of throwing out their abusive leaders, I'll bet that plenty of middle east despots are not sleeping well tonight, if at all and that one or two of them might check the contents of their 'bug-out-bags'.

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Is conservative let-suicide-bomb-westerners style Islam a populist movement that might take hold, or is it viewed by he protestors as just as undesirable as the current regime?

Oh, come on. That's not a style of Islam, and suicide is not a populist movement. Could you please just see this as people kicking the bums out without getting your panties in a twist about whether it might be another reason to be scared of anything that's not American? This is a Fucking Good Thing all around.

You're right of course. Very poor choice of words on my part. It sounds like a power vacuum in the making and I was hoping to understand who was poised to fill it, but instead most comments are focused on the unfair broad brush I used.

There is both. There are highly educated, young demographic that is really pissed off about the lack of jobs and the corrupt governments neglect of investments. There is also a hungry, poor class that has also been neglected by the government. This is where fundamentalist mosques step in, provide food, clothing, and education in the form of learning the Koran. They aren't a majority, but the Mubarak government has been very effective at denying them representation.

Also, I take offense at "lets-suicide-bomb-westerners" style Islam. This is an unfair label of even the most fundamentalist sects of Islam. Suicide bombers are exactly that, suicidal, which means they aren't in the right frame of mind. Therefore they don't represent anyones views but their own. And are certainly not populist.

The people who make the bombs and orchestrate the bombing are rarely the ones who end up blowing themselves up.

In fact, the people who end up getting their guts smeared everywhere aren't committing suicide in the way that westerners think of it, they have generally been brainwashed and coerced, either deliberately or just from living in that sort of environment. The people who wear the bombs are rarely the real "bombers".

Would you call the IRA a style of Catholicism? Would you call the abortion clinic bombers a style of Christianity?

Individuals transgressing the law are no reason to paint a large group of people with the same brush.

Would I call the Crusades a style of Christianity? The Inquisition? Yes, I would, to both of those, and yes I would to both of yours.

Religions are not entities, we can only judge them in the context of what people do in the name of them.

What about a country where the head of the church is also the head of the armed forces? Where nuclear missile submarines are launched with "god bless her and all who sail in her"?

Where belief in God, the head of state and the superiority over foreigners are pretty much the same creed

> Where nuclear missile submarines are launched with "god bless her and all who sail in her"?

Are you referring to the United States? Officially speaking, by the word of the President of the United States, the USA invaded Iraq because God spoke to George W. Bush and God told him to invade Iraq.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/...

I think the GP is referring to England.

The English head of state (the Queen) is also the head of the church of England.

see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_England

And all that because the pope would not sanction a divorce.

You know who else won't sleep well tonight? US leaders. Basically, the arab youth is overthrowing the US puppets and overturning US influence in middle east. Joe Biden has voiced open support for Egyptian president today, but Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has been tactful so far.

As an American, I am glad that the arab youth is escaping the imperialistic shadow that US has casted over the middle east. As an American, I lament that this is the end of the US dominance. As an American, I fear that the revolution around the world will force US into a totalitarian government. As an American, I hope that true democracy will ultimately triumph.

If the US government are "puppetmasters," we're the worst puppetmasters of all time.

We've given Egypt over 16ish Billion dollars over the last 10 years, (http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/politics/us-foreign-aid.htm) and we don't have the influence to disrupt a student uprising?

At some point, the people of the middle east are going to have to start looking in the mirror to solve their problems.

You're failing to recognize how long this strategy has been used effectively to suppress the people.

There are a number of reasons why this strategy is coming undone now, including waning US power, and the rapid sharing of information among masses of people.

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