A Tunisian-Egyptian Link That Shook Arab History

[homasse]

A Tunisian-Egyptian Link That Shook Arab History

As protesters in Tahrir Square faced off against pro-government forces, they drew a lesson from their counterparts in Tunisia: “Advice to the youth of Egypt: Put vinegar or onion under your scarf for tear gas.”Cairo, Feb. 11 Egyptians celebrated the announcement that President Mubarak was stepping

Comments

[shirozora]

I love this article. It was really hard not to cry for what they managed to do (especially while in lecture). I wish them the best of luck while rebuilding their respective countries, :)

Am still floored that I was able to watch Tunisia and Egypt unfold via Twitter.

[hazel_belle]

This was a good article, and I read the entirety of it, even though the bolding of the certain sentences helped to make certain points clearer.

Also, seeing everything be transmitted via the internet and twitter for all to see was definitely flooring and interesting, something completely on an entirely new level.

[actourdreams]

The demographic time bomb has long been cited as a sort of boogie man that will bring extremist forces into power. But I'm starting to wonder if it isn't going to have a more positive effect.

[lady_deirdre]

Powerful read.

It was that rambling, convoluted address that proved the final straw for the Egyptian military, now fairly certain that it would have Washington’s backing if it moved against Mr. Mubarak, American officials said. I wonder how accurate this is. Did the Egyptian military's support of the protesters really hinge on whether the US government would be on their side? Wouldn't events inside the country have been far more of an influence on their decision? What I take away from this article is that while the US did a lot of behind-the-scenes diplomacy, first to keep Mubarak in the saddle and then to convince him to leave (with limited success), they were never the ones to actually tip the scales either way.

[supermouse]

That's what I was thinking. The US claiming *any* credit for this seems less than classy.