Middle East Meltdown

[American Patriot]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12482680

Above is a BBC link that has a listing of the current countries, with a clickable map showing and telling information about each country.

I'm starting this thread mostly for discussion at this point.

Rather than dump articles here (put articles for each country in their own existing threads, or if you have data on a country not already started, start a new thread) let's keep this particular thread specifically for our discussions.

Post what you thing, your ideas, comments, or even conspiracy theories here (yep, I'll even entertain those for now! )

The reason for this is to kind of have an open discussion, and do some brain storming here as to what we see happening, how this will affect the rest of the world and what data we're using to go through to explain our ideas about this.

[American Patriot]

Here's an article that lists what happened in each place:

FACTBOX-Protests in Middle East and North Africa
Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:06pm GMT

Feb 16 (Reuters) - Here are details of some of the major protests against authoritarian governments, rising consumer prices, poverty and high unemployment around the Middle East and North Africa:

IRAQ -- Around 2,000 people took to the streets in Kut, 150 km (95 miles) southeast of Baghdad, throwing bricks and stones at Iraqi security forces. Some voiced direct anger at Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, echoing anti-government rallies in other parts of the Arab world.

-- Three people were killed and dozens wounded when the protesters demanding better services clashed with police and set fire to government buildings in Kut.

* BAHRAIN -- Over a thousand mourners gathered in Bahrain on Wednesday to bury a man killed in clashes with security forces. An additional 2,000 people were camped out at a major road junction in the centre of Manama and demanded a change of government in Bahrain, where a Sunni family rules over a Shi'ite majority.

-- Fadel Matrouk was killed when police in Bahrain clashed with mourners at the funeral of another protester shot dead during an anti-government "Day of Rage" on Feb. 14, witnesses and police said on Tuesday. -- King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, trying to defuse the tension, said he would give 1,000 dinars ($2,650) to each local family, and the government has indicated that it may free minors arrested under a security crackdown last year.

LIBYA -- A riot in Libya's second city was triggered by the arrest of human rights activist Fethi Tarbel, who has worked to free political prisoners, Quryna newspaper said.

-- Reports from Benghazi, about 1,000 km (600 miles) east of the Libyan capital, indicated the city was calm but that overnight, protesters armed with stones and petrol bombs had set fire to vehicles and fought with police.

-- Gaddafi opponents have used the Facebook social networking site to call people onto the streets across Libya on Thursday for what they described as a "day of rage."

IRAN -- Supporters and opponents of the government clashed on Wednesday at a funeral for a student shot dead during Monday's banned opposition rally.

-- State TV showed thousands of government supporters at Tehran University for the funeral of Sanee Zhaleh, one of two people shot dead on Monday. Each side blames the other for the killing. Each side claimed the victim as their own supporter.

-- An opposition website said at least 1,500 were arrested while taking part in Monday's banned protests.

-- A large majority of Iranian lawmakers signed a motion for two opposition leaders, who have said they were living under virtual house arrest, to be tried, calling them "corrupts on earth". Being "corrupt on earth" is a charge which has been levelled at political dissidents. It is a capital offence.

* EGYPT -- President Hosni Mubarak stepped down on Feb. 11 following 18 days of massive protests.

-- Pro-democracy leaders plan a "Victory March" on Friday to celebrate the revolution and honour those killed.

-- The military council said on Tuesday it hoped to hand over power to an elected civilian leadership within six months and insisted they had no desire to keep control following the overthrow of Mubarak.

* YEMEN -- Protests against the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh spread across Yemen on Wednesday with hundreds of people taking to the streets of Sanaa, Aden and Taiz. In the capital Sanaa, at least 800 protesters marched through the streets despite police efforts to break up the demonstration.

-- Anti-government protests have continued for the past six days, despite often violent clashes with government loyalists.

-- Police have cracked down on both sides to prevent fighting and have generally refrained from attacking protesters. But security forces have beaten and detained journalists.

* ALGERIA -- Thousands of police in riot gear blocked off the centre of Algeria's capital on Saturday and stopped government opponents from staging a protest march that sought to emulate Egypt's popular revolt. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, seeking to prevent opposition calls for protests from building momentum, has promised more democratic freedoms and ordered new job-creation measures.

* JORDAN -- King Abdullah swore in a new government on Feb. 9, led by a former general who promised to widen public freedoms in response to anti-government protests.

-- Anti-government activists have protested in Jordan where a mix of tribal and Islamist-led opposition have called for moves towards a constitutional monarchy that limits the powers of the throne.

* TUNISIA -- Protests that have empowered countries throughout the region started in Tunisia after Mohamed Bouazizi, a fruit vendor, set himself on fire on Dec. 17 in protest at his treatment by local police.

-- Protests eventually forced President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country on Jan. 14. The government said 78 people were killed since December. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has put the number at 117.

-- Since Ben Ali's departure Tunisia's interim government has been making faltering steps towards stability. Police in many places have melted away, and strikes and protests around the country are disrupting the economy.

[Malsua]

At least you have a large body of water between your country and these savages.

We've got a small trickle called the Rio Grande. It should be called the Rio Pequeños

[vector7]

Bahrain square becomes new center for Arab anger

The unrest in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, adds another layer to Washington's worries in the region. In Yemen, police and government supporters battled nearly 3,000 marchers calling for the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in a fifth straight day of violence.

Live rounds used on Bahrain protesters


Bahraini protesters attend a pro-democracy demonstration in Manama, Bahrain, on Feb. 15, 2011.

[American Patriot]

So Bahrain is violent and they are killing protesters.

I don't see this going well for that country. And that place is generally a quiet place too.

[American Patriot]

Iranian ships. The USS Enterprise.

US Military buildup. Others have militaries being built up.

This might actually go "real meltdown" depending on who else decides to drop ships in there.

[Ryan Ruck]

There are conflicting reports about what is going on with the Iranian ships:

Iranian Naval Vessels Withdraw Request To Travel Through Suez Canal

Israel Expresses Disapproval as Iranian Warships Move Through Suez Canal

[American Patriot]

So they didn't move through? Or they did? Or they withdrew the request? Or they didn't?

And the USS Enterprise is there. I hope Kirk is at the top of his game... /chuckles

[Malsua]

I just read that the boats will go through.

[American Patriot]

Well..... I can't see anything coming out of this for the Iranians

[Luke]

I for one do not see this uprising ending well for planet Earth. As one who played a board game called Risk alot as a child, I forsee the continent of Africa becoming Islamic. I doubt any 3letter agency will be able set up enough despots to keep control of Africa once the Islamic extremist take over. Africa has natural resources enough to contend with any single country.
Imagine if all the native American tribes had united. Freedom and democracy for as long as the grass is green. A united Africa/Middle East could be a very dangerous situation.

[American Patriot]

Indians were socialists anyway.

LOL

[Toad]

Iranian ships. The USS Enterprise.

US Military buildup. Others have militaries being built up.

This might actually go "real meltdown" depending on who else decides to drop ships in there.

There's enough build up and ships accumulating over there it's going to take just one idiot with a chip on his shoulder who makes a stupid move to really get the domino's tipping. An Iranian ship who puts a warning shot across a bow and scores a hit by accident? Off and away.

[American Patriot]

There's enough build up and ships accumulating over there it's going to take just one idiot with a chip on his shoulder who makes a stupid move to really get the domino's tipping. An Iranian ship who puts a warning shot across a bow and scores a hit by accident? Off and away.

I can't wait.....

/chuckles

At this point I'm betting against "good senses" and that something will trigger a massive upheaval.

[vector7]

If The Mountain Will Not Come To The Muhammad, The Revolution Will Come To Saudi Arabia On March 20

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/23/2011 09:56 -0500

With the facebook revolutions having claimed virtually every other country in the region, the time may be coming for that most important one of all.

And if Facebook is to be relied on for its revolutionary calendar, a job it has so far done without reproach, the revolutionary wave will come to Saudi Arabia on March 20.That will also the day crude passes $200.

Also, instead of just announcing their rallying call, future protestors have listed their 12 demands:

1 – a constitutional monarchy between the king and government.

2 – a written constitution approved by the people in which governing powers will be determined.

3 – transparency, accountability in fighting corruption

4 – the Government in the service of the people

5 – legislative elections.

6 – public freedoms and respect for human rights

7 – allowing civil society institutions

8 – full citizenship and the abolition of all forms of discrimination.

9 – Adoption of the rights of women and non-discrimination against them.

10 – an independent and fair judiciary.

11 – impartial development and equitable distribution of wealth.

12 – to seriously address the problem of unemployment

Since none of these have a chance of going through in an absolute monarchy, things are about to get really hot.


5

[American Patriot]

Ah... 500 fake people are creating all of this then?

[BRVoice]

http://www.debka.com/article/20710/


Middle East oil war spreads. First demos in Saudi Arabia
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis February 26, 2011, 3:06 PM (GMT+02:00)

Iraq's biggest oil refinery at Baiji, 180 kilometers north of Baghdad, was blown up early Saturday, Feb. 26, by an Al Qaeda cell activated by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Al Qods Brigades, debkafile's Middle East sources report. Tehran is using the Middle East turbulence to generate fuel shortages in Iraq and boost oil prices worldwide.

Thursday night, Feb. 24, saw the first signs of unrest in Saudi Arabia with demonstrations by young people demanding reforms of the kingdom's system of government and by Shiites living and working in the kingdom's oil-rich eastern regions. They demonstrated at Awwamiya in Qatif in solidarity with the protests in Libya and Bahrain. They also demanded the release of detainees rounded up by Saudi security authorities among the two million Shiites living and working in the main oil centers of Saudi Arabia to nip potential unrest in the bud.

Friday, in the Red Sea town of Jeddah in the west, a group calling itself "Jeddah Youth for Change staged a demonstration.

The slightest sign of unrest in Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, is bound to affect the price of oil. Iran is the biggest beneficiary of soaring prices. Day after day, as Arab capitals are beset by popular turbulence, Tehran is watching the damage caused its economy by international sanctions shrinking.

In 2010, sanctions slashed Iran's oil revenue from $120 billion to $80 billion, i.e. 6.6 billion a month, whereas in February, 2011, it shot up to $10 billion as a result of Middle East unrest.

Early Saturday, Tehran gave the oil market another nudge by knocking Iraq's biggest refinery out of action just hours after clashes with anti- government rallies left nine dead in three North Iraqi towns.

The gunmen shot four refinery guards and engineers and blew up the Al Shamal unit, its main kerosene and benzene producer, leaving sticky bombs in other operational units to explode after they fled. It took hours to put the fire out. The entire installation is now closed. "We are not talking about days," said a refinery official, "The damage is too severe."

The Baiji refinery working at 70 percent capacity produced 150,000 barrels per day. Oil experts estimate that Iraqi towns face a 35 percent decline in petrol supplies for several months, with effect on world prices and domestic stability in the country.

debkafile's intelligence sources report that the sabotage of the Iraqi refinery marked another stage in the fuel war becoming an integral part of the rising tide of protest engulfing the Middle East since Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution erupted in January. On February 5, the Palestinian Hamas used the uprising in Egypt to blow up the Sinai gas pipeline to Israel and Jordan. Supplies have been cut off since then.

In Libya thus far both Muammar Qaddafi and the opposition fighting him, mainly in Cyrenaica, have refrained from touching the country's export trade of 1.8 million dollars a day. However, the fighting in oil-sensitive areas is thought to have cut supplies by half. It is estimated that Libya's partition between Cyrenaica and Tripolitania will split half of its oil resources roughly equally between the two entities, leaving the export terminals with the rebels.

Whoever ends up ruling Tripolitania will have to come to terms with Cyrenaica over the use of those facilities or build new ones. That is why Qaddafi's opponents are fighting so crucially for control of the four outlying towns of Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast - Sirte, Misrata, Zawiya and Zuara. Without them, the Libyan ruler has no way of exporting the oil produced in Sahara fields.

[Malsua]

Debka is about as reliable as a Horoscope.

[American Patriot]

In today's Horoscope Sagittarius caught up with Virgo.... she's no longer... well, a Virgo.

[Malsua]

Virgo is the perpetual virgin. It grows back.