chicot

I never suggested that. The army fills the void and prevents the country falling into chaos while a new constition is written, political parties organised and free and fair elections held. You yourself stated "since everyone seems to trust the Egyptian army, who themselves seem reasonably apolitical". Well, ok if everyone seems to trust the army and they seem reasonably apolitical why are they not better qualified to provide stability during the interim period than the corrupt and hated Mubarak regime, about which neither can be said?

You forget about the army. They're far more likely to fill the void than the muslim brotherhood.

And you figure this based on what? I suppose having "muslim" in the name automatically makes them the bogeyman. This seems like a pretty well-balanced article about them: muslim brotherhood

The question was what they wanted rather than what was likely, hence my answer. I'm not as pessimistic as you on this - I dont think civil war is actually that likely. Mubarak is done and once he leaves his paid goons will melt away. Sure there's a risk of chaos but there's always that risk with a revolution but what's the alternative? Allowing Mubarak to rule until he dies and passes on the presidency to his son and the whole corrupt system continues?

1) The Egyptian people. 2) They saw what happened in Tunisia and realized they could deal with their corrupt dictator in the same manner. 3) Long term - better economic prospects and more freedom. Short term - Mubarak to leave and non-rigged elections.

Curious post title. As Islam is by far the largest religion in Egypt, I think it's a given the muslims will be in charge of Egypt whatever happens. As for this idea that somehow Egypt is going to become Iran there's very little chance of that happening. The hundreds of thousands demonstrating in Tahrir square do not want an oppressive Islamic regime, they want a western style democracy. In any event even if the muslim brotherhood did win an election, as Islamic parties go they are fairly moderate (think Turkey rather than Iran).

Hmmm... Of course I don't know for sure anymore than you do but I suspect that that decision was forced on Wade by Ralph Wilson. Whatever his faults, one thing I recall about Wade was that he tended to speak his mind (sometimes unwisely) and I remember that prior to the switch he seemed fairly insistent that Flutie was his QB. My guess is that Wilson thought Johnson was the messiah after his strong performance in the meaningless last game against the colts and demanded he start.

Horrible. According to the BBC she was shot in the head at close range. If that's true it doesn't sound too hopeful.

Wow. You really refuted their arguments there. Thank you. I feel so much better about the state of the planet thanks to your well thought out post.

Revolutions are not easy. While there is substantial support for reform amongst the young, educated population there is also a lot of support for the government, especially in rural areas. I'm not sure which side makes up the majority. Also, the government holds all the power and is highly unlikely to just step aside peacefully. Any attempt to overthrow the Iranian government would likely cost thousands of lives and, even then there would be no guarantee of success. While some say that is a price worth paying, it's a lot easier to say when it's not going to be your life or that of your family at risk.

Yes, genocide is always a good solution. Incidentally, you do realise that a good section of Iran's population disagrees with the government and is actually quite pro-western, don't you? Also, I seem to remember a candle-light vigil being held in Tehran to mark the 9/11 atrocity (why is that people always remember some Palestinians celebrating but completely disregard things like this?). Still, don't let such things interfere with your ridiculously simplistic world-view.

I disagree. Sure, some of the later decisions went Spain's way but the Dutch were extremely lucky that their thuggery didn't result in them losing players earlier. The kung-fu kick on Alonso was easily worthy of a straight red card.

If I remember rightly, Iraqi insurgents almost blew up Paul Wolfowitz with a goat-powered mobile rocket launcher.

I doubt that either Iran or Turkey are actually going to follow through with their threats to send escorts. Probably just posturing in both cases.

As far as I know, Iran played no part in either.

Yes, I'm a moron for misinterpreting something I read on a message board while at work. I humbly apologize for falling short of your lofty standards.

Do you end resistance when an occupier vacates part of the territory it illegally occupies? Should the French resistance have stopped fighting if the Germans withdrew from 20% of France?

The reason for the blockade is collective punishment for the entire population of Gaza. As I'm sure you're aware of (and probably approve) the blockade goes well beyond simply stopping arms from reaching Gaza and is intended to make the lives of the Gazans as harsh as possible in order to get them to turn against Hamas. That the policy is completely counter-productive in that regard is one reason why most of the world and quite a few Israelis are against the blockade. Amoz Oz in the friggin Guardian

Not quite sure what you mean by a British withdrawal? The UK hasn't adopted the Euro - we still have the pound.

Very interesting. The Tories and Lib Dems are hardly natural allies (the Lib Dems are actually to the left of Labour in a few of their policies). Be suprised if the coalition lasts the full term.

True. That's a fair point.

I'm not enough of a student of American history to make that claim. I chose Bush as the most recent and obvious example.

? I thought my point was obvious. US Presidents routinely treat the British with disdain and contempt (and why should they do anything else when the British government does everything it's told to and blathers on about the "special relationship" like some lovestruck teenager) . If (and I'm not sure that he is) Obama is doing this is it's no different to what has gone on before.

Unlike Bush, who treated the British with nothing but the utmost respect ("Yo, Blair")

Interesting times. The much-maligned exit poll turned out to be remarkably accurate in the end. The Lib Dems seem to be in a very strong position despite doing far worse than the polls were predicting with neither Labour nor the Conservatives being able to form a majority government without their support (theoretically the Tories could actually get the 326 needed without them but the chances of the Welsh or Scottish nationalists doing any deals with them are more or less zero). The bottom line for the Lib Dems has got to be electoral reform. They may never get another chance like this to force through a referendum on PR - Labour are already more or less offering it (there was always a good deal of support for electoral reform within the Labour party even before this) and Clegg would be an idiot to accept anything less from the Tories (and he wouldn't be able to sell a deal to his party without it in any case).