Stability in the Middle East? That ship has sailed

[cali]

decades of repressive government have ensured that. There is no way that the U.S. or the west can impose stability. It's unlikely to happen through elections. Yemen, Syria, Egypt, Libya, etc are in flux and not all the military might in the world can change that.

[joshcryer]

1. Only a kind of release can change it.

[cali]

2. not sure what you mean. could you elaborate, josh?

[joshcryer]

3. Uprisings, violent or otherwise, along with lots of killing or other kinds of reprisals.

The US has kept friendly dictatorships there for too long, before it can normalize I believe that they need to get it out of their system, to put it bluntly.

I believe Libya will be the rule, not the exception.

Hope I'm wrong. Saleh's reluctance to step down and threats to start a civil war are really telling.

[howard112211]

10. "They need to get it out of their system". What does that even mean?

[dipsydoodle]

4. Sunk more like it

Good morning from the UK. :hi:

[cali]

5. Good Morning!

yes, sunk is more like it, dipsy.

Are the daffodils in bloom across the pond?

[dipsydoodle]

7. Yes indeed they are.

I remember reading once that you can spoof daffs by keeing them warm to stop them them flowering and then pop them in the freezer for a while in the summer to have them flower a month or so later. :)

[treestar]

6. With uprisings against dictators

They have a good chance of improving their lives.

[cali]

8. I doubt it. What fills the vacuum?

[pampango]

11. Agreed. Revolutions are messy with unpredictable results. But they happen when people are desperate

and are willing to gamble on the future. When the rebellion it aimed at a 40-year dictator who's grooming his son to succeed him, the odds are quite good that the lives of the people will improve.

[howard112211]

9. It is likely that the invervention in Libya has crushed whatever hope there was

for peaceful reform.