Let your freak flag fly... err make that let your terrorist flag fly...

CCIP · 10-29-11, 03:56 PM

Well, the let's play that game historians hate: what-if

Let's assume you got McCain as president and we had hardline support for Israel. What would this change in the Arab Spring?

If anything, I suspect this might result in increased tensions between Israel vs. Hamas and Hesbollah; potentially spilling out into another conflict in Gaza or Lebanon. That sure doesn't help the average Libyan or Tunisian or Egyptian, and it sure doesn't prevent revolutions, in fact only encourages them. Give more money to Mubarak? I honestly don't think much of anything would've prevented Egypt from revolting like this, and more importantly - it seems that the Egyptian military were far from a pro-Mubarak party from the start and quickly swooped to claim the spoils of the revolution, still retaining primary control in the country. And they're no big fans of Israel either, no matter how much money the US gives them.

What else would stop this? Isolationist refusal to get involved wouldn't really help, although it might keep Gaddafi still alive and in power - but I don't think it'd completely wipe out these rebelling guys either. They'd probably get more extremist and angry as a result. Al Quaeda would get even more heavily involved in funding, training and supplying them in place of NATO - they're not big fans of Gaddafi, and they're eager to have a source of angry, desperate recruits to brainwash. You'd just be stuck with this dragging out for years.

Why would the Arabs NOT revolt in your view, anyway? The people on the frontlines of this are, at the end of the day, just angry and poor, politically disempowered and feeling left behind by a world they know more than ever about thanks to widespread satellite TV, access to social media, etc. etc. Unless a Republican president sent in B-52s on round-the-clock missions to indiscriminately bomb the Arab world with cash, candy, widescreen TVs and Ferrarris, I don't think there'd be that much of a difference.

Obama hasn't exactly taken a soft stance on either Israel or the Arab Spring - just not a very firm one, either. But in the end, my view is that it doesn't really matter. There's tens of millions of unhappy Arabs driving all of this, and there ain't nothing anyone can do to prevent that.

10-29-11, 03:56 PM	#8
CCIP Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Waterloo, Canada Posts: 8,700 Downloads: 29 Uploads: 2	Well, the let's play that game historians hate: what-if Let's assume you got McCain as president and we had hardline support for Israel. What would this change in the Arab Spring? If anything, I suspect this might result in increased tensions between Israel vs. Hamas and Hesbollah; potentially spilling out into another conflict in Gaza or Lebanon. That sure doesn't help the average Libyan or Tunisian or Egyptian, and it sure doesn't prevent revolutions, in fact only encourages them. Give more money to Mubarak? I honestly don't think much of anything would've prevented Egypt from revolting like this, and more importantly - it seems that the Egyptian military were far from a pro-Mubarak party from the start and quickly swooped to claim the spoils of the revolution, still retaining primary control in the country. And they're no big fans of Israel either, no matter how much money the US gives them. What else would stop this? Isolationist refusal to get involved wouldn't really help, although it might keep Gaddafi still alive and in power - but I don't think it'd completely wipe out these rebelling guys either. They'd probably get more extremist and angry as a result. Al Quaeda would get even more heavily involved in funding, training and supplying them in place of NATO - they're not big fans of Gaddafi, and they're eager to have a source of angry, desperate recruits to brainwash. You'd just be stuck with this dragging out for years. Why would the Arabs NOT revolt in your view, anyway? The people on the frontlines of this are, at the end of the day, just angry and poor, politically disempowered and feeling left behind by a world they know more than ever about thanks to widespread satellite TV, access to social media, etc. etc. Unless a Republican president sent in B-52s on round-the-clock missions to indiscriminately bomb the Arab world with cash, candy, widescreen TVs and Ferrarris, I don't think there'd be that much of a difference. Obama hasn't exactly taken a soft stance on either Israel or the Arab Spring - just not a very firm one, either. But in the end, my view is that it doesn't really matter. There's tens of millions of unhappy Arabs driving all of this, and there ain't nothing anyone can do to prevent that. __________________ There are only forty people in the world and five of them are hamburgers. -Don Van Vliet (aka Captain Beefheart)