Is the whole middle east going pop...

[cal72]

Now hearing of syria protests.

So there is syria,bahrain,yemen,libya and recently tunisia and egypt.
Must have missed at least one more.

So where would the borders of these unrests end and how many more are likley to join in.

[Jasandjules]

I have been thinking the same thing.

Will democracry come to the Middle East?

[robsti]

Nope!

[AndrewW-G]

robsti said:

Nope!

In my humble and uneducated opinion, I'd suggest that a combination of a traditionally tribal culture and religious issues, will simply lead to melt down in the area.

The only stability in that area and a large chunk of Africa, seems to come from having some sort of dictator in power, without it, the area tends to become riddled with tribal and religious power struggles . . . Iraq being a good example of what happens when 1 lunatic at the top, is replaced with many

[JoeRRS]

I have lived and work all over MENA for the last 3 years and allthough alot of these countries do have ther problems and there has been some very small protest in Oman I doubt ther will ever be any problems in the U.A.E or Qatar as they look after the own.

[Ozzie Osmond]

Jasandjules said:

Will democracry come to the Middle East?

That's the BIG question. Bahrain looks set to become an interesting case study.

Would the turkies vote for Christmas?

[anonymous-user]

if you look at how democracy emerged in the west, it took a long time, you can't expect to transition from a dictatorship/monarchy straight to a western style democracy. Adoption of democracy as we have it would require not jut political but societal and philosophical change in these countries. however, the very fact that the citizens of these countries are demanding an accountable government can only be a good thing.

[Hitch78]

Of the GCC:

Bahrain is in real trouble - we have a number of people there and have a twice daily board review where we consider pulling them and/or their families out.

Saudi and Oman are throwing promises about left and right.

Yemen, not technically GCC but on the peninsular, has no money to promise anything.

Kuwait, Qatar and UAE look after their people too well; who would want democracy when you can have free health, education, housing, increasingly world-class infrastructure, a high likelihood of a decent income and early retirement?!