Imbolc\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waxing Bridgit Moon<\/p>\n
See.\u00a0 It helps to share your pain.\u00a0 Woolly brother and cybermage Bill Schmidt gave me the number of his son-in-law, Steve Johnson, who runs a part-time business called I-tech.\u00a0 He knows networks and backups, doing that kind of thing during the day for 3M.\u00a0 I’m gonna give him a call.\u00a0 Time to stop banging my head against this stuff.<\/p>\n
I’ve not kept on top of the Tunisia, Egypt coverage and have missed a lot of the analysis, so this may be ill-informed; but, it all sounds pretty healthy to me.\u00a0 Dictators may seem more stable from a US foreign policy perspective, yet they often\/always? do disservice to the people(s) and the nation which they rule.\u00a0 Whether kept in power by US aid and good will or by their own ham-fisted acts, dictators lack a key ingredient for legitimate power, the assent of the governed.\u00a0 By definition in a dictatorship there is no consent by the citizenry, yet their rule could work if the people assented to their government.\u00a0 And they may.\u00a0 At first.\u00a0 Especially if the dictator rose to power by throwing off a corrupt state government or overthrowing a sitting tyrant.\u00a0 In the end though dictators dictate and no matter what the political philosophy of the whole, no one likes being told what to do time and again with the force of arms behind it.<\/p>\n
It should come as no surprise when people in such situations say, enough.\u00a0 In fact, to old political hacks like me, it’s more surprising people take as long as they often do, fearing the consequences of action.\u00a0 Of course, from our North American vantage point, it seems the outcome of these people’s movements must be radical Islamist states, but I think it too soon to tell.<\/p>\n
An even more intriguing bit of analysis will come from discerning the true role of social media.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They are, of course, a new player in politics and one few people understand very well.\u00a0 Except maybe those that use it for these purposes.<\/p>\n
Whatever the outcome, whatever the analysis, these uprisings have clear public support.\u00a0 What happens next could determine the fate of the unfortunate Middle East for years to come.\u00a0 One less:\u00a0 beware the lure of wealth from natural resources.\u00a0 They destabilize as much as–more–than they stabilize.\u00a0 Just ask residents of Minnesota’s Iron Range or any of the First Nations in either Canada or the U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Imbolc\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waxing Bridgit Moon See.\u00a0 It helps to share your pain.\u00a0 Woolly brother and cybermage Bill Schmidt gave me the number of his son-in-law, Steve Johnson, who runs a part-time business called I-tech.\u00a0 He knows networks and backups, doing that kind of thing during the day for 3M.\u00a0 I’m gonna give him a call.\u00a0 Time … Continue reading Fire in the Streets<\/span>