What are the chances that the ME could settle back down once this blows through the region?

[renie408]

And it might NOT be the end of the world as we know it?

I just keep hoping that this will just chill out, other than that Romney was a total douche about the whole thing. And if it settles down, then Romney just looks like even more of a douche.

I genuinely believe that Barack Obama has a very nuanced feel for foreign policy and that Hillary Clinton is an outstanding Secretary of State. I have faith in them and their ability to deal with this.

Maybe I am being an ostrich, but I just think that this is being blown out of proportion. Yeah, it is BAD that terrorists attacked our ambassador. I am not even that sure how bad it is that Egyptians wigged out and attacked the embassy in Cairo. That just seems like SOP in the ME to me. Egypt is having economic times right now that make what we are going through look AWESOME. People who can't get work and don't have a lot to look forward to don't need a whole lot of prodding to blame and attack the nearest superpower.

The Libya thing is of concern because it was a focused attack on Chris Stevens and the consulate in Benghazi. But we have boots on the ground and Obama in the White House and Hillary is on it.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Hard to predict

First you have several countries with different populations and different leaders.

Next, in 1979, when the Shah was admitted into the US to be treated for cancer. Ayatollah Khomeini returned from his exile in Paris. It began with student protests in Tehran. Which spread including the US Embassy and the hostages. You have have protest one day and it escalates without warning.

Finally, there is the Al Quaeda factor. There is some substance to the group's desire to infiltrate as many countries as possible for the goal of challenging, if not outright attacking, this country. Are there numbers to show how much success they've had?

I don't think there's much information to help us predict what will happen next in any of the countries that have unrest.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. What is "this" that you think could blow through?

Yemen: attacks on rebels by govt/US drones are ongoing
Syria: more or less civil war going on
Iran: Israel still making noises about bombing it
Bahrain: govt still imprisoning protesters

Does 'this' include all of the above? Do you think they're likely to 'blow through' soon? Do you really think the Middle East is goign to 'settle down' any time soon?

[nc4bo]

3. Middle East is so very complicated and not nearly as simple to understand as American Idol.

It's a big world out there which includes many different people with a variety of beliefs and ideologies and Americans, especially right-wing America lacks the capability to even try to understand those differences and/or our history of influence in many of these areas.

Americans can't handle the truth, we say we're tolerant but in reality we are not. We claim to be empathetic, sympathetic, openminded but we're not really.

We too often (one party specifically, in fact my posted is almost entirely directed at one particular party) want to solve everything with bombs and drones without thinking of the longterm effects these actions have on generations of people.

That Barack Obama is STILL attacked on his "otherness", his race, his intelligence - everything in fact and a rather large number of Americans agree, is proof this intolerance.

Our media being the compromised guttertripe that it is, will not even attempt to educate the masses.

This is what frightens the hell out of me, it always did.