Article

2011-09-10 Africa North

Egyptian protesters pull down Israel embassy wall

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Posted by DarthVader 2011-09-10 17:46|| || Front Page|| [5 views ] Top

#1 I think the likeliest scenario is Egypt gets sucked into a Libyan civil war.

Those oil fields across the border must look awfully tempting.

Posted by phil_b 2011-09-09 19:45|| 2011-09-09 19:45|| Front Page Top

#2 An Egyptian-Libyan war might be tempting for the oil, but Egypt would land quickly in the international dog-house. You might say, "eh, who cares", but Egypt needs several billion dollars a year in foreign aid from the U.S. and Europe just to feed its people, and that aid would quickly be at risk in a war.

For the same reason, I don't see an Egyptian-Israeli war, at least not in the classical sense.

What could happen is that Egypt decides to fight a proxy war by letting the chain slip on Hamas and other groups on their side of the fence. Quiet aid and encouragement would allow Hamas to step up their attacks on Israel, and if coordinated with Hezbollah, etc could have the potential to provoke Israel into an 'extreme' response.

We know how the world would react to that.

So my prediction is not war, but chaos. As if there's a big difference in the end.

Posted by Steve White 2011-09-09 21:09|| 2011-09-09 21:09|| Front Page Top

#3 "So my prediction is not war, but chaos."

In other words, same as now. :-(

Posted by Barbara 2011-09-09 21:12|| 2011-09-09 21:12|| Front Page Top

#4 There is one, possibly two possibilities. The first being the Egyptian military occupying Libya as a "peacekeeping" force, to prevent it from decaying into another Somalia. In effect it would be under the Egyptian government, because the Libyan government would be a puppet.

But this raises an interesting possibility if northern Sudan becomes more unstable. But it would be a LOT harder to integrate them, much like if they wanted Algeria to join the mix.

Posted by Anonymoose 2011-09-09 23:15|| 2011-09-09 23:15|| Front Page Top

#5 Egypt is become concerned about Arab Bedouins in the Sinai demanding autonomy or sovereignty, so IMO don't think its focii will be on waging war agz nuke-armed, US, NATO-backed Israel.

These Activists did manage to have the Israeli Embassy staff ordered to skedaddle over to the Cairo Airport back to Tel Aviv, though, for safety.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2011-09-09 23:21|| 2011-09-09 23:21|| Front Page Top

#6 I was wondering the other day if the wall was to:
a-keep egyptians out
b-keep Israelis in
c-both

Fortunately, with the evacuation of the staff, it was A.

Posted by swksvolFF 2011-09-10 12:45|| 2011-09-10 12:45|| Front Page Top

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