Tunesia, Egyt and now Yemen: a domino effect in the Middle East?

Yemen protests: 20,000 call for President Saleh to go

The demonstrators called for a change in government and rejected Mr Saleh's offer to step down in 2013 after more than 30 years in power.

Meanwhile, a similar number of his supporters rallied in a central square.

The gatherings are the largest in two weeks of protests inspired by the popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.

Georgeob1 said he didn't recall anyone on the thread suggesting that the US should or would intervene in Egypt.

You completely ignored what he said and brought up history.

You go on to ask why Americans don't speak up about crimes, terrorism, etc. Because nobody prefaces every conversation they have with a litany of everything their country has done wrong in the past.

Of course, as an American, I like to kill a few foreigners before breakfast...

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We still don't know what the result will be. As I've said, the power that fills these new vacuums may indeed be more menacing than the old guard; however, the young people seeing a democracy take hold and work in their region has obviously made them bold to get it for themselves. As was forecasted by Bushie.

VAN SUSTEREN: But Israel must be completely on edge because this is one of the two Arab countries that recognize them.

MCCAIN: Yes. And the other Arab country, Jordan, is — the president has just had to replace the whole government. He wouldn’t be — excuse me, the king, King Abdullah, has had to replace the whole government. This virus is spreading throughout the Middle East. The president of Yemen, as you know, just made the announcement that he wasn’t running again.

This, I would argue, is probably the most dangerous period of history in — of our entire involvement in the Middle East, at least in modern times. Israel is in danger of being surrounded by countries that are against the very existence of Israel, are governed by radical organizations.

Yet during an interview with right-wing radio host Mark Levin yesterday, Bolton used his time on the show to attack and undermine the pro-democracy protest movement currently underway in Egypt. The former U.N. ambassador claimed that the “real alternative” to the Mubarak government is not “Jeffersonian democracy” but rather the opposition Muslim Brotherhood. After Levin postulated that “every Jihadi nutjob is probably pouring into Egypt right now,” Bolton followed up by saying this is the “big opportunity” for jihadists and mocked the calls of the international community to restore internet services, saying that the “Muslim Brotherhood knows how to use Twitter just like naive college students do”:

LEVIN: So what do you make with what’s going on in Egypt right now?

BOLTON: Well, I think it’s a real crisis for the regime. I think the outpourings in the street that have now been joined by the Muslim Brotherhood really do put the issue squarely on the table [...] My take is that they are digging in for a fight, they intend to resist, and that the real alternative is not Jefferson democracy versus the Mubarak regime, but that it’s the Muslim Brotherhood versus the Mubarak regime, and that has enormous implications for the U.S., for Israel, and our other friends in the region.

LEVIN: See, that’s my take on it too. I’m not aware of these spontaneous Jeffersonian democracy drives in the Arab world. Maybe I could be missing something. Mike Ledeen makes the point, I think he’s right, that every Jihadi nutjob is probably pouring into Egypt right now.

BOLTON: Oh, this is the big opportunity. That’s why so much of the Obama administration opposition to it has been feckless. [...] And the Muslim Brotherhood knows how to use Twitter just like naive college students do. So I don’t disagree. There are a lot of people in the streets who have legitimate grievances, they want more open government, so even if Mubarak were to fall, those idealistic people aren’t going to create the new government, the Brotherhood is.

BOLTON: [D]emocracy and civilian governments in Pakistan have been so discredited because of incompetence and corruption. I thought the Musharraf government, military, authoritarian rule that it was, was the most likely kind of government to be able to make the changes we made. [...] I would have kept Musharraf in power. I think the Bush administration made a mistake in pushing him out. In Pakistan they call the military the “steel skeleton” because it really is the only thing that holds the country together. That offends some people who think democracy is always the answer. Personally, I would put American interests above that. I wouldn’t have gotten rid of Musharraf.

I think he’s right, that every Jihadi nutjob is probably pouring into Egypt right now.

Just a little irony.

We're hardly in the same place as our European, former-imperialist friends, and thanks to our immigrating friends we're still on the plus side of the demographic equation.

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Of course, as an American, I like to kill a few foreigners before breakfast...

I don't think that the people of Iraq or Afghanistan or Vietnam or Nicaragua or Angola or El Salvador or Guatemala or ... would appreciate your attempt at humor.