So what happens if a "legitimate" protest here in the UK - say, about student fees - gets hijacked by looters who smash in windows and grab goods? And police move in to quell the riots? And the media denounces the action of the police - some of whom use violence and kill people called Ian? And it escalates and normal citizens fear for their lives? But the media denounces the thugs amongst the cops? And foreign leaders make facile comments (always in truisms) denouncing the appalling actions of the soldiers who open fire on gangs of criminals disguised as freedom fighters and crying a lot and mentioning children and women and rapes (rule one - ALWAYS mention sex somewhere)...???

"Do not use violence on peaceful demonstrators wanting democracy" howls Clinton or Obama or IsMyDinnerReady.

And then the young, charming, sobbing, eager kids turn on Parliament - on Buck House - "down with the oppressive monarchy" (who are, God forgive them, WEALTHY).

"We are starving whilst bankers make millions" sobs the odd woman goaded by a camera person.

Thank heavens - the dictators are overthrown and Britain returns to... what?

Probably right wing religious leaders with cunning and clever PR in place will come to the rescue; they do, after all, represent God, the kindest, fairest, most decent person (if he exists) and all is right in the good old United Kingdom. The Shah has been over thrown. Long live the Ayatollah.

I'm becoming confused. The end is surely nigh.

This is interesting... www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12522848

JK2006 wrote:
This is interesting... www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12522848

Wow. Most interesting. I always have enjoyed the DH Lawrence poem:

A Sane Revolution

If you make a revolution, make it for fun,
don't make it in ghastly seriousness,
don't do it in deadly earnest,
do it for fun.

Don't do it because you hate people,
do it just to spit in their eye.

Don't do it for the money,
do it and be damned to the money.

Don't do it for equality,
do it because we've got too much equality
and it would be fun to upset the apple-cart
and see which way the apples would go a-rolling.

Don't do it for the working classes.
Do it so that we can all of us be little aristocracies on our own
and kick our heels like jolly escaped asses.

Don't do it, anyhow, for international Labour.
Labour is the one thing a man has had too much of.
Let's abolish labour, let's have done with labouring!
Work can be fun, and men can enjoy it; then it's not labour.
Let's have it so! Let's make a revolution for fun!

These latest demos in the ME have really exposed many politicians for the fools they are.

They denounce them too quickly (except those in Iran of course ) and then when they succeed they say how brave the people are.

Pollies should really worry..there really is a threat to their power if they gain momentum. Remember the anti-(illegal) Iraq invasion when a million people in Britain marched ?..the result may be very different today.

I love politicians ( Cameron, Obama , Clinton) who all say these vile dicatators (like Mubarack) have been a "force for stability" in whatever country they have been looting merely because they support Israel or sell the West oil at inflated prices.

But what if the awful Sauditregime , or Mubarack or any of the other West supporting dicators had not been in place..there may well have been a reasonable democratic government in place that sold us oil for even cheaper prices and so on.

Our revolting politicans are doing what they have done for decades...creating false enemies for us to hate and fear.

They did it with the USSR after WW2 and promoted the false idea that Russians somehow didn't love their own familes and children and want peace just like everyone else.