Lessons from Egypt

1.  Appropriate form for enacting the will of the people: National Committee for Following Up on the People's Demands.

2.  An old lesson, but one easy to forget: you win if the military is on your side (the people and the army are one hand).

3.  Social media isn't nothing; but it doesn't hold a candle to people in the streets.

4.  In a revolution, people get hurt and die.

5.  The impossible is possible.

Comments

[Alain]

I love this summation. But as you point out in the post about commodity speculation, it is a steep rise in wheat prices that was probably the single biggest factor in the uprisings in the middle east. I have seen amounts as high as 70% spike in bread in Egypt because they are the single largest importer of wheat in the world, per capita.

One last thought - of course the msm has not emphasized the economic causes of the revolution, but they haven't completely ignored them either. Ed Schultz just had a segment on the role of commodity speculation in the current unrest. Perhaps this is encouraging.

Thanks again.