Article

2005-11-22 Africa: North

Cairo wants to be seat of North African force

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Posted by Steve White 2005-11-22 00:12|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 All things considered, in a decade or two the south side of the Mediterranian could very well take on the north side in a war.

Posted by BrerRabbit 2005-11-22 09:30|| 2005-11-22 09:30|| Front Page Top

#2 More and more in the Middle East, and due in large part to the help of the US, and democratization, I am seeing what could be called a "proto-union"--not on the model of the old Ottoman empire, but more like the EU or the FTAA.

These countries are realizing that there could be tremendous value to them in an economic, if not political, union. In this case, military cooperation is a different type of one of these formative "proto-unions".

This particular association is especially important, as it is sort of the western branch of how such a union would be formed. The nexus of such a common market would most likely be with Iraq and possibly Turkey, with the Emirates, Arabia, Yemen, Oman, etc., joining over the course of many years, as they too had democratized and liberalized.

Not ironically, the character of such a union would almost have to be secular. Various religions and sects fighting among themselves just wouldn't be good for business.

Posted by Anonymoose 2005-11-22 09:52|| 2005-11-22 09:52|| Front Page Top

#3 Egypt is strategically located to (a) threaten the closure of the Suez (b) threaten Israel. They will not say so but these thoughts will be on everyones mind when they decide.

Posted by rjschwarz 2005-11-22 10:20|| 2005-11-22 10:20|| Front Page Top

#4 (a) threaten the closure of the Suez
Tolls for transit thru Suez are a major source of income for the government, threaten away.

(b) threaten Israel.
SEE: 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973

Posted by Steve">Steve 2005-11-22 11:54|| 2005-11-22 11:54|| Front Page Top

#5 Didn't some of those stranded merchant ships in the canal maintain a 2 or 3 man crew for the duration? I guess for security or so they weren't deemed to be abandoned. Some weird stories.

Posted by Shipman 2005-11-22 13:12|| 2005-11-22 13:12|| Front Page Top

#6 an executive secretariat, a department for planning, a general command, and two administrative bases

"Command a desk and you can be
The General of all Araby...."

Posted by Gilbert & Sullivan 2005-11-22 19:01|| 2005-11-22 19:01|| Front Page Top

#7 yeah, tourism is less and less with every attack.

"See the Pyramids! Pay with your life, Infidel!"

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2005-11-22 19:51|| 2005-11-22 19:51|| Front Page Top

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