# The SBHonline Community Daily > Digerati Discussions! >  >  Internet and politics

## Petri

Assuming that the US news is following a bit what's happening in Egypt..

 

http://bgpmon.net/blog/?p=450

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## Petri

While this is mostly internal thing in Egypt, there's an interesting problem behind what's happening.

Pretty much all cables from Europe to Middle East and Asia go through Egypt.  There are fast, modern cables on both sides of Africa but going around it isn't really an option.

All the cables land in Alexandria, on the Mediterranean side and continue from Suez to the Gulf of Suez.  The infrastructure in between goes over land.

Just think how much damage could be done..  easily.  Kaboom.  Europe-Asia connectivity crippled.  Or even further, all those cables go through the pirate waters around Somalia.  What if they put explosives to the cables and blackmailed the tele-/datacommunications companies?

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## Voosh

My mother would get irritated with the "new music" that I was playing as a kid and would walk around to the back of the record player, pull the plug and say "Next time I will break your arm." 

Those were the easy days. IMHO. 

These days it seems like too many whackos are on too many whacky "missions" with no regard for commonsense and respect for their sisters and brothers.  

Did I like those school drills of hiding under my desk because of a Russian nuke threat? Nope. Always seemed stupid. Yet, the cold war got worked out. Now. The real whackos have truly driven us into a paranoid state of confusion. 



Confessional moment: "Father. I have sinned. My mother pulled the plug on my records. In retribution, I rewired the doorbells in the house and could ring them anytime I wanted to. Son, did you put the wires back to original shape? Yes, I did. Just before coming to confession. Well then, don't ever screw up what you can't fix. Here's your penance ... He was pretty hard on me. That was a lot of Hail Mary's and Our Father's. ... About a year later my folks helped me buy my first bass and amp." 


(true story - got a lot of breaks and also learnt that having "smarts" should never be in service of being pis*ed.)

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## Petri



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## Voosh

No matter what we invent or think up, with the loftiest goals - the lowest common denominator often seems to rule and drive the success of many things around us. IMHO.

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## JEK

Front page news.

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## Petri

Live from Cairo on Al Jazeera:

http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

It's total riot down there.

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## amyb

I would certainly reconsider any travel plans I might have with Egypt as a stop.

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## Petri

> I would certainly reconsider any travel plans I might have with Egypt as a stop.



Cairo is huge, 20 million people, I think the riots are just a small fraction of the people.  

I wouldn't go sightseeing for the pyramids there right now but I think the tourist regions elsewhere in Egypt are pretty calm.  The local travel agents who do packages to Egypt have only cancelled the tours to Cairo.  Great discounts for both Egypt and Tunis for the spring right now.   Even the locals who are unhappy with the rulers know that tourism means business and income.

When we were in Peru two years ago there was some hassle elsewhere in the country and there were some protests in Cusco as well.  We never saw anything, the only difference was that when we left to the airport the army was guarding it and a solder took a quick look into our taxi.

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## amyb

There are always problems somewhere in our world. Sadly, I would pick another destination.

Missy, are you seeing this news from Egypt?

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## Petri

Looks like it needs to get worse before it can get better.

Our local travel agencies are flying people back home and have cancelled travel in the near future.  There are 20,000 british tourists around and the FCO has advised people to leave whenever possible.

Al Jazeera has clearly taken the news crown from CNN as the news channel to be where it's happening.

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## amyb

Thanks Petri. I agree, CNN is not what it used to be. 

In the old days, Phil used to suffer from CNN syndrome whenever there was a world crisis

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## JEK

They are both passé -- check Twitter.

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## Petri

> They are both passé -- check Twitter.



A picture is worth a thousand words.  And you can fit just a few words in a tweet  :Big Grin: 


Personally I'm not a big fan of twitter, just too much noise.  It was pain in the ass when I was trying to follow the situation at London Heathrow and BA with the snow in December.

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## JEK

Al Jazeera camera equipment seized
Camera equipment remains seized after release of six Al Jazeera jounralist who were briefly detained in Cairo.
Last Modified: 31 Jan 2011 12:55 GMT

Six Al Jazeera English journalists, who were briefly detained in Egypt, have been released, however; their camera equipment remains confiscated by the military.

The move comes a day after Al Jazeera was told to shut down its operations in the country and saw its signal to some parts of the Middle East cut.

Following the arrest of the journalists a spokesman of the channel said Al Jazeera will not be deterred; "If anything, our resolve to get the story has increased."

On Sunday, Al Jazeera expressed its "utter disappointment" with the blockage of its signal on Nilesat.

International press institutes have come out strongly against Egyptian authorities' suppression of the media, following the withdrawal of Al Jazeera's license in Egypt.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the information ministry's move to shutdown Al Jazeeras bureau in the country.

The CPJ described the move as an attempt to "disrupt media coverage by Al Jazeera and calls on them to reverse the decision immediately".

Nilesat, the satellite transmission company owned by Egyptian radio and television stopped the transmission of Al Jazeera's primary channel and others.

Reporters without borders added to the condemnation of Egyptian authorities attempt to quell the media.

"By banning Al Jazeera, the government is trying to limit the circulation of TV footage of the six-day-old wave of protests," Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-François Julliard said.

Protest organisers are calling for a "march of one million" people in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, on Tuesday in an attempt to overthrow Mubarak's rule.

They are also calling for a rolling general strike until the leader, who has been in power for more than 30 years, steps down.

Several hundred demonstrators remained camped out in Tahrir Square in central Cairo overnight, defying a curfew that has been extended by the army.

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## NYCFred

I am petrified as to the Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt...Iran #2, here we come.

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## KevinS

> I am petrified as to the Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt...Iran #2, here we come.



I can't copy the image from where I am right now, but Scott Stantis, the Editorial Cartoonist for the Chicago Tribune, seems to agree with you.   Link

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## NYCFred

Wait til they close the freakin Suez canal...and declare war on Israel with all the nifty armaments we've been sending them for years....

I am not a happy camper, geopolitically speaking.

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## Voosh

Ya mean this one...

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## KevinS

That's the one.

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## Voosh

:Wink:  


Deja vue all over again? 



I truly hope not.

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## Petri

http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

Looks like ALJ found new cameras.  The quality isn't quite what it was before, though.

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## Petri

Egypt is back on the Internet.

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