Egypt’s Future is Uncertain

One of the things I intend to do with this blog is use it to force me to keep up on world news a bit more.  We all know that we live in a “globalized” world and that events that occur in distant parts of the world have a direct, and sometimes profound, impact our our lives here in the U.S.  However, despite the easy access to news of all sorts that the internet now gives us, it seems to me to be harder to keep up with what is going on than ever.

Egypt is one such situation.  I think we all know that President Mubarak has resigned as President of Egypt and that the Egyptian military is now in control of the nation, but it is hard to know what that really means.  I am sure that things are going to be uncertain in Egypt for some time.  The protesters, who have been at it for 18 days, are demanding democracy.  However, when the mob overthrows the ruling power in a situation and someone else comes into control, the mob often doesn’t get what they thought they would.  There are always people waiting to use the confusion and anarchy created by a mob to gain power themselves and move events in the direction they want them to go, regardless of what the mob wants.  Unfortunately for those involved in causing the ouster of the ruling authorities, the new powers-that-be have more time and patience to get what they want than the mob does.  Once the protesters have gotten rid of the evil that everyone is against, it is hard for them to keep the same pressure on the new rulers.  The new rulers have some “grace” time to do what they want before everyone settles in and evaluates how the revolution turned out.

I found it interesting that the police who have been hated by the populace for a long time are now claiming to be the victims and demanding a pay raise from the harsh government.  That takes some chutzpah (and I recognize the irony of the use of that word).

Anyway, a story we need to keep up on.  I suspect Good Morning America will spend more time talking about what Lady Gaga wore to the Grammys tonight that they spend on Egypt, but that is what passes for news in our entertainment-overloaded nation.

Welcome to WatchForIt

I have been thinking about starting a blog again in the last few weeks.  I used to blog a bit, but that was in the old days before it became the thing to do.  I never really kept up with the blogs I started, it just seemed like there should be more to it than there was.

So, I decided to try one again and see what I can learn from doing this.  I plan to write about whatever interests me at the moment and record what I am learning.  Maybe it will be helpful to someone besides me.  I plan to learn a lot and use this blog to force me to put a bit more thought into what is happening around me every day.  There is a lot going on in my life and it is easy to get caught in the churn.  I want this blog to make me stop for a minute and think about what is happening and make some sense of it.

We’ll see where the categories go, I’ll make those up as they seem appropriate.