The following are predictions not prescriptions! There is a big difference!
Afghanistan– Karzai kicks out the US and NATO!
China – Faces new and strategic challenges to state security by Radical Islam within the next five years.
Egypt – The Muslim Brotherhood takes over and US foreign policy is defeated.
EU – Countries with Islamic majorities in the future literally go Islamic within the next ten to twenty years. NATO is destroyed by this movement as is the EU. Within twenty years the line between East and West no longer exists.
Hamas – Big Winner
Indonesia – Radicalization
Israel – The Israeli state is alone in the Middle East. Egypt is no longer their ally. The US exits the Middle East.
Malaysia – Radicalization
Russia – Islamic extremists now have a big place too plan attacks against Russia with the addition of Radical Islamic states in the Middle East. Deeper and more strategic operations against Russia by Radical Islamists cause their ultimate victory in Chechnya. Russia has no choice but to allow Chechnya to seccede.
Saudi Arabia – Barely Survives and acts as a focal point for Sunni forces in the war against Shiite forces.
Tunisia – Radical Islamists take over.
US – The Pax Americana is finally destroyed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pax_Americana). The US struggles to handle domestic economic problems and withdraws from the world stage to never return. The EU and China separately or together cannot create a new world order and the world slips into deadly chaos. Ecological collapse that might have been solved with a world order of any sort is allowed to happen.
Yemen – Radical Islamists take over.
The World – Sea traffic through the Suez Canal allows sea traffic between Europe and Asia without having to go around the Cape Horn of Africa. Any disruption of the Suez Canal would act as a global expense that would decimate the very fragile current economic recovery.
Radical Islam will overwhelm all anti-terrorist safeguards and be the big winner in the year of the Golden Rabbit!
The US is currently in a total lose/lose situation. Americans really do believe in the exportation of democracy to other countries even if I think it’s largely a waste of time since true democracy comes from within a country and this export attempt interferes with core economic and security interests. Democracy in Egypt and the Middle East in general, means the election of anti-American
regimes. At best they will be secular Anti-American regimes that we can reach a pragmatic accommodation with. At worst, and more commonly, they will be radical Islamic anti-American regimes that cannot be reasoned with pragmatically. I do think the current Pax Americana in the Middle East did allow for peace between Sunnis and Shiites and this will no longer be the case when the US loses influence in the US. Like many such artificial situations, pressures have built that would not have built if small conflicts had been allowed over time. Saudi Arabia and Iran are either nuclear or going to be nuclear and I do think the first tactical nuclear war of world history will be in the Middle East between Shiites and Sunnis. Only religious fanatics would go down this road. Even a Stalin or Hitler knew better.
The best solution for the US is to move towards energy self sufficiency and allow the Sunnis and Shiites destroy each other while we watch from a distance. Radioactive oil isn’t very useful.
WereVerse Universe Baby!
Sheesh. I thought *I* was a pessimist.
Well I hope I am wrong! Hey took a quick look at your blog and its got some good stuff about the much more important topic of comic books! I almost do zero political stuff and think I am allowed one political rant every three years or so.
Mubarak has resigned lets hope for the best!
OK, having given it due thought. Your projections might become valid if the moderates in the listed countries give up and let the (minority) extremists win. I don’t think that will happen. I’m in communication right now with an old friend of mine in Egypt, who is in Tahir Sq right now, blogging away, and she is convinced that the moderates have the huge advantage of both numbers and determination. I’ve shared with her what the US media is saying, and she thinks they are way off. I note that the talking heads in the current administration are blabbering nonsense nonstop, but are being completely ignored by the international press.
I think the international press are on to something…just ignor the US Gov’t when it can’t talk sense, and maybe it will go away.
Good for the world.
There is hope for the world yet.
Well thought out comments and appreciated. I basically agree with your views about Radical Islam in Egypt. In my view, the Muslim Brotherhood would probably be a minority party in a democratic Egypt but if Egypt is not allowed to make the transition to democracy then many Egyptians will become radicalized. You might even find moderate Muslims that want a secular, democratic Egypt allying themselves with Radical Islam for tactical reasons only. The radicals have the cells, guns and bombs to force change in the Middle East and can point to a failure of Egyptian demonstrations as proof that its time to forget democractic means and state that change can only occur through their means! Since you sent your message, Mubarak has resigned. Lets hope for the best. Obama has handled the Egyptian situation well so far.