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The Domino effect?

Ben Allen | 11:39 UK time, Monday, 14 February 2011

 

This topic was discussed on World Have Your Say on Tue 15 Feb. Listen to the programme.

Over the past few weeks my email inbox has been fit to burst. I'm part of a special BBC mailing list that started out looking at social media trends in Tunisia during the protests and then spread to encompass all the protests across the Middle East.

Experts from across the BBC share the latest news, video, images and tweets in order to help gather fresh news and content. It's meant to be an alternative method of news gathering and often feeds into the reports produced by those on the location.


If you spot a grainy Youtube clip on BBC News chances are it was shared and verified using this mailing list.

Today I've received images of protests and security forces in Iran. Other people have forwarded tweets from Bahrain, Iran and Yemen.

It's clear that the protests are spreading but will anything become of it? On the show tonight we'll try to pull together some of the best content we've received and try to give you a picture of what's been going on in the Middle East today.

Reporters from BBC Arabic and BBC Persian TV will give you a flavour of what's being said across the region.



See listeners' comments about this programme

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    The next country to follow suit as in Egypt will probably be Iran, whose leaders must be worried and has the audacity to claim they influenced the demonstrations in Egypt, when in fact they put down their own demonstrations with force resulting for many of Iranians killed, also have the cheek to have stated in the past, that the Egyptian leadership should meet the demands of their people.

  • Comment number 2.

    I agree. In 2009 the energy shown by the citizens of Iran in response to the manipulated elections was electrifying. The population is very young. The available videos of atrocities are available on YouTube. The government used a heavy hand during the recent celebrations of the revolution to withhold info about the Egyptian revolution which should now be available to the Iranian public. The repressive government of Iran is not essentially any different thatn the previous repressive government of Egypt. All these factors make me believe the next energetic revolution will occur in Iran. Democracy For All.

  • Comment number 3.

    The Egyptian success was in most part due to the military's refusal to quell the protesters. One logical reason could be the impact of the US funding on the military's decisions. For any domino effect to occur, we need to examine the impact the US and the West have on the countries in question. In 1979, the US asked the Shah of Iran to give in to protesters; America had then control over the Shah's regime. Any Iranian revolution today will be bloody.

    A tip of the hat to BBC reporters in Egypt, and specially to Lise Doucet. This gentle lady has been subjected to the harsh realities of the Egyptian street.

  • Comment number 4.

    WELL NOW THAT Egypt HAS GOT A NEW PRESIDENT I THINK THIS PROBLEMS WILL INSTEAD KEEP COMING IN MORE THAN BEFORE AND WHAT WILL HAPPEN WILL BE THIS WAY THE ISRAELITE OR JEWS WILL NOW HAVE THE LOWEST SHARE OF THE LAND AND SO MANY PROBLEMS WILL COME INN WHICH MIGHT LEAD TO A BIG WAR IN THIS LAND

  • Comment number 5.

    People all over the world are better informed in the use of the internet and can communicate freely, accordingly the demonstrations viewed by a population in any dictorial country, whereby their leaders are seen to be corupt and without the freedom of expression will sooner or later follow suit, encouraged by the demonstrations in Yemen, Egypt, Iran, Libya etc, countries in the pipeline, China, India, Pakistan, other muslim and eastern countries, perhaps also in some western countries, no country is immune regardless of its power to inforce stability.

 

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