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What next for North Africa/Middle East?
Comments
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HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »Tough time for Bahrain businesses until it calms down. The timing couldn't be worse, as even if the race proceeds it'll put a big dent in attendance.
Bahrain isn't a brilliantly attended GP anyway. Apparently in the past they've given tickets to race events away to Bahrain Uni students. You often see empty grandstands on TV, particularly for quali.
Bernie and the F1 peeps need to weigh up the price of a one-off postponement/ cancellation or if poss, swap with Abu Dhabi vs the cost of the race going ahead. It isn't just the risk of attack on teams/ spectators/ the event, but the possibility that someone will think its a good idea to walk out in front of an F1 car at full pelt to make a political point.
F1 is the second most watched sport in the world after football, so anything happening would be around the world in seconds. Not good news for the sport, ultimately not good news for Bahrain also.Please stay safe in the sun and learn the A-E of melanoma: A = asymmetry, B = irregular borders, C= different colours, D= diameter, larger than 6mm, E = evolving, is your mole changing? Most moles are not cancerous, any doubts, please check next time you visit your GP.
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vivatifosi wrote: »Bahrain isn't a brilliantly attended GP anyway.
By global standards, true.
But a few tens of thousands of race tourists, plus teams, infrastructure, media, etc make a big difference to such a small island.
All the hotels are completely booked out under normal circumstances.
Trust me, it's a big deal for local businesses, by far the busiest tourism week of the year.Apparently in the past they've given tickets to race events away to Bahrain Uni students. You often see empty grandstands on TV, particularly for quali.
Also true. Track capacity exceeds sold tickets. But they still sell a lot of tickets, many tens of thousands.
The value of the race goes far beyond that however.
You've got the promotion of Bahrain for a weekend on global TV, the main sponsor Gulf Air is the Bahrain national airline, and relies on the global exposure as a key part of it's marketing strategy for the year. It also sells out on all routes into Bahrain that week.Bernie and the F1 peeps need to weigh up the price of a one-off postponement/ cancellation or if poss, swap with Abu Dhabi vs the cost of the race going ahead. It isn't just the risk of attack on teams/ spectators/ the event, but the possibility that someone will think its a good idea to walk out in front of an F1 car at full pelt to make a political point.
He also has to consider the global TV revenue, sponsorship commitments, lost exposure, etc.
I'd suggest F1 and Bahrain would be be better off running the race with the circuit in lockdown and without spectators to ensure security than cancelling.
It'll be interesting though.F1 is the second most watched sport in the world after football, so anything happening would be around the world in seconds. Not good news for the sport, ultimately not good news for Bahrain also.
Agreed.“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
-- President John F. Kennedy”0 -
Thanks for the comments Hamish, very interesting.
Apparently Bernie has said this morning that he will check the situation in Bahrain next Wednesday. If there is still unrest then, that's the day he'll have to cancel.
Meanwhile over in Cuba, the government is reported to be checking social networking traffic for signs of unrest, so I may yet need to change the title of this thread again.Please stay safe in the sun and learn the A-E of melanoma: A = asymmetry, B = irregular borders, C= different colours, D= diameter, larger than 6mm, E = evolving, is your mole changing? Most moles are not cancerous, any doubts, please check next time you visit your GP.
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What links do the west have with Libiya, Jordan, Yemen. I ask because there is no coverage of any the violence and protests on Sky news or the BBC news, we havnt seen any public speeches condemning the violennce from President Obama or David Cameron. ---
Yet when it was Eygpt it was all over the news.........0 -
What links do the west have with Libiya, Jordan, Yemen. I ask because there is no coverage of any the violence and protests on Sky news or the BBC news, we havnt seen any public speeches condemning the violennce from President Obama or David Cameron. ---
Yet when it was Eygpt it was all over the news.........
The protests and violence in Bahrain, Libya and Yemen have been covered all day.
Jordan isn't that bad at the moment, but you never know.“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
-- President John F. Kennedy”0 -
Oh, I listen to 5live all day and there was no where near as much coverage as the egypt fiasco. Mayby because its not got to that level yet??? then again lots have been killed. If you put sky news on now there nothing, yet it was continously live in egypt.
What links do the west have with these countries?0 -
Bahrain was non-stop on SKy and BBC all day, Yemen and Libya intermittently.
Egypt is/was very tightly linked to the west, received 1.5 billion a year in US military aid, Suez canal critical to western interests, and is a key ally.
Yemen and Libya not as linked with the west.
Bahrain very much linked, has a US military base, and is a key ally in the region.“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
-- President John F. Kennedy”0 -
Do libya provide oil to the west.?0
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Do libya provide oil to the west.?
They all do.
But oil is not always the issue.
Regardless, much of whats going on in Bahrain, for example, is less about democracy and more about sectarian rivalry.
In Yemen, tribalist rivalry is at the heart of much strife.
In Libya, well, Ghaddafi is nuts, so who knows what's going on there.
What they all have in common with Egypt is a young and relatively poor population, high unemployment, ruling elites out of touch with the people, etc.
But overthrowing some of these governments could ultimately be a disaster for the people, as well as the west.“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
-- President John F. Kennedy”0 -
What links do the west have with these countries?
Yemen: this is the one that may cause the most risk. It's opposite Somalia on the Gulf of Aden. So we've got a failed state in terms of Somalia with its pirates on one side and could potentially have a failed state with Al Qaeda on the other. This is the waterway through many globally traded goods pass, including oil, as it leads to one end of the Suez Canal. Its strategic importance can't be understated. The US has used drones in Yemen to fire on enemy targets and a wikileaks doc revealed that the Yemeni govt was passing off US drone use as its own. Also it contains Aden, which used to be a British colony:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_of_Aden
Bahrain: close links to west. See Hamish's previous post re the US Navy's 5th fleet. Also check out press reports which show that the UK is investigating its sale of tear gas to Bahrain:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Fifth_Fleet
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/europe/Britain-Reviews-Arms-Sales-to-Bahrain-116479488.html
Libya: well here's a country with a leadership that neither the UK or US like very much. But it has oil. Very few foreign press allowed in so most media coming from likes of Facebook and YouTube. Check out Libya's relationship with Italy, it used to be an Italian colony and Gadaafi went to Italy 2 years ago. Italy is Libya's biggest trading partner:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8092535.stmPlease stay safe in the sun and learn the A-E of melanoma: A = asymmetry, B = irregular borders, C= different colours, D= diameter, larger than 6mm, E = evolving, is your mole changing? Most moles are not cancerous, any doubts, please check next time you visit your GP.
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