We are in Vientiane, Laos. About one year ago we were in Cairo, Egypt. Here on our hotel TV in Laos we get international CNN and BBC. We are watching what is going on in Egypt. It is somewhat sobering that if todays’s events had happened a year ago we would have been in the thick of it. When in Cairo we stayed at a hotel in the inner city, not at one of the luxury hotels on the outskirts. The area where we did our work was only blocks from “Garbage City”, one of the most squalid areas of Cairo.
Having been there, its not hard to understand why the tinderbox caught fire. What is disturbing is to wonder how it will all play out. Events like this have many unintended consequences. For instance, these events will totally shut down tourism which is the #3 industry in Egypt. (Agriculture and the Suez Canal are the first two.) Luxor survives on tourism and little else. While Cairo and Alexandria get the media attention a place like Luxor has to feel a sense of desperation because their main source of revenue will immediately disappear.
At some level the military will call the shots. Whether they side with reform or the radical Islamics remains to be seen.
It is a very dangerous situation with implications that can only be imagined at this time.
Thankfully, we are not in a situation where we are wondering how we can be evacuated and at what price. Even though it was a year ago, it seems very close to home.