You're now the official holders of a ! The record for longest time not having a government that is.
Actually Belgium is being run quite well, their economy is doing pretty well compared to the European average. And without a government you'll at least not have a conservative one like we do.

lol.

The country of Belgium has no government.
They are running very well.
Therefore, we are abolishing government everywhere.
That is all.

Well i think that technically, we didn't beat that record yet. We'll beat that record (held by Iraq of all countries) 30th of march if i'm not mistaken.
We're holding the record for governement formation now. Go Belgian politicians!

Btw I stopped caring about our politics long ago. My (almost) 2-year-old son even knows it: when our TV was airing a political program (live debate in the senate or something) he shouted "circus!". And he couldn't be more accurate in his description probably.

Maybe Ox and I should stick our heads together and organise a revolt.

...sounds like my government... if by controversial you mean 'against corporate interests'

More like: nothing that might be against public opinion.

but isn't that the definition of a democracy? Which just goes to show that a benevolent dictatorship is the best form of government.

BTW...you guys following all the turmoil in the middle east? Popular uprisings in many countries, with violent government reactions? The world is changing. I just hope it's for the better.

Yeah some crazy stuff going on when you're living in the middle east i imagine. Can't be easy being a journalist there now.

I'm mainly concerned about oil prices though

Overthrowing dictators has become a sport in middle east.

Yeah, I noticed, but odd that the media and politicians are not milking it. At least the slivers if news i've caught on TV.

It seems significant doesn't it? I mean, political protests of constitutional nature in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria all in the same year? They all want more of less the same thing, don't they? (Regime change in favour of something more democratic).

There must be some sighs of relief in the Pentagon.

Yeah, but this could either be Fall of the Warsaw Pact 2.0 or Iranian Revolution times ten. Egypt's just past the first and easiest part of a revolution, the hard part is turning regime change into democratic reform. Nine out of ten revolutions end in another dictator instead of democracy.

Yea, the Egyptian thing isn't off to too great of a start, since the military is now in charge. Isn't that how Mubarak gained control in the first place? On the other hand, from what I understand, they're still at it and pushing for further changes, so it's not over yet.

My understanding is that, for the most part, they are all asking for democracy, with the exception of Bahrain. That's basically the Shi'ite majority protesting the Sunni minority treating them as second-class citizens. They just want equality, not necessarily democracy. At least, that's my understanding of the situation.

BTW, you missed Libya in that list of countries currently in turmoil.

I hope that this results in a better government for all of them. They don't even need to be democracies in my opinion, as long as they're not oppressive dictatorships and the people actually have a say in government. I think that alone should help calm down the region.

As for the price of oil... I hope oil gets so ridiculously over-priced that we're forced to develop alternatives. Though it'll suck to have to bicycle to work until they figure out how to make said alternatives and roll them out to market.

Getting energy for the entire earth without resorting to fossil fuels isn't that hard already, so yeah, I hope they start soon. A solar panel park in the ocean the size of France is enough to power the entire earth as is...of course, who's gonna pay for it and where it should be built and who controls it are all other matters. And it'll obviously take a while to build something like that, but the surface is readily available. Or we could just ride our bikes and wait until we make a breakthrough on nuclear fusion.

I've been following the chain of events in the Arab world while I was on holiday. Since Malta is the Southernmost part of the EU and has had good relations with Tunesia and Libya in the past, it was an interesting place to be. I'm torn on what to think about the current developments. On the one hand, this could be the start of the emancipation of the Arab world - on the other, this could just lead to other and different forms of oppression that may even be worse. As despicable as they were/are, the previous regimes were /are at least stable from a global economic and political POV.

You have to recall that in 79', the Iranian revolution started much the same way: a dictator was overthrown, a new (secular) government took over and in a matter of months it was usurped by radical islamists who turned it into a religious state, which it still is today. It must be said however, that while Iran may be controlled by religious freaks, it has a decent standard of living and is a more stable state than most in the region. It also has a lively opposition movement.

It's hard to say anything about what is currently going on. Revolutions rarely lead to democracy, as Arathorn already said. The West only gained democracy gradually over hundreds of years, working within the confines of auto- and theocratic states and eventually turning them around. But there was no real example back then, and the arab world is flooded with images and ideas from the West which are conceivably much preferred over the current status quo of powerlessness (in more ways than one). So if they do shift towards one, it may be a lot quicker than we did in the past. It's important that we, the West, keep our distance and let them have their own development. Countries like the US are -to say the least- not loved in the arab world and any involvement from them may endanger any due political process.

On another note...the importance of the internet and the pivotal role it played towards enforcing these changes is perhaps even more important than the actual developments themselves. Personally, I think it is one of the first steps towards a (social) singularity, where a free flow of information will eventually always topple or disintegrate a true dictatorship. Only countries that keep EVERYONE from the grid (North Korea) can still survive this - China is having more and more trouble each year balancing internet access/knowledge and economic progress with state control, but seeing as the Chinese government/communist party have shown themselves to be pragmatists more than idealists I would say that they will witness a gradual increase in freedom and decline of state control rather than a full-scale revolution. This is only the beginning, however. As the internet integrates itself in our lives and spreads accross the world possibilities will open up that were unthinkable before. Imagine all the millions and millions that have been 'lost' to the world for so many years because of a lack of education or access to knowledge bases. As a race, we are only using a fourth or so of our full capacity. How many Einsteins and Newtons have we squandered over all those years? Those singular catalysts that take our thinking on a different level?

Once knowledge becomes widespread and accessible to virtually everyone, dictatorships will fall and knowledge will starts to grow at such an exponential rate that we'll reach the (actual) singularity within 20-30 years. And, with a bit of luck, we'll be still be around then and become immortal (and preferably become a little younger again as I'll be 50-60 by then).

Must've been a good vacation. You're being very optimistic. I share your hopes for the future. Here's hoping that the masses in the more civilized portions of world wake up and make it happen.