Russia blames Google for stirring Egypt unrest

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Russia blames Google for stirring Egypt unrest

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's deputy blamed Google Inc in an interview published on Tuesday for stirring up trouble in the revolution that ousted Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak.

"Look what they have done in Egypt, those highly-placed managers of Google, what manipulations of the energy of the people took place there," Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin told the Wall Street Journal.

Source: [af.reuters.com...]

It seems that Russia does have a point since Google Exec's made a decision to move from a search engine company to defacto communications medium aiding revolutions and their staff organizing protests.

1) Wael Ghonim - Google marketing executive - "Ghonim had been one of the architects of the youth-led protests"

Egypt frees Google manager who became protest hero
[msnbc.msn.com...]

Last week, outgoing Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the Mountain View company was "very, very proud" Ghonim.

2) Google launches Twitter workaround for Egypt

"Like many people we've been glued to the news unfolding in Egypt and thinking of what we could do to help people on the ground," read a post on Google's official corporate blog on Monday.

[reuters.com...]

The question remains is it a wise business decision for Google to become a force in revolutions in the Middle East?

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

They do seem to have rather high aspirations.

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I raised this very question on this forum early on.

Americans probably see Google as, well, Google. It's possible that the other side of the world doesn't see Google as Google, but instead as an American entity with ties to the NSA. In other words, this may be perceived as American meddling.

And the story's not over yet. They've toppled the existing leadership but what comes in its place remains to be seen, and could be worse. As I've previuosly noted, I lay part of the blame for that possibility at Google's feet.

But for right or wrong, they're riding the wave of popular American opinion. But going forward, if I was a leader in the ME, I'd be taking steps today to counter Google. I think they burned alot of bridges in a lot of places over this.

Why was the leadership of a foreign company involving themselves with civil unrest on the other side of the world?

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My opinion is that Google runs the risk of being ejected from certain countries and their staff facing arrest if they continue pursuing a political agenda.

Google is no longer seen as a impartial search engine company in the USA. Now, by taking sides in international politics, what future risks will they encounter?