Umm, Egypt in 2011?  Even if it happened just for a few days, what would be the incentive to merge?  Basically this means Egypt can "turn off" Bitcoin too just by isolating their network.

Suppose a Great Firewall splits the world in two, and transactions that are broadcast on one side of the wall aren't heard on the other, and vice versa.  Blockchains are built in parallel in each subworld.

Then suppose a revolution happens and the Firewall opens up.  Doesn't the unlucky (slower) side of the wall lose all their transactions?

Theoretically, someone could read the other side's transactions out of its blockchain and start putting them into the larger blockchain, from which they've been missing.  But does the transaction fee incentivize this?  I think the transaction fees have already been paid to the miners of the losing blockchain (insofar as any transaction on that side of the wall remains "final" post-revolution).