The Arab world in turmoil (2)
On Saturday, I did a posting about some of the rapid and dramatic developments in the Arab world and specifically mentioned Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine. I speculated that we might see a successive falling of autocratic regimes in the region as happened in Eastern Europe in 1989.
Today the BBC web site has wondered about a domino effect in the region in this piece. Countries specifically mentioned are Egypt, Yemen, Algeria, Libya, Jordan and Morocco and a table compares the youth population, the unemployment and the poverty in 11 countries.
These are exciting but dangerous times for Arabs and Muslims. There is the possibility of a more democratic and more prosperous state, but there is the real risk of revolt being crushed or of the revolution being taken over by Islamists. There will probably be no grand pattern but different resolutions in different countries.