The events in Egypt have spread all over the Middle East, beginning when a young Tunisian graduate set himself on fire because he felt blocked from earning a living.
And it was not only the Middle East.
Even in Beijing, protesters were out on the streets wanting better housing and more work.
The list is growing everyday as more and more countries are affected by the Egyptian revolution.
The young Tunisian's actions sparked popular rebellion in neighbouring Egypt, which had been the center of the Arab world.
It had been made into an economically and militarily powerful Arab state and its primacy reasserted after Gamal Abdel Nasser [1918-70], who promoted pan Arabism, took control via a military coup.
Mubarak's accession brought Egypt's preeminence to an end.
Revolt in Egypt was soon followed by similar uprisings in Yemen, Libya, Syria, and Oman.
These revolts were essentially secular.
The challenge facing secular governments in the Middle East are lslamist, mainly spearheaded by the Muslim Brotherhood that wants to establish a Caliphate in the region.
When Hosni Mubarak dissolved the Egyptian Parliament, the military took over the country to keep the lslamists from getting into power.
The monarchies comprising Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates have accumulated a lot of oil wealth over the years.
There has been a marked rise of Militant lslam that will not go way any time soon.
There will be the struggle between autocrats and lslamists about what role Islam plays in polities in the region, and the struggle is getting bigger all the time throughout the region.
The majority of these countries have oil or gas.
Even lraq, which has been at war for about 8 years, has done deals with foreign firms and tripled its production to 2.
5 million barrels a day.
The monarchies are doing well at the moment, but how long it will last and what will happen is anyone's guess.
In Algeria, President Abdelaziz Boutefilka won a five-year term when he got 90 percent of the vote.
However, the election was rigged while many supporters of Islamist parties boycotted the election, and called on their leaders to do the same.
One group, Saudi Arabia's Wahhabism, decided to withdraw from electoral politics.
Back in 1962, Algeria won its independence from France.
There were a lot of communists in the country at that time who wanted a socialist revolution.
Algeria had a military coup in 1965.
Then in 1991 the lslamists won elections and this brought the military in again and there was a civil war that cost a lot of lives.
There are groups still fighting to Islamize the country.
President George W.
Bush wanted to democratize the Middle East and to bring down the autocratic regimes in the region.
There is, however, some danger that the Muslim Brotherhood will get into power in Egypt and bring in Sharia law throughout the country.
The lslamists will use multiparty democracy to install their agenda through the system and establish an Islamic republic in the region.
That will be just like 7th century Arabian society.
That would mean that the experiment to bring democracy to the Middle East has failed.
And it was not only the Middle East.
Even in Beijing, protesters were out on the streets wanting better housing and more work.
The list is growing everyday as more and more countries are affected by the Egyptian revolution.
The young Tunisian's actions sparked popular rebellion in neighbouring Egypt, which had been the center of the Arab world.
It had been made into an economically and militarily powerful Arab state and its primacy reasserted after Gamal Abdel Nasser [1918-70], who promoted pan Arabism, took control via a military coup.
Mubarak's accession brought Egypt's preeminence to an end.
Revolt in Egypt was soon followed by similar uprisings in Yemen, Libya, Syria, and Oman.
These revolts were essentially secular.
The challenge facing secular governments in the Middle East are lslamist, mainly spearheaded by the Muslim Brotherhood that wants to establish a Caliphate in the region.
When Hosni Mubarak dissolved the Egyptian Parliament, the military took over the country to keep the lslamists from getting into power.
The monarchies comprising Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates have accumulated a lot of oil wealth over the years.
There has been a marked rise of Militant lslam that will not go way any time soon.
There will be the struggle between autocrats and lslamists about what role Islam plays in polities in the region, and the struggle is getting bigger all the time throughout the region.
The majority of these countries have oil or gas.
Even lraq, which has been at war for about 8 years, has done deals with foreign firms and tripled its production to 2.
5 million barrels a day.
The monarchies are doing well at the moment, but how long it will last and what will happen is anyone's guess.
In Algeria, President Abdelaziz Boutefilka won a five-year term when he got 90 percent of the vote.
However, the election was rigged while many supporters of Islamist parties boycotted the election, and called on their leaders to do the same.
One group, Saudi Arabia's Wahhabism, decided to withdraw from electoral politics.
Back in 1962, Algeria won its independence from France.
There were a lot of communists in the country at that time who wanted a socialist revolution.
Algeria had a military coup in 1965.
Then in 1991 the lslamists won elections and this brought the military in again and there was a civil war that cost a lot of lives.
There are groups still fighting to Islamize the country.
President George W.
Bush wanted to democratize the Middle East and to bring down the autocratic regimes in the region.
There is, however, some danger that the Muslim Brotherhood will get into power in Egypt and bring in Sharia law throughout the country.
The lslamists will use multiparty democracy to install their agenda through the system and establish an Islamic republic in the region.
That will be just like 7th century Arabian society.
That would mean that the experiment to bring democracy to the Middle East has failed.
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