And there are still events happening in Libya and Tunisia and Algeria.

Bahrain is a Monarchy of 1.2 million - look for that one to be put down brutally, with plenty of encouragement from the Sauds and UAE sheiks.

Algeria and Yemen have the best shots to topple their stagnant dictators. I'd love to see Qaddafi get his, too, but he has too much oil.

It'll be interesting to see what France and the rest of the Francophonie do concerning Algeria.

I'm imagining a Pan-Arabic Union (sort of an EU, US) of democrat states by decade's end.

Israel would end up being Rhode Island.

I was listening to Jason Lewis on Fox radio (I listen to them sometimes when I'm feeling particularly masochistic) and he was comparing the riots in Egypt to the Tea Party. I don't even know where to begin.

@5 strange analogy - Tea Party comrades are 80 to 85 median age, whereas Egypt freedom fighter are 20 to 25 median age.

Like comparing apples and sea cucumbers.

2011:Middle East::1848:Europe
Am I right or am I right?

Gorbechev was right... increase communication and you cannot sustain tyranny.

However, as the American model has shown, increase the communication even further and you end up with an information white-out where people don't know their arse from their elbow and are easily manipulated with frantic emotionalist rhetoric.

*sigh*

@7, astute observation.

@7 There's a lot of parallels, that's for sure. It may not turn out the same, but the roots are similar. The lack of local democratic/secular institutions in the current Arab/Muslim world - compared to 19th century Europe - could be an important factor.