And so the revolution in the Middle East is spreading, which can only be a good thing. For years now people in many countries have been ruled with varying degrees of harshness by a handful of unelected representatives who have kept themselves in office using various, undemocratic means, including heavy-handed security. Now at last we are beginning to see the end of some of these regimes.
The West must be careful. The US and Europe have close ties with the rulers of many of these countries and have - tacitly at best - supported them, even though they are undemocratic. How will the new regimes react, once established ? The West didn't encourage them to bring in democracy, even though it constantly trumpets its values, because it preferred to benefit from valuable trade deals and from the political influence the regimes had in their respective areas, so they shouldn't be too surprised if the new democracies are not too friendly and look elsewhere for support.
And what about Israel ? It's time to stop treating this country as a special case and to encourage it to obey international law........but more of this anon.
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