The End of the Arab Spring.

[cali]

It's hard to know where to mark this bitter end. Chemical attacks on a large scale in Syria? The military coup and suspension of all rights in Egypt? Violent death and unrest in Libya, Lebanon, Tunisia and Yemen?

But the movement that began with such hope in Tunisia and saw such moments as the original protests in Tahir Square, is dead.

The Middle East stands at a dangerous crossroads with the potential for a wider war.

That's one reason why the U.S. should not intervene in Syria.

[dipsydoodle]

1. It started and ended with Tunisia

who were the only ones to just get on a do it themselves devoid of outside help. No harping, whinging, moaning , griping - they just did it.

[BainsBane]

2. It most certainly did not

Firstly the term "Arab Spring" is insulting on its face, recasting a social movement in horticultural terms, as though Arabs don't have agency. And it absolutely didn't begin and end in Tunisia.
The Egyptian people only recently overthrew the Muslim brotherhood. Because it did not produce the results some bourgeois Westerners like does not mean these are not social revolutions.

Every single revolution in history has been followed by conservative reaction and counter revolution. That was true of the French Revolution, Russian, Mexican, Cuban, etc. . . It is also true of the Arab revolutions.

[cali]

3. the term Arab Spring is absolutely NOT about horticulture terms.

It's a reference to the revolutions of 1848 and the Prague Spring of 1968.

I agree that it didn't begin and end in Tunisia.

But yes, it's over. There will be other revolutions in the same spirit, but this particular wave is over.

[FarCenter]

8. The Springtime of the Peoples and the Prague Spring did not end well

By 1849, counter-revolutionary forces were in control. The main result was an increased nationalism in Europe.

By autumn 1968, Warsaw Pact forces were back in control, and liberals were purged from government before the end of 1969.

[kelliekat44]

4. It's also true of the American Revolution. nt

[oberliner]

5. Suspension of all rights in Egypt?

When did that happen?

[leveymg]

6. Does U.S.-backed Coup d'etat suit you better? eom

[oberliner]

7. I'm just asking when all rights were suspended in Egypt

If that has happened, I had not heard about it.

[cali]

9. yes. over a week ago.

<snip>

The government installed by Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi has renewed the Mubarak-era state of emergency removing all rights to due process or protections against police abuse. And police officials have pronounced themselves “vindicated.” They say the new government’s claim that it is battling Islamist violence corroborates what they have been saying all along: that it was Islamists, not the police, who killed protesters before Mr. Mubarak’s ouster.

<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/world/middleeast/egypt-widens-crackdown-and-meaning-of-islamist.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0