One after the next, the Arab regimes are falling. Arab Spring/Winter whatever - the real question is - what will happen next?

I wish the protestors well. It takes a lot of courage to stand up against dictators and many people have been killed or terribly wounded as a result. Few will want to replace one dictatorship with another but with everything in a state of flux it is impossible to predict how things will turn out. The poor state of the economies of the Middle East can only add to the uncertainty. I wish I could be more confident that everything will turn out well.

I really don’t know @zensky. But I’m honestly interested in what you think will happen.

Yes, @zensky, what do you think?

I’m hoping for the best, democracies, but expecting the worst. Either fundamentalism or some strongman or group will sieze power and it will go back to dictatorship. There’s no history of democratic rule for them to learn from. Making democracy work is a bitch, it’s even harder to form a democracy from the ground up.

I strongly suspect that several, if not all, of the revolutions will be subverted by The Muslim Brotherhood or related organizations. Some may keep the semblance of democracies, but Sharia law will prevail.

Revolutions are so often such sad things. It is so much easier to break things than to make things. Usually an oppressive regime of a different stripe sets in after the euphoria wears off. In the case of the Middle East and Northern Africa it would be a toss-up between Muslim Fundamentalists with Sharia law or military coup with ‘Big Man’ rule.

The American Revolution was probably one of the most successful revolutions in recorded history; but note, the revolutionaries were very similar in education, background, economic means & opportunity, and birthright to the colonials. Indeed, they were former colonials.

It would have been a totally different story if the indigenous American populations had staged a revolt.

@anartist

But they DID stage revolts… time after time after time. But as almost always happens when a less technologically advanced culture comest into conflict with a more advanced culture, the less developed culture is destroyed.

@CaptainHarley I stand corrected. It WAS a totally different story when the indigenous American populations staged a revolt.

Thank you.