varnam

When neocons suggested that the Middle East could use some democracy, this was dismissed as an impossible task by everyone. But here is what's happening

The most extraordinary event of all, of course, is Iraq's Jan. 30 election, when 8 million voters cast ballots despite insurgent bombs and bullets. Weeks earlier, Palestinian voters had trooped to the polls to elect a successor to Yasser Arafat. They chose Mahmoud Abbas, who proclaims his desire (sincerely or not) to end the armed struggle against Israel. Then, on Feb. 10, Saudi Arabia held its first-ever municipal elections. Only men could vote, but this was still a crack in the hitherto absolute authority of the royal family.

Now, in Egypt, Hosni Mubarak has suddenly pledged to hold a multi-candidate election for president this fall. Will he allow a genuine contest? That opposition leader Ayman Nour remains in jail is hardly encouraging. But something significant has happened when the pharaoh feels the need to proclaim, "Egypt needs more freedom and democracy." [Neocons May Get the Last Laugh]

Besides this people in Lebanon are now demanding that Syria withdraw immediately. Even the Arab media is reporting this as positive news

In a widely noticed interview, Walid Jumblatt, the leader of Lebanon�??s Druze, told the Washington Post that Iraq�??s election was the Arab equivalent of the fall of the Berlin wall. Hisham Kassem, a former publisher of the Cairo Times, called the elections the �??start of a ripple effect�?�. Khaled al-Meena, the editor of Saudi Arabia�??s Arab News, says that if elections can be held under foreign occupation in Iraq and Palestine, it should be much easier to hold them in Arab states said to be �??free�?�.[Something stirs]

When President Bush said in the SOTU that spreading freedom and democracy is his priority, he must not have guessed it would happen so fast. Fareed Zakaria puts it correctly when he says

Bush never accepted the view that Islamic terrorism had its roots in religion or culture or the Arab-Israeli conflict. Instead he veered toward the analysis that the region was breeding terror because it had developed deep dysfunctions caused by decades of repression and an almost total lack of political, economic and social modernization. The Arab world, in this analysis, was almost unique in that over the past three decades it had become increasingly unfree, even as the rest of the world was opening up. His solution, therefore, was to push for reform in these lands. [What Bush Got Right]

It's too early to claim victory, but definitely change is in the air.