Editorial
Middle East ferment
Change is in the air
Large swathes of the Middle East remain in ferment. The newest sign of that reality comes from Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad has assured Syrians that the emergency laws in place for nearly half a century will be lifted within a week. The gesture is not spontaneous but is a reaction to the gathering restiveness in the country. In Egypt, the move by the present rulers to detain and question deposed president Hosni Mubarak demonstrates the willingness of the authorities to heed popular demands for substantive progress to democracy. Egypt remains a work in progress.
But what will likely happen in Damascus and is happening in Cairo is quite different from how things have been turning out in Tripoli. A defiant Muammar Gaddafi fights on, despite some recent large profile defections from his camp. The feeling at this point is of a stalemate holding Libya in its grip, though in the end Gaddafi may not be able to withstand the forces, the West as well as the rebels, arrayed against him. In Bahrain, with assistance from the Saudis, the ruling classes have for now put the lid back on the boiling pot. But that may not be a good way of dealing with demands for a democratic opening. The Bahrainis' resort to force to quell popular demands is something the Algerians appear unwilling to emulate. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has just announced sweeping political reforms as a way of staving off a crisis threatening to bring his regime down. Speaking of reforms, Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh's offers of a compromise solution (minus his immediate resignation) have not impressed his detractors. It is a bizarre situation where the president and his people are engaged in a see-saw struggle for power.
Clearly, change is in the Middle Eastern air. The good news is that many of the long-entrenched authoritarian regimes appear to be acknowledging the need for change. It is only men like Gaddafi and Saleh who refuse to see reality for what it is. A pity.
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