In the Middle-East especially. It started in Tunisia, and is now catching on in Egypt and Yemen.

I was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Cairo in the early '80s, and watched President Anwar Sadat get gunned down by his own Presidential Guard Brigade as they passed in review at the parade ground in Cairo. Hosni Mubarak took over as a result. That was in 1981.

This time, the change is likely to come from a popular uprising of citizens disgusted by the excesses of their own government. Sick and tired of repressive actions, corruption, unemployment - you name it, they are going to do somethng about it. Starting in Cairo, it has spread to Suez and Port Said. To me, it sounds like more than tentative.

As one hears said, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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