The Emperor's New Clothes.

^{The fable of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” is a powerful and truthful critique of the nature of governmental/political power.}  

^{It is ever so apt with regard to what the media pundits are calling “The Arab Spring”.}

^{There is no Arab Spring. There is a ton of nakedness in Middle Eastern and North African Arab states.}

^{1.     *  Hosni Mubarak is no longer the head honcho in Egypt: that is true. But for now Egypt is a quasi military dictatorship.}

^{2.       * There is no clear evidence that Tunisia is in any way approaching some manner of representative democracy.}

^{3.      *  The Sunni elite in Bahrain is effectively silencing the Shia under-class.}

^{4.        *Yemen is a basket case of a “State” and will probably always be so. Clan and tribal loyalties will always be the determinant in that country.}

^{5.        *For reasons which I do not understand, NATO has decided to back the rebels in Libya.  There is no doubt that Khadafy is a ghastly, cruel and paranoid leader, but there is also no certainty that the rebels have any sense of representative government.  NATO is “backing the unknown” which in the end may be no better than the known.}

^{6.       * The protestors in Syria are amongst the most courageous in all of this mythical “Arab Spring”.  They are resisting what is probably the most repressive regime in the Middle East.  May Allah/God be with them as they protest injustice in the face of guns, tanks, planes and spooks.}

^{*Regretfully there is also no Western Spring. The forces of “national security” are more powerful than those of the elected governments in the U.S.A. and the U.K.} 

^{British and American citizens also live under repressive regimes.}