Of Tunisia and Egypt

Tunisia’s dictator has been toppled thanks to the Army’s refusal to put down protesters and now similar demonstrations have broken out in Egypt.

On the surface this is reminiscent of the domino effect in the Eastern European countries in the 1980s but I wouldn’t get too excited. I doubt Mubarak is going anywhere and the jury is still out on whether Tunisia can manage to become the first Arab democracy.

The whole concept of democracy sort of runs counter to the Islamic culture of unquestioned divine authority. Still, stranger things have happened. We shall see what we shall see.