Things appear to be changing in the Arab world, and it's going to be a big test for America's War on Islamism (Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and all their kind). Safe authoritarian leaders are going to disappear or come increasingly under siege (politically speaking in the case of most and literally in the case of Muammar Qadaffi) and it is not apparent exactly who or what will replace them. The United States will have a huge challenge: to encourage and foster moderate democratic governments while resisting the encroachments of the Islamists as and when they occur. We will have to decide what Muslim policies are worth protesting about and which we will have to put up with (i:e, policy toward Israel, Sharia law, modesty laws, charging interest, etcetera). Assuming there is no kind of massive economic collapse (the kind that ushered in the Nazis, for example), I believe that making the switch is ultimately in America's best interest. The problem will be the road to success will be littered with IEDs planted by the Islamists and we could be in real trouble if we run over a couple of them (pardon the strained metaphor). Business-oriented democracies can adjust much more flexibly than authoritarian regimes and extremists rarely prosper (except in strictly proportional representation governments like Israel's).
Sentiment mining predicts uprisings... Supercomputer predicts revolution 9 September 2011 - Sentiment mining showed a sharp change in tone around Egypt ahead of President Mubarak's ousting
Who do you think has been the most stable and cautiously progressive allies of the US since the mid 1930s??? This is a test on ME history.
