You can just picture it now, the Saudi king Abdullah smacking ousted Tunisian president Ben Ali beside the head for succumbing to the Tunisian revolt. He would have preferred him to stay put no matter what. The Arab regimes’ have long feared that if one of them fell to a popular revolution, then it would spread to the rest of the Arab world.  “The Daily Star” editor in 2009 even opined that although some of these Arab regimes disliked the Iranian government, they feared it falling to the Green Movement because they worried it would become an exemplar for action in their own countries. The Iranian regime survived, but instead Tunisia brought to reality these Arab regimes’ biggest fear by serving as the spark that ignited an inferno of revolution across the Middle East. After Tunisia, demonstrations began in Algeria, Jordan, Egypt, and Yemen.  The people finally shed their fear of their own rulers. 18 days later, the long-hated Mubarak regime crumbled in the face of a concerted and relentless protest movement. Since then, the Yemenese have been trying to orchestrate their own revolution. Today entered the 4th day of consecutive protests. See the video here. Bahrainis also held their own demonstration today. Iran, too, tapped into the momentum gripping the region to re-launch its Green Movement… oh the irony.
