Is a New Arab Spring on the Way? By Ishaan Tharoor – Washington Post
In North Africa and the Middle East, conditions for upheaval remain, but the contexts vary.
In recent weeks, there have been sustained mass protests against two long-ruling autocratic leaders south of the Mediterranean. In Sudan, three months of demonstrations prompted President Omar al-Bashir to declare a year-long state of emergency and dissolve the country’s federal and state governments in a bid to consolidate his rule.
But protests have persisted, and his position still may be weakening. Some see the end of his three decades in power looming on the horizon. “Many in Sudan’s streets see Bashir’s decision in the past week as a classic mistake repeated by desperate dictators in their final throes, and it raises their hopes that his days are numbered,” wrote my colleagues Muhammed Osman and Max Bearak.
Meanwhile, in Algeria, protests across the country swelled over the past two weeks, calling for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to abandon his run for a fifth term in April’s elections. Bouteflika turned 82 over the weekend and has been in power since 1999. He suffered a stroke in 2013 that left him using a wheelchair, and he has not spoken publicly in seven years…