Popular Protests Rattle Arab Leaders by Dion Nissenbaum – Wall Street Journal
Waves of sustained protests have shaken entrenched Arab rulers from Algeria to Iraq, injecting a new sense of euphoria among activists across the region as more leaders succumb to demands for change.
United in their calls to end corruption and kleptocracy, demonstrators are fueling a new era of unrest that has defied violent crackdowns and politicians’ appeals to stay home. They are using lessons from the Arab Spring, maintaining a focus on reforms and trying to avoid the pitfalls that turned hopeful uprisings in Syria, Libya and Yemen into civil wars.
“What we are witnessing in the Arab world right now is a continuation of the Arab Spring of 2011,” said Lina Khatib, head of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House, an independent think tank in London. “What unites the popular protests all over the region is that people have broken the wall of fear.”…