Tuesday, October 1, 2013 | RubinReports [1] | By Barry Rubin
Eight Tunisian soldiers were murdered and mutilated in Jebel Chaambi (near the Algerian-Tunisian border) and two opposition political figures were gunned down in the streets of the capital in recent months by al-Qaeda-allied jihadists. (AFP)
The “Arab Spring” is now officially over. Basically it accomplished nothing.
It is officially over because Tunisia, whose revolution started the whole thing, has fallen.
Tunisia’s electoral democracy was as much a failure as Egypt’s. The governing Islamist party [2] failed.
— The crisis paralyzed the county.
— Two moderate politicians were assassinated with Islamist involvement.
— The opposition walked out of parliament necessitating a caretaker government.
— The powerful trade unions protested.
— Islamist radicals created an increasing amount of violence, including the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Tunis last year and terrorist attacks.
— The economy has been a disaster.
Egypt had a coup; Libya has the growing power of radical Islamist militias.
It’s over; it didn’t work; democracy failed.
Now comes the Age of Islamism not the Age of Democracy. That means: Iran, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza, or who knows?