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I don't a have much to say at this point, as I'm slowly digesting the information that's coming out of both places.
However, I've read somewhere that the Egypt protests were, at least in part, inspired by the events in Tunisia. You brought up American media, but I think the media in general is an interesting aspect in this.
What I suspect is that the Internet and social media are a big factor in how these events have unfolded. The transmission of information, the reaching of a consensus among thousands, and the galvanization/mobilization of the public has never been more quick and powerful since the advent of these technologies and the adoption of them as the primary means of communication and social sharing.
And then you throw things like WikiLeaks into the mix.
I suppose this means that it's become much, much more difficult to be authoritarian. Ask the Chinese.
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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
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