Mideast roundup

From the Economist - Something stirs: “Two years after the invasion of Iraq, the Arab world is beginning to show tantalising signs of change. But it is too early to talk of a year of revolutions, as the three prime exhibits being used to make the case for democracy—Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine—are in many ways special cases”

Tom Friedman is optimistic: “But what makes me more hopeful today is precisely what made me hopeful that the Iraq war might work out, and that is the number of Arab-Muslim youth I've encountered since 9/11 who have urged me to keep writing about the need for democracy and reform in their part of the world.”

K-Lo on the Corner finds one of these reform-minded Arab youths in Egypt: “If seriously implemented, these steps will transform Mubarak's legacy. Along with events in Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine, it may well usher in an Arab spring of freedom, one long overdue.”

And finally, there’s Mark Steyn on “The Right Side of History.”