It seems the other strong men and dictators in North Africa had good reason to fear the revolution in Tunesia, as it does seem to have inspired and reinvigorated the opposition in other countries, especially in Egypt, where Mubarak has been a loyal American ally and dictator since 1981. Economically and politically Mubarak has been a disaster for ordinary Egyptian workers, but he has been good as gold to the US and Europe, supporting Israel, taking part in the War of Terror and being a good customer of the large western weapon manufactorers. Any opposition to Mubarak has been repressed, often with violence. The police and security services have long managed to keep a lid on public anger, but as seen below and at 3arabawy it is still there and the example of Tunesia has brought it back to the surface again:
Today’s protests won’t bring Mubarak down, but his position looks much less stable than it was before the Tunesian revolution and if Mubarak’s position is getting less safe, if there’s some danger of him being brought down, how much less save will the dictators of Morocco, Jordan, Syria, Algeria and Lybia feel? There’s a spectre haunting the Middle East, the spectre of Tunesia….