The next domino, and beyond

The end game may be approaching for yet another authoritarian Arab regime -- not Libya's but Yemen's. With yesterday's defection of several top military leaders, the majority of the army is now allied with the rebels there. Yemeni diplomats around the world, and even the state-run newspaper in Aden, have also switched sides. More here.

In Libya, rebels have regained the initiative after Western air attacks on Qaddhafi's murderous thugs, who had been mercilessly shelling cities which had thrown off regime control. Protests have continued for days in Syria, whose rulers are among the most brutal in the region and normally keep their subjects too cowed to speak out. Perhaps most encouraging of all, the constitutional referendum in Egypt saw huge voter turn-out. The package of amendments passed, setting the stage for parliamentary elections in June and a presidential election in August. The fact that the Muslim Brotherhood supported the amendments does give pause, but the important point is that the decision to adopt them has been made by the Egyptian people themselves, rather than being imposed on them; the high level of participation shows that people power is still very much alive and likely to resist any future effort to impose authoritarian rule, whether military or theocratic.

In Bahrain, the king has subdued the rebellion for now by calling in soldiers from Saudi Arabia -- but with the people now angrier than ever, it's unclear what his long-term prospects are. As Boris Yeltsin once quipped, you can build a throne out of bayonets, but you can't sit on it for long.

The inspiration of the Arab rebellion continues to spread beyond the Arab world, intimidating tyrants elsewhere. Even in Europe, as popular resistance against economy-wrecking austerity policies gathers momentum, some protesters openly claim inspiration from Tahrir Square.