Post-Arab Spring malaise

The Middle East is entering the post-Arab Spring period in a daze of dashed hopes and declining economic performance. The well-spring of optimism that change would bring about a better life has been replaced with despair as the realities of the global economy and power of the entrenched political elite become ever more stark. Nowhere is this reality more evident than in Yemen where a political transition from Saleh to Hadi is simply a change of advertising. Hadi, a regime acolyte for many years, leads a government and a state that remains filled with Saleh family members and loyalists. Saleh himself also remains head of the ruling GPC and is expected to way in heavily in government policy in the short-term. Economically, the country is shattered. Tribes continue to hit pipelines in the east disrupting what little oil is being pumped out while civil war in the north, south and east continues to sap central government resources. The reality of the post-Arab Spring Middle East is also evident in Egypt. Poverty and unemployment are rife and impact on most Egyptian families. Butane gas shortages result in long queues while access to other basic commodities for millions is largely dependent on government handouts. Political change has come but for what? What Egypt requires is a dynamic and revolutionary government - at present it has an Islamist dominated parliament that is too scared to take on the military and a military that does not want its privileged position affected. Bleak times ahead indeed for the Pharaohs. But its not all doom and gloom. Its snowing in the Levant and Bahrain just beat Indonesia 10-0 in a World Cup qualifier.