A Decade After the Arab Spring, Autocrats Still Rule the Mideast

Ben Hubbard and David D. Kirkpatrick had this really interesting story in the New York Times:

A decade ago, crowds massed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to demand the ouster of Egypt’s American-backed strongman, President Hosni Mubarak. In Washington, President Barack Obama made a fateful decision, calling on him to leave power.

The backlash from other Arab potentates was swift, Mr. Obama recalled in his recent memoir.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates — a tiny country with an outsized military built on American weapons and training — told the president that he no longer saw the United States as a reliable partner.

Read the full article here.