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“A big sticking point for Egypt was the question of whether the military would be excluded (from the scope of the law),” says Mendel. “The military is reputed to control about 40 percent of the national economy, including state-owned enterprises and many regular businesses. Not bringing that massive operation under the law was unthinkable.”

According to historian and military analyst Robert Springborg, Egypt’s generals own land and run factories, draw freely from the state budget, and receive an annual 1.3 billion dollars in military assistance from Washington. Yet their holdings and expenditures are shielded from public scrutiny – reporting on them is a criminal offence.

They put tremendous sums into universities and higher education but inexplicably neglected K–12 education for the rural and urban poor.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said he would not seek another term; his opponents have charged him with operating secret torture cells and a private army, and aspiring to become another corrupt strongman.

Because the generals won the civil war, and the army stands behind the regime, it is harder for the urban crowds to gain traction.

Many among the demonstrators, whether union organizers, villagers or college graduates, seem to believe that once the lead log in the logjam is removed, the economy will return to normal and opportunities for advancement will open up to all. Somewhat touchingly, they have put their hopes in free and fair parliamentary elections, so that the Middle East may be swinging back to a new liberal period, formally resembling that of the 1930s and ’40s. If these aspirations for open politics and economic opportunity are blocked again, as they were by the hacienda owners and Western proconsuls of the mid-twentieth century, the Arab masses may turn to more desperate, and dangerous, alternatives.

Syrians have still found ways to return a tiny semblance of normalcy to refugee camps across the region, such as opening their own food stands, hair salons, and dress shops. Being industrious is a trait Syrians have always taken great pride in.