By comparison with the regimes and the Islamist movements, the secular opposition parties are at a particular disadvantage.

ECONOMIST: Not just coercion, sham democracy too

But now a new sort of geopolitical confrontation stalks the region, one that sets America against Iran, and the Islamist movements Iran supports against the Arab regimes in America's camp.

ECONOMIST: The Arabs and Israel

Imperial overstretch financing guerrilla movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America and supporting cash-strapped and unloved regimes from Angola to Afghanistan increased the strain.

ECONOMIST: Welcome to the new world disorder