And Barack Obama is named for Ehud Barak.

Is it OK for a party to be called Christian Democrat but wrong when it is an Islamist Party? As long as they both respect democracy and human rights, then they are both eligible to form a government.

Mela x’wasslek biex tghid li JPO kap, forsi smajt fuq is-Smash jew il-Favorite Channel? Jew iffurmajt l-opinjoni int wahdek mil-kelma l’hawn u kelma l’hinn li smajt u ghaqqad storja sabiha, prosit ghalik hejn kemm taf tpasparhom.

Relatively benign regime? You have no idea do you?

Baxxter, i assume you don’t agree with the term ‘banana republic’ and that the socialist governments in South America were all failures because of their innate incompetence and corruption…

You’re using terminology which has no place in factual commentary. “Demonising”? Who’s demonising whom? I think you’ll find that it is the Islamist parties who tend to demonise the West, i.e. blaming them for all their ills, including poverty, illiteracy, disenfranchisement, and for supporting the old régime.

Exciting it certainly is, but this is no dawning of the Age of Aquarius. You say it is early for cynicism. I say we’ve had more than half a century of this sort of thing, the welfare of huge populations hasn’t visibly improved.

Sorry Hot Mama, for having to comment on your comments once again. But ‘good riddance’ as opposed to whom?

Who is welcome in Egypt following the exit of Mubarak? This same evening, while Elbaradei was in Tahrir square delivering an address to some followers, other people in the square were giving him the thumbs down.

The Muslim Brotherhood are making a comeback. I find the options to Mubarak more worrying, to say the least, than Mubarak’s relatively benign regime. Imagine a regime ruling Egypt as that of Ahmadinejad in Iran.

Għandek żball, Daphne. L-ebda stazzjon ma nisma’ għax it-tnejn itellgħuli l-istonku. Għalija l-istazzjonijiet politiċi jistgħu ma jeżistux.

U l-ebda partit ma sirt nafda. Kont u vvutajt PN kemm ili li ħadt il-vot, imma bħalissa disilluż ferm bit-tmexxija tal-partit. Għalija tilef is-sens ta’ direzzjoni.

Don’t be foolish. You are assuming that Islamist is a synonym for Wahhabi or Salafi, which is just not the case.

Islamic parties are simply an every day reality in many Muslim countries. Because they can often credibly claim to uphold standards of probity in countries where corruption proliferates (such as Egypt) and trade on a message of order and morality that is easily understandable to the broad population, they are highly popular.

What should be worrying is when such parties begin to argue for jettisoning democracy, but there is scant evidence that will be the case. In fact, my hunch is that forces like Muslim Brotherhood could prove successful in open electoral contests, but that the secular pull will be sufficient to mitigate their influence.

Instead of needlessly demonizing Islamic parties, the West needs to understand that they can form part of a healthy and economically robust democracy, like Turkey for instance.

I think what has happened, what is happening, across North Africa is exciting and could mark a momentous turning point in world affairs and in the welfare of huge populations. It is a little early for cynicism.