Massive protests. A strongman leader. Interference from the mukhabarat. Interference from foreign governments. Attacks on press freedom. Conspiracy theories.
Nope, this time we're not talking about Egypt, Syria, Iraq or any other Arab country. This time we're talking about the United States of America.
Since the campaign and election of President Donald Trump, commentators have begun taking note of some uncanny similarities between the so-called "land of the free" and the Arab world.
Arab commentators are drawing parallels
Is this the "American Spring"?
There's going to be a learning curve for the U.S. media. Maybe the Arab world can help?
In a satirical article for Politico, Lebanese architect and commentator Karl Sharro (AKA Karl reMarks) has written an open letter to America from the Arab world, in light of Trump's inauguration and the massive Women's March demonstrations that took place across the U.S. over the weekend.
Sharro cleverly and wittily points to the striking similarities between Arab countries and the direction the U.S. appears to be going.
On mukhabarat (AKA CIA/FBI) interference
"Things started to get even more interesting when your liberals started to rally around the heroic CIA branch of the mukhabarat in order to fend off the threat of extremists in power and external meddling from Russia. You will recall that we have had similar experiences in recent years in Egypt, Tunisia and Syria, and we were disappointed when the world didn’t understand our position."
But could it be a conspiracy?
"Was the election of Trump a Russian conspiracy? Was talk of the Russian conspiracy a liberal conspiracy to undermine Trump? Did the mukhabarat leak information to help Trump? Did the mukhabarat leak information to hurt Trump? Was media coverage of Trump’s mukhabarat conspiracy theories part of a liberal conspiracy theory to bring him down? They’re all so deliciously complex and open-ended, much like our own."
A warning
"And be careful about receiving help from external powers. We hear that both Canada and Mexico might try to interfere in your internal politics. With the Russians already involved, this is promising to shape up into an international confrontation. Be prepared for a flood of think-pieces about whether intervention in America is right or wrong, whether regime change can come quickly or whether it will become a protracted conflict, whether a proxy war is in the cards."