re: Arab Spring- anyone remember what a grand idea he thought it was?

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My own view is that the best organized factions have a leg up in the early going. But they are also usually the more extremists. They tend to alienate the majorities, and things move to the center as new consensuses are formed. It will take some time, and constant vigilance to keep the conflicts internal.

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I think Egypt is a good example of how the religious extremists won at the ballot box, but there was a well organized opposition who launched a counter-revolution and won by force of arms. How it all shakes out is yet to be determined.

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Attacks on Tunisian troops and officials by the al-Qaeda offshoot Ansar al-Sharia and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb group poses a threat to the country's stability, as well as an influx of fighters and weapons unleashed by other conflicts in the region

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What a shitstorm it's turned the ME and N. Africa into.

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Truer words have never been typed ....... You do realize youre one of those hacks, dont you?

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Truer words have never been typed ....... You do realize youre one of those hacks, dont you?

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I'm trying to figure out who you think actually turned the middle east and N. Africa into bad places? Just one guy?

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you could make a decent argument they are better off than they were 5 years ago.

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Three prominent Egyptian activists from the 2011 uprising that led to the fall of Hosni Mubarak have been sentenced to three years in jail.

Ahmed Maher, Ahmed Douma and Mohamed Adel were found guilty of organising a recent unauthorised protest.

They were arrested after protesting in November over a new controversial law that restricts demonstrations.

The move will deepen concern in Egypt about a growing crackdown on dissent, says the BBC's Orla Guerin in Cairo.

The three well-known activists have long called for greater democracy in Egypt.

Mr Maher and Mr Adel were founding members of the 6 April Youth Movement, which led protests to remove long-time President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

The three were among a group of demonstrators outside the upper house of parliament in late November protesting over the new law, which states that public gatherings of more than 10 people must be authorised.

The military-installed government has defended the law, saying it is not intended to limit the right to demonstrate but rather to "protect the rights of protesters".

But its opponents say the law has in effect replaced a recently expired state of emergency, and is stricter than the measures in place during the rule of Hosni Mubarak.

The men are the first to be jailed under the new law. The court in Cairo found them guilty of holding a demonstration without authorisation and attacking police officers.

State-run television said the men had been sentenced to three years' hard labour. They have also been ordered to pay a $7,000 (£4,000) fine each.

As the verdict was read out, the courtroom erupted with chants of "Down, down with military rule! We are in a state, not in a military camp", Reuters news agency reports.

Until recently, the main targets for arrests by the authorities had been Islamists, many of whom continue to protest over the ousting by the military of the Muslim Brotherhood-backed government of Mohammed Morsi in the summer after weeks of mass protests.

But recently dozens of liberal activists have been rounded up, our correspondent says.

The government maintains it is on the path to democracy, but that is not how it looks to many Egyptians, she adds.

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Their custodial sentence on Sunday is proof that the current administration is seeking to stamp out secular as well as Islamist opposition, say fellow campaigners.

"The repression happening now to the movement and to other NGOs [non-governmental organisations] is even higher than what we experienced in [Hosni] Mubarak's time," said Amr Ali – Maher's successor as leader of 6 April – in the build-up tojust before the verdict. "Mubarak's regime is trying to get power back, and there is a systematic approach of revenge against groups and movements that stood against it.

"Whoever's ruling now is more or less depending on a policy of fear – under the name of fighting terrorism and fighting the Islamists."

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"There's nothing new about the police behaving this way, and there's nothing new about them going after activists," said Heba Morayef, Egypt director at Human Rights Watch. "But for me what is significant, and what makes this so ominous, is the sense of entitlement the ministry of interior now has. They're going after the figureheads of the 2011 revolution, and they're trying to erase the gains made since January 2011."

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In his defense, the Arab Spring was a humongous opportunity to bring stable, secular, free, democratic representative republics to the Middle East. However, it was clear that the Arab Spring was also a wildfire in shifting winds that could not be controlled or contained. Clearly, we failed at influencing it in a constructive way, what is unclear is whether or not we could have truly influenced it positively at all.

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