Quote Originally Posted by Steve Blair View Post
World War I might be a better starting point for such a comparison, actually.
Actually, the best, most recent comparison to Arab Spring is arguably the rising up of Eastern European populaces to challenge governments shaped for them by the Soviet Union.

Arab Spring may well mark the true end of the Cold War. The fall of the Berlin Wall, etc signifying the collapse of the Soviet network of controls. And now these unfolding events signifying the end of the system of controls established and nurtured by the US to Contain that Soviet threat.

Both events were set in motion by emerging information technologies that informed, empowered and emboldend populaces to act out to regain control of their own politcial destinies.