The Tide Turns

Some views from around the Middle East:

"The election of a president will be through direct, secret balloting, giving the chance for political parties to run for the presidential elections and providing guarantees that allow more than one candidate for the people to choose among them with their own will."

-- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, announcing that he would ask the parliament to change the constitution to permit multiparty popular elections.

"I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world.... The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it."

-- Walid Jumblatt, leader of the new Lebanese "intifada," speaking of his determination to defy the Syrian troops in Lebanon.

"...the time of one-party rule is over. What we are seeing here is the birth of our democratic system."

-- Mustafa Barghouti, independent runner-up in the January Palestinian presidential election, expressing support for Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei's promise to replace his proposed new government with a cabinet made up almost exclusively of technocrats.

Now, any idiot can string together a series of quotes that express any sentiment he wishes to. But if life were a J.R.R Tolkien novel, I'd like to think that we are currently at the part in the Two Towers where Gandalf says -- upon revealing himself to Aragon, Gimli, and Legolas -- "We meet again. At the turn of the tide." Here's to hoping, at least.