Whatever Happened to the Arab Spring? - by Ismael Hossein Zadeh
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/04/13/whatever-happened-to-the-arab-spr...
"...Caught off guard by the initial wave of the Arab Spring in Egypt and Tunisia, the US and its allies struck back with a vengeance. They employed a number of simultaneous tactics to sabotage the Arab Spring.
These included (1) instigating fake instances of the Arab Spring in countries that were/are headed by insubordinate regimes such as those ruling Iran, Syria and Libya; (2) co-opting revolutionary movements in countries such as Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen; (3) crushing pro-democracy movements against 'friendly' regimes ruling countries such as Bahrain, Jordan and Saudi Arabia 'before they get out of hand,' as they did in Egypt and Tunisia; and (4) using the age-old divide and rule trick by playing the sectarian trump card of Sunni vs Shias or Iranian vs. Arabs.."