Executive Summary
Analysts have linked current regional unrest with the 1989 fall of communism. However, Arab States differ from the Eastern European communist bloc in many ways. The former is a heterogeneous group while the only thing shared by Arabs is their ethnicity; no single economic, social or political policy unites the region. Arabs range from ultra-religious states to ultra-secular, thus in order to effectively compare what is happening now with historical events we would have to go much further back to the "Spring of Nations”. In 1848, high food prices coupled with demands for more civil liberties sparked revolutions across Europe using "new media”, i.e. printing press to spread the word. In present time, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have taken on that role.
