Times, they are a-changin'

Dallas Morning News: The split-screen image on CNN on Monday morning told a tremendously significant story about the Middle East.
In an interview with Wolf Blitzer, Egypt's pinstriped foreign minister droned on in bone-dry diplo-speak about the need for Syria to at some point in the future obey its treaty obligations and leave Lebanon.
Meanwhile, on the right side of the screen, a live image from downtown Beirut showed 25,000 flag-waving Beirutis -- Muslims and Christians alike -- celebrating the abrupt resignation of the Syrian puppet government.
While diplomats speak abstractly of timetables and treaties, the Arab street in Beirut is making history happen. The famously fractious Lebanese might just be on the verge of standing shoulder to shoulder to drive the hated Syrian occupiers out of their country.
It's not just Lebanon. Over the weekend, Egypt's authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak announced that his government would make real strides toward holding open and democratic elections. It is unclear whether the aging Mubarak means what he says, but the sands are clearly shifting under the old man's feet.
Internal reform
The news keeps getting better. Last Thursday, the Palestinian Authority approved a new 24-member cabinet largely shorn of Arafat cronies, a sign that the spirit of internal reform is more than just a hope among the Palestinian leadership class.
This is the Mideast, after all, so one mustn't get carried away. Monday's suicide bombing in Iraq is a reminder that it's one thing to vote in a new government, and it's quite another to secure order. Historically speaking, regime change in the Arab world does not occur peacefully, which suggests that "people power" in Lebanon may not have as easy a time triumphing as it did most recently in Ukraine.
And it should not be forgotten that free and fair elections in many Arab nations, such as Egypt, are likely to result in hard-line Islamist parties taking power.
Still, this is a moment of great drama and guarded hope.