The excitement of the moment, however, does not tell us what the future holds. At best, democracy is still off in the distance: the military still dominates in Egypt and Tunisia, tribal forces are on the rise in Libya and Yemen, and sectarian divides between Sunni and Shia are likely to dominate politics in Bahrain, as they have in Iraq since 2003.
但这样令人兴奋的时刻并没有告诉我们未来将走向何处。 民主充其量还很遥远： 军方仍然统治着埃及和突尼斯，部族力量仍在利比亚和也门处在上升阶段，逊尼和什叶的教派分裂仍可能主导巴林的政局，这与2003年伊拉克的局势非常相似。