Obama of arabia?

From the Maghreb to the Levant to the Arabian Peninsula, Arab history is on the move. A new generation of leadership seems poised to take over.

Moments like these are especially challenging for foreign policymakers, who must keep one eye on the world as it is and the other on the world as it might be in the future. In trying to do just that, US President Barack Obama has been harangued about the need to "get on the right side of history," or, to quote Bob Dylan, "to get out of the new [road] if you can't lend your hand."