Arab Spring to affect post-Soviet space

A multimedia round-table conference on Arab Spring has opened at RIA Novosti today. Experts analyzed stability of socio-political processes in the Middle East, Egypt and Syria. The conference was attended by Shamil Sultanov, President of the Islamic World Center for Strategic Studies of Russia, Oleg Shabrov, President of the Academy of Political Science, Vladimir Belyakov, a leading scientist of the Institute for Oriental Studies of the RAS.

According to experts, the revolution in the Arab world will continue until 2030.

Commenting on Syria, they believe that President Bashar al-Assad has better chances, because opposition has no leader. About 40% of armed groups work for special services of foreign states and each struggles for own benefits. Scientists noted that Doha turned into a US base, while Al Jazeera continued the information war.

Concerning Egypt, experts clarified that the Muslim Brotherhood ignored opposition before the fall of President Mohammad Morsi, and refused to accept investments even from Arab states. The process reduced tourism and caused greater public grievances.

The events in Egypt and Syria will affect the post-Soviet space, attendants of the conference assume. They emphasized that radicalism provoked by the events in Egypt would trigger similar processes in Russia.