A death blow to al Qaeda/Islamism?

Here’s a Jeera columnist who’s articulated for the first time (that I know of) what I’ve been pondering for a few days now: that the ME’s tumultuous rebirth must surely spell an end to al Qaeda (at least in the ME) and its various affiliations, including some radicalised Muslim youths in our midst? Possibly reduced to a few diehard individuals, ETA-style, who’ll continue their struggle against the will of the people they claim to represent (a claim often supported by self-serving rightwing Western pundits)?

[…] as evidenced by the fact that America's two primary antagonists in the Middle East, al-Qaeda and the Iranian government, have seen their standing sink in proportion to the rise of the pro-democracy movements.

In any war, cold or hot, propaganda is crucial, and here it is impossible to lose sight of the fact that al-Qaeda has had little if anything to say about the Egyptian revolution precisely because it was a massive non-violent jihad that succeeded miraculously where a decade of al-Qaeda blood and vitriol have miserably failed.

As for Iran, the government's rhetorical support for the Egyptian revolution while it continues to suppress its own democracy movement is clearly emptying the Iranian regime of any remaining credibility as an alternative to the US-dominated order.

From this op-ed by Mark Levine titled Here we go again: Egypt to Bahrain ,warmly recommended in its entirety.