For months captivated by the spectacle of falling dictators and english-proficient spokesmen avowing democracy westerners deluded themselves into believing that the popular uprisings sweeping the arab world were presaging a new birth of freedom .

数月来，目睹各大独裁者的哗然倒台，听闻那些巧舌如簧的政客鼓吹民主，许多西方人开始让自己相信，“风靡”阿拉伯的人民起义吹响了自由在一个新的世界中诞生的前奏。