BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Late Chairman Mao Tse-Tung of China reportedly once said that without the loneliness and desolation of winter one would not appreciate the warmth and splendour of spring. This seems not to be the case with Egyptians and North Koreans.
After initial flashes of goodwill from the new leadership in North Korea and Egypt, the situation appears to be going from bad to worse. In the case of the former, the march of folly and intransigence in the pursuit of nuclear weapons continues. 
Last Friday, thousands of Egyptians took to the streets in protest to mark the second anniversary of the popular uprising that toppled the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak. In other countries this would be an occasion for joy, but in Egypt, it’s as if the Arab Spring never happened.