Power to the People of Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and Yemen!

Recent pro-democracy uprisings in the Middle East have effectively challenged the legitimacy of autocratic rule across the region. Rulers in Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and Yemen have agreed to make varying degrees of concessions to protesters, but these limited changes fail to meet the core demands of demonstrators in all nations except Tunisia. In Tunisia, the people's voices were finally heard and President Ben Ali left office and fled the country in what is now referred to as the Jasmine Revolution. Unfortunately, this revolution also resulted in the loss of 78 lives and even more injuries among demonstrators.

Autocratic leadership in Egypt, Jordan and Yemen has yet to completely cede power to the discontent protesters, and in Egypt, demonstrations have been infiltrated with violence. Coming days and weeks will reveal whether leaders in the other nations will acquiesce to the people's demands in the interest of peace or stay in power and risk an unknown degree of violence.

In Egypt, Mubarak has agreed not to run again in the September presidential elections, but has refused to give up power until his term is up. In Jordan, King Abdullah II replaced Prime Minister Samir Rafai with Maruf al-Bakit, who has held this office before and is known for cracking down on freedoms during periods of social upheaval. In Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh followed Mubarak's lead and announced his retirement at the end of his term in 2013. Despite these political changes, demonstrations are unlikely to stop until autocratic leaders have given up their power to the people.

For a number of reasons including the sheer size of the movement in Egypt, Mubarak's actions will likely set the tone for what happens in Jordan, Yemen and beyond. Unfortunately, recent reports indicate that Mubarak has hired thugs to conduct an orchestrated violent attack on peaceful demonstrators as a possible precursor to using military-level violence to silence the opposition.

Hopefully, Mubarak will step down very soon causing a ripple effect throughout the region before it's too late and violence has reached unconscionable levels.