But the Iraqi experience can guide the region. It shows that reform is not a threat to stability, but the guarantor of it. A repressive response by Governments only reinforces the calls for change, and the need for it. Libya and Syria have not learned this, and are brutally repressing protests. They must understand that the international community will not accept their abuses of power.
The demonstrations, uprisings and demands for reform that have swept across the Middle East have, tragically, led to deaths. Sadly, that is also true in Iraqi Kurdistan: but here the circumstances surrounding those deaths are different: first, they are being investigated; and second, Kurdistan is in the process of passionate political debate about how to reform. The United Kingdom fully supports that debate – we welcome it – and we congratulate President Barzani and Prime Minister Saleh on the work they are doing to develop a reform agenda.
The political upheaval in Egypt and Tunisia is the preface to an immense economic task. It will not be easy. There is bound to be tension between people's hopes and expectations of immediate benefit, and the need for painful measures to open undeveloped economies to greater opportunity. The West cannot stand aside: it must do all it can to help entrench a better future across the Middle East and North Africa – MENA.
The United Kingdom can help.
• Through international organisations, in particular the G8.
• Through the European Union.
• And bilaterally – in 19 countries of the region – through our Arab Partnership.
The route we choose to help does not matter: but the fact that we do help matters a great deal.
The challenges ahead are huge, but so are the potential benefits. Prime Minister Cameron compared the Arab Spring to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. I agree: as Prime Minister, I saw that revolution at close quarters. It was one of the most dramatic events of the last century, as the Soviet Union shook off 70 years of tyranny. When I visited Moscow soon afterwards, there was a tremendous sense of euphoria, a feeling that oppression had had its last desperate throw. There was real belief that democracy was taking root. As it may be now - across the MENA region.
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