Immolation Is the Highest Form of Flattery

How desperate is the Arab World for change? How widespread is the sense that the government is deaf to citizens' voices? Copycat self-immolations were reported this week in three other North African countries. In Tunisia's neighbor, Algeria, seven - count 'em, seven - protesters torched themselves (or tried to) in seven different towns.

The scary thing is that many of these kleptocracies don't care a lick for citizens, angry, burning, or burnt. A hundred Algerians, a thousand Egyptians could self-immolate without prompting anything from their governments but deeper politicization of the fire department.