Editor’s note: Central Asians respond to the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. Here, new blogger Ustrushan gives his view on the spread of democracy in the developing world and the ramifications he believes this shall have upon Central Asia.

As people’s understanding of the power and benefits of true democracy grows around the world, they stop respecting any president or ruler who wishes to remain in power for 20, 30 years or even all their lifetime, no matter how good his/her intentions may be. The institution of the presidency or, in general, leadership of a country, in modern times requires that one person can only be elected maximum of 2 terms of 4-5 years each. This is quite enough time for anyone to propose and try to implement his vision for creating better life for his/her nation. It is also physically challenging even for the smartest and most capable person to maintain best potential for public service more than 8-10 years.

Therefore, it should be clear that “shah” or “kingdom” regimes are no longer acceptable and presidency for anybody should only be temporary in order to allow changes and constant flow of the best people into and out of the government. That is the only way to ensure continuous development of any nation towards democracy, prosperity, and peace. Obviously, though, Central Asian rulers who are not considering this worldwide process seriously will experience its harsh affects on themselves sooner or later. Time is up already for presidents Rahmon, Karimov, and Nazarbaev — Egypt is the hint that they’ll probably fail to take!