The United States voiced doubt Friday that the popular revolt that toppled Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali would spread to other Arab countries, even though they share similar problems. "I'm not sure that I would say that necessarily there will be a snowball effect," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.
"There are certainly broad trends that exist in the region, from the Gulf to North Africa, and leaders need to find ways to create greater economic and political opportunity for populations that are, by and large, very, very young," he said.
He added that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, during a tour of the Gulf last week, "gave a clear and compelling message that the region has to reform itself." "And certainly we would encourage those reforms to continue, country by country," Crowley said.
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