Obama in book wrestles with ‘messy’ Arab Spring choices

Former US president Barack Obama offers a bleak portrait of much of the Middle East’s leadership in his new memoir, as he reveals how he still agonizes on where he applied pressure during the Arab Spring. In “A Promised Land,” Obama reflects on the criticism that he was hypocritical for coaxing Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak to step down in the face of 2011 protests while treading lightly as Bahrain, a major base for US forces, suppressed demonstrations….