Arab spring, forwards or reverse?

The Arab Spring, the surge of revolutions that has taken the Arab world by storm and has kindled hope for more democratic and fair regimes in the region.
Starting in Tunisia with a relatively swift overthrow of Ben Ali, it evolved through Egypts peoples revolution and Libya's civil war.

For a short, hopeful time, no despot or Arab dictator seemed safe.
Even in Iran the Ayatollahs must have lost quite some sleep, although the brutal repression of the attempted green demonstrations was still so fresh that nothing really materialised.
But in Bahrain and Yemen the story was quite different. Bahrain with Saudi military help beat down the demonstrators, while in Yemen the revolution seemed to descend into a tribal war. In Yemen the Saleh regime finally was toppled, but Syria's revolution seems to get more bloody every day. The Arab League observers there are led by someone with copious amounts of blood on his hands (Darfur) and seem to be encouraging Bashar's crackdown rather than stopping it.
Current estimates are that 5000 people have died.

Thats more than the population of the town I grew up in.

 Meanwhile Egypt's military rulers seem intent on alienating the population as swiftly as possible, by clamping down one by one on various groups. Christians, woman, the Muslim brotherhood... Have you read about the blue bra girl? An unknown girl who was savagely beaten by the military. Her clothes ripped off, beaten with batons and even stomped on (see picture).
How sick is this?
How fucked up are you if you stomp with your whole weight on the stomach of a defenceless woman, when she is already down? Its not as if she is a threat, is she?
Who are these soldiers and whats wrong with them?
How does someone's son, someone who presumably goes home to his family at the end of a day end up beating a defenceless fellow human being to a bloody pulp?

In Iran it was Neda Agha-Soltan, a girl who got shot to death before the eyes of the world.
In Syria it was Zeinab Al-Hosni, who was found by her family in a morgue in Homs. Her arms had been cut of, she had been decapitated and skinned. (and she is just an example, many more underwent similar fates)
WHAT???
What is WRONG with these people?

 So whats happening? How come the revolutions that started with such a huge wave of hope have now turned into such bloodbaths. How come that even in the countries which seemed to have a successful revolution the conditions are now rapidly heading for "just as bad as before, maybe worse".
Dont tell me that "democracy needs time". Beating the sh*t out of defenceless people is happening more frequently now than it was a few years ago. And it doesnt take much of a moral compass to realise that you're pretty far from ok when you find yourself kicking someone lying on the asphalt in the head.

Im getting quite worried about this increase in violence. Its worldwide. In the US students were peppersprayed , in Turkey journalists are being thrown in jail under a pretence of a coup, Russian demonstrators protest Putins rape of his constitution, African protests erup after every democratic election, we even had riots in London. Im not even mentioning China here, this post just isnt long enough to go into whats happening there under the guise of order and "preserving the peace".

Is it me or does there seem to be a worldwide increase in "asshole goverment".
It seems that the people are running out of options to create a decent government for themselves. The Arab revolutions have mainly returned the same career politicians to the fat paychecks. Irak has nominal and enforced Democracy, but seems little happier now than under Saddam. The ongoing demonstrations in Syria seem unlikely to produce anything but buckets of innocent blood any time soon (while the international community stands idly by), and the Iranian leadership continues to destroy its own economy just so some immature politician can say he stood up to the west.
What did all those brave people pay with their own blood for?

And the West? The selfproclaimed "standard bearers for Democracy"?
Occupy has wound down.
Bankers enjoy fatter paychecks than ever (not supported by even a single percent of the population), and their companies are still able to hold governments for ransom.
Peaceful demonstrators are peppersprayed, and the guilty parties get a "slap on the wrist" (even with videotaped evidence).
The US primaries as well as the last 6 months of hyperpartisan politics amply demonstrate how far the US leaders have strayed from their constituents  (small wonder, see the Citizens united supreme court case). Even Dutch politics (for years the most down to earth imaginable) is ruled by populist twits (Pun intended) instead of by its population.

Millions have demonstrated. Revolutions have toppled despotic governments at the costs of thousands of innocent lives. Countries have been invaded to "bring democracy", and yet it seems that the people are further from having any real power over their own destiny than ever. And I dont mean libertarian "jungle law freedom" in which we get eaten alive by corporations able to outspend entire governments.
No, I mean the power to elect honest representatives who do their job for the good of their people, instead of the good of their own bankrolls. The power to hold those who wield executive power to account when their decisions wreck our livelihoods (hey, they get paid (or enrich themselves) extremely well because of the responsibility they bear? Well, let them take that responsibility when things go wrong as well than!), the power to demand real change when we feel we are hostages of a system that does not suit our needs anymore.

But that seems to be impossible. Todays revolution seems only to produce tomorrows dictator. The loudest demonstrations are simply ignored.

Freedom?

It seems in worldwide short supply these days.