The Arab Spring is more of an Arab Winter my Lebanese friend Alexis is fond of saying. I think she's right. I've heard three reasons for the civil war in Libya - freedom is a very low third on the list.
I'm convinced Nato and the US had more oil security in mind than freedom of the people when they helped the revolution from the air..their enthusiam of commodity poor Syria is distinctly lacking. America seems to have a history of propping up strongmen, only to get egg on their faces later - Seso Seko, Saddam, Mubarak, Muammar. The same politicians who made the deal with Muammar now sprout forth their everlasting support for the battle for democrasy. Denmark and rotten comes to mind.
Whether the new regimes will follow suit remains to be seen. The guys who rode the battlewagons to Sirte, the protestors in Tahrir Square - that's not what they fought for. I'm not sure they want democracy either - or at least not the American version of it.
We live in interesting times.
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