Friday, August 26, 2011

The Biggest Domino Yet

With three tyrants down in Tunisia, Egypt, and now in Libya, Syria's protesters have taken heart from Khaddafi's downfall that their sacrifices could yet yield victory:

Are the countries embroiled in the Arab Spring learning from one another? Or more to the point, has the sudden turn of events in Libya offered clues to Syria’s revolutionaries on how to finally prevail after months of seemingly fruitless and unquestionably bloody protests? Syrian activists say that the dramatic changes this week in Tripoli have given Syrians new hope that the Arab Spring endures and victory may be at hand.

The euphoria of Libyan revolutionaries who overtook Gadhafi’s stronghold of Bab Al-Aziziya, is beginning to have a galvanizing effect on Syrian activists.

That was one reason I wanted victory in Libya once we were at war even though I didn't think we needed to take part in the operation (and given that I believed this should have been a European job, I couldn't bring myself to complain about our supporting role behind the rest of NATO). Not that this is a domino theory going on. But success increases chances for success. And conversely, a stand by Khaddafi could have stopped the trend with a Libyan fire break.

It's better to have protesters in the streets of Syria rather than Assad comforted by Libya.