Saturday, February 19, 2011

Unraveling

“They’re not going to go back to their homes,” said Issa Abed al-Majid Mansour, an exiled opposition leader in Oslo. “If they do, he’ll finish them off. They know the regime very well. There’s no to way to go back now. Never, never.”

(per NYTimes, on Libya)
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a dangerous new dynamic is introduced to Middle East. if a revolution loses steam, entire nations could find themselves at the mercy of true dictators enraged by the actions of protesters.

unlike the political chess match that was Egypt, those in Libya and Bahrain may find themselves going head to head with military forces increasingly emboldened to stand their ground. what happens if soldiers feel it is their 'patriotic' duty to demonstrate superior stability of their nation by mitigating chaos as they see it, and dig in against protesters & stand with their leaders?