Friday, October 21, 2011
Obama: 'Long and painful chapter' is over; New Book to be written in Lybia
(From CNN)
Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama on Thursday called the death of former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi both the end of a "long and painful chapter for the people of Libya" and the hallmark of a successful U.S. foreign policy.
In the first official government remarks on the killing of a longtime foe who was behind terrorist attacks against U.S. citizens, Obama pledged his government's support as Libya builds a democratic system from the ruins of dictatorship.
FULL STORY
With regime change in Lybia, what needs to happen next for the revolutionaries to create a democratic government. Are you optimistic, or pesimistic about the future of Lybia?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I am fundamentally optimistic about the future of Libya. A lot of people say it will turn into another Iraq - or even worse - Afghanistan, but I highly doubt that. To quote Fareed Zakaria, "The unusual thing about Libya is that it's a very large country with a very small population". And unlike Iraq, this population is religiously homogeneous: overwhelmingly Sunni. Tribes do play a role in Libya but are far less important than they are in Afghanistan. Radical Islamic groups don't seem to hold that much power either. Libya also has the highest literacy rate in all of North Africa. Divisions are sure to form, and we may not be witnessing the last violence of this revolution, but in the long run I suspect that Libya will be able to achieve a stable, if a bit corrupt, democracy.
I am a bit pessimistic about the future of Libya, given the fact that the members of the new government have come from all walks of life. The number of political differences among the members of the new Libyan government is bound to cause some problems in the future, which will hopefully be resolved peacefully, though I have my doubts. Looking at Egypt after Mubarak, conflicts have recently arisen between Christians and Muslims in the nation, with some Christians accusing the government of attempting to silence them with tactics similar to those used by Mubarak. In short, while I think that the Arab Spring as a whole will no doubt prove beneficial towards the nations that have undergone radical government changes, I also do not expect much at the moment, given the conflicts that are arising in the absence of the former regimes.
Although I love that President Barack Obama can be so optimistic on Libya having a democratic government, I think that it is highly unlikely for the Libyan people to rise up and create a more democratic union. Let's think about the Soviet Union. They were not a perfect democratic government after the fall of communism. It took them quite a few years to actually create the republic of Russia. I think that Libya may, eventually, create a democracy, but it will take a few years to actually be in play.
Post a Comment