The crackdown in Bahrain hasn't received as much attention as those elsewhere in the Arab world. In part, that's because what's happening in Syria and Libya are more spectacular. In part that's because Bahrain doesn't have many enemies among western regimes. Still,...
Alex Cooley and I on Bahrain and US autocratic allies:U.S. officials should make efforts to decouple the rationale of a given basing relationship from support for a particular regime. This means...
‎"... Yet the crowds were not placated, and they spent the next hour in the courtyard repeating the classic songs of the uprising, "thowra thowra huta nasr" (revolution, revolution until victory)."...
Alex Cooley and I have just published an article at Foreign Affairs Online on Bahrain and the politics of the US overseas basing network. An excerpt:U.S. policymakers have long struggled to...
For those keeping score on where the revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East are headed and how to understand it all, it is worth noting that today marked the 30th anniversary of Solidarity's first national warning strike. On March 27, 1981, more than 12 million Poles took to the streets in a peaceful protest action and in defiance of the Communist regime -- a testimony of the power of non-violence. At the time, it was the largest protest action in the Soviet bloc history. The Poles did not have the internet, or Facebook, or Twitter -- but they were still able to mobilize on an...
If recent reports are correct, NATO is running out of time if it wants to use a no-fly zone to tilt the balance in favor of the rebels. The Russians and Chinese may eventually agree to a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution authorizing a no-fly zone, but efforts to secure their agreement will take time. And it is not at all clear that a no-fly zone will prove sufficient to overcome Gaddafi's better-trained and equipped forces.Thus, the debate over NATO (or NATO member-state intervention) needs to explicitly include the following issues:Should NATO implement a no-fly zone in the...
Is NATO headed for all the attendant risks (via) of a Libya no-fly zone, but with implementation after it would prove most effective? Also, at what point does a Civil War last long enough that it is okay for a third party to start directly arming its preferred side?
Whether or not significant elements of the military defect continues to be the key factor in the Revolutions 2011.(Photo: AP)
As reports circulate that the vast majority of Libya is in the hands of the opposition, Gaddafi blames al-Qaeda and drug-addled youth for the revolution:Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, has said in a speech on Libyan state television that al-Qaeda is responsible for the uprising in Libya."It is obvious now that this issue is run by al-Qaeda," he said, speaking by phone from un unspecified location.He said that the protesters were young people who were being manipulated by al-Qaeda, and that many were doing so under the influence of drugs."No one above the age of 20 would actually take...
If you've been paying any attention to the news, you undoubtedly know that Libya is in the midst of a revolution. The Libyan government understands that all too well; hence, the increasing force deployed against opponents of the regime. Tripoli can't be pleased that some of its military and its diplomatic corp are defecting from the regime.Anne Applebaum has written a column comparing the revolutions to 1848. That's not a terrible comparison, insofar as we're looking at a combination of transnational networking and demonstration effects triggering modular uprisings in different countries....