exhausting pace of events

It’s hard to keep up with the news feed from the region tonight, with something happening every couple of minutes, especially in Bahrain, Libya, and Yemen, but also Djibouti, Syria, and to a lesser extent Kuwait. Eastern Libya now sounds totally out of control, with the police abandoning certain areas outright for their own safety.

Lots of rotten governments in this part of the world, and it’s becoming evident that only the ongoing consent of the oppressed peoples allows them to stand. Despite a certain number of tragic deaths, they topple with surprising ease.

There’s a 1989ish momentum to all of this, though it must be repeated that the Western governments looked like the good guys in ’89 but aren’t looking so good right now.