the astonishing thing

The truly astonishing thing is how morally one-sided all of these conflicts have been. We’ve really seen almost no atrocities committed by the street (which is why Lara Logan’s experience strikes such a horrible sour note), and have consistently seen both atrocities and cynical lies from the governments in all of these situations. They’ve not been “civil wars” at all yet, despite (possibly justified) worries that Libya might still turn into one. They’ve been utterly justified popular uprisings against tyranny, cruelty, and dishonesty.

The vanguard of democracy is no longer in Washington, it’s on the Arab street.