Anne Applebaum in the WaPo has the smart response: Don't ask me. I can't blame her for the dodge either. But as she writes about what she's seeing in Benghazi, it's obvious that Libya could go in a bazillion different ways. Much of the rest of the world will be intent on gettting its oil production back on line. Its other resources - especially its people, and perhaps its beach shoreline - are waiting to be developed; oil may bring money to do that.
But who's going to be the guide; run the show, and how? Truly, nobody can say. Let's hope the Libyan people can bring to the task some measure of fortitude (which, given all they've endured, they surely have, in spades) and patience (remains to be seen, but I'm not betting the ranch on that virtue being very abundant among a people tired of poverty and stagnation). What they can't bring to the task is a real foundation to build upon, or a template to model, because Qaddafi left no semblance of either.
So, Libya . . . . A bonanza in the making? Or a bleeding carcass about to be ripped apart?
Applebaum's right. No one can say.
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