Monday, August 22, 2011

August 22, 2011: Tripoli Falls

Some questions remain, including whether there will be pockets of resistance in the capital, as well as the fate of Mu'ammar al-Qadhdhafi, but the self-styled "jamahiriyya" is now history.  In Egypt, bloated state institutions weathered the end of the Mubarak regime.  One has to wonder when Libyan institutions which were kept weak by design (the army included), will have the capacity to meet the challenges of building a new state.


[First pictures of the Tripoli residents' celebrations upon the arrival of the first revolutionaries to Green Square (now-renamed Maidan al-Shuhada/Martyrs' Square].

The sudden fall of Tripoli is a reminder that once regime loyalists understand that they will never prevail, the denouement is reached far more quickly than expected because defections occur in cascades. Who, after all, wants to be the last denizen of a toppled regime?


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