With the end game for Gaddafi being played out on the 24 hour news channels, it is clear that events that started in Tunisia in the spring are coming to a conclusion in Tripoli in (almost) September.
As the Libyan uprising moves towards a victorious end it is a vindication for the new way of doing things and a rejection of the Blair/Bush so called 'liberal intervention'. The overthrow of the tyrant Gaddafi is mainly as a result of the actions of the Libyan people, some external pressure - principally from other Arab states - and in the background, the intelligent use of western military power.
The Libyan insurrection should mark a way forward. Ostentacious displays of western military power are no longer needed to oust unpleasant dictators - whether because of simple austerity or because the pratical application of 'nudge' theories appears to work.
It is almost certain the Libya faces a far better and more secure future than either Afghanistan or Iraq - where the old ways have so far spectacularly failed to deliver the sort of stable, open and peacful countries that were supposed to come about as a result of so-called 'liberal' interventions.
And the other lesson will hopefully be that sucking up to people like Gaddafi is always wrong.
Spring, Autumn and, Winter?
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Shame on Blair and Labour for attempting to give the Gaddafi regime renewed legitimacy and therebye propping it up - well intentioned reasons no doubt but the completely wrong policy
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