Arab spring turns to autumn

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.