COMMENTARY
While NATO countries and allies like Jordan and Qatar have started to train and equip the security forces, there is more that outsiders can do to help, writes Frederic Wehrey.
COMMENTARY
If the Syrian opposition clearly asks for American help, if the rest of the Arab world supports such a military intervention, and if America's European allies prove ready to join in—and indeed lead—such an effort, the United States should contribute those military assets which only it can provide, writes James Dobbins.
COMMENTARY
The Arab Spring demonstrated that leaderless revolutions are difficult to repress or co-opt. Unfortunately, it is also true that leaderless revolts find it difficult to make transition to authority, writes Charles Ries.
COMMENTARY
The days and weeks after a victory like this are a golden hour that set in motion either a virtuous cycle of increasing security and economic growth, or a downward spiral into insecurity, factionalism and economic chaos, write Christopher S. Chivvis and Frederic Wehrey.
COMMENTARY
If Libya is to have a chance of replacing Qaddafi with something better, the United States, its allies, and the rest of the international community will need to pivot very quickly from the rather straightforward requirements of war fighting to taking seriously the complex and demanding tasks of peace building, write James Dobbins and Frederic Wehrey.
COMMENTARY
Given how markets are responding thus far, Osama Bin Laden's death is likely to have a modestly positive and buoyant effect on equity markets, writes Charles Wolf, Jr.
COMMENTARY
In many cases, idealism and realism conflict, as evidenced by U.S. military interventions over the past four decades, writes Harold Brown.
COMMENTARY
The countries in a possible "second wave" of Arab revolutions have dim prospects for consolidated democracies. Other than tribes, Libya essentially has no civil society, and it has a long-isolated educated class. Yemen has civil society organizations but fewer well-educated individuals, writes Julie Taylor.
COMMENTARY
The long-term objective of a train-and-equip program for the Libyan revolutionary government would be to create a professional military force in a post-Qaddafi Libya that could support democratic institutions free of extremist elements, writes Angel Rabasa.
COMMENTARY
What has been happening in North Africa this year, in what seems to be the leading edge of a great wind of change sweeping the Arab world, will require the Europeans (along with the U.S. and others) to be deeply and durably engaged there — economically, politically and in humanitarian terms, writes Robert E. Hunter.
COMMENTARY
Pushing the European allies, especially Britain and France, to take more responsibility in managing crises would reduce the costs and burdens on the United States while providing an incentive for the Europeans to take defense more seriously, writes F. Stephen Larrabee.
COMMENTARY
What the United States did in Bosnia might hold the key for an effective response to the crisis in Libya, writes Angel Rabasa.
COMMENTARY
The question, then, is whether stopping the fighting—which could also require forcibly removing Qaddafi—is worth the price of deep military engagement and responsibility for Libya's postwar future, writes Robert E. Hunter.
COMMENTARY
We have learned over the past couple of decades that it is deceptively easy for the world's only superpower to topple objectionable regimes—but a good deal harder to replace them with something better, writes James Dobbins.
MULTIMEDIA
Fred Wehrey, senior policy analyst, and Charles Ries, senior fellow and director of the Center for Middle East Public Policy, spoke with RAND media relations director Jeffrey Hiday about the conflict in Libya, including various options for international engagement.
MULTIMEDIA
RAND experts provide an audio discussion of the humanitarian and diplomatic challenges present in the revolt in Libya, the role of the Islamic Brotherhood in the events in Egypt, and the effects of the growing strife in the Middle East on Iran.
COMMENTARY
The U.S. and its allies could help Libyans communicate with the outside world by deploying cellphone base stations on aircraft or tethered balloons, write Dan Gonzales and Sarah Harting.
COMMENTARY
The new, post-Qaddafi era is likely to be marked by the emergence of long-suppressed domestic groups jostling for supremacy in what is sure to be a chaotic political scene, writes Frederic Wehrey.
REPORT
This paper, which originally appeared as an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, reviews recent terrorist attacks against American targets, and considers both the causes and pitfalls of fixing blame on such visible figures as Libya's Muamm...
REPORT
This paper, an expanded version of an op-ed piece that originally appeared in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner on December 15, 1985, reviews the motivations for the use or sponsorship of terrorism by Libya's Colonel Muammar Qaddafi; discusses his policies
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