Al Jazeera English posted this video of the Arab League meeting and deciding to ask the U.N. to enforce a No Fly Zone over Libya.
I don't know if we have the kind of U.N. (or more accurately, leaders of countries behind the U.N.) to put this into action in a reasonable time.
But this is precisely the right time to do this - when we have been invited. If this is handled well, so much of the suspicion that has been so long aimed at "the West" could be allayed, as a new generation comes into power, with evidence for once that we are not "the bad guys."
This is a unique moment in history. A time when much of what we think is unchangeable about the MIddle East can change.
Just as so many of us grew up thinking that the Cold War could never end peacefully.
Our "cold war" with a portion of the people in many Middle East countries can also go away.
If we handle this right.
Not all of the nations of the Middle East are committed to major change. (I've written about similar revolutions in history and what they suggest about what people are looking for in these revolutions - beyond the obvious - in my book The Middle East Revolutions: A Framework for Change, published March 7, 2011, available on Amazon's kindle (which can be viewed instead on a pc with a free app from Amazon) for $2.99.)
Saudi Arabia called for a "day of rage" and people just didn't feel the rage.
But they did in Yemen.
A problem with monarchy or strict Sharia law is not, according to my analysis of similar historical working class revolutions, what motivates these protesters. If Gadaffi comes down hard enough - with his wealth of modern-day weaponry - he is likely to win. Especially if people in Libya begin to doubt the virtue of their cause and the support of their neighbors and the world.
I hope we don't let that happen.