Party hardly?

Ding, dong Gaddafi's dead, the wicked wretch is dead …

Isn't that the background music to the latest distraction to what's really wrong with the world? I'm no fan, and I don't think he should have ever been running a country, but celebrating someone's death is just too morbid. It doesn't do anything for me. It's petty.

The problems we're facing, today, now, here, everywhere haven't become less complex, easier to solve, nor have they been moved closer to resolution. Nature and capitalism abhor vacuums, so you can bet any currency that the big, monied interests are sending in their national vassals to score some cake for them. In this case, there are deals to be made, profits to be generated, image to be enhanced, and self-satisfaction to be spread around like take-aways at a job fair.

Libya's hurting. The people are hurting. There is a lot of physical, emotional and psychological trauma that needs to be dealt with. There is an excess of human tragedy to be mitigated. If the Libyans haven't realized it already, they've probably hit bottom, and they hit it hard. It's good that they have oil, though, because if they didn't – like the Somalians, for example – there wouldn't be anybody singing or anybody championing big returns in the name of liberty, freedom and democracy.

It is especially worth noting, I believe, particularly in this moment of such widespread joy that the Yemenites and Syrians are in no better shape, but there's just no motivation (read: oil) to help them. This isn't a one-step-at-a-time affair. This is not the time for policy of small steps. It's time to realize that none of the suffering and the misery and the despair is going to be relieved in any way until it's not about business-as-usual anymore. But it is about business, isn't it. It's always about business.

The despot is dead. Long live the despot! Once again, the Devil takes flight from Beelzebub.

It's probably a good idea to let the Libyans have their moment. They're going to wake up from the party tomorrow, or maybe the day after, and realize that nothing has really changed (just ask the Egyptians, or the Wall Streeters, or ...), and all the really dirty, nasty, difficult, and hard work is going to have to be done all by themselves, and probably with little, if any, real support. We all know that priority #1 is to get the oil flowing again ... finally. And yes, once the dust and accounts have settled, our Libyan friends can then roll up their sleeves and prove to the investors that they were worth helping out in the first place.