The fall of Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo's regime and his arrest by forces loyal to President-elect Alassane Ouattara should have taken place ever since the results of the presidential election, sparing the country bloodshed, destruction and flight. Naturally, if this had been possible, French forces would not have forcefully intervened under the umbrella of the United Nations and international law. The French have done well, to support the victory of democratic values. The election of a president in Ivory Coast took place with the recognition of everyone in the world, in terms of its result, with the exception of Gbagbo and his supporters. The fall of this president, who wanted to remain in the seat of power despite the will of the people, who elected Ouattara, should be a lesson for all of those who want to survive in power without realizing that the popular will should be the fundamental inspiration for their rule. The will of the Libyan people today is for Qaddafi to leave power. However, the body count continues to rise, amid murder and killing and the importing of mercenaries from Chad to fight Qaddafi's own people. The example of Gbagbo should be an example for Qaddafi, who is illegitimate and who has wasted Libya's wealth in pursuit of his personal desires and that of his family, instead of developing these resources to allow Libya to become a jewel of wealth and modernity in the Mediterranean and North Africa. But Qaddafi is not alone in oppressing his people and crushing the aspirations and will of the people. Demonstrations, along with violent and murderous repression, are now taking place, and these should be treated with reform, openness, and fighting corruption, or else the danger of civil war is a certainty. Syria should be listening to the advice of its friend Turkey, which is concerned with Syria's security and stability. It should undertake important steps for the Syrian people, such as lifting the state of emergency laws. Blaming foreign conspiracies will not work as people look around them at what took place in Egypt and Tunisia and what is taking place in Libya and see the same elements in their own countries. However, a higher level of danger is involved, since the sectarian divide is more potent in Syria, and the Turkish, and also French, advice is important, and should be taken into consideration. Unemployment among young people, huge income disparities and the repression of freedoms are what caused the people's revolts against Presidents Mubarak and Ben Ali. The latter's police and security forces dominated during his era to the degree that since his departure from power, they have returned to their barracks and preferred to hide from a people who became fed up with them. Today, there is a security problem in Tunisian cities since the police are hesitant to do what is really needed, such as preserve order and people's safety, and not repress them and spy on them. Reform can truly take place in Syria if the Syrian regime wants this, before it is too late. It is 2011, and not 2002, when our late colleague Samir Kassir asked, in one of his articles in An-Nahar newspaper, “Has the Damascus Spring Ended? It did not begin, for it to end. It was merely a promise that the people decided to make, to fortify its morale, which had waned. But the promise has not been extinguished, as long as the spring roses know their way to the gardens of Damascus.” His article was about the dissident Riad Turk. The popular revolutions in the Arab world in 2011 have not been foreign conspiracies, but rather an awareness by people locally, that the Syrian regime must comprehend. It must also accelerate reform and openness, because Damascus continues to enjoy some friendly ties with countries in the West and the East. But if the regime remains unchanged, it faces a great danger, and a danger for all surrounding countries, especially Lebanon; Syria's stability is important for Lebanon, while Lebanon represents an important economic outlet for Syria. This was the belief of late Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, who made great efforts to convince the Syrian regime of this. However, the regime refused to acknowledge this, just as it now refuses to take into consideration the demands of the Syrian people, and considers them a part of a foreign conspiracy. No one wishes to see a civil war in Syria, or sectarian fragmentation, or more killing and casualties. There is hope that the regime will realize that its alliance with the Iranian regime and its regional policies will not protect its domestic front, which is suffering from tragedies on its path to reform and freedoms and the fight against corruption and unemployment.
