The world has changed a lot in the past 100 days, with Japan being somewhat brought to its knees by a freak combination of natural and nuclear disasters, and the Arab world being thrown into upheaval. While Japan has managed to control its ongoing nuclear problems (which may or may not have been seriously blown out of proportion by Western media), the Arab world, specifically Libya, is still facing serious issues. The Toronto Star describes the Arab uprising surviving 100 days and still going strong. Libya is in the midst of civil war with Western aerial military intervention, while Yemen, Bahrain and Syria have seen public protests and deaths of civilians.
The US has led the Western aerial intervention (now led by NATO, but with the US still in a leading role) in Libya, despite widespread foreign and local (US) concerns about military action against another Muslim country, and this is strongly a result of Libyan opposition, Arab League and international pressure for supporting the anti-Muamar Gadhafi rebels. What it shows is that for all the talk about US imperialism or conversely, the decline of the US, Europe is still not prepared or not willing to step up. I've never been a strong supporter of the US but this is one instance where it does not deserve the bulk of criticisms for its military role. On the other hand, there have been a slew of voices saying that this is all a sleigh of hand done by the US and Western powers, that instead of having been dragged kicking and screaming, the US actually orchestrated it this way, but for now, I'm going to say it sounds mostly like conspiracy theory.

Arab protests in Libya

The upheavals in the Arab world have spread to Libya, with little signs of slowing down. Libya's Muammar Gaddhafi has lived up to his previously fading mad dictator reputation by having his forces gun down almost 100 protesters, the most violent state reaction in all the countries that have seen people protests against their leaders. It seems fitting that Libya should have mass protests because for far too long, Gaddhafi has stayed in power, even if he's mellowed a bit recently, and made his country a pariah. He is also one of the few, or only, African dictators in power. Bahrain, a tiny, oil-rich country in the Gulf coast, has also experienced street protests against an unpopular government, with a handful of protesters having been killed so far.