Today's London meeting on Libya showed the "soft power" side of the international operation. Arab, European, and US leaders offered a raft of humanitarian arguments and a collective suasion to push for Muammar Qaddafi's ouster.

"The heart of the uprising," "The symbol of a divided nation," "the neo-cons' worst nightmare"... These are just a few of several descriptions from over the last few weeks that have been used to frame Tahrir Square.

The uprising in Libya and the subsequent foreign military intervention there are providing a significant test for Turkey's stated desire to create a foreign policy that combines realism with idealism, while also highlighting the difficulty Ankara is facing in balancing its aspirations to become a more independent regional leader in the Middle East...

President Obama said Monday that the military operations in Libya have succeeded in averting a humanitarian catastrophe, but he pledged that the United States would continue to scale back its involvement in the conflict over the coming days.

Last week it seemed like even the intervention of U.S., British and French airpower might not be enough to enable the Libyan rebellion to regain the momentum against Libyan government forces. Now it looks like the balance has shifted in the rebels' favor, if not yet decisively so.

There can be no doubt about the core of the revolutions sweeping North Africa and the Middle East. As John F. Kennedy said in another context 50 years ago, the torch is being passed to a new generation.

Qatar became the first Arab country on Monday to recognize Libya's rebels as the people's sole legitimate representative, in a move that may presage similar moves from other Gulf states.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates acknowledged Sunday that the unrest in Libya did not pose an immediate threat to the United States. Even so, he and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the Obama administration was justified in taking military action.