Libya on the brink as protests sweep across Mena

Anti-government protests are sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East, bringing uncertainty for oil and gas investors and markets

THE OUSTERS of Tunisia's Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and Egypt's Hosni Mubarak have awakened the Arab Street from its slumber. Protesters crowding the streets of cities across the region – in Yemen, Bahrain, Algeria, Morocco, even Libya – now know it is possible to voice their dissent. Iran's opposition movement is also back, emboldened. Change is in the air, and the push is coming not from the top, but from the bottom. Its impetus too comes not from the concerns of rulers, but from those of the ruled – from tumbling living standards, soaring prices for domestic necessities and an increasingly well-educated and under-employed youth. But change carries a price. For the West, that price is uncerta