gadhafi's armed mercenaries have claimed more than 1,000 lives. that's according to the united nations. and cnn's international correspondent nic robertson is in tripoli. it was of particular pain to singled out that city in a number of his addresses on state-run television. >> looks like we'll see other cities added to the map. >> we have 4 million people in the west, 1 million people in the east. >> we've been talking about what happened at the united nations, sending a strong message to gadhafi. the u.n. security council unanimously approved a resolution to slap libya with sanctions for its crackdown on protesters. >> jill, we're talking about sanctions here that actually have teeth not just gesture politics here, actual sanctions that say there are consequences for those associated with this regim regime. >> what it includes is arms embargo, asset freezes, travel bans on moammar gadhafi and on his associates and as the u.s. ambassador to the united nations susan rice said this will send a message directly to the libyan leade leader. here's what she said. >> tonight, the security council has come to condemn the violence, pursue accountability and adopt biding sanctions, targeting libya's repenting leadership. this is a clear warning to the libyan government that it must stop the killing. those who slaughter civilians will be held personally accountable. the international community will not tolerate violence of any sort against the libyan people by their government or security forces. >> and secretary of state hillary clinton has signed an order revoking the u.s. visas of libyan officials. other whose have been involved in human rights violations and also their immediate families. and then finally, secretary of state clinton issued a statement, a written statement, and in that, she used, and the president now is using the actual name of moammar gadhafi, which they hadn't before. she said moammar gadhafi has lost the confidence of his people and he should go without further bloodshed and violence. the libyan people deserve a government that is responsive to their aspirations and that protects their universally recognized human rights. secretary clinton leaves sunday going to geneva, switzerland. she will be taking part in a meeting of the u.n. human rights council. they have voted to suspend the membership of libya in that body. she'll also have a good chance to meet with other foreign ministers and coordinate on next steps. one thing that she did stress, don and john, is that they are looking for ways to provide humanitarian assistance. that's very important obviously right now. >> and, jill, the obama administration was criticized for not really having a clear message when it came to egypt. let's talk about that now. it's not mincing words over libya. >> it isn't. it was striking that as soon as the americans were out of there, remember the -- the ferry, the planes, et cetera, they really toughened the rhetoric. now it's not just general statements about human rights violations. it's really personal directives to the leader, moammar gadhafi. the question is whether even these economic sanctions will have any effect. gadhafi apparently has a lot of money. there has been a very large amount of money that has come from -- from the oil revenues. remember, the president last night signed an order freezing some of those assets. so the -- the jury is still out on this weather it will have a direct effect, but that is what -- some of what they are doing. they stress, however, that really everything is on the table. there is a wide range of options that they now have presented to the president. >> okay. jill, thank you very much. jill dougherty live for us in washington. of course, there's always the threat of taking the libyan regime to the international criminal court. that's having teeth as well. >> absolutely. we've gotten you up to speed on what's happening. we want to get you -- tell you -- take a look back at how we got here. what sparked the multiple uprisings across the middle east? >> like their neighbors in liegt and tunisia, libya's turmoil has to do with a hunger for change. that's a good one! , ok, umm...read her mind. [ male announcer ] fiber one chewy bars. [ gunshots ] and welcome back to this special report on the uprising in libya. we'll go back and show you how libya reached the boiling point. like its neighbors in libya, has massive unemployment, a large youth population and a high cost of living. >> a lot of turmoil and all of it came together as a kindling, really. and then ten weeks ago a young man in tunisia set off a domino in a small town, 26-year-old mohammed set himself on fire as people watched in horror. one of a generation of jobless college graduates, he had set up an unlicensed fruit cart to support his family. authorities confiscated it and some reports say a female government employee slapped him when he turned to complain. he likely died feeling he had enough. a week later, december 24th, protests erupted in other tunisian towns and a 18-year-old was dead. more and more people who weren't going to take it anymore were showing up. the president warned this was not acceptable and they would be punished. in the new year, more protests. more death. the president was beginning to get it but offering too little, too late to the thousands that wouldn't quit and mid-january he quit and escaped to saudi arabia. by now, much of the world was watching and noticing how new technology, social media were helping protesters communicate and organize their fight. suddenly protests were organized in egypt via facebook page targeted at egyptians. its author wael called on government reform including the resignation of president hosni mubarak and a day of rage on january 25th. he was thrown in jail but there was another new element. >> we have never seen any demonstrations like this cairo. >> the international media with stories of the rage. others watched protesters' own home videos on the internet. millions of people worldwide started channelling their own frustration with politics and the economy through tens of thousands on the streets of egypt's major cities. mubarak was having none of it. supporters appeared wrecking support on the media and supporters. >> calm down, calm down. >> at times, vehicles ran over people in the crowd of tahrir square. running over people in the crowd. the day of rage was nothing compared to the days that followed. january 29th, mubarak sacked the cabinet and appointed a vice president. he defiantly said he would only leave office after his term ended in september. he told abc's christiane amanpour stepping down then would send the country into chaos. but the country was already in chaos. wael and his facebook page had become a face for the movement. the pounding of reality and pressure from the world community pushed mubarak to the brink. on friday, february 11th, he turned power over to the military and hasn't been seen in public since. a day of rage in sudan at the end of january was squashed by government authorities. in yemen, protesters are calling for the ouster of the president. he's been in power for 30 years. fighting with government supporters and police since january has led to bloodshed but little satisfaction. in algeria, jordan, kuwait, syria and saudi arabia, those in power are now offering their people concessions and in saudi arabia's case, billions of dollars in an effort to stem the tide. four days after mubarak fell, peaceful demonstrations started in libya against president gadhafi. unlike in tunisia and egypt, the crowd started smaller and the international media was not allowed in the country but like the other leaders gadhafi was defiant. what reports got out told of soldiers firing teargas and bullets, even bombs dropped on protesters. none of which cnn could confirm. still, they were determined and ten days after the demonstrations started gadhafi's son had to go on state tv to threaten them. and later the president used his media to show a picture of peacefulness, power and business as usual. >> so now, john, here we are. the uprising in libya having an impact on the oil price which is oil prices which is having a major impact on the rest of the world. >> a huge effect. we want to walk you through the effect on countries and why it affects many of you at home. stay with us. ask me. if you think even the best bed can only lie there... ask me what it's like... when my tempur-pedic moves... ...talk to someone who owns an adjustable version of the most highly recommended bed in america... ask me about my tempur advanced ergo. ask me about having all the right moves. these are real tempur-advanced ergo owners! find one for yourself. check out twitter. try your friends on facebook... see what they have to say...unedited. it goes up... ask me what it's like to get a massage ---any time you want. ...it goes down... ergo...nomics... ergo...nomics... tempur-pedic brand owners are more satisfied than owners of any traditional mattress brand. (in chinese) ask me why i never want to leave my ergo. ask me why i'm glad i didn't wait 'till i was too old to enjoy this. start asking real owners. ask me how to make your first move... find out more about the tempur advanced ergo system! call the number on your screen for your free dvd and information kit. to find an authorized dealer near you, visit tempurpedic.com. tempur-pedic. the most highly recommended bed in america. welcome back to our special coverage of the unrest in libya. and libya only produces about 2% of the world's oil but make no mistake, it is a major player. the unrest in libya's creating uncertainty in global markets and directly impacting americans. >> as well as a lot of other people around the world. libya sits atop the largest reserves in africa. 80,000 barrels a day exported to the u.s. 1.2 million barrels to the rest of the world and light sweet crude, highest grade. >> again, relatively small amount but libya's deadly unrest is sending shock waves through the oil markets. prices surged to over $100 a barrel this week before settling back to $97. >> americans are feeling it in their wallets, especially at the gas pumps. aaa on saturday said the national average $3.33 a gallon for regular gas. that's up nearly 24% from a year ago. >> part of the story. take a look at this. rising oil prices affect goods and services that people depend on every day, especially food and clothing. so joining us now is gordon chang, he writes about international affairs, a columnist at forbes.com and joins us now from new york. thank you for joining us, sir. listen. can we feel it this fast? seems like it came very quickly. price of oil and clothing going up. >> that's the way the global markets work. and part of the reason is because people are concerned. it's not just libya and its 1.8 million barrels a day. people are concerned about the affect on algeria and of course saudi arabia. at the present time, saudi arabia is making up for the lost production in libya but if saudi arabia goes, maybe about 9% of global production, then, you know, prices will just go crazy. >> gordon, this is a lot more than people are paying when they fill up the car every day, here in the united states or london or australia or wherever. where gas prices expected to go through the roof. what they're saying is if oil hits $120 a barrel or $150 that will trigger a global recession. >> that's very possible because confidence right now around the world, not just in the united states but around the world is fragile. and we got to remember that oil is not just energy. because it also affects food. it really feeds directly into the food very quickly. and food inflation which is already very bad is going to get worse. so, clearly, this is going to affect us in all phases of our lives and most important thing is sending the world into the second part of a double-dip downturn and people fearing and we said, oh, we have gotten over that and now maybe not. >> not to belabor the point but we weren't doing so well globally, you know, anyway. so this is only just another shot to us. and again, as we said, not just the united states but around the world we're already in recovery and sets us back because 2% really isn't that much. >> no, it isn't. also, you got to remember, though, as you pointed out it is light sweet crude. this is very important because you just can't sort of substitute sour crude and essentially what libya has been doing is supplying this at, you know, 2% is still important because global supplies are tight. this is going to just sort of have a knock-on effect as we go through and as i said, it's psychological and that's really what's going to be important going on. not just the oil markets but also in food and elsewhere. >> gordon, very quickly, normally talking to you it's issues of north korea and china. you're a very wise man. how are things playing out in china? how nervous are the communist leaders in beijing watching lib why and tunisia and egypt and all of the region? >> china has the jasmine protest. in a few hours, the second iteration of those. chinese leaders blocking news of egypt, tunisia, hillary clinton, jasmine. all these words that are associated with the unrest in the middle east and north africa. largely because the same conditions apply in china. different but you can see that the chinese leaders are extremely concerned with the series of high-level meetings all dealing with social stability and what they call social management. >> indeed. having spent sometime in china i know what they're doing right now. thank you. we appreciate this. >> of course, we don't know where it's going. this is unprecedented debited and how bad it's going to get. [ gunshots ] and welcome back. as moammar gadhafi clings to power, newly-released documents are opening a window into his family life. >> hard to say just how many she thinks it's her soup huh? i'm told she's in the garden picking herbs. she is so cute. okay i'll hold. she's holding. wha? (announcer) progresso. you gotta taste this soup. turning your life upside down in a matter of seconds. hi. hi. you know, i can save you 15% today if you open up a charge-card account with us. you just read my mind. [ male announcer ] just one little piece of information, and they can open bogus accounts... stealing your credit, your mey and ruining your reputn. that's why you need lifelock. lifelock is the leader in identity theft protection. relentlessly protecting your personal information... to help stop the crooks in their tracks before your identity is attacked. protecting your social security number, your bank accounts, even the equity in your home. i didn't know how serious identity theft was until i lost my credit and eventually i lost my home. [ male announcer ] credit monitoring alone is not enough to protect your id and only tells you after the fact, sometimes as much as 60 days later. with lifelock as soon as we spot a threat to your identity within our network... our advanced lifelock id alert system directly notifies you, protecting your identity before you become a victim. identity theft was a huge, huge problem for me and 's gone away because of lifelock. [ male announcer ] while no one can stop all identity theft, if the criminals do manage to steal your information, lifelock is there to help fix it... with our $1 million service guarantee. that's right. a $1 million service guarantee. don't wait until you become the next victim. call now to try lifeck free for 60 days. that's right 60 days free! use promo code: hero. if you're not completely satisfied, notify lifelock and you'll never pay a cent. all it takes is for the bad guys to get a hold of just one of piece of your personal information get the protection you need right now! ♪ ♪ ♪ [ gunshots ] and welcome back. as moammar gadhafi clings to power, newly-released documents are opening a window into his family life. >> hard to say just how many children he has, sources say as many as eight and brian todd tells us many of them seem to share his violent tendencies and expensive tastes. >> reporter: the son says life is normal. saif gadhafi's ideas of normal may be different than yours. there's details don gadhafi family's life style that quote provided local observers with enough dirt for a soap opera. the cables say this lavish party on the island of st. bart's in 2009 was thrown by one of the dictator's sons and a million-dollar personal concert with beyonce and usher performing. this video taken by an eyewitness. the eyewitness that declined to be identified by name for security reasons described to us what he saw. >> i saw one of gadhafi's sons, long hair, very wealthy. he had lots of female acquaintances around him and was enjoying himself and drinking champagne out of the bottle. >> reporter: that same son according to the diplomatic cables thrown another new year's eve part on st. bart's the year before and paid carey a million dollars to sing 4 songs. same gadhafi who serves as his father's national security adviser and once met with hillary clinton. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> delighted to be here. >> thank you. >> reporter: in 2006, the family brought lionel richie in to perform at the ruins of the house the u.s. once bombed in a country with widespread poverty. analyst stephen clemens spent two days with saif gadhafi last year. >> we found a tiger. and the tiger was tied out. looked extremely healthy. >> reporter: spending is not the only thing the gadhafi family does excessive. there's reports of violent behavior among moammar gadhafi's lesser known children. the cables say one gadhafi son has had scuffles with police in europe, abuse of drugs and alcohol and say gadhafi's son hannibal once assaulted his wife in a london hotel room and had other incidents. >> delinquent of the family and arrested in switzerland in 2008 for beating his servants. >> reporter: an arrest which led the government experts say to briefly hold swiss business men hostage. >> it is a highly personalized, you know, almost mafia franchise in which you have different types of personalities in the mix and a father who's indulging all of them. >> reporter: there's a personal rivalry of power between the two sons. on the wikileaks cables on the sons, we tried to reach the libyan representative in washington for response. we didn't hear back. on the accounts of the parties and celebrity performances, we reached out to representatives for beyonce, usher, mariah carey and lionel richie for comment. the only one that got back to us was a representative for beyonce who said, no comment. brian todd, cnn, washington. >> good times are over. >> there you go beyonce, carey. young people are usually at the forefront of change and no different with libya. >> thousands of are taking to the streets in protest. coming up, a closer look at how they're impacting the situation. in multiple cat homes... keeping your house smelling like it should. purina tidy cats scoop. keep your home smelling like home. time to face the pollen that used to make me sneeze... my eyes water. but now zyrtec®, the fastest 24-hour allergy relief, comes in a liquid gel. zyrtec® liquid gels work fast, so i can love the air®. tonight, libya, a country in turmoil. gadhafi's people rise up against him. his allies back away. >> the president is obviously concerned about the safety of american citizens. >> is the strong man losing his grip? cnn is now inside the middle of this unprecedented upheaval, a country that oppressed journalists and its people with an iron fist until now. how will the fate of a dictator affect your world? we want to welcome viewers from around the world to our coverage. >> we've been seeing young people take center stage during the uprising, not just in libya, but in tunisia and egypt and may be no accident. >> there are a record 100 million young people between the ages of 15 and 29 in the arab world right now and becoming a powerful force for change. so we're joined now by resla aslan in new york. the author of "no god but god." welcome. how's a demographic change over the past 50 years transforming the arab world? >> you're talking about a region that's about three quarters under the age of 35. and more importantly, this is a youth bulge that is globalized, they're technologically savvy, politically sophisticated, socially conscious. they' see what's going on around the world, internet or satellite tv and they want what they see around them and the idea that the regimes can contain a monopoly on the levers of communication has become something of a fantasy now. there's no way that you can keep these kids in the dark any longer and we're seeing the results of this. >> and reza, whether egypt or libya or bahrain, we are seeing the young protesters are taking the lead and leaving behind the traditional opposition party. so when all the dust settles here, what role will the opposition parties have and what role will the young people have? >> well, that's certainly remains to be seen and it certainly depends on the country we are talking about but the best example is egypt where during the two and a half weeks of that uprising most western analysts kept assuming eventually the vacuum of the opposition would be filled by egypt's most well organized opposition, the muslim brotherhood. and yet, what we saw is that the muslim brotherhood never led that movement. on the contrary, they seemed to be sort of left behind by the movement of the kids and certainly now as we look to the transition of what could come out of egypt the muslim brotherhood will certainly play a role but a very small role. and i think that's the real key here. the notion that we need some sort of leader for these oppositions that they have to be organized from above is no longer the case. in egypt, it was facebook. in tunisia, twitter. all around we're seeing new ways of identifying one's self of reaching out to each other, communicating and organizing. >> i'm asking you to look into the future with, you know, situation that's really unprecedented and the question is, what comes next for libya? can moammar gadhafi survive this? >> that seems unlikely. and it seems as though he's preparing for the end and made it clear that the only way this revolution is libya is going to end either with him in a body bag or with the rebels being mowed down. so, i think, really what happens next is hard to say. this is a decentralized state, very tribal, national identity is not very strong. gadhafi came to power on the heels of a coup and not about to let that happen again and made sure that the military so weak, so fractured and there is no glue in libya after gadhafi goes. but the fact that he's going seems to be pretty inevitable at this point. >> just go a little bit behind libya and gadhafi and the next country, a tough question to ask, where's this going? which country is next? >> well, i'll be honest. i had my eye on algeria for quite sometime now. the government was smart enough to suspend its 20-year emergency law. that was a good first step but it doesn't seem to have exactly appeased the protesters there. what they want is something different. they want the opportunity that all people everywhere should have, to have some voice in their political futures, to be able to decide for themselves who leads them, who makes decisions for them. this is an aspiration that's reaching all across the region. and every dictator gadhafi to assad in syria has to understand that the old days are over. >> reza aslan, appreciate your time. thank you. relations between libya and the west have been a roller coaster to say the least. first tensions intensified. >> decades later, tensions eased even leading to a meeting with former u.s. secretary of state condoleezza rice. up next, we break down the history between libya and the west. n be too. discover relief from dry, uncomfortable skin with skin relief moisturizing lotion. only aveeno has an active naturals triple oat and shea butter formula that soothes, nourishes and restores moisture. women saw improvement in all five symptoms of winter skin in just one day. beauty you can see and feel. that's being comfortable in your own skin. aveeno skin relief. and now get dermatologist recommended relief from severely dry skin with eczema therapy. new from aveeno. discover the power of active naturals new from aveeno. curtis: welcome back to geico geck csteve, go right on the ahead. steve: yeah, u i jt afree rate, saved a ton, and it only took me 5 minutes and 12 seconds! steve: i was wondering that some sort of record? gecko: that's a good question. e 5 milet's have a look.ds! curtis: mmmm, not quite. someone's got you beat by 8 seconds. cko: still, i mean, at's... that's qui steve: well, what if i told you i only used one hand? anncr: geico. 15 nuco save yor insurance. ask me. if you think even the best bed can only lie there... ask me what it's like... when my tempur-pedic moves... ...talk to someone who owns an adjustable version of the most highly recommended bed in america... ask me about my tempur advanced ergo. ask me about having all the right moves. these are real tempur-advanced ergo owners! find one for yourself. check out twitter. try your friends on facebook... see what they have to say...unedited. it goes up... ask me what it's like to get a massage ---any time you want. ...it goes down... ergo...nomics... ergo...nomics... tempur-pedic brand owners are more satisfied than owners of any traditional mattress brand. (in chinese) ask me why i never want to leave my ergo. ask me why i'm glad i didn't wait 'till i was too old to enjoy this. start asking real owners. ask me how to make your first move... find out more about the tempur advanced ergo system! call the number on your screen for your free dvd and information kit. to find an authorized dealer near you, visit tempurpedic.com. tempur-pedic. the most highly recommended bed in america. you know, the west view moammar gadhafi as a despot but attitudes are changing. >> we trace the way the views have evolved over the years. >> reporter: since 1969, moammar gadhafi has controlled nearly everything in his country. business, media, military and oil. as he grabbed more power, he expelled western and american gas companies and investors, tortured and assassinated libyan opposition. by 1980, the u.s. severed all diplomatic ties. >> he is an animal who has no scruples, morals. >> reporter: in the early '80s, tensions between the u.s. and libya intensified. >> we know that this mad dog of the middle east has a goal of a world revolution, muslim fundamentalist revolution targeted on many of his own arab compatriots. >> reporter: after years of minor scrimmages of u.s. and libyan aircraft, gadhafi turned into public enemy number one. bombings in rome, vienna and then a disco in west berlin frequented by americans, all linked to libya. the u.s. retaliates. >> at 7:00 this evening, eastern time, air and naval forces of the united states launched a series of strikes against the headquarters of terrorist facilities and military assets that support gadhafi's activities. >> reporter: that attack left 100 libyans dead, including gadhafi's daughter. some believe for revenge he responded with a bomb aboard pan am flight 103 leaving 270 dead. the u.n. security council answered with crippling sanctions. after years of refusing in 1999 gadhafi finally relented, handing over the lockerby suspects. following the september 11th attacks and the iraq war, gadhafi went even further, libya took responsibility for the bombing and agreed to compensate the victims' families. the u.n. lifted sanctions. and that same year gadhafi abandoned his efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction. >> colonel gadhafi correctly urge judged that his country would be better off and far more secure without weapons of mass murder. >> reporter: the u.s. eased travel restrictions. the u.s.'s closest ally great britain took the lead. >> i'm aware of those that suffered must feel that the world is changing. >> reporter: in september of 2008, u.s. secretary of state condoleezza rice met with gadhafi in libya. the first such meeting between libya and a high-ranking u.s. official in over half a century. >> i thought he was serious. he said at one point it's taken too long, that the lessons of history had to be learned. >> reporter: the very next year with great britain's cooperation, scotland released one of the lockerby bombers on humanitarian grounds that sparked outrage. scotland allowed the bomber said to be terminally ill to go to libya to die. but he is still alive today. the release raised questions of something else at play behind the deal. further complicating the thawing relationship between libya and the west. suzanne malveaux, cnn, atlanta. >> you know, for many in libya, they have never known a life without gadhafi's rule. >> what would libya be like if he lost power? peace, chaos? some answers coming up next. in between, there's motrin pm.s no other medicine, not even advil pm, is more effective for pain and sleeplessness. motrin pm. how'd you do that? do what? you made it taste like chocolate. it has 35% of your daily value of fiber. tasty fiber, that's a good one! ok, umm...read her mind. [ male announcer ] fiber one chewy bars. libyan uprising is the biggest challenge to moammar gadhafi's control since seizing power in 1969. >> what would the country be like without him? zain verjee looks at what could happen if libya has a power vacuum. >> reporter: the gadhafi family has a plan. fight and die. but if there's a libya without strong man moammar gadhafi, what would it look like? >> it's very tribal and primitive. so as a result of that, there will be infighting amongst the tribes that can culminate in a civil war. >> reporter: ali is living abroad. >> we'll form a government by themselves, people, the libyan people will decide and will do it, okay, by themselves. the government to run the country and after that they'll follow steps where, you know, to have a better future, better life for the libyan. >> reporter: some experts, though, sounding the alarm bell saying any leadership vacuum is dangerous and allows extremists to be the winners. >> we're in eastern cities of libya, you have al qaeda moving in. you have islamism on the rise and to governance to speak of whatsoever. >> reporter: gadhafi got rid of any alternatives to his regime a long time ago, so there's no organized opposition group. and the libyan army isn't going to step in and take control like in egypt. gadhafi met the military unprofessional and weak to maintain firm control. one major worry, libya's vital oil reserves, the largest in africa, the wealth likely controlled by powerful, rival tribes that the west will have to woo. no matter what the challenges, protesters in libya say they just want brother leader gone. >> libyan people are now heading to tripoli to liberate tripoli from gadhafi and his fellow and to free tripoli so that all libya will be free. >> reporter: they have enough of him. it's been 42 years and for many even one more day is too much. zain verjee, cnn, london. >> well, gadhafi ruled libya with an iron fist for more than four days. >> unrest grows in the region. straight ahead here, where will . my eyes water. but now zyrtec®, the fastest 24-hour allergy relief, comes in a liquid gel. zyrtec® liquid gels work fast, so i can love the air®. you know, it really happened in quick succession, john. we have been watching the protests spreading across the middle east. tunisia, egypt, yemen, bahrain and now libya. each movement sudden, each outcome unpredictable. >> so the question many are now asking is who's next? which regime is likely to fall next? let's bring in gordon chang. also reza aslan. let's go to gordon because, gordon, aslan said he is keeping an eye on algeria. what are your thoughts, gordon? >> i think it could go anywhere. remember, gadhafi is using massive, deadly force against the protesters. if he fails and i think that's pretty likely, basically, other autocrats around the world realize that killing citizens doesn't work and when they realize they won't use force against them they will be bold and really means no regime, no regime will be safe. >> also hearing at least i've been hearing saudi arabia could be next. is that a real possibility, though? >> i would not bet on that at all. saudi arabia is not so much a country as it is the personal property of the clan and they have enough money and very few citizens to maintain some sort of control. but bahrain, i think, is another issue altogether because what the protesters there are asking for is something unique, a constitutional monarchy. they want a constitution. they don't want the regime to go. but they want some document that says the rights and privileges that every citizen should be able to have as their own. that's not too much to ask. and if the bahraini government caves to that very simple demand, then i think you might see a change in the way the rest of the gulf monarchies deal with their populations. >> back to gordon. you mentioned the momentum people around the region watching libya and elsewhere. is there anything that could derail that momentum? anything that the regimes can do? it seems as if they tried everything and not working. >> well, if gadhafi were to stay in power, if he were to use deadly force as he has been up to now and be able to quell the protests then strong men around the world will say, well, look, there's the way to stay in power. so i think that essentially if he crushes the opposition, then we'll see steam being taken out of it but that's not going to happen. and i think the opposite is going to be really the truth that we are going to see this just spread not only north africa, not just the middle east but we are going to see this go into asia and maybe even latin america. >> that's just going to ask you my next question. diplomatically, again, unprecedented. you have the u.n. coming together and so what happens with countries who are allies and who are in support of each other now? how do they look at each other and try to figure out what to do next, gordon? >> well, i think daniel ortega said i'm not using force and hugo chavez gave in to a student hunger strike that spread throughout the country and i think we'll see the strong men sort of step back because they realize they need to appease the crowds but i don't think it works because the crowds want more. >> and a quick question for reza. a brutal assessment here. will the world be better off for all of this? will the region be better off for all of this unrest? >> most definitely. we have been begging for political reform in this region for 50 years and treating the middle east as a personal gas station. the one thing that george bush got right is that if you give people an opportunity to have some stake in the political future, then that is good for moderation. it actually attacks extremism. there's a reason why no one on the streets of egypt or yemen or in tunisia or elsewhere is talking about al qaeda. there are no american flags being burned, no israeli flags in