By By Miles Bett, Columist

In this new year, there have been more major uprisings than months. First went Tunisia, then Egypt and now Libya. This count is without those crushed too quickly to get properly underway, such as Iran.

When Egypt was convulsing under an ever-intensifying rebellion, the world stood by, all but clamoring for the government to step down. As we all know, Mubarak did step down, and Egypt faces a wobbly next couple of months.

That is nothing compared to the chaos that is currently gripping Libya. Colonel Muammar Gadhafi, leader of Libya for the past 30-odd years, has refused at every step to surrender control of his nation. Unlike Mubarak, Gadhafi has resorted to much more militaristic measures. There have been reports of armies shooting at and killing civilians, hired mercenaries killing anyone in sight, and fully armed attack helicopter buzzing over cities. It is clear from this information alone that the fall of Libya’s government will not be as smooth as that of Egypt.

One AOL report stated that according to sources within the capital, a man was shot in the head while leaving a mosque at night. When his family tried to bury him, eight of them were killed when a car drove by, firing into the group.

Many nations around the world are clambering to pull their citizens out of the country. One BBC World News article tells of how hundreds of German and British citizens were pulled out of the oil-rich deserts of Libya by special forces units, with others still waiting to be rescued.

The situation has deteriorated to the point that the UN has placed sanctions against the Libyan dictator and his regime. As they have frozen Gadhafi’s assets and placed an arms embargo on the country, it should be clear to Gaddafi that his rule is no longer tenable. He has lost his ability to govern when his country, including Libya’s second-largest city Benghazi, is not just rebelling, but is actively in the control of rebels.  

The most worrisome part of this whole debacle is that Gadhafi, during a recent interview with the BBC, stated that “all my people love me,” and that they “would die to protect me.” This kind of blindness is terrifying. Who knows the kind of actions he will take so he can hold onto power just a bit longer. Let us all hope that the country can avoid the civil war they are perilously close to.