Erstellt am: 18. 7. 2012 - 14:31 Uhr

New Era, Old Face

Reality Check: The results of the historic elections in Libya and a just-published Human Rights Watch report condemns President Hugo Chavez as he seeks re-election in Venezuela.

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Chairman of Libya's National Electoral Commission, Nouri al-Abbar speaks during a press conference on final results, in Tripoli, Libya

A New Dawn in Libya

The first thing I thought of when I read about the final results of the historic election in Libya was - hmm - I wonder if this is because the Libyans learned a lesson from Egypt and Tunisia?

The final results announced today, place a liberal alliance ahead of other parties in Libya's first free nationwide vote in half a century, leaving Islamists far behind. It appears to be a rare Arab Spring setback for Islamists, who won elections in Egypt and Tunisia.

Shashank Joshi is a Middle East analyst at Harvard & Cambridge Universities and he gave us his insights into the election results in Libya...

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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez

Human Rights Watch Report on Venezuela

Just as Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez celebrates a current 15 point lead ahead of his closest rival in the Presidential election coming up in October, a Human Rights Watch report has been published condemning him. Bigtime. While Chavez thinks a 14th year in power (with a possible 20 year reign, should he win the election and should his precarious health hold out) will be beneficial for the impoverished and surpressed people not just in his country but in Latin America and beyond, not everyone agrees. On the up side, at least as recently as a few years ago, Chavez definitely had a friend in Sean Penn. So, what exactly are the concerns of Human Rights Watch when it comes to a man who, strangely, considering the above mentioned story on Libya, is a hero to many in the Middle East and is commonly refered to there as "Chavez of Arabia"?