The argument over whether to fight in Libya had many aspects to it – ideology, national interest, diplomacy, military calculation. But the most important divide in the western world was temperamental. The Libyan debate pitted the hotheads against the ditherers. The leaders of the hotheads are Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France, and David Cameron, the prime minister of Britain. The ditherer-in-chief is Barack Obama, the US president, backed up by Angela Merkel, the German chancellor.
要不要对利比亚动武?围绕这个问题的争论涉及多个方面——意识形态、国家利益、外交政策、军事运筹。但西方世界最重要的差异在于领导人的禀性。有关利比亚的辩论形成了冲动派与犹豫派的对立。冲动派的领头者是法国总统尼古拉•萨科齐(Nicolas Sarkozy)和英国首相戴维•卡梅伦(David Cameron)。而犹豫派的最高统领是美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama),站在他这边的是德国总理安格拉•默克尔(Angela Merkel)。