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As expected, Algeria's presidential election was largely a non-event, but now that it's over, the really interesting stuff happens. On the political level, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has to appoint a prime minister and he will likely shuffle key cabinet posts.

I've been ambivalent about writing something about Libya. On the one hand, separatists in Cyrenaica realized their dream ever since the revolution of marketing their own oil, and Islamists in the General National Congress (GNC) in Tripoli realized their dream ever since his election of ousting Prime Minister Ali Zeidan. Big stuff, no doubt. But on the other hand, these events are really just milestones on a path that Libya has long been heading down. They are definitely important milestones, but anyone who has been watching Libya has seen them looming ever larger through the windshield for the last year.

Algeria was quiet over the holidays (with the exception of firecracker skirmishes this week celebrating the Prophet’s birthday), but the political scene may be getting more lively (or just the opposite) in the next couple of weeks.