Here's more from that unusually critical NYT article:
Coming just four months after an American ambassador was killed by jihadists in Libya, those assaults have contributed to a sense that North Africa long a dormant backwater for Al Qaeda is turning into another zone of dangerous instability, much like Syria, site of an increasingly bloody civil war. The mayhem in this vast desert region has many roots, but it is also a sobering reminder that the euphoric toppling of dictators in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt has come at a price.
Its one of the darker sides of the Arab uprisings, said Robert Malley, the Middle East and North Africa director at the International Crisis Group. Their peaceful nature may have damaged Al Qaeda and its allies ideologically, but logistically, in terms of the new porousness of borders, the expansion of ungoverned areas, the proliferation of weapons, the disorganization of police and security services in all these countries its been a real boon to jihadists.
The crisis in Mali is not likely to end soon, with the militants ensconcing themselves among local people and digging fortifications. It could also test the fragile new governments of Libya and its neighbors, in a region where any Western military intervention arouses bitter colonial memories and provides a rallying cry for Islamists.