The death of Osama bin Laden hits al-Qaida hard: The terrorist network hasn’t played any role in the Arab revolutions, and now its charismatic leader is gone. Terrorism expert Guido Steinberg explains who will try to fill the void, and why this is a major success for President Obama.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: What does the death of Osama bin Laden mean for the democracy movement in the Arab world?

Guido Steinberg: It affirms one result of the revolutions: We have seen that al-Qaida has played no role whatsoever in all of these countries over the past few months, because the organization has become fully irrelevant politically. Bin Laden’s death puts an exclamation point on that. In the future, al-Qaida will be even less capable of influencing the fate of the region.