ah nice, there's politics too in glocals...:)

the mad dog is so clever, cease-fire as soon as he saw he's dead.

This is too much. He was shelling people in Benghazi in their sleep, 5 year old and 4 months year old were killed in their sleep this morning as a missile hit their bedroom ;( http://bit.ly/dKfUjl

Unfortunately, the value of human life is different if you are from africa or if you are from Europe or America..sad but bitter truth...until few thousands are gone, world doesn't feel anything. Hope the west will do something soon before thousands are exterminated.

Someone I was speaking with yesterday, just passed away. Mo from Benghazi was a reporter in Benghazi who was shot in the head by Gaddafi snipers. He was providing video coverage of Gaddafi's civilian attacks.

Benghazi reporter Mohammed Nabous shot dead by Gaddafi forces: Mo's story http://bit.ly/hMJHEA

American jets joined the anti Gaddafi forces , the New York times reports, biggest invasion since Iraq i hope no one criticises the US for this intervention..

weird to think that Gaddafi had a human rights prize supported by a swiss guy 

ziegler and that he had a seat on the UN human rights committee

(which explains why so many  Un resolutions are  against Israel )

He is now killing his own people much like saddam Hussein 

I just hope there wont be bleeding heart liberals defending him and 

attacking those attacking him...

thanks for reporting this Ivet, it is indeed shocking when children are killed 

and these are his oWN people 

human life indeed has different values depending on which society 

and somehow in that part of the world they dont think twice before 

taking lives even babies 

i agree  that switzerland has always been dubious in these roles, banking secrecy etc etc.

But I think Israel is also not a country to be admired at this moment in any way, everytime any UN resolutions are put forward against it, US vetoes it. Plus, it hasn't stopped bulldozing the palestine settlements and it hasn't agreed to the 2-state solution.

Noone will criticize this invasion because there is a mandate from UN which represents most of the countries in the world.

and here is his brave wife informing the world that he passed away. can't believe this always happens to good people.

http://www.livestream.com/libya17feb/video?clipId=pla_9745ec21-c64d-440f-abe7-a412e7db456d&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb

RIP Mohammed Nabous. History will remember him.

Dark indeed

It is definitly  a sidetrack but it is not israel that has not agreed to a two state solution but the palestinians

just to get proportions when a three months old baby girl had her thoat slit along with her parents and 3 year old brother and 10 year old brother in their home in the area the palestinians consider is theirs the Hamas hands out sweets and celebrates, how do you think you can make peace with them ?

Israel a tiny strip of land has handed back gaza and today^s news is that the south of israel is again under massive shell attack

hat is why israel is fighting back because somehow people dont seem to believe the news when it comes to palestinians sending missiles but when it comes to gaza getting a bit of its own medicine back the world is angry at Israel

what do you expect israel to do more to show it is serious about peace?

giving back land? did and done

not call for murders ? israel has never had any intention of murdering people or will it ever do so , any casualties are as a result of attempts to stop the hamas from sending missiles into israel. somehow you think it is harmless to send missiles and rockets but when it comes to palestinians getting hit it is a crime, that is double standard.

Israel also does not and will never educate its children to murder or celebrate the murder or train suicide bombers or call for murder, quite the opposite israelis demonstrate for the rights of palestinians because the whole situation is against the fundemental belief system of most israelis but there is no other choice as long as the mentality is violence and murder of israelis,

The pressure placed on Israel to compromise has meant that israel has had to compromise its security,

Gaza is now a terrorist rocket launching pad

Just recently i read how wonderful Ramallah is at a swiss weekend magazine of the tages anzeiger, how wonderful can they be when they have a corrupt system without any sort of criticism ? anyone who dares to criticize them is beheaded or shot

I would really be careful before you go throwing around facts that are not facts

Israel is not supported by the US except in UN resolutions which are passed under very dubious circumstances.

The situation is far from brilliant for the palestinians but look all over the arab world , recently in egypt christians were murdered by moslem extremists and look what is happening in Libiya , how in the world do you expect anyone to handle such people with kids gloves?

It is like going to a hornet^s nest, you cant but defend yourself against them.

If you think you can do it better do it better

but no matter what israel does the mentality will still be intolernace and ignorance and no wishful thinking will change that

it is like wishing gadaffi was a nice guy

it is not up to israel to make more concessions as long as the other side does not accept basic rights of israelis to live in peace and as long as they kill their own people who dare to criticise the system

the revolution in the arab world is a long time waiting

the golden airplanes of saudi arabian princes  flying around the world living a lavish lifestyle while their people are living in poverty and ignorance is so disgusting i lack words

criticising israel is also disgusting because it is such a hopeless situation , being bombarded by ignorant masses who can not make peace because they do not have the basic ability to think for themselves and are flooded by intolerance and racism and religious bigotry

the massive criticism of israel is due to a deep antisemitism that is difficult to cure , it is a disease that has plagued the world for centuries and encouraged by religious fanatics who used antisemitism to control the ignorant masses

there is no other explaination for the disproportional criticsm of israel and the blindness to the difficult situation israel is in, sandwhiched between extremists regimes who lie and steal from their own people and refuse to make any concessions or stick to any agreements, allowing terrorists to cowardly slaughter families in their sleep then deny they have anything to do with it

Gaddafi or his other buddies in Iran , they are all the same , a result of ignorance and education for racism and religious intolerance which is a far cry from jewish mentality and enlightened education  most of jews in israel get

So get a grip open your eyes and check out the neighberhood before you go israel bashing again

I lived under rocket attack and i tell you one day is too long and it was months and it is still going on

Hi Star,

I am a neutral person who lives far from Israel so there is no reason i should be biased towards Israel..and i am not a muslim too.

But the facts are: ''Israel a tiny strip of land has handed back gaza and today^s news is that the south of israel is again under massive shell attack''---- You have to understand that the tiny strip of land has outgrown by leaps and bounds now and a very small piece of crowded palestine is left instead, this wasn't in UN plan. http://www.mideastweb.org/nutshell.htm or check any history book to know what the real size of israel was fixed by UN.

being bombarded by ignorant masses who can not make peace because they do not have the basic ability to think for themselves and are flooded by intolerance and racism and religious bigotry------------ If you squeeze too many people in too small place, they will not hesitate to burst. what do you expect? they will like you.

somehow you think it is harmless to send missiles and rockets but when it comes to palestinians getting hit it is a crime, that is double standard.----------------

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli%E2%80%93Palestinian_conflict

Please look at - Fatalities 1948-present to make sure for yourself who is using the disproportionate force in the conflict. e.g- In 2009, for 9 israelis, there are 1034 palestine deaths. Now, for a neutral outsider this doesn't make any sense and doesn't feel any sympathy toward Israel.

news is that the south of israel is again under massive shell attack---------- You know it's like saying ''oh! United states is being attacked by Mexico''

Have you any idea the military capabilities of Israel compared to palestine? It's an open truth that it neither denies nor agrees to nuclear arsenals and everbody knows it has, not to mention its navy capabilities, missile capabilities. Give me a break.

If i was from Israel, i would request my government to give back everything , all the lands to palestine designated by UN. (100%).

I am not an Israel basher, i don't need to.... but the death tolls are the reality and 9 israelis and 1000+ palestines doesn't show anything else.

Although what is happening in Libya is disturbing we must remain cynical of moves by Western nations (former and current imperialist colonialists). Nations are not moral actors as European and US governments have amply demonstrated and was admitted by the greatest US soldier in its history Smedley Butler (Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940), nicknamed "The Fighting Quaker" and "Old Gimlet Eye", was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps, and at the time of his death the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. During his 34-year career as a Marine, he participated in military actions in the Philippines, China, in Central America and the Caribbean during the Banana Wars, and France in World War I. By the end of his career he had received 16 medals, five of which were for heroism. He is one of 19 people to twice receive the Medal of Honor, one of three to be awarded both the Marine Corps Brevet Medal and the Medal of Honor, and the only person to be awarded the Brevet Medal and two Medals of Honor, all for separate actions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler).

 European countries have traded with Libya, sold them weapons and welcomed Gaddafi back into their company. Now with tanking economies and much domestic opposition to neoliberal economic reforms (read austerity for the lower and middle class and champagne and foie gras for the richer class) pathetic cynical moralising politicians like Cameron and Sarkozy are wishing to distract attention and regain some standing in the polls by appearing statesmanlike.  And so they fire missiles which are supposedly smart and almost paradoxically lead to massive ‘collateral’ damage (sanitised newspeak for indiscriminately killing civilians).

What is happening in Libya is shocking and sad but pales in comparison to the millions killed in Iraq and the millions of internal refugees and young women and widows forced into prostitution in Syria and other countries all based on a lie of WMD and links with 911.  Where were the great European statesmen at that time and during the horrors since?

By MEDEA BENJAMIN and CHARLES DAVIS

http://counterpunch.org/benjamin03182011.html

1. 4,400 U.S. Soldiers Lost for a Lie

2. Bankrupting Our Nation

3. Hundreds of Thousands of Iraqi Dead

4. Lights Still Out

5. Millions Flee Their Homes

6. Women and Girls Forced into Prostitution

7. Poisoning Iraqi Society

8. Trading One Strongman for Another

Saddam Hussein was a bad guy. Yet his worst crimes, including the 1980 invasion of Iran, came when he was backed by the U.S. government, which was well aware of his penchant for torture and extrajudicial killings – talents American officials were fine with so long as he was slaughtering Iranians. Now his U.S.-backed successor, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, is torturing and killing those who speak out against his rule – all he hasn't done is invade that other, not-yet-liberated member of the “axis of evil.”

9. A Recruitment Ad for al-Qaeda

10. Legitimizing Violence, Rewarding War Criminals

Once you get past all the fanciful lies, rhetoric and rationalizations, the invasion of Iraq was just like any other war: it was about killing – and teaching young men and women to believe that it's morally acceptable to take the life of another human being, that the supposed ends justify the homicidal means.

And we haven’t begun to talk about Afghanistan and Pakistan. If these Western moralists want to make a difference and save lives then they just have to stop taking them!

By SUSIL GUPTA

http://counterpunch.org/gupta03022011.html

As the Libyan crisis has yet to complete its first month the list lengthens of  British multinationals and  institutions that have taken money from Muammar Qaddafi. Even Prince Andrew, the UK’s ‘Ambassador for Trade’, is implicated.

The first to fall have been the universities. There’s scarcely a top British university that has not taken money from a nasty Middle East leader and what is more embarrassing is that their names are emblazoned on libraries, laboratories, technology parks and research centers for all the world to see. Worst hit, so far, is the London School of Economics....

Fueling the Flames

Why the US Should Refrain From Intervening in Libya

By MICHAEL B. CHESSON

The United States should resist the calls for military intervention in a tinderbox that outside force might cause to explode. If we tinker with this cube it may not only lead to a wider civil war, a danger already being discussed, but it will be certain to inflame opinion in North Africa and the Mid-East.

America is widely hated around the world, particularly by Muslims, because of its penchant for applying force to whatever issues it chooses to define as national security threats, or even social problems....

Libya's ruler is not one of our preferred dictators. His nation has more energy resources than any other African country, but most of it is sold to the European Union. Perhaps France or some other bold and heroic power will step in because of its national interest. America's, for the moment, is not seriously threatened by the madman in Tripoli.....

Michael B. Chesson earned a Ph.D. in history from Harvard in 1978, and has been a college and university teacher for thirty-three years. He is currently the Founding Professor and Dean of the American College of History and Legal Studies in Salem, New Hampshire. Dr. Chesson retired from the U. S. Navy as a captain after thirty-five years of active duty and reserve service.

http://counterpunch.org/chesson03162011.html

By PATRICK COCKBURN

A call for action from the Arab League sounds like a contradiction in terms, given the 22-member organization's reputation for ineffectiveness.

Its request for the UN Security Council to impose a no-fly zone over Libya may come too little, too late for the Libyan rebels whose military weakness has been underlined in the past few days by defeats in the east and west of the country....

http://counterpunch.org/patrick03142011.html

West overzealous on Libya

Al Jazeera's senior political analyst discusses the risks and opportunities inherent in UNSC Resolution 1973.

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/03/2011318132217965513.html#

palestinains are not mexicans

All i know is that israel, palestine was virtually empty , marc twain diaries and other evidence given so that it  is not as though the palestinians are some sort of nation with deep roots in that land

but there are many arab nations with similar ethnic origin lots of land and oil

second of all

the Jews were refugees too

they were kicked out of Arab lands and European lands which is why the UN

agreed to recognize a jewish state after six million jews were murdered by the nazis of the  european nations 

so if you are doing statistics mention the six million jews who were kicked out of their lands, and the list is long and covers almost all euroean nations except UK who is now criticising and boycotting israel to make up for that 

Third of all 

the jewish homeland is the size of new jersey, rather small 

and there are more than 50 arab nations 

the palestinians have the same language religion and ethnic origin as their moslem brothers across the border so why do they insist in living in overcrowded territories when saudi arabia, syria lebanon jordan would be very spacioust he emigration of palestinian to the land of israel is not something ancient

who asked them to have ten kids if they dont have the room ?

who asked them to invest in rockets if they dont have food to feed their kids

and most importantly who asked them to try to destroy israel when they got

back gaza ?

why is the pressure on israel and why is israel blamed for not compromising enough when israel has given land and got rockets?

statistics? casualties?

the arab nations who are behind the palestinians and number ONE BILLION

could develope weapons and trust me they would love to be able to destroy in more efficient style however ignorance and investment in keeping the masses ignorant and violent does not go hand in hand with development of sophisticated weapons

why do the jews have sophisticated weapons ? because they invest in education and because they dont have enough people to spare 

and every one counts 

as for palestinian casualties , they fight with stones and unsophisticated weapons but also rockets but they do so because their moslem brothers want to keep the war like this , it gives some illusion of moral supermicy otherwise why dont they supply the palestinians better ?

or perhaps the saudi arabian princes flying in gold private airplanes and living it up just dont have money left over 

in any rate a rocket is a rocket and it is not a toy 

the bombs are not toys either and they do blow up buses 

the only reason they dont blow buses anymore is the wall that stopped 99%

terror 

so it is not just a numbers game at all 

and if it is the numbers are different 

@ Star

"why do the jews have sophisticated weapons ? because they invest in education and because they dont have enough people to spare"

A.  Because the US taxpayers subsidize Israel to the tune of $4.9 billion dollars a year;

B.  Because the US shares technological expertise and weaponry with Israel as well [which Israel has occasionally sold to other nations in direct contravention to the terms of assistance;

C.   Also because Israel was willing to collaborate with the racist and vicious apartheid regime of South Africa to acquire atomic-weapons related technology!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/feb/07/southafrica.israel

One could go on... as the saying goes, "facts are stubbon things."

The former head of Shin Bet and Admiral of the Israeli navy says that Israel needs to take a different path towards peace.  I suppose some people would call him and other "self-haters."

CORRECTION: I meant to write that Israel assisted South Africa under apartheid to acquire atomic weapon-related technology -- not the reverse.

To star, just one quick thing

Ziegler - I dont know where they got this guy from ... honestly

Ziegler also thinks Cuba is not a dictarship and torture doesnt happen there

So gaddafi human rights huh! prize doesnt surprise me ...

Hi Star,

Unfortunately, you talk from both sides of the mouth now. You was in support of the propaganda war against Libyan nation (call it Gadhafi, since that is what you want the people to believe). The West legitimized lawlessness by backing rebels (armed individuals) againt the Libyan nation. They appropriate and equate what hapenned in Libya to what did happen in Egypt and Tunisia. CNN and other Western media fed the whole world with lies, with the single aim of bulldozing Gadhafi out power. And this is because the leaders of the opposition has cut some deals with these Western powers.

How can sane people align themselves with criminal (the rebels) that have guns againt their own nation? Tunisia and Egyptian revolution did not involve the people waging war on the government, Barainians and the Yemenis are not rampaging with guns. The insurrection in Libya is simply not a revolution. It is on record that Benghazi is an opposition city with disgruntled clan members that lost out of power play after the "real" Libyan revolution of which Gadhafi is the leader.

Now, you was able to condemn Gadhafi for rising again rebels, but you believe and side the fight against terrorism of the Israelis by the Palestinians. I call that speaking from both sides of the mouth.

From India, Srilanka, China, Philipine, Nigeria, Mexico, Colombia, Russia, USA and Israel, no nation will fold their hands and allow their country to be divided by rebel with sophisticated arms. Which ever way you see it, what the West (call it the world because of the UN resolution) - the other nations were coaxed into playing ball - is absolutely wrong. They have once again got the oportunity to flex their muscles, and have real/actual military drill.

It is just so pathetic that the West know how to choose their prey (similar to a man fighting a kid). They should have tried it on China that has the worst human rights abuse on its populace.

Hope the world ever sees peace.

Bola

The Cuban government has imprisoned people without trial for years - just look at Activist Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina. Speaking of which, Obama's recent decision to renege on his election promise and to detain Guantanamo prisoners possibly for life, without ever bringing them to trial, is equally disgraceful. Evil has no flag, no state lines and no one jurisdiction. it is an equal opportunities employer. Nothing proves this better than the terrible irony that Néstor was sent, without any trial, to a prison in...Guantánamo!

@star: hi! I think your passion for the legitimate and beautiful vision of a safe homeland for all jewish people may be slightly clouding your judgement on this one. asking the palestinian people to just move to saudi arabia is, at best, severly ill-advised. from the point of view of Israeli security i can't think of anything which would put all the people of that state (jew, gentile and arab) in more jeopardy. creating yet more refugees (i.e. desperate people) and sending them to, of all places, Saudi Arabia, home of the Bin Laden family? A perfect recipe for the creation of an entire GENERATION of sucide bombers. so i'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you on this one Star because I don't want to see one more single suicide bomber kill innocent Israelis. Such a waste of humanity, both Palestinian and Israeli.

as ever, peace out!

http://stopthewall.org/news/maps.shtml

David

you know what I find DISGUSTING is that

1) your people The British would send jews back to their deaths in concentration camps rather than let them  in order to appease the Arabs at the time they occupied my land

your people , the Brits , hanged Jews for trying to get them out of our land

and at the same time Hitler was kiling off the Jewish population in europe

and yet you dare to compare the Jewish refugees from Europe and Arab

lands to occupiers??

Who caused this huge mess in the first place?

The British who divided the land of Israel in order to appease the Arabs

they allowed Jews to be murdered and did not allow jews self defense

til they finally left the land of Israel in a huge mess

They made a Jordan, a country that did not exist, that should have been

the homeland of the palestinians etc etc

The division of land is absurd

The palestinian people are not different than any of their brothers over the border in any shape or form

furthermore what is disgusting that UK are the biggest antisemite anti israel

boycotting hypocrites these days passing resolutions banning Israel

read your history man

before your criticise Israel

the population of Israel is refugees who were either managed to escape

pogroms in euorpe before or after the second world war

and arab lands where they were also kicked out without compensation

and yet the jews managed to build an army , you know why ?

because unlike the arabs they were not busy making sure the majority

of the population remained ignorant and illiterate so the leaders could steal their money

Disgusting is how the so called poor palestinians handed out candy after

terrorists broke into a family home last friday and slit the throat of a three months old baby

disgusting is how they murdered peope and celebrate

disgusting is how they celebrated when the twin towers were destroyed

disgusting is how they train their children that to die as terrorists is glory

disgusting is how anyone can see them as the david

they are part of the Moslem world that has so much oil money they could

have built the strongest army

yet they invest the money in other things such as a luxury life for the saudi

arabian princes or hiding the money in swiss banks like mobarak

Disgusting is how israel is under rocket fire and you claim they are poor

peasants

the palestinians could have had their own state but they refuse to sit down

and compromise , they want jerusalem and everything else

and why the hell should one BILLION moslems who live in 50 lands

have my land?

why cant they have your land ??

disgusting is how you compare the jewish defense army to HAMAS

a muderous clan who won elections in the palestinian territories 

read their agenda educate yourself about how they go about life

and how they use their children for terror

No one is forced to be a killer or terrorist

After being murdered  for centuries the jews are still not violent

they chose to build rather than destroy which is why so many inventions

and developments like facebook like computer parts are made by jews

Why do you defend people who constantly use violence against their own people and do not choose to educate their children for peace

Israel is not responsible for the palestinians choosing Hamas, terror and violence

Israel is responsible for providing a secure home for the jewish people

who were kicked out of europe

only England did not murder jews during WW2 but they are definitely

defending the ones who murder jews now

and you are no exception to the rule

I am disgusted with your opinions far more than you are with my stupid

comment about palestinian overcrowded

if they dont like it there are 50 countries where they can live in the same culture language and religion

the jews only have one land to be theirs

and why the hell should they give it back ? to appease the british and arabs

again ?

would you care if the hamas had their way and would kill jews ?

no

but if the palestinians die while attacking israel you are in tears

that is what i find disgusting

Folks - lets calm down and tone down the rhetoric here.

I know these types of discussions can get very emotional but everyone is entitled to their opinion so please keep it civil and don't be so disgusted with each other.

Oded

Bombing Libya

Gaddafi is Likely to Fall, But What Next?

By PATRICK COCKBURN

In the next few weeks Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is likely to lose power. The forces arrayed against him are too strong. His own political and military support is too weak. The US, Britain and France are scarcely going to permit a stalemate to develop whereby he clings on to Tripoli and parts of western Libya while the rebels hold the east of the country.

Even before the air strikes Gaddafi had not been able to mobilise more than about 1,500 men to advance on Benghazi, and many of these were not trained soldiers. The reason for their advance is that the rebels in the east were unable to throw into the fighting the 6,000 soldiers whose defection touched off the original uprising.

The first days of foreign intervention mirror the experience of the US and its allies in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, by going extremely well. Air attacks shattered a column of tanks and infantry south of Benghazi. Survivors have fled. The rout may soon resemble the rapid dissolutions of the Taliban and the Iraqi army.

In Iraq and Afghanistan most people were glad to get rid of their rulers, and most Libyans will be glad to see the back of Gaddafi. His regime may well fall more quickly than is currently expected. Pundits have been wagging their fingers in the last few days, saying Gaddafi may be mad but he is not stupid, but this is to underestimate the opéra bouffe quality of his regime.

It is the next stage in Libya – after the fall of Gaddafi – which has the potential to produce a disaster similar to Afghanistan and Iraq. In both cases successful war left the US as the predominant power in the country. In Iraq this rapidly turned into an old-fashioned imperial occupation. "The occupation was the mother of all mistakes," as one Iraqi leader is fond of repeating. In Afghanistan the US always called the shots, even if Hamid Karzai headed the government.

The same problem is going to arise in Libya. There will be a lack of a credible local partner. The rebels have shown that they are politically and militarily weak. Indeed, if this had not been so, there would have been no need for a last-minute foreign intervention to save them.

The local leaders who rise to the top in these circumstances are usually those who speak the best English and get on with the US and its allies. In Baghdad and Kabul those who initially rose were those who fawned the most and who were prepared to go before Congress to express fulsome gratitude for America's actions....http://counterpunch.org/patrick03212011.html

By JOHN V. WALSH

The stench of death hanging over protest centers in the Arab world is more than matched by the rank hypocrisy befouling Washington and the lesser capitals of Western Empire. There is, however, not the slightest allusion to “hypocrisy,” in the imperial media.  The “H” word is not to be used with respect to Obama or the other lords of Empire, even though it is as obvious as the proverbial nose on one’s face; the censorship in the mass media is holding.

Consider it.  The Western powers have now launched a full-scale military assault on Muamara Qaddafi’s Libya, never a reliable “partner” of the West.  First there were denunciations and demonization of Qaddafi following the Libyan uprising in the East, then sanctions, then the attack.   Ostensibly, the attack is to “protect” the Libyan people from the hand of Qaddafi.  But is such a rationale even remotely credible? 

Look at other events happening on the very same weekend the attacks began.  In Bahrain Shia protesters by the score are being gunned down by the Sunni police of the Al Khalifa “royal family,” sometimes killing the protesters like animals with hunting rifles.  They are joined by the tanks of the Saudi “royals,” the same Saudi Arabia whence came the majority of the perpetrators of 9/11. There are no American cruise missiles aimed at the Saudi tanks and no threats from the Western powers to stop the carnage of the thugs ruling Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.  What comes from the U.S.?  No denunciation, no demonization, no sanctions, no attack....http://counterpunch.org/walsh03212011.html

By JOHN V. WALSH http://counterpunch.org/walsh03212011.html

Dartmouth professor Diedreick Vandewalle, an expert on Libya, has noted, the rebellion in Libya seems to be one of the east versus west of the country, a return to old tribal boundaries (http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2011/03/13/libya-does-not-exist).   That is quite different from Egypt where the demand is for development and democracy.  Is there anything unique about Libya other than its disloyalty to the West?   I can think of only one other thing which distinguishes it from Egypt or various other African dictatorships.  Libya has a Human Development Index (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index) which is the highest in all of Africa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African_countries_by_Human_Development_Index).  In fact it puts Libya in the same league as the developed nations of Europe.  Certainly man does not live by bread alone although a bit helps.  But it would seem that Libyans need less protection than the many U.S. Arab allies, which not only brutally oppress their people but also impoverish them.

By GEORGE KAZOLIAS

First I want to make it clear: Qaddafi does not like me and I don't like him. He refused me a visa to report there more than once.

But I have to voice my opinion against this war on Libya because it is wrong and risks creating a disaster and turmoil which will last for years.

Lets begin with European hypocrisy. British PM Blair (he of Iraq war) ran to Libya as soon as he could to embrace Qaddafi and sell him arms. PM Gordon Brown freed the man convicted of blowing up a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland. French President Sarkozy has been selling arms to Qaddafi for years too. He welcomed the Colonel to Paris in great Pomp and Circumstance despite criticisms from some of his own ministers and promised him a nuclear reactor. The Colonel's son Seif says Libya bankrolled Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign. I believe this because such practice is standard in French politics. If the media were not so war-hungry they could look at the proof Seif says he has.

The President of the Transition Council was Qaddafi's Justice Minister! The Council has transferred food distribution from the markets to the Mosques, a sign of things to come. The Imams are back in power. We may be helping people who really don't like us....

http://counterpunch.org/kazolias03222011.html

I read about the book of the disappeared, from Benghazi (BBC Documentary, 2011). Many went missing over the 4 decades of tyranical power.

Those who were taken by the Machiavellian Ghadafi secret police were tortured:

- burning with fire

- ripping out finger nails

- hanging

As one philosopher once wrote: "The philosophers interpreted the world in various ways, the point is to change it."

“Has Gadhafi’s long reign of terror really been an episode of “hands-off government”? Although, in theory, Gadhafi has several times proclaimed the abolition of the Libyan government, with power supposedly devolving to the local “revolutionary committees,” in reality – as we can see with our own eyes – anyone who who challenges the Gadhafi dictatorship is flirting with their own mortalit”y. http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2011/03/13/libya-does-not-exist/

Reign of terror

In Libya, underground jail a daunting reminder of Moammar Gaddafi's grip  By Sudarsan Raghavan

Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 13, 2011; 3:52 PMhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/12/AR2011031204996.html

“IN BENGHAZI, LIBYA Peering into a subterranean jail, Adil Gnaybor shuddered with fear. Rusted prison bars once covered with earth were now exposed, dug up by rebels who had discovered the secret labyrinth of cells. The space was too small for Gnaybor's 5-foot frame, and a white tube provided the only source of air”

How do you change it when our governments support ruthless dictators? And the media keeps quiet or supports them (see films of John Pilger). And if ruthless dictators are replaced the system stays in place and our governments ensure plus ca change...

Mubarak's adoption of the Economic Reform and Structural Adjustment Program in 1991, at the urging of the IMF and World Bank, had predictable consequences. Off to a relatively slow start, privatization of state enterprises began to accelerate ten years into the program. Social benefits were cut in accordance with neoliberal principles. Passage of the Unified Labor Law in 2003 targeted unions and the rights of workers. It permitted workers to be hired on temporary contracts that could be renewed at will by management. The advantage for employers is that a worker on temporary contract is not allowed to join a union or vote in union elections. The law did away with the practice of granting permanent employment to workers once they passed a probationary period. Limits were also placed on collective bargaining and the right to strike....

U.S. corporations have a strong interest in maintaining the status quo in Egypt. That nation ranks as the second largest market for foreign direction investment in Africa, and the United States is its primary foreign direct investor. Egypt is an attractive destination for foreign investment, as its textile workers earn less than half the pay of their counterparts in Tunisia, and about a third of the pay of those in Morocco and Turkey. (4)

For the last several years, workers have responded with strikes and protests, helping to build the momentum that eventually toppled Mubarak from power. They aim to achieve some measure of economic justice. Can they succeed in that goal? Not if U.S. imperial interests have their way. In a revealing comment, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently said, "We have an enormous stake in ensuring that Egypt and Tunisia provide models for the kind of democracy that we want to see."(5) Note the language she used: the kind of democracy that U.S. elites want to see, rather than what the Egyptian people want....

Already Senators John Kerry, Joe Lieberman and John McCain are preparing legislation to establish what they term the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund and the Tunisian-American Enterprise Fund. The Egyptian fund would be initially seeded with at least $50 million. The senators indicated that they hope these funds will attract  private investment to Egypt, and said that their legislation is being modeled on the "hugely successful" efforts of a similar nature in Eastern Europe after the fall of socialism. (7)  Those efforts were a huge success - for Western investors, with Eastern European economies retooled to become sources of cheap labor, and dominated by Western corporate penetration. The process was less pleasing for workers in the region, with precipitous drops in GDP, growing unemployment, poverty, and slashing of pay, pensions, and social benefits...

Not to be outdone, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Egypt, bringing along Elizabeth Littlefield, CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), to discuss with the interim Egyptian government support for business. "We want to see a very specific commitment by OPIC and by the U.S. Export-Import Bank to provide letters of credit, to encourage private sector investments, because the long-term economic growth of Egypt depends not on government jobs but on private sector jobs," Clinton announced. "So the more foreign direct investment that we can help to encourage and support, we think will be beneficial for Egyptian people." (11) And not so incidentally increase profits for Western investors.... http://counterpunch.org/elich03222011.html

at the end of the day

I find it useless energy to criticise the west so much and not criticise the 

tyrants of the east enough 

I also think that Israel will get blamed for the palestinians no matter what 

i wonder how it could be done better?

you want to stand still and wait for the rockets to stop ?

The facts are that Israel made concessions and yes ok the weapon deals etc 

but why are the palestinans fighting just when they got gaza back ?

why dont they recognize the right of israel to exist, shake hands and negotiate 

for their land and not ask for jerusalem and everything else?

Also why are there demonstrations in the moslem world against the western 

attack  of gadaffi ?

the Moslem world sees itself as one , this is declared by the demonstraters

I dont know how the palestinians got the image of peace loving tibetians 

if they really wanted to acheive living as free people in their own land 

they could have had that 

Israel is not a demon , barak offered the palestinians very generous concessions 

and dont forget the size of the land and now we have rockets 

and i am sure that people in the west nod their heads, well, what choices do they have ?

no, sorry, suicide bombers are not the result of the situation but they are a  moral choice people make 

I heard a German friend tell me the same thing i hear again and again 

what do you expect ? the germans had no money , they were drawn to the nazis because of their economy

i think many expect israel to just pack up and move to new york forgetting that the jews are also refugees , i just wanted to remind people of that 

and of the fact that israel can never be anything but the david because the moslems of the region identify themselves as one nation indivisible and want a moslem foreign free entity in the middle east without christians or jews

and that is what it is all about

the palestinians have proven their values by voting for hamas

and by throwing rockets rather than negotiating

and if people live in ignorance and train their kids to be suicide bombers it is never the only choice they could have made

I think that the way israel has been signaled out and demonized and the way the west is criticised for military action is the same philosophy

lets just sit around and wait for peace to come and for everyone to calm down

i wonder how British people can boycott Israel after the london bombing 

i wonder what they think criticising israel would acheive ?

Israel has no peace partner, has to defend its population, refugees from 

europe and arab lands, and if israel has the technology why should anyone say it is not fair play?

If you look at it historically the jews had been bullied through centuries

not allowed to own land, or even live, they have been murdered, persecuted 

and tortured, kicked out of countries, not had basic human rights

even in switzerland jews were not allowed to live in zurich

in the old city there is a sign where jews were burned a few hundered years ago 

and now the jews have a tiny strip of land and yes they want to defend it 

why does it make everyone so bloody angry?

The palestinians should live in peace but they dont choose that option 

they choose a violent attack with no clear goal but to destroy 

as we speak southern israel has people living in bunkers, kids cant go to school and there was a bomb in jerusalem again 

what was the goal ?`free palestine of what ? of jews? 

and where is the jewish population suppose to go ?

if anyone has a nice theory about that let me know 

and lets say the jews all move to various countries again 

and once again antisemitism causes violence and once again jews dont own land 

will that make the palestinians a free and happy society where kids get a good education and people are not murdered for stating opinions contrary to the tyrant ?

netanyau said 

"if the palestinians put down their weapons there will be peace

if the israelis put down their weapons there will be no israel"

I think that the best investment is education but the problem is that no one 

seems to want that , and if someone fights you and wants to kill you constantly 

what are you supposed to do ?

p.s. 

there are projects that promote peace between the palestinians and jews 

but they are such rare and delicate birds 

I have no doubt that people do want to live in peace 

but the way the masses flock in the moslem world to tyrants and protest the west

is the problem not the other way around

the moslem world is not violent because of the western actions

and yes some of the military action is accessive and of course all war is bad

but what is the choice really?

relive war world two ?

wait around for the tyrants to give up their bad ways? 

When all you have is bombs, everything starts to look like a target. And so after years of providing Libya’s dictator with the weapons he's been using against the people, all the international community – France, Britain and the United States – has to offer the people of Libya is more bombs, this time dropped from the sky rather than delivered in a box to Muammar Gaddafi's palace.

If the bitter lesson of Iraq and Afghanistan has taught us anything, though, it's that wars of liberation exact a deadly toll on those they purportedly liberate – and that democracy doesn't come on the back of a Tomahawk missile.

President Barack Obama announced his latest peace-through-bombs initiative last week -- joining ongoing U.S. conflicts and proxy wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia -- by declaring he could not “stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people that there will be no mercy, and ... where innocent men and women face brutality and death at the hands of their own government.”

Within 24 hours of the announcement, more than 110 U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired into Libya, including the capital Tripoli, reportedly killing dozens of innocent civilians -- as missiles, even the “smart” kind, are wont to do. According to The New York Times, allied warplanes with “brutal efficiency” bombed “tanks, missile launches and civilian cars, leaving a smoldering trail of wreckage that stretched for miles.” 

Cruise Missile Liberalism

By MEDEA BENJAMIN and CHARLES DAVIS

Medea Benjamin ([email protected]) is cofounder of CODEPINK: Women for Peace (www.codepinkalert.org) and Global Exchange (www.globalexchange.org).

Charles Davis ([email protected]) has covered Congress for NPR and Pacifica stations, and freelanced for the international

http://counterpunch.org/benjamin03232011.html

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gwuLNqE2rj86RXryfwwnzve4C3oQ?docId=fcea6e0539e24e4dbd33392f20ada921

Reasons and False Pretexts

Why are They Making War on Libya?

By DIANA JOHNSTONE

Reason Number One: Regime change.

This was announced as the real objective the moment French president Nicolas Sarkozy took the extraordinary step of recognizing the rebels in Benghazi as "the only legitimate representative of the Libyan people". This recognition was an extraordinary violation of all diplomatic practice and principles. It meant non-recognition of the existing Libyan government and its institutions, which, contrary to the magical notions surrounding the word "dictator", cannot be reduced to the personality of one strongman. A major European nation, France, swept aside all those institutions to proclaim that an obscure group of rebels in a traditionally rebellious part of Libya constituted the North African nation’s legitimate government.

Since factually this was clearly not true, it could only be the proclamation of an objective to be reached by war. The French announcement was equivalent to a declaration of war against Libya, a war to defeat Qaddafi and put the mysterious rebels in power in his place.

http://counterpunch.org/johnstone03242011.html

@star: you claim that...

'the moslem world is not violent because of the western action...'

Would you not conced that people living in the middle east have an extremely good reason to distrust western governments? Madeleine Albright herself even admitted this much in a CNN interview when she remarked upon the coup organised in Iran by the US government in 1953, which ultimately led to the installation of the Shah, which in turn led to the revolution led by the loonies currently in charge.

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: ''The coup was clearly a setback for Iran's political development, and it is easy to see now why many Iranians continue to resent this intervention by America in their internal affairs''.

Come on star you can't just ignore history like that! It's a lazy and cheap tactic. And by the way I'd argue just as strongly against anyone who dared to pretend all the awful things Jewish people have endured over the centuries never happened. you either accept history fully or you don't talk about it. selective memory is the cornerstone of all extremism.

"Selective memory is the cornerstone of all extremism."

Mental note to self: to remember to use this as a quote sometime crediting manics

wars are the result of incapability of talks, negotiation and understandings.