114 replies to this topic

[Zimbochick]

Some terrible stories surfacing this morning.

A Libyan military aircraft crashed Wednesday southwest of Benghazi after the crew refused to follow orders to bomb the city, Libya's Quryna newspaper reported.

http://news.blogs.cn...r-quits/?hpt=T1

A source from Tripoli has confirmed to us that Al Zawiya Street hospital seen many rape victim admittances last night. Such deplorable and sickening actions were committed after Gaddafi’s speech in which he called for door-to-door cleansing of the city from those who are against his regime.

http://www.libyafeb17.com/?p=1951

[PERM BANNED]

Looks like a civil war's gonna go down. Apparently the Warfala tribe has declared war and is trying to get others to join in. Not looking good.

Be interesting to see where this all ends. A few weeks back, I don't think anyone could've predicted how much it was going to kick off.

Anybody want to have a guess at how many dictatorships will fall in the Middle East by the end of this year? And how many of them will be replaced by genuine democratic governments as opposed to just a different bunch of tyrants?

I bet several regimes will change. But I don't see any of them establishing a true democracy with civil rights and egalitarian principles. It'll go from one tyrant to the next. These people have shown time and time again they will vote in religious fundamentalist when given the chance. When 80% of a population supports stoning, you have a serious problem.

[wedjat]

This person exhausts me, she just never shuts up. She's such a media whore & here I am, mentioning her. I can't even take my own advice.



http://politicaltick...th-obama-again/

[Abaddon]

Looks like a civil war's gonna go down. Apparently the Warfala tribe has declared war and is trying to get others to join in. Not looking good.

Be interesting to see where this all ends. A few weeks back, I don't think anyone could've predicted how much it was going to kick off.

Anybody want to have a guess at how many dictatorships will fall in the Middle East by the end of this year? And how many of them will be replaced by genuine democratic governments as opposed to just a different bunch of tyrants?

I bet several regimes will change. But I don't see any of them establishing a true democracy with civil rights and egalitarian principles. It'll go from one tyrant to the next. These people have shown time and time again they will vote in religious fundamentalist when given the chance. When 80% of a population supports stoning, you have a serious problem.

I don't think you can tar them all with the same brush. There's countries in the Middle East/North Africa where religious fundamentalists wouldn't really stand a chance - and that includes Libya. It's got more in common with Cuba than it does with say, Iran.

But I fear you're probably right about the tyrant side of things, religious or not.

[Zimbochick]

I found this to be an interesting perspective on why it's necessary for the US to be very cautious in Libya.

Meddling With Libya's "Mad Dog" Is A Dangerous Idea

[Zimbochick]

Thanks for the article, Zimbochick. I saw an editorial on TV last night that was critical of our president for not getting more involved in Libya and it made me mad. I couldn't put into words why we shouldn't be meddling at this point in time but this article does a good job of clarifying that.

It does put things in perspective doesn't it. It's so easy to question why nothing is being done when the real question is what should be done, and by whom.

[wedjat]

I think it's funny Ghadafi is accusing the protestors of being on drugs, that being the reason why they're protesting. Desperation!

[TAP]

http://tribune.com.p...inst-democracy/

[TAP]

http://www.guardian....ibya-desert-raf
More than 150 workers were dramatically rescued from the Libyan desert as two RAF Hercules aircraft – backed by the SAS – pulled off a high-risk evacuation of British and other citizens

[cousin it]

^^Does that mean the Brits have a carrier fleet off shore? Hopefully, the UN will impose a no-fly over :Libya this week.

[TAP]

So military intervention - good, bad or ugly?

[TAP]

^^Does that mean the Brits have a carrier fleet off shore? Hopefully, the UN will impose a no-fly over :Libya this week.

Don't think we have carriers any more, or maybe carriers but no planes - some weird story. Think Libya is close enough for planes flying from UK.

[Jill]

I don't like that we're doing this. I don't want us to be doing this. But I don't know how we could turn down our allies who are asking us to back them up, after they've been backing us up for 10 years in our asinine adventures in the ME. And in this case, the Arab League voted 20-2 in favor of the NFZ, whereas they were unanimously opposed to us going into Iraq. It makes a hell of a lot of difference when you're perceived as rescuers rather than illegal invaders. And we have a lot of hearts and minds to win over over there. So the bottom line for me is, the Arab League and our European allies who have a vested interest in stability in the area, have asked for our assistance. We'd be the assholes of the world if we said no.

[Abaddon]

^^Does that mean the Brits have a carrier fleet off shore? Hopefully, the UN will impose a no-fly over :Libya this week.

Don't think we have carriers any more, or maybe carriers but no planes - some weird story. Think Libya is close enough for planes flying from UK.

We don't have any carriers anymore, but we do have a deal with the French to share carriers with them until our next one's are built. Whether that's being done at the moment, I have no idea - but I imagine you're right and it's near enough for us to just be based at home. If not, it's not like there's a shortage of UN allies nearby.

As for whether it's right for us to be there - I think it is, and I'm glad action is being taken. It's just a shame that it takes oil and a comic book villain for intervention to be a viable option.